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It pisses me right the fuck off. Because this wily asshole shouldn’t be anywhere near her. Yes, not three seconds ago I was contemplating that I might admire one thing about him, but the way he saunters in here with something else so harsh to say about Isadora and I just sets me off. “Are you even capable of loving her? Or is she just a golden-haired pawn in your latest scheme?” I spit the words back at him, standing up now and looking him right in the eyes. I am mad and I’ll let him have it.
“Do you think some meathead such as yourself isn’t too brutish for someone as smart as Isadora? There’s settling and there’s going far beneath…” Nathan lets his words trail off. That’s probably the first smart thing he’s done since we started verbally sparring over Isadora. But we both know that was too fucking far. I’m not just a cock and a set of fighting arms, and petty insults tell me Nathan’s distracted.
Still, I’m the brutish one, and it all makes sense because right now I want to punch a hole into Nathan’s head then throw him off the nearest cliff. My blood rushes through my veins like a hot geyser ready to erupt, and I don’t need to make him feel vindicated, but I’m quickly losing my cool.
“How I feel about Isadora, truly, is none of your business.” Nathan’s thumb rolls down the tin containing the muffin and then he tosses it at me. “Get some fiber, you look like you might burst.”
I catch it and crumble it in my hands, decimating it over the grapefruit I’d been about to eat. Bacon and eggs are my thing, but after I introduced Isadora to the gardens despite them being there the whole time, I figure I’d try another piece of the breakfast procession. But I picked a poor date for that, it seems. Who can eat a grapefruit if it’s covered in muffin? Maybe after I stab the serrated edge of the grapefruit spoon into Nathan’s chest, then I’ll eat a muffin.
“Get over yourself and keep whatever shit you have planned away from Isadora; she doesn’t deserve anything you have to offer.” I can offer my own low blow. I might appreciate the fact that he pulled himself back from how far he overstepped with those earlier comments, but first I’m going to let this seething rage subside by fizzling out in its own timeline.
Nathan raises an eyebrow, and that smug look of satisfaction on his face keeps my blood boiling. “Actually, I’m off to tea with Isadora and Queen Illeana.” He wields the words like a victory. “Did she not tell you that she’d be with me instead of breakfast with you?” Nathan turns around to leave, and I ignore him best I can, which isn’t that difficult because now I’m thinking about how I’m not going to see Isadora yet. I can’t believe just how disappointed that makes me feel, how it can distract even my hottest rage, but I am infatuated with her like I’ve never felt before.
Chapter Eight
Nathan
“Why are you like this?” I say aloud to no one but myself. And there’ll be no one around me to talk at all if I let my scheming ways and this temper I seem to be fostering make my decisions for me. Truly, I’m normally a very calm person.
Truthfully, I know that I was in the wrong for what I said this morning. I’ve let other matters get to me, tensions I have about the queen and frustrations that tear at me about the latest foreign affairs debacles that won’t be solved with marriages get me.
I overstepped with Vincent. I’m not one to normally admit that, but I know that I did. The reason I said such a terrible thing, well, the truth is ugly, but I wonder if it isn’t because I don’t know how to deal with the guileless fact of the matter. Vincent and I share a common goal. We both want Isadora to be happy. And if she truly wants us both, what’s wrong with that?
A reasonable, calm person capable of trusting others easily might have taken a more sane approach. Instead, I attempted to challenge the veins in his neck to burst before Vincent could strangle my neck and the veins along with it.
I don’t play well with others. But Isadora’s not a game, she’s my future. Our future. So I’m going to have to start getting along with Vincent.
Queen Illeana rises to greet me, a little much considering that Isadora simply nods and smiles at me. There’s a demure nature to Isadora’s very breathing. Isadora’s presence is intoxicating. Even the elegantly clothed queen can’t distract me when Isadora is around. She’s so stunning I could forget my own name when I look at her.
