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I have no idea where his bedroom is. I’ve never been there. Whenever I’ve asked anybody, they’ve been evasive about it. But I was wrong about Hannah not being able to help me in this; she finds out in about three minutes, just by playing ditzy to a guard.
I study her scribbled map and tuck it into a drawer with a deep breath before I leave my sitting room. Now that I know Nathan has a bit on the side, I’m not sure what I’ll find when I arrive at his room. What if I barge in there and he’s mid-coitus with his mistress?
Ugh, what if that’s what I’ve been feeling every night, when it seems like his sexual energy is going to reach out grab me and pull me straight into his bed?
The door to Nathan’s tower is hidden. No joke, it’s a hidden panel in the wall of his study, and I have to admit, it’s pretty thrilling to pull a candelabra on the wall and see a huge bookcase swing open to reveal a spiral staircase. But it would be way more fun if I were in an old haunted house movie or something, instead of my life.
At least I’m dressed the part, in a long, silky, white nightgown.
I climb the stairs, my heart in my throat. He’s in here, the tie between us gives that away. But he hasn’t come to investigate why I’m here, and as I reach the top steps, I’m sure I’m going to find him with her. And I’m going to be wearing a thin silk chemise with spaghetti straps, like I’ve come here on a seduction mission.
It’s really more of a teasing mission. I know he’ll be able to see the dip of my navel where the fabric clings to it, the points of my nipples against the silk. But if he’s already fucking someone, I’m not sure it’ll be much of a tease.
I really hope he’s not fucking her.
But he’s just sitting in a chair in front of a crackling fire, having a glass of something dark. He raises it to me as if in toast. “You found me.”
“Yes, despite your ridiculous, Captain Dracula bookshelf nonsense, I found you.” I try to mask my relief at his otherwise empty room with snark.
“Dracula was a count. Not a captain,” he corrects me. He gets to his feet, and I note his lack of clothing, apart from some black silk boxers.
If he approaches me, I’m going to fling myself against his body. I won’t be able to help myself.
When he doesn’t approach me, I’m disappointed.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Is it about the gracious invitation a friend of mine received?” At least he seems amused by it, not furious. “She sends her regrets, by the way.”
“Oh, gosh, I’m so disappointed,” I say in my most obnoxiously syrupy tone. “I hope it wasn’t anything I did…”
“It’s what I did,” he says with a shrug, refilling his glass from a decanter on a side table.
The king’s room couldn’t be more different from the queen’s. While I’m over there in a dollhouse built out of cupcakes, he’s practically drowning in a pool of testosterone. The four poster bed is topped with finials of carved wooden antlers. Mounted deer heads look down on us from every wall, and a taxidermized cougar is caught mid-spring above the enormous mantle.
“And what did you do, Gaston?” I ask, gesturing to the black bear rug on the black-and-white checked marble floor.
Nathan chuckles. “I haven’t had time to redecorate. King Victor’s taste was… compensating for something.”
“Uh-huh.” I walk slowly across the room, avoiding the rug, to stand beside the second armchair in front of the fire. “What did you do?”
Nathan sighs deeply. “I told her not to come. That you didn’t want her there and that, as queen, it was your right to remove her from the guest list.”
“Because it is my right. And you should have done this from the beginning.” If he thinks I’m going to thank him, or grovel because he’s thrown me this one, tiny bone, he’s delusional.
“Was that what you needed to speak to me about tonight, Bailey?” Nathan’s voice around my name might as well be his arms around my body. “Or are you here for another reason?”
“Not the reason you’re hoping for,” I shut him down immediately. “You have to do a lot better than keeping your potentially traitorous deposed former royal side piece from coming to my party.”
“You’re very good at being queen, already,” he quips.
“I’ve decided to bring my sisters to court.”
“To…court?” He takes a sip from his glass, and I can almost hear his mind working. He swallows and says, “I haven’t heard any mention of a court for a long time.”
“That’s very shortsighted of you.” I say it as though it’s a compliment. “You would think that with traitors everywhere, you’d want to have your allies as close as possible. And the people who aren’t your allies, of course.”
