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“Have you been listening? The prime minister is talking about centuries of slavery and colonization. I got here three months ago! This has nothing to do with me, but you were willing to use me to clean up your mess and I refuse to do it. Being a part of this,” she said with a sneer, waving a hand to encompass... everything, “cuts intomydignity as a woman of color.”
Rage mottled Marina’s pale cheeks as she registered Dani’s reference to what the prime minister had said. “If you walk out of here now, you’ll lose that business contract.”
Jameson frowned.What business contract?
“I’ll take my chances,” Dani said.
The queen set her jaw. “I will ruin you.”
“Take a number. You’ve all tried your best. And yet, I’m still standing,” Dani said.
She looked his way, mouthedI’m sorry, and made her escape through the hidden door concealed by an enormous mirror and stone inlaid ebony cabinet.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Visits from our commonwealth countries always remind me of the relationship we share with them. Your coming here shows the importance both of us attach to that relationship. As we face the challenges of the twenty-first century, please be reminded that we are stronger together than we ever are separated. And as we look to the future, I’m confident our common goals and shared values will continue to unite us.”
From Queen Marina’s speech at the State Banquet of the State Visit of the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia.
Her Majesty is pictured alongside the Prime Minister, Prince Jameson, and Duchess in the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace.
@TheBritishRoyalFamily, Instagram
Holy shit.
Dani staggered over to a yellow silk-covered accent chair grouped with a sofa, chaise, and table next to the large white hand-carved marble fireplace. She braced a hip against its golden crest rail and inhaled deeply, pressing a hand to her pounding heart.
Had she actually done that? Essentially told the queen to fuck off?
It didn’t take long for the adrenaline to desert her and send her mood crashing to the Earth’s core. She’d done it and the queen was right. Not attending the banquet meant kissing that contract good-bye.
But it had been worth it. Dani hadn’t acted impulsively. She wasn’t hangry, although she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. She’d made a choice. She refused to let the queen tokenize her just to cling to a nation of people who wanted to be free.
All for a contract.
Thatwould’ve been when she’d officially sold out, not the hurt feeling bullshit Cash had been peddling.
“This is getting to be a habit,” Jameson said.
Dani whirled around to find him standing there, gorgeous in white tie and his full royal regalia.
For someone who’d never been particularly interested in or excited about assuming his role as a royal, it fit him well. But then, from her perspective, everything did.
“You should go back. Your grandmother will be furious.”
“I don’t care. What was all of that about? And what did she mean by ‘you’ll lose that business contract’?”
She took a step back. She couldn’t tell him. He’d be livid. He’d think she’d used him, just like others in his past. The way his family was now. She couldn’t bear for him to view her with that same disillusionment.
“It doesn—”
“No.”
Her head jerked at his abrupt denial. The professor was in the house and he wasn’t going to let her get away with brushing him off. Not this time.
“Are you ready to tell me what’s wrong?”
Her vision blurred with unshed tears. “Oh, Jay, I don’t know if it matters now.”
