Page 41 of The Reluctant Heir

I groan, covering my face with my hands. “We really have to find Lucien.”

“Yes,” Julien agrees. “Because then, there will be a whole extra person between me and the chance of ever being heir.”

“I can see where that would be an appealing idea,” I say, suddenly longing I had ten cousins between me and the throne like I do for my grandfather’s throne.

Julien pats me on top of my head.

I shoot a glare at him. “I’m not a dog for you to pet.”

“Hey, I got rid of your date for you last night.” He points a finger at me. “You should be nice to me.”

“You’re annoying, but I love you anyway.”

He whips his head to look at me, a huge smile playing on his lips. “I love you too, Maddie.”

12

YOU CAN PRACTICE ON ME

Silencing a person’s notifications doesn’t keep them from calling. And ignoring their calls doesn’t keep them fromtexting. I cringe when I see five unanswered text messages.

I’ve done my best to avoid Prince Lucas. In the meantime, I’ve been spending my weekday nights learning how to be queen and my weekend nights going out with whichever prince Kaine has set me up on a date with. If I thought Kaine would take it easy on me, I was sorely mistaken. He is bound and determined to get me married off as quickly as possible.

“How was your date last night?” Kaine comes into my office with a stack of books. Unfortunately, it’s not the fun kind of books with romance and a fun storyline. Oh, no, my luck is unfortunately not that great.

The books make a loud thunk as he drops them onto my desk. I already know that they’re law books—specifically,vampirelaw books. Nobody warned me that, as heir and future queen, I have to know the laws of my people. Though, maybe that should have been obvious.

“Being heir isn’t fun.” I poke out my bottom lips as I look at the title on the first book.

Laws & Regulations on Biting Humans, Vol I.

“There are thirty volumes on that particular subject.” Kaine sits down across from me. “Biting humans has fallen out of favor as of late, with blood packs being the go to, but some vampires still prefer to keep human blood donors.”

My eyes widen. “Is that legal?”

He holds the book out toward me. “I guess you will have to read and find out.”

I groan, flopping my head against my desk with a loud thump.

Kaine chuckles. “Are you going to ignore my initial question?”

That causes me to lift my head. “Which question?”

“You had a date with Prince Caedmon—”

I cut him off. “He decided to end the date early.”

He lifts an eyebrow. “What happened?”

I give him my best innocent look. “Nothing happened. Prince Caedmon is very… attractive. He could give an incubus a run for their money.”

“That’s… good.” Kaine eyes me warily. “But I have a feeling you’re being vague on purpose.”

I tap my fingers on my desk. “What is there to say? He started the night by propositioning me. I would’ve punched him, but after the lectures you’ve given me aboutaccidentallypunching Damek, I can only imagine I would’ve been in even more trouble for purposefully punching a prince.”

“You would be correct.” His face goes pale. “Prince Caedmon’s mother is trigger happy. She is the type of person who would start a war over her son being punched.”

Well, it’s good that I didn’t punch him then.

---