Page 36 of The King's Fake Bride

“No, she doesn’t. That wasn’t part of the contract, and I won’t force it to be either.” I grab the tablet and open a file that I sent along this morning. “I want to revise the line of succession. No more first male heir. The crown is going to pass to the monarch’s eldest child, regardless of gender.”

“Not going to happen.” Jorge shakes his head, gray hair scattering like leaves on the breeze. “You can’t just change the line of succession.”

“Why not? As of my coronation, I’m king, and I believe that means I can do what I want.” I gesture to the file on the screen. “This is the outdated line of succession policy. You both know that Yorgos was planning on addressing this as well.”

The color drains from Jorge’s face like he didn’t anticipate me knowing about the proposed policy change. “We weren’t truly considering that.”

“Well, now we are.” I get up, pacing to the windows and looking out over the castle grounds.

Amy is out at the stables with Daphne, and by the looks of things, Daphne is trying to teach her how to ride.

My heart hammers through my chest when Amy throws her head back laughing as she manages to get on the horse.

Turning from the window, I give Jorge a stern look. “I’m not going to be met with resistance on this. We can address it with the council, but this isn’t me asking for permission. I will be changing the line of succession, and there’s nothing else to say about the matter.”

Atticus strokes a hand over his jaw. “I think it’s a good thing, but I think we need to address it in the right way. You know that the council is a bunch of older people stuck in their ways.”

He says the last part with a pointed glance at Jorge, and I struggle to hold back a grin.

I know that the most difficult part of passing the policy change is going to be Jorge. He may not have been this difficult to deal with if Yorgos was still alive, but he seems hellbent on making everything I do an uphill battle.

And in a way, I understand.

I wasn’t the king the country wanted.

When I was born, I was the spare to my brother. If anything happened to him, that was when I would take the throne. If he didn’t want to speak at an event, it was left to me.

Although, Yorgos liked the events. He loved being at the center of it all and serving his people in whatever way he could.

I was left to my own devices, and now that’s coming back to bite me.

Jorge rises from his chair and begins pacing from one side of the room to the other. “I don’t know how you think this is going to go over. The Ariti family has ruled over Katastinia for almost a millennium. You want to end that by changing the line of succession?”

“I want to prolong that. Right now, when there isn’t a male born into the current monarch’s family, he has to pass it to the next relative. If I die without having a son, the monarchy passes to Stavros, who we can all agree would see this country burn to the ground for his own self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Atticus nods. “Dad has plans for when he takes the throne since he thinks that you’re going to abdicate, and none of them are going to move Katastinia forward with the times.”

“Exactly,” I say. “Now, if I had a daughter, but the throne couldn’t go to her, we would still be looking at Stavros taking the throne. Which isn’t going to happen.”

Jorge stops at the window, his body tensing and arms dropping to his sides as he looks at me. “Do you think now is the right time? We’re busy planning for your wedding, which is rapidly approaching, and then there’s the task of trying to teach the American how to appear at royal events.”

“Her name is Amy, and you will start referring to her as such. If you cannot do that, then you will explain to the rest of the council why you cannot do so,” I say, ice in my voice.

This game Jorge is playing is getting old. It might be his job to challenge me and make me think, but he’s pushing it too far.

I wish Yorgos were alive. He would know how to get Jorge to fall into line.

Jorge sighs. “Now isn’t a good time to change the line of succession.”

“And in your mind, there’s never going to be a good time,” Atticus says, jumping in before I can. “You think that stickingto the old ways is for the best, but times are changing, as is the country. We need to change along with it.”

“I’ll think about this, but we really do need to think about the best way to put this to the rest of the council.” Jorge’s voice is strained, his face red.

“You can think about the best way to put this forward all you want, but I expect this news to be broken to the rest of them by the end of the day.”

Getting up, I head out of the conference room and down the hall.

Atticus catches up to me as I round a corner toward the door that leads out to the stables. “Do you really think dealing with him that way was for the best? You know he’s a vindictive little man, and he’s going to make sure this is the biggest uphill battle you’ve ever had.”

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