Page 33 of The Heart of the King

“No. You can’t.”

Her feet hit the floor, and she stood up. “Are you giving me an order?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it an order,” he equivocated. “But you can’t go.”

Jasmine glared at him. “I know you have this whole thing here in Auverignon where women aren’t as important as men or whatever, but you can’t tell me I can or cannot go visit my family.”

By now, the applying the labelangerto his emotion was more appropriate. “I can, and I am. I am the king of Auverignon, and I am your husband. You cannot take this trip to the States. The answer is no.”

Her eyes narrowed, and David felt certain lasers might shoot out of them at any moment. “You might be king of Auverignon, but I’m fairly certain the framed vows they gave us didn’t have the wordsobey without questioningin them anywhere. I suggest you figure out how to talk to a woman in an adult relationship, or it won’t matter if you’re the king, because I won’t be coming back.”

12

As soon as the words left her mouth, Jazz regretted them, but she didn’t regret the sentiment behind them.

David’s mouth hardened into a line. “Then perhaps that would be best. I’ll see to it your things are returned to your hometown.”

Jazz felt her shoulders slump then she straightened them again. “I am an adult attempting to have an adult relationship. Before I run off, I’m going to attempt to talk you into being reasonable.”

“I’m not the one being unreasonable,” he told her, his arms still crossed over his chest like he was talking to a child in trouble.

Or being one.

“Yes. You are. You told me I could arrange a trip home.”

“No.” He held up a hand before she could protest. “I said a trip home could be arranged. There’s a difference.”

She gave a half-shrug. “Semantics.”

“No. It’s not.” A thought seemed to occur to him. “Who did your security briefing? Didn’t they say anything to you about travel?”

“What security briefing?” Now that he mentioned it, it did seem a little weird that no one had talked to her about such things. She was a queen now, as odd as that seemed, but she didn’t have any security.

Was that the big deal?

She sank back down into her seat as it hit her. “Oh.” Her voice came out much quieter.

“Oh, what?” His voice seemed to lose some of its emotion as well.

“I’m a queen now. I can’t just fly coach back to the States, can I?” She looked down at the crumpled pieces of paper in her hand. “Certainly not by myself.”

“You were going to fly coach?” David reached for the papers. “Why?”

“Because I don’t have the kind of money to fly first class. Besides, I’m not even making any money anymore. All I have is what’s in my savings accounts, and that won’t last very long if I’m paying to upgrade my seats to the Springfield airport with any sort of regularity.”

“First of all, I need to have Stewart make sure you have access to some of the bank accounts. There’s no reason you need to spend your hard-earned savings on anything unless you want to.” He sat in one of the other chairs.

“Thank you.” This seemed to be going a bit better than it had been a few minutes earlier.

“Second, you can’t travel anywhere outside the palace without a security escort. Ever. Period. It’s not always fun, but it’s the way it has to be. Especially with how unpopular my parents and grandfather are, it’s entirely possible you or I could be the target of unhappy citizens.”

An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach. “Really?”

David nodded. “It’s not likely that anything worse than a thrown drink or hurled insult would happen, but there’s no reason to take the risk.”

Just that was enough to make Jazz want to stay palace-bound for the foreseeable future, and she told him so.

He shook his head. “I understand the sentiment, butoutis the best place to be, most of the time. There’s something about connecting with your people, actual people, that is indescribable. Especially when I visit a location that’s making a difference in their lives. Whether it’s a shelter taking care of people who need help, or a new warehouse providing jobs, or a clinic providing health care, it’s a very cool place to be.”

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