Page 56 of Pawns of Fate
He grinned and ran a hand through his hair.
“Kreystallia told me two foreigners bought jewelry from her a few days ago. We haven’t been getting many outsiders visiting lately, so I wondered if it was you and that short girl.”
“Yes,” Rose answered carefully, ignoring how he called Ava ‘that short girl.’ The Ojoh weren’t bound to rank and title like most of Albion. He probably wasn’t trying to insult her, though it was hard to tell with Camillus. His perpetually smug demeanor made all of his words sound insulting.
“I bought some bracelets yesterday. The pieces are so unique; I wanted to collect a few more.”
“My wife will be pleased to hear that.”
“Your wife?”
“Yes, she’s my wife. You didn’t think I’d spent the past five years pining over our summer romance, did you?”
He looked down at her with an arrogant smile. Rose’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Of course, she didn’t think Camillus had spent any time pining over her—he’d been the one to dump her that summer so long ago. He’d known that her time as a captive was coming to an end, so he’d done the sensible thing and ended the relationship so that she could go back to her family with no qualms. Rose was devastated at the time —Camillus was her first love, and she’d been so young—but in hindsight, he had done the right thing. It would have caused a lot of political tension or even a war if Rose had refused to go back to the Robsons over her feelings for one Ojoh boy.
“You’re married, too. And you did far better for yourself than being stuck in the desert with some Ojoh warrior.” Hisvoice carried a small thread of wistfulness.
Camillus’s words put a bittersweet taste in her mouth. In one regard, he was right. She had ended up marrying the heir to an entire province. In practicality, she was here, and Nicholas was stuck in her uncle’s foggy swamps, chasing monsters.
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” he added.
“I’m not uncomfortable. You just caught me off guard. You always do. I didn’t know that your wife owned this jewelry shop, or I wouldn’t have purchased anything.”
“Don’t say that! She’d be furious if I lost her customers!”
“Alright, then. I’ll keep shopping here. Tell your wife that our history has nothing to do with my appreciation for her products.”
“Why don’t you tell her yourself?”
“Why would I do that?’
Camillus scratched his head and looked sheepishly away from Rose. “Because I’d like you to eat dinner with my wife and me.”
“What?”
“It was her idea, not mine. She wants to propose some business ideas to you.”
“Does she know that we used to be—” Rose lowered her voice to a whisper “—romanticallyinvolved?” She couldn’t imagine asking for a business dinner with one of Nicholas’s former lovers, but the Ojoh were less concerned with monogamy than the rest of Albion.
“Yes, everyone in my hometown knows I had a short relationship with the pink princess five years ago. It was veryhot gossip for a while, despite how hard we tried to conceal the relationship. I sometimes wonder if hiding it made the rumors grow.”
Rose’s eyebrow twitched. “Pink princess?”
“That’s always been your nickname among the Ojoh.” Camillus motioned to her hair as if the nickname were old news.
Rose thought her cheeks might catch on fire. “I’m not a princess.”
Camillus shrugged. “Noble titles are all the same to us. Will you come to dinner or not?”
Rose was still internally debating how to respond when Ava and Lyla entered the store.
“Short princess, will you come to dinner with Lady Rose, my wife, and me?” Camillus asked before Rose could explain.
“Will there be authentic Ojoh cuisine?” Ava asked without any concern for being called ‘short princess.’
“I don’t know what else we would serve.”
“Then, yes! I would be delighted. Our maidservant will need to join, too. She’s required to accompany us everywhere. Is that alright?”
