Page 66 of 2 Books in One Bundle
He followed her with his eyes as she sat down. ‘Given our current situation, I think we are past formalities, wouldn’t you say? Call me Vasili.’
‘My name is Helia,’ she replied in a soft voice.
For the first time since he’d been told his brother had died, Vasili wanted to genuinely smile. She was a little gauche, and he couldn’t help but find it endearing. She was a lamb in a den of wolves. A woman like her should never be shackled to a debaucher. Especially not one who held the throne in such contempt.
‘I would ask you how you are, but I imagine you have no good answer right now, and for that I must apologise.’
‘I appreciate that, Your—Vasili.’
Her skin was tinged red and Vasili had the mad impulse to run his fingers over it. Would she feel hot to the touch?
He took a steadying breath. Seeing Helia in front of him had brought home just what he had set in motion. ‘I realise I have placed us in a difficult situation, but I want you to know that you can be honest with me. In fact, I insist on it. And I will do the same. Understood?’
Helia nodded.
‘I need you to say the words, Helia.’
He saw the flash of her pupils dilating and he imagined a different circumstance when he might say those same words. Her name felt like a caress on his tongue.
‘I understand.’
‘Why are you agreeing to this madness? Surely you were given the choice to refuse me?’
Helia looked away. Wavy caramel curls fell over curved shoulders, and she avoided his gaze before she straightened, and looked him in the eye. At first Vasili had thought her meek. Timid. Now he could see there was fire in her. It shouldn’t tempt him as much as it did.
‘If I can make a difference to people as Queen, in any way, I would be a fool to say no. I may be a commoner, but I think that gives me a voice few ever get to use. I know better than most what it’s like to be forgotten.’
Vasili walked to the front of the large desk and perched on the edge, getting as close to Helia as he dared without touching her. ‘What do you mean?’
But she didn’t respond. He couldn’t blame her. He had asked for honesty, but not for her to bare her secrets. Even if she seemed attracted to him, she didn’t know him, and she had no reason to answer. So he respected her silent request for him not to push.
‘Helia, you are not being forced to accept this situation. If you feel there are needs not being met in our kingdom...if you feel that you need to be the voice of those without one...that’s fine. You can talk to me and I will listen. You don’t have to sacrifice your life for it. Regardless of what anyone says, you have a choice. You always have a choice.’
He hadn’t anticipated that things would reach this point, but he now realised that he had doubled down on his decision only because Andreas had caused him to snap. He’d reacted in the way he always did. By resisting.
Helia was trying desperately to banish the flight of butterflies in her stomach. Her heart was racing, as it had been since she’d walked into the office. Having worked at the palace for two years, she knew exactly how to behave in the presence of royalty, and she was certain she had always come across as polite and self-contained. Yet from the moment she’d walked into this room she had been overwhelmed by the new King’s presence.
It took a mammoth effort for her to focus on the words he had been saying. It seemed surreal that he was saying them, and speaking had become difficult.
‘I respect that,’ Helia said, trying to keep the wobble of nerves from her voice.
He had told her to be honest, but she didn’t know if her thoughts were too bold to say out loud.
‘Whatever is on your mind, you can say it, Helia.’
She wasn’t so sure about that...
‘You have agreed to be Queen,’ Vasili said with a small smirk. ‘How are you going to do that if you can’t talk to me?’
She had agreed, and now she wondered if that had been a terrible mistake. What was she thinking? She couldn’t be the King’s equal. But she couldn’t waste a chance to help the orphanage.
‘I will offer you a thought if you offer me one. Does that sound fair?’ he asked.
She nodded, still unsure and feeling completely out of her depth.
‘I’m wondering how you could agree to this. If you’re actually okay with the thought of being Queen...of being married to me. I see how tense you are and I think that you aren’t okay, and that this world I live in might be more cut-throat than you are prepared to handle.’
Helia hadn’t realised how perceptive he was. Of course she hadn’t. She had never been in his company long enough to notice anything. She hated it that he was probably right. She didn’t know how to deal with royal business, and that in particular scared her. As honourable as her intentions were, the worry that she might fail spectacularly as Queen still sat at the back of her mind.
