Page 67 of The Stolen Princess
He tilted his head considering her. “You’re not at all what I expected the princess of Tolsten to be like.”
“Oh? Please tell me what you thought the princess of Tolsten would be like,” she said, unable to hide her mockery.
Drake thought about it as he loaded the supplies back into the medic kit. He turned around, leaning against the table, folding his arms across his chest. “I’ve only met one other princess besides you, and you couldn’t be more different from her.”
“You’re talking about Princess Seran?”
Drake nodded. “I am.”
Myka straightened, and her expression went hard. “What made Princess Seran so much better than me?”
“I didn’t say she was better than you. I said she was different. Seran was poised, regal, controlled, elegant, and mature. She was all about becoming and fulfilling her future role as queen.”
Myka let out a small laugh and dropped her eyes, giving Drake the sense that he had hurt her feelings. “Well, I’m none of those things, so I’m definitely not fit to be a queen someday.”
“That’s not true. You have other qualities that, if developed the right way, would make you a great queen.”
Her blue eyes lifted. “Like what?”
The usual bite in her tone was gone. It was as though she wanted—no,needed—to hear what those qualities were.
“You’re bold. You do things your way, and you don’t care what people think about it. That tells me that as a queen, you wouldn’t get pushed around. You’re brave and have fight inside of you. If channeled in the right direction, that would be a huge strength for a kingdom. And you’re fiercely loyal.”
Loyal to the wrong people, but loyal nonetheless.
She swallowed and looked away, but not before Drake saw the moisture gathering inside her eyes, like no one had ever told her those things before. With a father like Adler, probably no one ever had.
“Do you want to be queen someday?” he asked.
She shrugged, keeping her focus away from him.
“If you entered the next election in Tolsten and won, you’d be the first queen elected in over one hundred years.”
“I know.” Her words were quiet.
Myka wasn’t fighting him or trying to put him in his place. Maybe this version of her would be more honest. Would she admit that her father was dying—that she might have to face becoming queen sooner than everyone thought? If she did, Grady’s pine nuts would be his.
“But you don’t have to worry about becoming queen for ten more years,” Drake said. “Isn’t that what your father has left in his reign?”
“Um, yeah.” She forced a smile, finally looking back at him. “Ten more years.”
“Great.” He tried to hide the disappointment stirring inside of him. He had wanted Myka to tell him the truth about her father…for the bet, of course. Pine nuts were awesome.
“I heard you talking with Winslow and Dawsick outside of the shack the day we got here,” she said. “I heard what Dawsick said about Princess Seran.”
Drake went back through their conversation, trying to remember.
“He said it was my father’s fault that Princess Seran died.”
So far, Drake had only talked about the weapons with Myka. If she was unwilling to believe her father had weapons, she wasn’t going to believe that he had planned out Seran’s assassination.
“It was your father’s fault,” he said. Drake prepared himself for the onslaught of Myka’s wrath.
She shook her head, laughing. “Of course it was his fault. While we’re at it, why don’t we blame my father for Desolation? He wasn’t alive two hundred years ago, but surely he had some part in that, too.”
“I know the truth is hard for you to hear,” he said calmly.
“The truth! How do I know you’re telling the truth? Is this like how you said my father killedyourfather? Now he killed Seran. Did you see him stand up and shoot Seran with his own gun?”
