Page 89 of The Midnight Princess
She lifts a shoulder. “It makes you all look like medieval knights, snapping their helmets down and charging the dread host with blood and vengeance at the end of your lance.”
“Is this a good thing?”
Again, she smiles, and it gives way to stupid laughter. That kiss released something we can’t lock back up. I want her. She wants me. We can’t unknow it.
“All right,” she breathes, reaching for the door handle. I watch her get out, buttoning her jacket.Chol, I’d believe she’s on her way to poison an archbishop.
“Now you,” she says, closing the door on my hungry face. She retreats to a maintenance cart, leaning against it.
Having received so much instruction, my movements are jerky under her exacting gaze.
“You’re like a marionette. Now try it without thinking so hard.”
I repeat the process several times, getting smoother each time, looking for her approval. “Stop worrying about what I think,” she says. “You’re the crown prince of Vorburg, and you’ve come to solve the housing crisis or weed out corruption in the financial sector. Be sure to turn to greet the crowd.” I wave and even that comes under scrutiny. “Dial that down. You’re not a puppy looking for attention. You already have it.”
She runs me through my paces several more times. More than necessary. Finally, I get it through my thick skull that she’s checking me out.
“Alma,” I admonish, pushing the button through the hole for the ninth time, “what are you doing?” I turn and give a brief wave, walking to the cones. The process over, I make my way to her. I should stop well away, put my hands in my pockets, and wait for the performance review. I don’t. I inch close, crowding her against the workbench, and placing my hands on either side of her.
“Do I need to make a human resources complaint?” I ask.
She looks unrepentant. “What would you tell them?”
“I’d tell them a princess of Sondmark is objectifying me.” I inch closer. I’m playing with fire, flicking the lighter and rollingmy fingers through the orange flame. This is going to end with third-degree burns.
She bites her lip and runs her finger down my lapel with a light touch. “You’re not the crown prince of Sondmark.”You’re not the boss of me.
My feelings for her are like a foot planted between my shoulder blades, forcing me into her arms. She would take me. I’m an idiot to refuse.
I drop my head. “Alma,” I groan, “we agreed not to do this.”
She runs a hand through my hair, gripping it, a sound of frustration in her throat as she tugs my head back. “I agreed to nothing of the sort. There are good reasons to delay announcing my broken engagement,” she says, eyes dipping to my mouth. “And you can’t stop me from hoping you’ll change your mind.”
I’ve felt this feeling—an echo of it—on a motorcycle. Pouring through a turn, hitting gravel, and feeling the control slip, slip, slip. Surrendering myself to the inevitability of pain. A fool would know better than to play around with this.
I’m worse than a fool.
I narrow the distance between us. A flush washes over her cheeks, her hand slips out of my hair, and she tips her face up. If I have to suffer this temptation, she’ll suffer with me.
“It could be you,” I say, lips a breath away from her mouth, “who changes her mind. You could announce that you’re done with Pietor and that you’ve taken up with a man from Vorburg. You could do it today.”
I want to give her a taste of my own torment. Instead, I’m caught in the dangerous undertow of how much I wanther. Her breath hitches, and her eyes drift closed.
I—
I hear a metal door clang open. Alma ducks past me, and I drop my head.
Karl’s voice rings across the spacious garage. “His Majesty the King is on the phone, Your Royal Highness. He would like to speak with you.”
26
Diligent Student
ALMA
The following week, I gather with Jacob’s team in the drawing room for a short stretch of instruction before I have to run off to a family meeting. Seated at the table, I catch my reflection in one of the palace mirrors. Despite a carefully managed diet, regular exercise, and challenging work, my resolve to uncomplainingly carry the burdens of royal life has worn thin. Keeping myself from Jacob is arduous.
I thought I was happy before. I had my father, brother, and sisters. My mother trusted me to support her at every turn. Pietor’s infidelity was an obstacle to be surmounted, not stumbled over. Then Jacob happened.
