Page 14 of How Not to Marry a Prince

No, none of that made sense. Sohan hadn't gotten angry when Amador crashed into him, and he'd helped Amador out of the pond himself rather than sending one of the bodyguards who'd been right there with him. Sohan was being polite, or kind, or both.

Stifling a sigh, at life but mostly himself, Amador set to work on his meal, stomach growling as it finally got what it had been complaining about over the past few hours.

When he was full, he kept what remained of the wine as he returned to work, stretching with a long groan before reclaiming his seat.

By the time he was forced to stop for the night, exhaustion and soreness finally winning out, he had the whole plan not just roughed out, but firmed up. All he needed was to have the paperwork officially drawn up and schedule an appointment with Lipovsky.

Thankfully, those were the easy parts. For better and worse, people rarely told a prince no. If only the Ottokars of the world listened when they were told no.

In his room, a bath was waiting, still steaming, by the fire that had been laid. "Bibiana, your timing is impeccable."

She laughed, looking up briefly from the jacket she was embroidering. "Wasn't me, though I was waiting for you to return so I could order the bath. This arrived just a few minutes before you did. I assumed you'd sent someone else with the order so it would be waiting."

"No…" Amador said softly, mind spinning with too many emotions to sort. Sending him food was one thing, but surely Sohan wasn't also responsible for the bath? That seemed far too much for simple kindness, even for pity. No, much more likely one of the librarians had said something to a servant, and something had gotten mixed up or misunderstood. "I was in the library all day again, must have been someone there, somehow. Suppose it doesn't matter. Soledad—"

"Sir?" Soledad asked, standing from the desk where he'd been sorting through what looked like correspondence.

"Why are you working so late?"

"I wanted to run some errands in town, so I was trying to get a bit ahead on the correspondence now."

"Ah. Actually, if you're going to be in town, you can do your errands on duty if you'll also take this and get it properly drawn up for me, and locate some notaries that I'll need as soon as the contract is ready." He could easily have it all taken care of there in the palace, but if he did that the gossip would spread before dinner. "If you can also get me an estimate on when I will have it in hand, schedule an appointment with Lord Lipovsky that same day. That's when we'll need the notaries." He'd also need witnesses, but he'd sort that out later.

"Of course, Your Highness."

"Thank you, I appreciate it." Leaving Soledad to his work, he stripped off his clothes for Bibiana to take away and settled into the hot bath with a groan.

"Would you like your usual soaps, Highness, or one of the new ones?"

Amador's eyes snapped open. "New ones? What new ones?"

Bibiana turned and grabbed something behind her, presenting a beautiful blue wicker basket filled with soaps, lotions, creams, and more. Even a bottle of perfume, if he wasn't mistaken.

"Is this… meant for me?"

She eyed him like she was concerned he was losing his mind but couldn't find a polite way to suggest that. "Who else would it be meant for? It came along with the bath."

Someone, somewhere, was supremely confused and frustrated that their gift had gone—

"Oh, mercy me, there's a note," Bibiana said. "I'm so sorry, Your Highness." She pulled it out, set it aside, and offered a cloth for Amador to dry his hands.

Taking the note, Amador stared at it for a moment, not sure what to make of his name across the front in a beautiful script in gold ink on green paper.

Oh, gods, ink. "Bibiana, how much ink is on my face?"

Bibiana replied gently, "More than Your Highness would actually care to know."

Amador groaned as he covered his face with one hand. No wonder Sohan had felt so sorry for him: harassed into panicked flight by Ottokar, pushed into a pond, hiding in a library, and covered in ink stains. This was why he couldn't get a single person to marry him. He wouldn't want to marry a hopeless twit, either.

Breaking the gold wax seal on the envelope, he pulled out the single small sheet of paper within and unfolded it.

I hope the sunrise brings a better day. Please take care of yourself. ~S

Amador's face went hot, and Bibiana barely caught the slip of paper before it fell into the tub.

S. He only knew one S that could do something like this in the middle of the night on the spur of the moment.

Bibiana seemed faintly amused, though her face gave nothing away, as she asked. "One of the new soaps, then, Your Highness?"

---