Page 17 of Will You (Not) Marry Me

“So make her be the one to break it off,” Tobias said simply. “She clearly doesn’t like you all that much either.”

“And how do I do that?”

“Irritate her just as much as she irritates you.”

“And I repeat, how do I do that?”

“Be nice to her.”

Finn just blinked at him, slack-jawed. Maybe Tobias was the crazy one.

“You can hear yourself, right?” Finn said. “You hear the words you’re saying.”

“If there’s one thing I know about politics,” said Tobias smugly, “it’s that the more someone hates you, the nicer you must be to them.”

“To be the bigger person?”

“Thatand also because it will drive them absolutely insane.” He offered a wicked grin at that. Hmm… maybe his suggestion wasn’t all that crazy after all.

“Don’t sink to her level,” he continued. “You have to kill her with kindness. Give her nothing to pick at, no ledge to grip onto, no hole to squeeze herself into. If she really is just a terrible person, then she’ll get bored and back off and you’ll have time to think up an excuse to end the engagement without looking like a brute. It can look like it just fizzled out with no one at fault. But if everyone else thinks she’s as sweet as pie… maybe there’s more to it than that.”

“Are you suggesting that it’s all just an act?” asked Finn, disbelieving. “Like some weird alter ego?”

Tobias shrugged. “Maybe she’s notmanipulatingyou as such… Maybe it’s more of a test.”

“Testing what?! Whether I can be annoyed enough to murder someone?”

Tobias laughed. “I won’t pretend like I understand women; I’ve been single for a while, and my foot ends up in my mouth more often than not. But if you don’t want to call it off and want to see it through for a bit longer, treat it like an experiment. See what you uncover. For your sanity, at least.”

Tobias had a habit of being annoyingly wise and, despite saying he didn’t understand women, seemed to be onto something.

Finn sighed and wiped his hands down his face.

“I should get back,” he said. “People will be starting to wonder where I’ve gone.”

Tobias heaved himself out of his armchair and hauled Finn up on his way to the door.

“Allow me to escort you back to the fence hole, Your Highness. Unless you’d like to take the opportunity to disappear forever, adopt a new identity, and live out your life in freedom and solitude?”

Finn sighed. “Tempting. But no. I don’t want this woman to have the satisfaction.”

“That’s the spirit. Sneaking back through the fence it is.”

CHAPTER7

FINN

In a very short space of time, Finn had managed to find a level of zen and peace within himself that he’d never before thought possible. But whatever game Eva was up to with her split personality, Finn was determined to beat her at it. Maybe it was just out of spite, but that turned out to be an excellent motivator.

Both families were sitting in the parlor, Finn perched at one end of the sofa with Eva at the other, a cushion and a half of space firmly between them. At least he could pass it off as being “proper,” when really he was relieved to be able to sit a comfortable distance from her. Eva seemed to be sharing the sentiment, her body turned away from his as much as possible. She was also trying less and less hard to hide her distaste for him when the others were about. Or maybe their body language was only obvious to him, and their parents still thought that this was going fantastically well.

Were they all really that clueless, or just willfully ignorant? Either way, it was just lumping more things onto the pile of distaste that had been growing within him over the last couple of days. He was sick of all the games. They should be able to say, “No, sorry, this isn’t going to work out,” without risking international relations. He should be allowed that, at least. But no. They had to all join in this song and dance no matter how out of hand it got. He often tried to ignore the reality of being a royal, all of the games that needed to be played, or at least convince himself it wasn’t that bad. But right now, it was leaving a sour taste in his mouth.

But after his talk with Tobias, Finn had come up with a scheme to not only get away from the palace for a bit, but also get Eva on her own, where her games might not hold up so well without the rest of the family as an audience.

“I’ve had an idea,” he said, making sure to catch everyone’s attention. He succeeded, everyone falling silent to look at him, even Eva. Good.

“And what’s that?” asked his father.

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