Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97633 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97633 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
“You’re such as—”
“Eliza.” My mother’s tone was a clear warning, and I grinned.
“Thank you, Mother.”
“Do not thank me yet. We have funds available to you there. Do something to make up for this morning, and also, take her somewhere nice. You do not want her to feel you are so dependent on her. You are a prince. Show her the greatness of that.”
“Yes, Mother.” What else could I do but say yes and thank you?
“I am serious, Gale. She is not the same as your other female friends.”
Female friends? Is that what she called them. I shook my head. “Mother, I need to go.”
“Wait a moment,” Arthur called.
Dear God, rescue me from this conversation.
“Yes, brother.” I heard something on the other line, and waited, not sure what I was hearing. “Hello?”
“I had them leave,” he stated. “How are you truly?”
“Has it even been a full day since I left? Yet you are worried about me. I am touched—”
“Let me clarify,” he interrupted. “What do you think of her? Do you like her?”
I had no idea how to go about answering that question. Scratching the back of my head, I shrugged. “It is too soon, Arthur—”
“Do not give me that. You are the first person to have an opinion of a person upon first meeting them. When you first met Lady Schwarz, you said, and I quote, ‘She is the most pretentious, overindulgent, cocker spaniel-looking woman I have ever met.’”
Why did he have to remember every horrible thing I said?
“I was young when I said—”
“You are still young. The only difference between then and now is you only think those things and have the good manners not to say it aloud anymore.” He chuckled. “So, what have you thought about her.”
I thought she was breathtakingly beautiful. But if I said that, I would never live it down, and should this not work, he would forever hold it over my head.
“Again, I just met her, but if you must know, she’s bossy, temperamental, and prone to outburst.”
“Your Highness.”
I glanced at Iskandar. However, he was not looking at me but behind me. Immediately, the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Slowly, I turned...and sure enough, there she stood, dressed in a sweater, jeans, and boots. Her curls were pulled back into a ponytail, and her brown eyes were glaring directly at me.
I could feel my heart begin to race, my brain shut down, and all I could do was glance back at Iskandar. “Was I speaking in English or Ersovian?”
“English,” she answered instead. “Still speaking English, by the way.”
Of bloody course, I was. Damn it!
“I was—”
“Bossy, temperamental, and prone to outburst?” With each word, she took a step down the stairs. “That sounds horrible.”
“I did not mean it like that.”
“Yes, because there are different ways to mean that,” she said through a fake-looking smile, clearly trying not to tell me now. “Those aren’t royal characteristics, are they? It seems I’m not your girl, then. Good luck finding another heiress. Goodbye.”
“Wait, Odette!” I tried to rush after her as I moved to the door only to bang my foot against the couch. “Fuck! Ah!”
“Your Highness.” Iskandar moved to help me, but I stuck out my hand to stop him, sucked up the pain, and stood straighter.
“There is a first-aid kit in the bathroom,” she said, opening the front door only to have Wolfgang standing there with what was supposed to be breakfast.
Like an idiot, he grinned wide. “Hello—”
“Is all of Ersovia stopping by?” she snapped, shaking her head and brushing by him.
Wolfgang’s eyes widened, and he looked to me. “Did I do something?”
I didn’t even have the energy to speak. So, I took a seat on the couch. I leaned back, closing my eyes. Was there any way to repeat this morning? How did everything turn into such a colossal mess?
“Gale? Gale?”
Frowning, I opened my eyes again and saw I was still holding the phone. Arthur was still on the line?
“Thank you for making this morning worse, Arthur,” I snapped into the phone.
“Did you not go after her?”
“Go after her? She did not look like she wanted me to go after her.”
I could hear him sigh through the phone. “Over the years, I have heard an onslaught of rumors of how romantic you are. That, of the two of us, you were the most charming when it came to women. Here I thought this would be a breeze for you, but apparently, you have no clue how to sweep a woman off her feet. They have just been falling before you because you are a prince.”
I pulled the phone from my ear, biting my cheek to keep from cursing to high heaven and back. “I have to go, Arthur!” I snapped, hanging up and tossing the phone as far away from me as possible.