Total pages in book: 230
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
She had to offer him an out if he wanted one. They would both be miserable if he truly thought he could do better. “You should talk to her if you have someone you care for. I don’t think she wants you to be unhappy. If there’s a woman you love, you should present her to your mother.”
Kash huffed, a disdainful sound. “After she’s presented you to the parliament? I think not. Anyone I could bring in would be less than perfect. You really are, you know. I spent the last several hours studying up on you. Top of your class at Oxford. Accepted into MIT’s doctoral program, but you turned it all down because your mother was sick. You had the whole world laid out for you, but you came home and took a job so far beneath you it’s ridiculous. This one is beneath you, too, you know. You should be in a lab somewhere mapping the universe, not trying on designer dresses.”
“I assure you I can make a difference.” There were times when she wished she’d been able to follow through on the plan she’d made so long ago, but things changed. Dreams changed. “I have a purpose here. There are many brilliant minds working on the universe. The former head of education barely passed her O levels, much less university. I’ve thought this through. I can have a voice in this position, a unique one.”
“Yes, you’ll be my better half. My smarter half. Everyone will know the only way a woman like you marries a man like me is because it was arranged.”
He was being frustrating, threatening to bring out the piece of herself she’d decided to suppress. No matter what the queen said, she wasn’t sure Kash would be able to handle her when she got into that state of mind. She forced her voice to be gentle. The last thing she needed was to hear from another man how unwomanly she was. “What are you worried about, Kash? I told you if you have another woman, I’ll step down.”
He pushed away from the wall. “And I told you there is no single woman. Do you know where they found me? The bodyguards my mother hired to drag me home, that is.”
“Miami, I heard.” She was curious where he was going with this. Something seemed to be raging in the king this evening. Something that needed soothing, but she wasn’t sure that was her place.
“They found me in bed with not one woman, but three.” He said it like she was supposed to gasp and quiver with shock and distaste.
Did he think she didn’t read the papers? Didn’t see the way the press covered his antics? “Hence my offer to negotiate a path that will please us both.”
His eyes narrowed, anger flaring as though he wasn’t getting the reaction he wanted. “You think I was pleased?”
“If you weren’t then you were doing it wrong. And with three women. You would think one of them would know how to do it right.” She wasn’t about to feed into his beast tonight.
He chuckled but there was no humor in the sound. “I wasn’t talking about the sex. Or maybe I was. Maybe I was talking about how hollow it is now, how nothing fills me. There is no other woman, but there won’t be any love for you either. Don’t think you can win me back by following through on this ridiculous plan of my mother’s.”
It was her turn to laugh. “I haven’t thought of you that way in years.”
He was quiet for a moment. “You never think of that kiss?”
She wasn’t going to lie. Despite what he’d said, she’d had time to think. This wasn’t a ridiculous plan. This was the queen’s way of knowing someone would be watching out for her country after she died. Day did want this to work. Not the relationship. Not in any romantic way. Rather, she wanted the job. She was ready to do her duty, and only Kash could keep her from it. That meant if they couldn’t be friends, at the very least they had to respect each other. “I think about it from time to time, but we were two different people then. Those children are gone. I get wistful when the memory washes over me, but I don’t mourn for some lost love between us.”
She sometimes wished things had turned out differently. She certainly wished Kash hadn’t lost such a huge chunk of his family. But she knew the Kash whom she’d kissed that day by the river wasn’t the Kash standing with her tonight. He’d changed in that moment. He’d become a king, and it was obvious the weight didn’t sit well.
“Well, it’s for the best that you didn’t. Did you even think of me after I left or did you move on to the next bloke? I heard later on that you dated Neville Hightower after I left. Quite a step down, I should say.” He turned to go. “I’ll bid you goodnight. I’m sure there’s something Mother has planned for us tomorrow.”