by Erin R Flynn
I flushed from head to toe. That was one hell of a compliment, and he said it loud enough for everyone to hear.
His lips twitched when I cleared my throat and gave a quick nod, not knowing what else to do. He moved closer and offered me his arm. “Let me escort you to greet your guests, my fiancée.”
I slid my arm over his, taking in how he looked as well. Kristoff was maybe the most beautiful man I’d ever met. He was perfection, everything symmetrical and a living statue that everyone would try to emulate… And that was before I saw him dressed in nicer clothes. He was wearing gray slacks with a light mocha dress shirt that matched his eyes and really looked sexy as all fuck.
And he wanted to marry me. Holy shit, I really did need to quit my bitching.
“Angels are officially jealous of you, love,” Cerdic murmured as he moved up next to me on the other side. “You are breathtaking, My Princess.”
I went to thank him and about swallowed my tongue. He looked ridiculously hot also. His curls were gelled into behaving, his goatee perfectly trimmed, and his eyes swirling with heat. He was wearing gray slacks too, and an ocean blue shirt that matched the shade of blue most in his amazing eyes. He offered me his arm and I took it, feeling weird walking that way.
He seemed to realize that and change it up so his arm was around my waist while I held Kristof’s arm. Not as awkward, but it didn’t help me relax as they were sending my hormones into overdrive.
We started with Princess Leonor from Porto, Portugal, who had been a big help to get all the alliances going and everyone behaving. She went first, after the covens I had ties to because of Jaxon and Cerdic and that had made all of the difference.
“You look stunning, the bright light all eyes see in the middle of such dark times to help us find hope,” she greeted, Cerdic translating for her. “I thank you for inviting me and for all the extras you have included for my coven.”
“Thank you for coming all this way to celebrate with us,” I replied, having been briefed on certain things to say and how to phrase the pleasantries right. I didn’t get why that was important given how we’d all met, but everyone was firm on it, especially because of how we’d met.
A second chance at a first impression? More like showing there was more to me than they’d seen.
“And the extras were more than deserved,” I added for the ears around us. “Those you sent have been incredibly diligent and dedicated to help many.” I dipped my head to her and went to move on, flinching slightly as I realized something.
“Don’t react,” Kristof breathed in my ear. “We’ll explain in a bit but people are waiting to see how you handle this. Giggle and say something extra possessive. Please, trust me.”
I giggled, turning my head so we were a breath from kissing. “If you so much as take interest of any woman here, I will cut off that legendary cock, encase it in gold, and put it on a shelf in my room so it will always be hard and only for me. Remember what happened last time you didn’t tell me a princess offered you a place at her side. That will be nothing compared to what I do if it happens again.”
“Yes, My Princess,” he chuckled, brushing his lips over mine. “I did laugh at the request as only you have ever caught my interest.”
I bit my finger and ran it over his neck, smirking when he shivered and bit back a moan. “Glad we agree you’re an Inez addict.”
“He’s not the only one, love,” Cerdic reminded me. I nodded and kissed him, doing the same before we moved along. We greeted two more before they got me out of there and to the kitchen, probably knowing where my head was.
“I don’t understand,” I said under my breath. “There were way more than the fourteen princesses I have treaties with. Fine, Olivia makes fifteen but—why is the ballroom so packed?”
We had invited all fourteen, the three that were my in-laws came separate and early, but the remaining eleven, we made it fairly clear there were ten seats on the plane for each coven to fit them coming from one centralized location. Fine, they could all move ridiculously fast, but with luggage and over an ocean was pushing it.
The commercial plane meant for international flights, with the super big and plush seats, fit a hundred and fifty plus luggage. Great, there were over a thousand people in my ballroom. We’d figured some of their people already here would come, plus our people, and probationary coven people as well, but there were way more than expected and at least thirty princesses.
What the fuck?
“Apparently, the apocalypse doesn’t squash all the games,” Cerdic muttered under his breath. “They brought daughters or the previous princesses, along with sons or nobles they want you to pick. Plus, some brought friends. There are princesses here you didn’t invite and Aether didn’t send dreams to come.”
“A few say they had them, but they wouldn’t risk it wasn’t someone’s power luring them away from their coven in these dark times,” Kristof added.
“Mother…” I trailed off, shaking my head as I went right for Nick. “What can we do?”
“We’ve got it,” he promised, nodding he meant it. “Instead of individual veal Wellingtons, they will be portioned in thirds, like posh courses. We’re adding a wild boar and mushroom ravioli since Princess Nora said we could snag some of the butchered ones. They’ve got that going in Salt Lake. We’re splitting salads and adding another one, a blue crab salad in avocado halves.
“We’ve also added more appetizers. There are lovely seared gator bites, salmon cucumber bites, and some turkey cheese ones that we added. The problem is tomorrow and Sunday. I need more hands to make it happen and race all around, so if you could get me that, we’ll be fine. Mostly. We’ll need more plates, glasses, and a new overall plan.”
“We have more tables set up on the terrace off the ballroom, and they can deal with their overflow and uninvited guests to take those places,” Cerdic told me. “The problem is where they’re staying tonight.”
I blinked at him. “They can fucking figure it out. There is over triple what we invited. They got ten fucking seats on the plane, one table per court, and they just bring extras and friends and that’s acceptable? No, it’s not. I’m calling bullshit. No one else would put up with this—they wouldn’t pull it on anyone else.”
“No, they wouldn’t, but they’re playing games to make you look like a bitch,” Kristof said. “You offered them ten seats on the plane, but didn’t specify that was the only way they could arrive or limit them that way. You did say only the princesses invited and their nobles would have a guest room and the rest accommodations outside of the castle. They’re pushing buttons because they can.”
“Un-fucking-real,” I sighed, once again annoyed I had to do any of this. I glanced over to find Sisay helping. “Can you ask Sebastian or Nora on the side what we should do? There’s no way I should reward the bad kids. She wouldn’t.”
“I’ll find out.”
I leaned and kissed Nick’s cheek, thanking him before getting out of their way. More drama was next the second we entered the ballroom.
“You clearly didn’t hear me, Vitor. I said I’m thirsty and wish for a drink from you,” a princess told him with a thick accent I didn’t recognize.
“I heard you, Princess, but as I was saying, Princess Inez doesn’t allow it,” he replied easily, as if it wasn’t super insulting. “Everyone was told to handle their own needs and—”
“The princess of the coven thinks it boorish to treat nobles like walking food,” I declared loudly, deciding to get this out of the way and handled properly.
She pressed her lips in a line, not liking I called her that. “That’s not how things are done, and while you are young, the way things go is—”
“My house, my rules,” I finished for her, smiling brightly. “I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s my coven and I make the rules. If people don’t like them, they can leave. If they don’t adhere to them, they’ll be leaving with bullet holes in them.”
She narrowed her eyes at me slightly.
“Be very careful with that as it works both ways, and you might not like the outcome one day.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “Then I’ll leave. If I don’t like the rules of a coven, then I’ll leave. Unless it’s something insane saying that guests can’t leave until they say so—which isn’t a rule, but an abduction—I will leave. The guests that were invited already knew of my rules and how I run my coven. If they invited others, that is not on me as it was clearly not an open invitation.”
“How you run your coven doesn’t change how the rest of the world works,” she argued.
My lips twitched. “People need to get their stories straight. Either I’m princess and boss and what I say goes, or it’s always this I need to follow this rule and jump all these hoops like I have a boss. I don’t. I am the boss, no matter how young or unaccustomed to court. And the world has changed slightly with the apocalypse. It’s changed before as well.
“All of these rules weren’t tattooed on us when we were born. Someone decided them, changing the status quo or adding what worked for them. Guess what? That doesn’t work for me. So, this is the way things work here and with my people.” I went for a bolder statement and turned to Vitor, noting the shock in his eyes as I angled my head for a kiss.
He leaned down, moving his arm over my bare shoulder and cupping my cheek from behind. I swallowed a flinch and met him the rest of the way, the kiss soft but more than chaste. Then he pulled me closer and gave me another one, deeper, without pushing it and Frenching me right there for all to see. My bottom lip was between his though, and I felt the tug when he pulled away.
“You are not hers,” the princess seethed.
“I have given an oath of loyalty to my princess and this coven. I have no house left to push for an alliance or rush into a match.” He ran his fingers over my cheek and down my neck. “She is young and powerful and there is no need to play certain games when she is wise enough to understand that.”
I cleared my throat, trying not to get lost in his gray eyes that shined like stars at night before it was full dark. “The nobles not oathed or courting me are still part of my coven and have signed neutrality agreements. They’ve pledged loyalty to the coven, so they’re not free agents to be pawns. Some have gone further and sworn a loyalty oath to me as my knights have.”
“That’s not how it’s done,” she seethed.
I gave her a bored look. “I don’t care. It’s how we do it now. Being a princess means being a leader, protecting your people, and doing things better. If you don’t want progress, then go back to the dark ages and stop fighting to try and get back what was lost in the apocalypse.” I gave her a warning look when she opened her mouth. “Nobles are people, our people, and I won’t have it. It ends.”
“Thank you, My Princess,” Vitor murmured and turned my head so he could kiss me again. Wow, he was pushing it when I did it to protect them and make a point.
And it took everything I had to not freak out at the zings going through my body just from the kiss.
Right, because everything in my life wasn’t confusing enough. I really needed to be attracted to the guy who kidnapped me and then almost killed me.
Seriously?
12
Nora and Matilda completely agreed with me, seconds from blowing their tops. They made the call that one of the other resorts outside Salt Lake was to be cleaned out, and that would be the off-site lodging for the extras. They also made it clear they had hands in all of the preparations and planning of the parties as my in-laws, so to not insult them that they didn’t know what they were doing.
It worked because no one even batted an eyelash when they had to sit at the extra tables on the terrace instead of trying to fight for the ballroom ones. Most seemed to plan the best tables by power, and my coven could all go sit outside or whatever their egos infected their brains with.
We did have seating arrangements, and like assigned tables, to have organized all this chaos. What kind of assholes just ignore that?
It turned out there were some genuine misunderstandings. A few, but at least not everyone was an asshole. Though a few were innocent and others were the assholes. Princess Leonor apologized because she told an ally of hers about me and the party as a hint to get in touch with me and try for an alliance… Not for the bitch to just show up like she was invited. So there was some of that.
Two mentioned the dream and had princesses who had the same dream do the same and show up. Right, how did two plus two equal doing anything they wanted in their minds? Was it really such a messed up system that everyone would completely dismiss me because of my age?
How childish.
It left me at the end of my limit and a bit abrasive in handling any other bullshit.
“The castle is lovely from what I’ve seen,” an uninvited princess told me. “The design is spectacular and the construction a marvel.”
I went to thank her, glad someone was playing nice, but her mother, the previous ruling princess, spoke first.
“Well, if it’s the only thing a coven has, it should be excellent.”
I turned around and walked away, shocking all of them. Well, I thought it was nicer than punching people and I was itching to do it. To insult me when you weren’t invited, in front of my guests who were, and in my own house, and I didn’t get to smack someone was sort of a joke.
At least the food was perfect. No one could knock it without sounding like an idiot, especially when they didn’t have access to as many provisions as they needed. I did notice how much Olivia seemed to enjoy how I was being treated, maybe hoping someone got sick from it like she had. I didn’t think it would go that far as Olivia had tried to take what was mine and me and this was more bullying.
I was also annoyed that the arrangements at my table changed. Now it was Nora, Sebastian, Matilda, Henry, Ceawlin, Olivia, Jaxon, Kristof, Cerdic, and I. I wasn’t a fan of my husband—even if we were having problems—being booted because Ceawlin crashed the party and was staying for them. Plus, I hated Henry.
“We informed our people who were already here raiding that it’s all hands on deck and hold off on anything else to help,” Matilda told me.
Henry sighed. “You’re spoiling her. She will never learn how to be competent if you coddle her, My Princess.”
Kristoff looked like he was planning what utensil to throw in his chest while Jaxon coughed on his drink. I had a much different reaction, chuckling under my breath before giving him an amused look.
“Oh, I don’t think you’re in a position to lecture about how not to spoil the young ones.” I pointedly looked at two of his children who were misbehaving every other second and selfish fuckheads. “And this hit a level of bullying even they couldn’t foresee with their years of experience. So, I think this one wasn’t my incompetence, but I’m not so devoid of reality that I’m unable to admit we could have done better.”
He raised a condescending eyebrow at me. “And what will we get for our help? No, you’ll just accept it, of course.”
“I’m also very generous.” I focused on Matilda, making it clear Henry should keep quiet. “Thank you for that. If you liked the alligator appetizer, I’m told there is still an overpopulation of them in New Orleans. Lorenzo or Adam can show your people where to find some to make the next ship leaving if you wish? Or they’re pulling in sharks like the ones we’ll be having tomorrow.”
“Both would be lovely, thank you, Inez,” she accepted, giving Henry a look to shut it. Wow, did she really have nothing but troubles at her side and children? That was a hard pill and terrifying situation to ponder when I was about to tie two more men to me.
Nora agreed to the same, giving me a supportive look to hold it together. Sebastian was less than amused as well as he genuinely liked me and got to know me. Henry was just… A dick. Probably because of what happened with his daughter, but I hadn’t started any of that and I was marrying his son so really, stuff it.
Nick managed to get more cheesecakes made, but not enou
gh for everyone to still have two with the topping trays. He added an individual trifle which sounded insane to make for so many people, but when your helped move faster than air displacement, that cut slightly back on assembling time. He was smart about how he did it, serving half the trifle first and half the cheesecakes.
Which gave them time to bring back the toppings tower and reload it before switching what halves got what desserts. However, we needed more towers before tomorrow as we were doing the gelato tastings.
“We’ve got the factory working as we speak, and we’ll have more than enough to help Nick out,” Cerdic told me, seeming to know where my head was. “We’ve also got probationary coven members finding more towers, plates, glasses—all of it. We can worry about washing fourteen million dishes after the parties, but for now, we’ll get it done.”
“Hanna suggested a more relaxed idea for the next two days, which I think has promise given this is not what any princess normally does,” Matilda offered. “Have brunch as planned, but from there, keep bringing out food or opening stations of food in the castle so it’s not this many people at once, but nibbling throughout the day. Start with morning drinks and—”
“Let it be one longer fancy summer party sort of atmosphere,” Kristof cut in, giving me a look he agreed. “Make it like the plan was to cut loose in the last summer of the apocalypse as we plan on next year being the post-apocalypse.”
“Smart,” Nora praised. “Even more so that Inez will be outside with the tree, being with nature, and the root of who we are, even with the carnal relations. It might turn into more of a court orgy, but well, why not?”
“We’re seriously cleaning the pool after the guests leave,” I drawled.
It was a good idea though, given the setup of the castle. Darius had designed it to be a circle as I had seen, but with five diamond towers so the whole castle looked like a five pointed star from above. Eventually, there would be fences and better security, but right now, in between each tower was something outside for the castle. Well, not on either side of the entrance tower, but there could be.