by Emma Lea
I was exhausted by the time Deacon drove me back to the palace and I practically crawled my way up the stairs and into my room. I didn’t have any intention of going down to dinner and I had no compunction about lying and telling everyone I wasn’t feeling well. It wasn’t exactly a lie. I didn’t feel great, but it was more to do with being heartbroken than any kind of virus.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to put my dastardly plan into action. The queen and Sophia were waiting for me when I finally entered my suite. I glared at Selena over the queen’s shoulder, but she ignored me.
“You weren’t at lunch,” Meredith said. “In fact, I haven’t seen you all day. What’s going on?”
Looking at Meredith dressed in jeans and a simple cotton shirt, sitting with one leg tucked up under her, and her curly, red hair loose and soft around her face, it was easy to forget she was a queen. She had become a friend over the two weeks I’d been here and if I was honest with myself, I would miss her when I went home. I didn’t have a lot of female friends and it had never bothered me before, but now, after spending time with both Meredith and Sophia, I wasn’t looking forward to going back to Boston and not seeing them anymore.
“I think she and Lucas had a fight,” Sophia said.
I glared at her and she just raised her eyebrows. I sighed and flopped onto a chair, closing my eyes and tipping my head back. “We might have had a little tiff,” I said. There was no way I would go into specifics, but it wouldn’t be bad to seed some discontent. I mean, we had to stage a breakup after all and if everyone thought we were blissfully happy then it would come as a bit of a shock and might not ring true.
“He looked like a little lost puppy at lunch,” Meredith said, watching me carefully. “What did you fight about?”
I gasped. “You can’t really expect me to tell you that,” I said.
Meredith smiled. “Do you know what my good friend Queen Alyssa would say to something like that?”
I shook my head. “No idea.”
Meredith grinned and her eyes sparkled. “Alyssa would say, ‘I’m the queen so you have to tell me.’”
I smiled at that. I didn’t know Alyssa, but from what Meredith told me, I think I’d like her.
“So?” Meredith said.
“What?”
Meredith rolled her eyes. “You have to tell me because I’m the queen.”
I could see Meredith would not let me off without me saying something about what went down between Lucas and me.
I sighed dramatically. “Fine. I’ll tell you. It’s about his idea for the distillery,” I said, pulling on the one string that annoyed me but wouldn’t unravel the whole secret fiancée thing.
Meredith’s eyebrows popped up in surprise. “Really? I thought you’d be all for it,” she said.
“I get that Kalopsia needs industry. I get that the economy is struggling, but I just think there is a better way. I know Lucas has an obligation to his parents and to their family company but, I don’t know, I just thought…” I shrugged. “I thought maybe he would do something that didn’t involve them.”
Meredith frowned at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Have you and Lucas actually talked about his idea? Fully, I mean?”
“Sure, why?”
Meredith and Sophia exchanged a look before Meredith spoke again. “Unless I’m mistaken, I think you might have misunderstood what Lucas wants to do.”
“Heh?”
“Lucas isn’t planning on involving Andino Raïda, apart from securing the distillery from them. As far as I know, they’re happy to get rid of it.”
“What?” I said, sitting forward in my chair.
Meredith looked at me for a moment before speaking. “Talk to Lucas,” she said. “Listen to what he has to say. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
Meredith stood and Sophia along with her. “We’ll see you at dinner,” Meredith said before sweeping out of the room and leaving me to stare after her.
Lucas wasn’t setting up another Andino Raïda company on the island? Then what was he doing?
Chapter 18
Lucas
“Ms. Davenport is here to see you,” Maddox intoned.
“Frankie,” I said, looking up from the documents spread out in front of me. I should have been getting ready for dinner, but the thought of spending another meal across from Frankie while she ignored me was not very appetizing. I’d sooner stay in my room and work.
“Hi,” Frankie said, pink tinging her cheeks in a rare blush. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I liked it.
“Hi,” I said, leaning back in my chair and crossing an ankle over my knee.
Maddox disappeared, and I looked Frankie over. She was dressed for dinner in a pretty summer dress that left her shoulders bare and her hair cascaded around her face in soft curls. I liked the way Frankie used to dress back in Boston—the ripped jeans and funny t-shirts and the scuffed boots—but I also liked this new look. Every day Frankie seemed to adjust to her new wardrobe, like she was growing into someone different. I really wasn’t sure how I felt about that metamorphosis. The very last thing I wanted to do was change Frankie, but…there was something very appealing about the woman standing before me now.
“I was wondering if you wanted to go down to dinner with me,” she said, fiddling with the skirt of her dress.
I raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Are you talking to me now?” I asked.
Frankie rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t ever not talking to you,” she said.
“No, but you were avoiding me,” I replied.
“Okay fine,” she said with a huff. “I was avoiding you. I was upset.”
I frowned. “What were you upset about and why didn’t you just talk to me about it? We talk about everything, Frankie. BFF code of conduct, rule two; we agree to tell each other everything.”
She groaned and stalked over to a chair to throw herself down into it. There was the Frankie I knew and loved.
“Okay, listen,” she said, looking me in the eye with her no-nonsense gaze. “You’ve changed so much since coming here—”
I opened my mouth to dispute it, but she held up her hand to shush me and went on before I could say anything.
“No, it’s good. It’s a good, no, great change. It’s like you’ve suddenly grown into your skin or something,” she said and then shook her head with a giggle. “Sorry, now all I can think about is that scene in Men In Black when that woman is talking about the alien walking around in an Edgar skin and asking for sugar water.” She made a weird sound in her throat and then shook her head again. “What I mean to say is, when you were in Boston, you were different and now you’re here, you’re…”
“Different,” I said with a smirk which caused her to roll her eyes again but she smiled.
“Yes. Different better, though. I like it. I like seeing you this way.”
“Okay, so why were you upset with me then?”
“Because I thought you were going to bring your family back here and start up the distillery again and I think that would be a mistake.”
“I’m not—”
She held up her hand again, and I clamped my mouth shut.
“I think I was more upset that you were talking to Dorian and the king about your idea instead of talking to me about it.”
I groaned and scraped a hand through my hair. “Dorian ambushed me,” I said. “Before I had time to talk to you about it and then Jamie dragged me away and then, well, this morning happened and then you avoided me all day…I—”
“No, I get it,” she said, exhaling with a huff. “I’m just used to being the person you talk to, and it hurt my feelings.”
“Was that what this morning on the beach was all about?” I asked hesitantly.
Her eyes widened, and she swallowed. “Sure, yeah, that’s why I was upset.”
Hmm. I didn’t believe her, but I wasn’t going to push it, not now that she was talking to me again.
“So do you want to k
now what I’m working on, then?” I asked instead.
“Yes,” she replied with a nod. “Meredith said it wasn’t what I thought.”
“She was right. I am definitely not planning to include my family in this plan. I’ve already had Effie sign papers handing over the compound and what’s left of the distillery to me free and clear of the company.”
“Okay, so what’s the plan?”
“I want to set up a raïda co-op.”
I frowned at him. “Huh?”
“After talking to the men in the village, I realized they are already producing passable raïda and with a few tweaks it could actually be a viable and exportable product.”
“O-kay,” she replied slowly.
“So I want to take what they are already doing and turn it into a profit share. The villages will all have a say in the company and so will the growers.”
“Growers?”
“The alcohol in raïda comes from grapes but we also add other locally grown botanicals like aniseed and fennel, to just name a few. The growers are struggling right now, but they are producing. With a little bit of help, we could build it into something to rival Andino Raïda.”
Her eyebrows popped up at that. “And you’d be onboard with that? More important, your family would be onboard with that?”
I shrugged. “I’m actually negotiating with Effie at the moment for Andino Raïda to handle the export side of the business. Basically, we would sell it locally and they would handle all the international sales.”
“For a price.”
I laughed. “Yeah, for a price. But I think it’s the best way to go. It’s a great way to boost Kalopsia’s economy, and it gives Andino Raïda another income stream.”
“And the king likes this idea? Of course he does,” Frankie said, answering her own question. “It’ll both boost the economy and help the citizens.”
I nodded, beaming. “You actually gave me the idea,” I said.
“I did?”
I nodded again. “If I hadn’t gone into the village with you all those times and met all those people, I never would have even realized the potential.”
Frankie smiled at me and my heart just about leaped out of my chest. I wanted to make her smile like that every single day.
Francesca
If I hadn’t already been in love with Lucas, hearing his plans for the old distillery would have made me fall hard and fast. And that wasn’t good. Not good at all. Not for me or my sanity, anyway.
As if I needed more reasons to be in love with my best friend.
I watched him over dinner, which was a bit of a feat since he was sitting beside me and not across the table. Gone was the man who sat back and observed instead of participating. I probably looked like some lovelorn puppy with the way I couldn’t stop staring at him. Not that that was a problem. We were supposed to be in love, after all. No, he wasn’t the loudest at the table, but he wasn’t the shy, unspoken one either.
And he smiled. A lot.
I loved his smile and for so many years it had been something few other people got to see. Just me and occasionally my parents. I was talking about his genuine smile, not the polite smile he used at events and family dinners and business meetings. That ugly, fake smile was nowhere to be seen, and it made him all the more attractive…not that I needed him to be any more attractive. I was already fighting my response to him.
Meredith tapped her glass with her knife getting the attention of the table and I dragged my eyes away from Lucas.
“I have news,” she said with a humongous smile.
“You’re having twins,” I said, and she blanched before shaking her head.
“No,” she said and then mumbled, “thank god,” under her breath.
Jamie grinned and pressed a kiss to his wife’s cheek. “No. What we are having is a state visit from Merveille.”
“Alyssa and Will are coming here,” Meredith squealed in a most un-queen-like manner that had Jamie grinning at her fondly and Lady Elena frowning in disapproval.
I looked at Lucas and raised an eyebrow.
“The queen and prince of Merveille,” he whispered to me.
I shivered with the brush of his lips against my ear.
“When are they coming?” Lady Elena asked.
I hadn’t had much to do with Elena and I got the distinct impression she disapproved of me, although, she seemed to disapprove of everyone, the queen included. The woman was as intimidating as she was beautiful, and as stern as the stereotypical schoolmarm.
“Six months,” Meredith said, her smiling dropping fractionally. “It will be Alyssa and Will’s twins’ first official tour and we’re to be the first stop.”
Lady Elena whipped out her phone and started tapping at it. “We will need to have a ball, of course,” she said. “Perhaps we could fly in a chef from Athens—”
“No, we’ll use a local chef,” Meredith said, interrupting. “And as much local produce as we can manage.”
Elena frowned but didn’t disagree.
“What about dresses?” Sophia asked. “My mother knows some amazing designers in France…”
Elena perked up at that, but once again Meredith shot her down.
“Local,” she said. “We need to focus on building industry here on Kalopsia and this is an exceptional opportunity for us to showcase some young, up-and-coming designers.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” I said.
Lucas squeezed my thigh under the table and I wasn’t sure if he was telling me to shut up or whether he was lending his support. I looked up at him and he smiled at me, his eyes adoring. My heart might have melted into a puddle of goo at the sight. I swallowed and tried to remember what I was saying.
“I, ah, I’ve been spending a lot of time in the village and it’s amazing what people are doing. In fact…” I reached for my phone and opened up Instagram, searching for a particular account and then handing it over to Meredith to see. “Maybe we could talk to this woman. She and her daughters have this amazing Etsy shop—”
Elena snorted.
“Hey, don’t knock Etsy. You might still have your squillions, but not everyone was as lucky as you,” I said. “These women are making great clothes and they have an amazing business that they built from nothing. These are the types of people we need to be championing. The innovators and the ones who know how to pivot when things go in an unprecedented direction.”
“Frankie’s right,” Jamie said, and I flushed.
Shoot. I probably shouldn’t have just barked at Lady Elena who was ranked far above me and I most definitely shouldn’t have done it in front of the king and queen.
“We need to be supporting our citizens in any way we can. It’s the only way we’re going to grow our country back into what it was before,” Jamie continued.
“And you think dressing in country bumpkin clothing will make people want to do business with us?” Lady Elena asked with a raised eyebrow and a haughty smirk.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t call this country bumpkin clothing,” Meredith said, still scrolling through my phone. “These designs are exquisite.”
“I have my own tailor,” Dorian said, adjusting his cuffs. “I think I’ll be sticking with him.”
“Is he from Kalopsia?” Jamie asked with a pointed look.
“Not yet, but he can be,” Dorian shot back with a wolfish grin.
I rolled my eyes. Yes, Dorian would ask his tailor to move to Kalopsia if it meant he could wear his bespoke suits to all royal events.
Jamie shook his head with a smirk.
Sophia sighed. “A ball.”
“A ball,” Meredith repeated with a grin at Jamie.
“A ball,” I whispered to myself. I’d never been to a ball. I’d been to charity events, but that wasn’t quite the same as attending a royal ball with all the dresses and food and dancing and…
And I wouldn’t be here. In six months' time I would be far, far away and Lucas would be here, probably dancing with someone far more a
ppropriate to have as a wife than me.
I pushed my plate away. Suddenly I wasn’t very hungry anymore.
Lucas
Frankie had gotten really quiet about halfway through dinner, and I didn’t know why. I didn’t like it. I also didn’t like not knowing why she was sad, and yes, I knew she was sad. Had Elena’s or Dorian’s comments upset her? I knew she’d made a lot of friends in the village and maybe hearing the way Elena and Dorian talked about the residents upset her?
I just prayed to whatever god would listen that it wasn’t something I did to put that sadness in her eyes.
“Feel like a walk?” I asked as we stepped out of the dining room.
She turned her face up to mine and smiled. My breath hitched. It wouldn’t take much, just a slight dipping of my head, and my lips would be on hers. My own lips tingled with the thought.
“Sure,” she said, hooking her arm through mine and turning away from me.
I held in my sigh and took heart in the fact that she was touching me and not pushing me away. That had to count for something, didn’t it?
We walked out of the palace and down into the gardens. In the two years since Jamie had returned to Kalopsia, a lot of work had been done to restore the palace gardens, but they were not yet back to the splendor they once were.
“They’ve done a lot of work,” Frankie murmured, reading my mind as we wandered along the flagstone path.
“They have,” I replied. “Have you seen photos of before?”
Before. Before the troubles. Before a madman thought he could just come in and take. Before my parents up and left the country to its fate with barely a look over their shoulder.
Frankie shook her head. “No, but Meredith showed me what it looked like when they arrived.”