He smiled at me and opened the door wide, standing tall to let me enter.
"If anyone besides the Q-" he coughed, "Lady Victoria herself that deserves a lady's entrance; it is you, Madame,"
I liked that Charlie was so playful. I enjoyed his chipper attitude in greeting a morning filled with the doldrums of work.
"Well, I will simply take that as a compliment and stop bothering you then," I said, trying my best at what I thought of as a curtsy.
If I had curtsied incorrectly Charlie didn't laugh. He just kept his amused smile and wished me a well morning. Mornings starting out with whimsy had a nice feeling to them. I could get used to this kind of work. I wandered down the hall toward the office Victoria had set aside for me. It was a bit dingy and needed some sprucing up but it was close conveniently close to Victoria's own office.
So close, in fact, that Victoria had spent most of the week close to me pretending not to notice that Sebastian and I were not getting along. She had me working out of an old office that had previously been someone named Chancellor’s. It was perfect for what she had me doing which at the moment was a lot of mindless filing and packing, really. Chancellor hadn't kept the best records and the notations and ancient looking log books all looked like they were in some sort of code.
Victoria assured me that they were a dry read in a foreign language, not an encryption. She had me focus on filing by dates and sometimes locations and then box up the records to move into storage so I had a place to work. While I hadn't expected a consultation position to turn into a filing position, I didn't mind what she had me doing.
As long as I had a nice salary with benefits I didn't see any reason at all to go back to being a cashier. What she would have me do after the office was cleared out that required a giant desk and a well cushioned chair, I had no idea but it looked promising.
The fifth time that Sebastian walked by the office today I was taking one of the boxes to the front of the castle for storage. I wasn't even to the door with the box yet and Sebastian appeared, ready to take the box from me.
"Can I carry that for you?" he asked.
"I am perfectly able," I said, "It's hardly heavy," which was a complete lie.
The log books felt like they weighed a ton but I kept my composure, kept a straight face and did my best not to wince or hunch at the strain it caused my back.
"I insist," he said.
If the great nobleman really insisted I wouldn’t deprive him of a heavy box. I raised an eyebrow and he took it out of my arms. I was relieved. I didn't really know how much longer I could have held it. I rubbed my arms where the box had been digging in and cast my eyes down the hall, waiting for him to leave with the box.
"I had hoped that we could talk," he said, taking a step down the hall that led to the entrance of the house.
I still tried not to look at him. It was hard when I was screaming the word hypocrite in my own head. If I didn't give him a chance to talk, I couldn't be mad at him. It wasn't fair.
"Five minutes," I said, stepping into the hall with him and beginning to walk down the hall along side him.
He didn't follow me. He set the box down and grabbed my arm, spun me around and pulled me close in a hug. He held me close to the curve of him. Caught off guard, I first tried to resist and then gave in. I let go of my anger, even if only for a few minutes.
"I'm so sorry I hurt you, Prussia," he said to me, stroking my hair gently, "I never wanted to hurt you, which is why I didn't tell you,"
"You could have told me," I said, "You could have told me when I asked you, that day at the bistro when I told you everything about me,"
"By the time I got the courage to tell you," he said, pulling away from our embrace and looking at my face, "I thought I had missed the moment, that you wouldn't have forgiven me. I didn't want to throw my chance with you away, not over Lydia,"
"You lied," I said, chin turned upwards. My anger started seeping in and I could feel my chest heaving a bit, upset and hurt, "You lectured me on trust, on honesty…"
"Even?" he asked with a half smile.
His half smile and charm weren't going to win me over. Not entirely at least. I softened for a minute and then my eyebrows and nose turned up just a touch.
"Not even close," I said, taking a step away from him and crossing my arms over my chest.
"What can I do?" he asked with his hands open and pleading for a solution, "Tell me and I'll do it. Anything,"
And in that moment, I had a flash of brilliance. It was a rush of anger, a spot of embarrassment and a dash of jealousy all mixed together. Lydia had just popped her head in the door and it looked like she would be heading our direction any minute. With Sebastian's back to her he had no idea and I had a perfect opportunity so long as I took advantage before she realized what had happened. I had the drop on her for once. I didn't know if it would work but I had to try.
"Kiss me," I said, my chest rising and falling with the adrenaline racing through my veins at the thought of finally getting back at Lydia.
"What?" he asked, his face full of shock and hesitation, not sure what to make of my demand.
I knew I wouldn't get another chance at this and it had to be now. Lydia had closed the front door and would see us standing in the hallway any second now. It was now or never. I looked at him intently.
"Kiss me like you've never kissed anyone in your life," I said, with a dead serious look and no-second-chances tone, "Now!"
He didn't wait. He pulled my close to him, one hand on my neck and his other at the small of my back working his way down to my thigh and lifting my leg to wrap partially around him as he leaned in to kiss me. His lips hit mine with force and his tongue parted my lips with urgency and demand.
Only as I melted into his kiss and my body responded to his impatient touch did I realize what I had actually asked him to do, to me, in broad daylight in his grandmother's home. By the time our lips parted and I opened my eyes I knew what I had done.
I had opened my eyes to the possibility of him for the first time. His eyes captivated me as he stared, breathless, face full of bewilderment. And with that first look into his eyes as a woman full of desire looks at a man with equal passion, I turned my face sharply to find myself nose to nose with his ex and her furious, seething gaze on me.
"PRUSSIA!" She screamed less than an inch from my face.
"Hello, Lydia," I purred.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Victoria
I looked up from my desk to see Prussia and Sebastian pass by my office door and start down the hallway together. I knew Lydia would be here any minute but I couldn't have counted on the timing being so perfect. A few moments later I could hear Lydia's chalkboard voice yell.
"PRUSSIA!" screamed Lydia, echoing down the hall and into my office.
If I could just get rid of this girl my life would be much easier, simpler. I resisted the urge to run out of my office to see what was happening. Good thing I had stayed seated because Lydia came bounding into my office huffing and puffing. I put a hand up and kept looking at the document on my desk, pretending to read it.
"Slam my door and I'll have your hands cut off," I said, knowing her hand was on the door already.
Her hand dropped from the door and she stomped over to the chair across from my desk and plopped down. She wasn't the most graceful. After a few seconds I looked up and smiled at her, wanting to know what had happened more than anything. I hadn't had this much excitement since her banishment and this proved to be much more entertaining and enjoyable.
"Tell me, Lydia," I said, face as sincere as I could make it, "What seems to be the matter?"
Lydia was still huffing and puffing. She was slouched down in the chair and I half expected her to put one leg across the arm of it.
"Your grandson," she said, "That's the problem! He's out there tearing the clothes off of that human, Prussia, in full view of everyone!"
"I see," I tried to look as though I took her concerns seriously, but I was thrilled th
at he was moving things along even if it wasn't the best time or place for recreation, "I'm not sure I can do anything about that,"
Her eyes went wide with fury and she jumped up out of her chair.
"You tried to put me to DEATH over sleeping with your grandson," she shouted, pointing her long painted finger nail at me.
I stood slowly and Lydia put her hand down. Her huffing and puffing slowed.
"I might listen to your grievance," I said, "But if you want to keep your body parts attached you'll remember who I am and your place,"
She didn't say anything as I knew she wouldn't, not if she wanted to keep her tongue in her mouth and her heart from being staked. I motioned to the chair she had jumped out of.
"It's just not fair," Lydia wailed after sitting, "I just can't believe you would approve of Sebastian marrying her, a human, over me. Am I really so bad?"
I gave her a less than veiled look and she crossed her arms and sunk deep into the chair, a proverbial pout on her lips forgetting the current audience didn't play to those charms.
"Marry?" I asked, realizing I had missed a beat somewhere, "Aren’t you placing the cart before the horse?"
"You don't know?" asked Lydia, "Sebastian told me you would prefer Prussia over me, can you believe that?"
"No," I said, slowly taking in the idea, "I am as surprised as you are,"
I leaned back in my chair and tried to think of the possibility. It hadn't been done often and when it had been done it had been outside of the court. There might be arbitrary case law of some type that I hadn't found that would clarify how it would be handled.
"Could you imagine?" asked Lydia, her voice inflecting with her emotional outrage, "A human and the Prince? What would that even mean? What would that make her?"
"I don't know," I said, thinking out loud, "I suppose that would make her… your Princess,"
I hadn't meant to say that out loud. Lydia's face went wild with repulsion. I needed to keep my tongue in better check around this court gossip. She might be a non-issue at the moment and a mild nuisance but I certainly didn't need to throw gasoline on top of the flames. She would have the grape vines assuming a wedding would be taking place this week if I let her wag her tongue all over the place.
"I'd appreciate it if you'd not mention this to anyone," I said.
Lydia seemed to draw herself up in pride, as if she couldn't possibly keep something like this from the court.
"I need time to talk to Sebastian and see if there are any merits in these claims,” I said, "After all, he could be talking from a place of anger,"
I gave her a sympathetic and pleading look. Lydia kept her prideful posture for a few seconds more and then melted.
"We have had a lot of back and forth lately," said Lydia, "I suppose it wouldn't be impossible for him to be trying to taunt me. I did...I did wreck his car earlier this week,"
I pursed my lips and nodded, trying not to say anything.
"Give me the week?" I asked.
Lydia nodded.
"I didn’t believe it before," said Lydia, "But I saw them in your own castle, not twenty feet from your office door and I just flew into a rage,"
Lydia wore her surprise fresh on her face still. If Lydia had wrecked his car he could have been trying to get back at her. But he may have given me exactly the playing card I needed to protect Prussia from the court without even realizing it. I wasn't certain but with a little research it was possible that simply being engaged to Prussia could save her life.
"You said you had wanted to see me?" said Lydia, still sitting, waiting patiently.
I had forgotten entirely what excuse I had planned to use to get her to the office.
"I'm such a tired old bat," I said, drawing a blank, "I can't remember, for the life of me, what I needed,"
I smiled at her then and tried to look a bit tired. Lydia nodded her head, smiling back at me.
"That's okay, your Majesty," said Lydia, "I can wander around until you think of it,"
"No, that's alright," I said, "If I remember I'll write a note and fill you in tomorrow,"
Lydia walked out of my office still flustered from whatever she had seen of Prussia and Sebastian. Whatever they had been doing had been enough to get under Lydia's skin and that meant it was more than just physical. She was losing her grip on Sebastian if she hadn't already and I couldn't have asked for better or faster results.
I called in my legal team and let them know my interest in the engagement and marriage laws of vampires and humans. While initially confused, once they were on the right path they began sending up a flurry of dust from the legal books. The great thing about being the Queen, you get to delegate the crappy parts of the job - like reviewing ancient legal texts from archaic times.
I just needed one law, one case that I could use to keep Prussia safe in the court. And if it rubbed Lydia the wrong way on top of it then it was just sugar on top.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Prussia
The best part of waking up is when someone else is making breakfast. Unless you live with your ex-boyfriend and you’re not sure if his slutty, home-wrecking girlfriend might be the one making breakfast, possibly naked in your shared kitchen. At least I had snagged the bed before Robert last night. We had to do something about the sleeping arrangement. It sucked. I rolled out of bed and sauntered into the kitchen, disheveled hair and sleep shirt paired expertly together. I also had a single sock on and no intention of looking for the missing one.
I beeline for the coffee machine and tried to overt my eyes from the stove, not wanting to see Lydia naked this early in the morning, or ever.
"Good morning," said Robert, with a chipper voice as smooth as honey.
I stopped and looked toward the stove. Lydia wasn't cooking; Robert had a spatula and two plates out with a smattering of breakfast goodness on each of them. I looked around the living room for signs of life but didn't see anyone.
"Lydia stay over?" I asked, not wanting an answer.
"Lydia?" asked Robert, "Oh, no - she had something to do this morning. I stayed here last night. I thought it might be time we caught up on some things,"
"Oh?" I said, taking the full cup of hot and delicious coffee he offered me.
"We left so many things unsaid," said Robert, flipping a pancake.
He caught the pancake in the air with a plate and smiled, handing the plate to me. I had no idea who this person in my kitchen could be but it couldn't be the Robert I knew. He didn't make breakfast and didn't talk about things left unsaid. He actually mastered the art of the unsaid word.
"Is that so?" I asked, still cautious as I dumped a river of syrup on my plate and began to devour the breakfast he had made.
"How have you been?" he asked, "Are you and that one guy pretty serious now?"
He turned away from me, fussing with the stove and pouring more pancake batter in the pan. I took a slurp of my coffee. Did he want to try again? Could it just be wishful thinking? I didn't want to risk it and find out he wanted to get back together. And now he thought I was 'off the market'. I knew I should have just stayed home and waited for him to get bored with Lydia. Flings never last forever, right?
"I wouldn't say we're serious, exactly," I tried to find better words to describe Sebastian and I, "I suppose...friends is a good way to describe us. We're close friends, not serious, not a relationship,"
Robert flipped another pancake and looked at me, smiling the biggest smile he had ever given me.
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