“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,
