Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“You don’t need to say anything.” The warmth of Kalon’s smile reached his eyes, and my stomach did a loop-the-loop at the sight of it.
Oh.
He was dangerous to my health.
No wonder Alicia Vermillion fell in love with him in every lifetime. Even when he was a bastard, I’d bet he was a charming one.
“Are you ready to leave tomorrow?” he asked, changing the subject.
“I was, but now I’ll have to have Bella pack this.” I touched the box. “When are we leaving?”
“Early morning. It’ll take us around five hours to get to the palace from the magic circle site. I also found out this morning that my father would like to have dinner with us tomorrow night, so we’re in for a long day.”
Dinner with the Emperor?
“Will the Empress be there?” I asked hesitantly.
“No, and neither will the Crown Prince. If it makes a difference at all, I think he wishes to meet with us as my father, not the Emperor.” Kalon sat back and reached one arm along the back of the sofa. “He’s a bit of a romantic, so I’m sure he just wants to be nosy.”
“Romantic men don’t entertain having more than one wife at the same time.”
“That’s what I’ve told him, but he once insisted it was because he had too much romance for one woman.” He shook his head. “If it makes you feel better, I have no intention of taking another wife.”
“What about a mistress? Doesn’t the Emperor have those?”
“Three.” Kalon tilted his head to the side. “But what makes you ask if I would take a mistress? Didn’t I make myself clear the other day?”
“Oh, I see. You’re a one-woman man because otherwise, you’d have no room for the heads of all the enemies you’d have to slay.”
His lips pulled up on one side. “I see you have me all figured out.”
“It wasn’t terribly difficult.” I reached for my teacup. “So, tell me, Mr. Faithful, how many marriage proposals did you turn down before me?”
“I have no idea. You’d have to ask Hayes. I paid no attention to such trivial things.”
“How can you pay marriage proposals no attention?”
“Because,” he said, meeting my eyes. “If I were interested in any of those women, I’d have pursued them myself.”
“That… makes quite a lot of sense,” I acquiesced. “Should I be honoured you pursued me, Your Highness?”
His eyes darkened. “You should be honoured I don’t chop off one of your fingers every time you call me that.”
“Thank you for your graciousness.”
“Even now, you don’t use my name.”
“Why should I? You’re not going to cut off my fingers either way.” I gently set down the cup and met his gaze. “Contrary to the rumours swirling in society about you, you’re not actually a cruel person.”
“Really,” he replied flatly. “What makes you so sure?”
“Cruel people don’t forgive their fiancée for failing to greet them on their return from a dangerous mission where, by doing so, they reject the customary gift,” I answered, heat flooding my cheeks with the bit of shame I felt over that whole thing. “Nor do they wait for them to wake up to greet them. Cruel people don’t give gifts just because.” I motioned at the boxes on the table in front of me. “Quite honestly, I didn’t want to come here, and I objected heavily to my father accepting your proposal. I’m sure you knew that.”
He nodded sharply.
“But ever since I arrived, the servants, knights, and you have been nothing but considerate to me. You let me barge into your office, order your aide around, steamroll my way into the creation of a governmental policy, choose my own knight, and just generally do as I please. You also accepted my slightly unreasonable request for a longer engagement, even though such a thing could hurt your position. Through it, all you’ve asked of me is that we have dinner together every night and faithfully act the part of your fiancée in public.”
Kalon scratched one finger slowly across his jaw. “When you put it that way, I’ve been far too nice to you.”
I held up my hand. “Don’t forget about offering up the heads of my enemies.”
“That seems to be my greatest selling point in your eyes—the fact that I will dispose of all the people who do you wrong and gift you their heads. I had no idea you were so morbid, darling.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t tell me that you wouldn’t like it if I told you I’d behead all your enemies for you.”
“I don’t need you to behead my enemies. I’m quite capable of doing it myself.”
“You’re entirely missing the point. What if I said I’d silence all the people gossiping about you?”
He shrugged. “I’ve already told you that I don’t pay any attention to such needless things as gossip.”
I sagged back onto the sofa and looked up at the ceiling. “Forget it.”