Almost Lovers (16 page)

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.

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 that 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.

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.