The Wicked Prince

“I already told him he can’t go outside. It’s dark and cold out tonight.”

“But Joss turned the pretty lights on,” Oscar whined. “She said all of us were going outside for pretty lights.”

“Well, maybe that’ll be later.” I frowned wondering what he was talking about.

“Okay.” Oscar sighed heavily.

“Oh, come on, Oscar. She even bought you Legos.”

“Legos? Where?” he perked up.

“Ah, you haven’t even checked beneath the table.” Rose winked.

Both Asher and Oscar hopped up and got on their knees to look underneath the table. There were a lot of “wow” and “cool” remarks. Too many for me not to look for myself. I crouched down and lifted the linen to find glowing lights underneath to light the way for a working train set, a box of Legos, and a separate box with action figures.

“Whoa,” Asher said.

“Joslyn really did think of everything,” Rose said in awe.

“It appears she did.” I stood and looked at Rose. “They have enough entertainment to last all night. You’re free to roam the rest of the palace with them, but stay away from the outdoors until it’s time. Make sure you get yourself something to eat.”

“I will. Thank you, sir.”

I walked away and headed toward Joslyn, who was finally no longer speaking to David, but was now standing by the bar speaking to Adeline. Because I was tired of waiting, I walked up to them and joined their conversation, or rather stood there as they finished up talking about the decorations.

“Didn’t she do a great job?” Adeline asked, smiling at me.

“Spectacular. She even thought about the children,” I said. “They have enough entertainment for a month.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. I’m going to check out their little area,” Adeline said, winking at Joss and smiling at me. The way she did that made me wonder what else was said that I hadn’t been privy to.

“You’ve been busy,” I said once she was gone.

“Not really. I was just chatting it up with guests.”

“With David.” I hadn’t meant to say his name the way I did, with such distaste, but I also didn’t care to explain myself.

“Yeah, he’s one of the guests.” She glanced away, taking a sip of her wine.

“And?”

“And what?”

“And what agreement did you come to with him? Are you going to keep fucking him even though we said we would be together?”

Her mouth dropped momentarily. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, but I am.” I felt myself smile.

It was a façade, this smile. One I used to both charm and piss people off. One Joss had been on the receiving end more times than I could count. Her eyes narrowed on mine and she shook her head as she walked away. I ordered a drink and turned to watch as her hips sashayed out of the room. I knew I was going to piss her off and maybe I was wrong for it, but I was upset myself. The thought of her trying to patch things up with David was entirely too maddening for me to come to terms with. So what if what Joss and I were doing wasn’t real, I didn’t want to have to see her with another man. It would be an embarrassment for me, especially now that the rags got our picture together. It was with that thought in mind that I picked up the glass of champagne the bartender handed me and went off to find Joslyn.

Chapter Twenty

Joslyn

I’d just finished speaking to the man in charge of the fireworks when I turned to see Aramis walking over. It was a chilly night, but we had heaters lined up and set up outside to help with that. I knew the moment he walked past one, because his footsteps slowed and he looked around momentarily.

“You really did think of everything.” He tucked a hand into his pocket and held his champagne flute in the other.

“I tried.”

“You’re upset.”

“When did you start caring about my being upset?” I raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not sure.” He took a sip of his champagne. “Maybe tonight.”

“Did you stage the kiss earlier?”

“You haven’t put out a statement.”

I shook my head. I knew he’d done it but hearing him clarify it like this was annoying. “The Princess just got married. Did you stop for a second to think that maybe that kiss will make headlines and take away from her big day?” I crossed my arms, uncrossed them, and started walking inside with him on my tail. “No, of course you didn’t. You only think about yourself.”

“I asked you to do this weeks ago and you didn’t.”

“It hasn’t been weeks. It has been a week.” I turned to face him once we were inside the palace. “I’m tired of people trying to take over my job as if I don’t know what I’m doing or what’s best for everyone.”

“If you’d done it when I asked you to, I wouldn’t have had to stage that photo.”