Royals in Dating by Stevens Elizabeth

Author:Stevens, Elizabeth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sleeping Dragon Books
Published: 2023-12-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six: Mitya

My father and I were back to bottles of whiskey and late night discussions. It was honestly how we got most of our best work done.

“I am assuming that the last time you spoke to him was when you and Nico were captured,” he was saying.

I nodded. “Yes. Why? Who suggested I was in secret communication with the leader of the rebel cause?”

Father gave me shrewd smile. “Duhamel may have raised the question. Hypothetically, of course.”

I tipped back my whiskey. “Of course. The man wouldn’t have a word to say against the crown.”

He poured us another. We always drank one for one.

“You seem distracted of late, son. Can I help with anything?”

“Can you change hundreds of years of tradition and reverse time approximately six months?”

He swirled his glass as he contemplated that for a moment. “And what would you do differently with your six months?”

“I wouldn’t waste time resisting the woman I was in love with,” I grumbled, and he rumbled a low laugh.

“Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing?”

I stretched my neck. “Hindisght sucks.”

“Why? Because you would have admitted your love for her the moment she arrived?”

“Of course not. She would have assumed me insane and avoided me at all costs.”

“Or she may have reciprocated.”

“Have you been helping yourself to extra glasses tonight?”

Father chuckled. “No, but I thought we were all using hindsight.” My choice Gallyrian came out and that made him laugh again. “Oh, to be young and in love.”

“As opposed to old and in love?” I countered and we shared a smile.

“May I ask when you knew?”

“That I was in love with her?”

He nodded. “How did none of us see it?”

“I suppose it’s easy to miss something when the people in the very centre are pretending it’s not happening,” I mused. “I don’t know when I realised it.” I tipped back the rest of my glass as I thought about it. “It might have been the first time she called me an arse. It might have been when Nico stood up for her at the Military dinner and I did nothing but insult her while she called attention to my balls.” I slumped in my chair. “It might have been the point I realised that she knew me better than I think many people do and we’d only just met.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “I think I could ignore it no longer at the Nutcracker opening.”

“Ah, the magic of the Nutcracker strikes again,” he said wistfully, and I smiled.

We’d both had too much, but he still poured us another. It was nice to talk to him like this. It felt like it had been too long since we’d done it.

“I resented the easy connection Nico had with her. I resented the way he could talk to her and make her laugh so simply.”

“You were jealous.”

“Of course I was jealous. It took thinking someone else was giving her what I wanted to give her to realise that I wanted to give it to her.”

Father laughed and I joined him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.