The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series) (6 page)

“That surprises me,” Amelia sobered completely, her golden eyes turning to steel. “I mean with all the poverty surrounding this Citadel.”

“I, uh….” I stuttered, not expecting her accusatory response. Usually I was the one trying to convince people to do more.

“Or maybe it’s easier to preach philanthropy than practice it?” Her eyes narrowed, her arms crossed and she practically turned her back on Jericho waiting for my response.

I looked to Jericho for help; he was the one that pulled me into this after all. I bet she wasn’t accusing Jericho of being a hypocrite… her conversation with him seemed so much nicer.

“Eden’s in charge of where our money goes,” I explained, knowing that since Eden was one of her closest friends she wouldn’t be able to fault me. I tugged at the collar of my white dress shirt, it was open at the collar, and I wasn’t wearing a tie, but still it felt suddenly suffocating.

Amelia softened just a little, her shoulders relaxed and she sucked in her bottom lip thoughtfully before she continued, “And is that enough, Avalon? Just giving away money? Or do you think philanthropy involves getting your hands dirty too?”

It wasn’t her fault there was still a thirteen year old boy hidden deep inside of me. I flashed a grin at her and stepped in a little bit closer so that I wouldn’t be overheard, “I’ve never been able to keep my hands clean, Amelia.”

She flinched when I said her name, and I enjoyed the way her eyes flashed to my lips. She stiffened then, tossing her chin in the air like I had offended her and turned to Jericho.

Jericho’s eyes had widened in response to our interaction and I wondered what he thought of Amelia’s natural defiance. She slipped her arm around his elbow, pressing her side against Jericho’s. I refused to acknowledge any of the emotions that bubbled through my veins like hot lava at the sight of their touching.

“Will you dance with me, Jericho? Just like at Eden’s wedding?” Amelia asked coyly.

“Absolutely,” Jericho smiled at her and then nodded his chin my way.

“I’ll catch up with you later,” I offered to Jericho, ignoring the way my hand balled into a fist and wanted to punch Jericho’s face for whatever had happened at Eden’s wedding. “Amelia, have a wonderful evening.” I finished politely and then felt some of my jealousy subside when she flinched for a second time when I said her name.

I wondered if she would be asking me to call her by her nickname sooner than she thought. For some reason I didn’t think she liked her own reaction when I used her full name. Which would of course encourage me to use it as often as I could.

Chapter Five

              I stood on the terrace, staring out at Kiran’s mother’s gardens while the sun made an appearance on the horizon. Analisa stayed away from Romania since Kiran’s wedding. I heard she was in Paris for a while, with the Cartiers, but eventually even the entire continent of Europe became too much and she fled to South America. I knew Kiran was worried about her emotional state, but she wasn’t in physical danger so he was giving her space. Or that’s at least what Eden had relayed a while ago. Eden had given up her personal Guard, Jedrec, to look after her.

              There had been some encouragement from the castle staff to clean up the maze of gardens that spread out behind the castle and climbed and clawed over the tall Citadel wall, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Analisa had kept the gardens this way for a reason, her own anarchy in a world of hidden imprisonment. A pang of unsuspecting sadness punched me in the gut. Analisa had been devastated after Lucan died and not just because of her husband’s death, or the death of those that fought both for and against us, but because at one point in their long, dramatic history, Analisa and my mother had been very close friends.

              The tall greenery and clingy flowers were dying out in preparation for winter. The garden existed in a half-dead, half-alive chaos and it irritated me that I felt connected to that damn garden because of it. I rubbed my hands over my face roughly, trying to snap out of this funk I had fallen into.

              I needed a change. I needed to do something.

              I wasn’t meant to stay still.

              “They’re looking for you,” Kiran interrupted my depressing, self-indulgent thoughts.

              “Who?” I asked, not turning to face him.

              “Your council,” Kiran replied with a bit of amusement in his voice. It used to drive Eden nuts the way Kiran always seemed like he was laughing at her and not nuts in the way that eventually made her fall in love with him. It actually irritated the bejeezus out of her. I was starting to get that.

              “Ah,” I sighed. “Their demands start early. I don’t think anybody went to bed before two last night, including Angelica. Where do they get their energy?” I laughed humorlessly.

              Kiran stood silently for a beat, taking in the morning sun over his mother’s gardens. “Avalon, why don’t you let me take over today? You could use a break, and I could use some diplomacy. It’s been a while. And frankly, I’ve been dying to make meaningless decisions and arbitrate some blown out of proportion century long feud.”

              I looked over at him out of the corner of my eye to make sure he was serious. “You’re a terrible liar,” I grunted, although I was three seconds from taking him up on his offer.

              “Really, man, it’s fine. Take the day off. We’ll figure out how to share this thing later,” Kiran gestured between us and I sighed in relief.

              “Thank you, really Kiran, thank you,” I offered sincerely and walked away before he could change his mind.

              One day of vacation wasn’t that big of a deal, and he owed me anyway after years of honeymooning. I firmly decided today I would not answer one question I didn’t absolutely want to answer and there was no way in hell I would be making a decision today. I was just going to relax…. take it easy…. do nothing.

----

Doing nothing lasted all of four hours before I was completely lost. I wandered semi-aimlessly through the castle corridors in search of Jericho and something, anything to do. Jericho had been relatively silent today. I thought I would see him bright and early this morning since he was both a morning person and a worthless sleeper, but nothing.

I tried to remember when he had left the dinner last night, but my memory was a jumble of stuck up aristocrats all vying for my attention. The last I remembered of Jericho, he was dancing with Amelia.

And as if she were conjured by my own thoughts, I heard her laughter as it floated down the hallway in an excited rush of energy. I followed the sound, not sure what I would say to her, or really what she would say to me. She obviously wasn’t impressed by my crown or me for that matter. It seemed she could barely keep from rolling her eyes when I walked into the room.

I had no idea what I did to her to make her dislike me so much, especially since I had never even really met her until she arrived at the castle yesterday. But then maybe that was it. Maybe it was simply the crown that her uncle used to wear.

Or oh, God…. I did have a hand in killing her uncle. Maybe that was it. I knew from years of being in the Resistance, Lucan had favored her and somewhat sheltered her from the rest of the Kingdom. She probably loved her uncle and because she was so close with everyone else involved she couldn’t blame them.

She didn’t know me.

So what if she blamed me?

              Damn it. In fact, the more I thought about it, I was sure that had to be it. She blamed me for the death of Lucan. I debated with myself whether Amelia was the kind of girl worth pursuing…. worth apologizing for the death of her uncle? I could do that…. apologize. Right?

              Wrong. Amelia was beautiful and feisty and she didn’t really care about the crown, but she also didn’t like me. I would never apologize for Lucan’s death, especially to someone who blamed me like it was a bad thing. Amelia would just have to go on not liking me.

              I could live with that.

              I turned the corner, hoping to sneak by her without being seen but she was there, right in front of me. We ran right into each other as she turned the corner at the same time I did from the opposite way, a smile still curving her plump lips. She grabbed my biceps immediately to steady herself, and my hands slipped to her waist to catch her…. not completely on purpose. It was a gut reaction.

              “Careful there, Amelia,” I cautioned in a low voice. The amusement immediately drained from her face and her lips parted as if she wasn’t quite sure what to say or do.

              “Excuse me, Avalon,” she whispered in a throaty voice, her hands tightening against my bare arms as if she needed to get her bearings. “I was just on my way to…. uh, I needed to get…. um, Jericho is waiting for me.” She glanced over her shoulder, but her hands stayed on me.

              I cleared my throat, and suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. “Jericho?” I asked, trying to ignore the accusation in my tone.  I wasn’t even sure who I was accusing and what I was accusing them of.

              “I just needed to get a sweater,” she explained, finally pulling away and stepping back to put a few feet between us.

              “Oh are you two going out for the day?” I inquired, mentally cementing my feet in place so they wouldn’t take the step towards her they were dying to take. I ignored the annoying voice of reason in my head that reprimanded me for being nosy.

              “Yes, we’re going to…. um, yes we are,” she stuttered in her soft accent. She put a hand to her neck, clasping it in her slender fingers as if she were protecting herself. “I’m sorry, you just startled me,” she breathed out quickly, and shook her head.

              “I apologize,” I smiled slowly, enjoying how flustered she seemed after running into me. “You shouldn’t keep Jericho waiting for much longer.”

              “Jericho,” she mumbled like she was just remembering him. “Right.”

              I moved out of her way and she walked by me in a flutter of nervous energy. Her magic crackled in the air around her, and I felt it brush against mine tentatively, almost curiously, before she reigned it back in quickly. She glanced over her shoulder one more time halfway down the hall and I offered her another smile. She shook her hair out as if she had to do a double take to make sure I was really there, but didn’t offer anything but a blank expression in return.

              It was the shorts that made up my mind. As she walked away, my eyes drifted to her long legs and the flawless skin between her shorts and her heeled boots and I made a decision that would probably come back to bite me in the ass.

              I turned around and found Jericho waiting patiently by the doors to the outside. I had to play this cool, especially if Jericho was interested in Amelia.

              Of course he was interested in her. Any sane guy would be. And she was actually
nice
to Jericho. He didn’t stand a chance. I was a terrible friend for even entertaining this idea, but there was something in the hallway just now. Something between us and I needed to chase it down and figure it out.

              “Hey man, I’ve been looking for you,” I called out as I approached.

              “Oh hey,” Jericho returned. “Sorry, Amelia and I walked up to the lake this morning. I forgot what it’s like here in autumn.”

              “Yeah, it’s something else,” I agreed while trying to figure out how to invite myself into their plans. “So what have you got going on today? I thought we could hang. I’ve got the day off and I’ve been wanting to…. uh, test some of the cars out on these mountain roads.” I threw out an idea off the top of my head. It was a stupid idea, but I couldn’t think of anything else.

              “Oh that sounds fun,” Jericho started, and I could tell he didn’t really know what to think. “But uh, actually Amelia and I were going to go visit Ileana this afternoon, maybe stay for dinner.”

              “Oh that’s cool, I mean, we can do the car thing another time,”  I knew the guilt I was about to lay was the kind of stuff that would one day send me to hell, but I couldn’t stop myself and I didn’t really want to anyway. “We’ll hang a different time. When are you leaving again? Tomorrow?”

              “You should come with us,” Jericho offered sincerely. I paused, trying to read through his laid back niceness.

              “I wouldn’t want to impose,” I mumbled, not meaning it at all. But I thought I should give my conscience one last effort.

              “No, you won’t be. It will be fun. Or maybe it won’t be…. are you down there all the time?” Jericho asked, and his concerned face legitimately seemed to be worried I would be bored and not that I would try to take the girl that he was interested in.

              “Actually, I haven’t been down there in over a year. I probably should go with you,” I laughed at the truth of it.

              “Alright, Jericho, I’m ready,” Amelia announced when she walked into the foyer. She hesitated when our eyes met as if she didn’t trust me. I smiled happily in return.

              “Mimi, you don’t mind if Avalon joins us, do you?” Jericho asked casually, holding open the door for her. He was certain she wouldn’t have a problem with it and I almost laughed out loud certain she would have a problem with it.

              “Not at all,” she lied, brushing by me as if I didn’t exist.

              “Good,” I mumbled under my breath and then found myself smiling when she gave me a sharp glance back. I hadn’t meant for her to hear me, but there was something thrilling about the fact that she had, like she was very aware of me.

              We walked out the castle doors and down the long stone staircase that led into the square. The sun was shining brightly overhead and warming the cobblestone streets. We were having somewhat of an Indian summer and there was only a hint of colder weather on the breeze.

We had to take motorcycles to get to the gypsy village; they were parked underneath the castle in the garage. Three and a half years ago, when we took down Lucan, Eden had destroyed the prisons underground. She didn’t care at the time, but the crumbling of the dungeon caused severe structural damage on the entire Citadel; not to mention the giant crevice that practically swallowed the Earth whole. The first year of my rule I had the entire place restructured and made secure so that the castle itself wouldn’t fall into the depths of the Earth’s core.