Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Because he didn’t hesitate to start it.
“Should you go first, or shall I?”
I cut across the top of the squibs of the asparagus to save them for last, saying, “How about we wait for in front of the firelight, over cognac.”
“Laura.” He used my name as a warning.
I looked at him even as I placed a bite of potato in my mouth.
I bit down.
Annnnnd…
Yowza!
Yum.
I chewed, swallowed and said, “This food is too good to waste, eating it while discussing that.”
“You’re evading.”
“Only until we’re finished eating.”
He stared at me.
I kept eating (because seriously, my mate had a way in a kitchen) but did it staring at him.
As usual, he went first.
“I don’t know this as fact, but I can guess that my mother was selected not only because of her popularity as a screen actress, her beauty, her style, her unimpeachable reputation, but also, her ambition and her ability to play to the public. My father was born with blood that meant he wanted for nothing his entire life. So although he understands duty, and on a certain level, hard work, he has never experienced a time where all of his needs weren’t met. From someone else making his bed, to dealing with the laundering of his clothes, to arranging for him to get from one place to another.”
“Okay,” I said softly, and added, “And can I just say, this meat is cooked to perfection.”
“You can say that, darling,” he replied just as softly. “And thank you.”
I smiled at him. “Right, I’m listening. Go on.”
He nodded.
“Obviously, even before it became apparent I was the True Heir, I would be the next king. And Mother made it clear, even if she wasn’t born royal, it was her who would be molding me into that position. I was too young when it started, but reflecting on it, I believe she also made it abundantly clear she was going to be absolutely certain I did not grow up with what she considers certain weaknesses that are abhorrent to a man who holds the throne.”
It wasn’t hard to read between those lines.
“Oh boy,” I whispered.
“Yes,” he agreed.
“And those would be?” I asked.
“For starters, from the time I was eight to the time I was sent to boarding school, and then of course at boarding school, I made my bed.”
Actually, for a boy born to a palace, that said a lot.
“Right.”
“And I went to a military school. Not one aristocrats send their children to, the ones that started centuries ago in order for them to buy officer’s commissions for their second and third born sons so those males would have something to do with their lives, and a salary to come with it. Schools that are now just boarding schools where the students wear uniforms and march sometimes, but they aren’t much more that. I went to Red Lair where, for millennia, boys were trained to be warriors.”
“I know,” I said, because everyone knew about Red Lair, and they knew Aleksei went there.
“It is not for the faint of heart.”
I’d heard that too.
However, at his words, my heart lurched. “Did you hate it?”
“I loved it.”
I was back to staring.
“My mother took hold of me, and being so focused on that, and then she had a girl, and she was beside herself she did, she lost sight of her middle two children. And my father got hold of them.”
“Uh-oh.”
He nodded glumly. “Maybe they wanted her attention. Maybe they were jealous of me because I had it or that I would be king. Maybe they were always just assholes. But they fucked with me. All the time.”
I knew I didn’t like those guys.
“How did they do that?”
He shrugged. “You name it, they did it. Throwing ice water on me in the middle of the night when I was dead asleep. When we were standing as royals during a public appearance, pinching the skin on the back of my arms, which hurts like fuck, but I couldn’t make a face or do anything. Stealing my homework. Telling girls I liked them when I didn’t. When I was still quite young, getting into luggage the staff had packed when we’d go on trips and taking out my underwear so I didn’t have any, and then I’d have to admit it to someone, which was embarrassing at that age.”
Oh yeah.
Really didn’t like them.
Aleksei kept sharing.
“Being at Red Lair was an escape from them. Being at Red Lair, they’ve had over a thousand years of finding ways to uncover what boys will turn into men, and what boys will always be boys, and then cultivating all manner of exercises to cull the wheat from the chaff.”
“You were the wheat,” I stated firmly.
He tipped his head to the side, his eyes warming at my words, and he shared, “Both Tim and Rol went to Red Lair at Mom’s insistence. Tim was kicked out within six months, no matter he was a prince of this realm. Rol lasted a year and a half before he was booted.”