Page 21 of Fit for a Prince (Fit For A Crown #1)

Chapter twenty-one

M y assigned attire was a deep-purple gown with trumpet sleeves and an annoying ribbon that made a pointless bow at the top.

I felt like the centerpiece at a wine tasting, but with more bows.

A pair of guards escorted me to the meeting instead of a servant, and I wondered if it was because of what had happened the last time Lochlan and I were together.

I kept my eyes peeled as I was led through areas of the castle I’d never been in before. The closer we got to the meeting room, the fewer Ivalonian servants I saw. It was as if I was being led deeper into the core of Aemastia’s heart, where the surrounding blood was pure and the evil ran thick.

The corridors had little to no windows, making everything dim enough that I had to squint to see what was in front of me.

It was similar to the war rooms in the Ivalonian castle.

The room was designed so that no windows or exterior-facing walls surrounded the most private areas.

It was a way to protect against spies, but also to isolate those who were invited in case a secret slipped that wasn’t intended to ever leave the space.

The low lighting was another tactic I had noticed Aemastia was fond of.

The guards and servants who worked in those areas of the castle had grown used to the dim light and trained their night vision to take in their surroundings so that anyone who entered would already be at a disadvantage if they attempted anything they shouldn’t.

The same lighting was used in King Septimus’s throne room, and I always hated how it made him seem so much more alert.

When we finally arrived at the doors of the meeting room, I could see a few elder Aemastians stepping inside. Some wore long navy-blue robes while others were dressed in crisp uniforms with light armor. Lochlan was waiting by the door, his own attire far more put-together than I’d previously seen.

He wore a button-down tail coat in the same navy blue as the other men in robes, with gold embroidery decorating the collar and cuffs. His hair was combed back, making his brooding eyes pop in the dark light as he caught me in the corner of his gaze.

I did little to acknowledge him, though my heart did a tiny jump when he looked at me like that.

There was still scorn in his eyes, but also a touch of awe.

His gaze did a quick trace down my fitted dress, then back up to my eyes as if he needed to remember who was wearing said dress, and why he didn’t like them.

The guards brought me straight to Lochlan, stopping me in front of him and clearing their throats until I lowered into a half-hearted curtsey.

“Your Highness,” I said with a soft hiss. “Thank you for the invitation.”

Lochlan didn’t respond, clearly too important to waste his breath on his own guest. Instead, he turned his attention to the two guards who had escorted me, looking straight past me.

“Did she give you any trouble?” he asked as if I were a dog his men had taken for a stroll around the castle grounds.

“No, Your Highness,” a guard replied.

“Fine,” Lochlan said with a quick glance at me. “Go wait at the end of the hall. I’ll bring her back to you when we’re finished.”

The guards nodded, then turned back down the hall to give us a bit more breathing room. At least, I would have had breathing room if Lochlan wasn’t looking at me like he was choking me in his mind .

“Stay still, and stay quiet.” Lochlan finally addressed me, his tone colder than a blade left out in the snow. “This is no place for your tricks.”

“Tricks? Me?” I said innocently as I gently folded my hands in front of me. “I’m not even allowed to speak. How could I possibly trick anyone?”

“How could an Ivalonian brat best me in a duel?” he seethed, stepping closer as he lowered his voice. “You’re not fooling me, princess. I know you’re up to no good, and today you’re going to behave. Because if you don’t...not even Atlas can save you from the men behind those doors.”

He stepped back, slipping into the shadows that cloaked the wall. He wasn’t hiding from me to be ominous; he was trying to mask his own fear.

These men held more power than even him, it would seem.

“What a thoughtful date,” I said with feigned sweetness. “How lovely of you to invite me to join you and such esteemed noblemen.”

“Save the flattery for my brothers, princess.” Lochlan moved toward the door, and I followed closely behind. “You’d be wise to watch your mouth going forward.”

I followed him into the room, first noticing the large round table that took up most of the room.

Tapestries with the Aemastia crest lined the walls, along with a few low-burning wall sconces that provided enough light to see the map spread across the table.

There were no other women, but plenty of crabby-looking old men who eyed me like I was a toddler in a tavern.

Lochlan took the closest seat he could find, and I silently seated myself next to him, careful not to even let the chair scrape against the floor.

The man I’d seen walk in before us in the military uniform stared at me with an absolutely appalled expression, his hand already loosely wrapped around the sword on his hip.

I tried not to make eye contact with him, but everywhere I looked the hostility only grew, each man looking equally ready to spring out of their seat and slash my throat open.

“What is that doing in here?” the man in the uniform asked. “Women are not permitted in these meetings, nor are Ivalonians permitted in this entire wing of the castle.”

“Hush, General!” an older man on my far left scolded. “We do not speak the name of the dead kingdom. They do not deserve our breath.”

I felt the urge to squirm in my seat. I’d known I wouldn’t be well received, but openly insulting my people would make it hard to bite my tongue.

“Then they certainly do not deserve our secrets,” the general snapped. “Prince Lochlan, is this your doing? ”

All eyes turned to the prince, who was about as disassociated from the conversation as a man could be while still sitting at the same table.

He kept his arms folded close to his chest, his head slightly bowed with eyes closed like he was already preparing to take a nap.

He looked up at the general, attempting to look bothered while also trying to conceal a slight shake in his raspy tone.

“It’s the king’s doing,” he said firmly, and the men all seemed to stiffen. “He has commanded me and my brothers to spend time with this wench. I decided if I must indulge her, then it would be best to do it in a setting where I don’t have to listen to her yapping.”

I curled my toes in my slippers, fighting the urge to kick Lochlan in the shin.

A slow chuckle rose up from the table. Most of the men laughed, mocking me with their spiteful glares and ugly snarls.

The elderly man and general who had spoken up found the ordeal less humorous, but they did settle back into their seats without further argument.

“Very well then,” said the elder. “We cannot dispute the king’s wishes. The girl may stay, but we shall proceed only in coded discussion.”

The men around the table nodded, and Lochlan shifted forward in his seat a touch, leaning into the code instead of lazily tuning in and out .

I bit back a groan as the men started speaking about trading book shipments and building pottery shops.

Ivalon used codes as well, but they were all based on fauna and flora.

Roses were the royal family, thistles were for invaders, oak saplings were for new merchants, and so on.

Whatever code the Aemastians were using was impossible for me to follow without some sort of cipher key.

For the next hour, I tried to piece together what was even being debated.

The general was in favor of sponsoring a new library to be built in the slums, while the older members of the meeting supported banning literature and forcing the poor to serve in schools instead of learn.

It was a beautifully choreographed language that danced around the topics at hand while also addressing them head on.

Lochlan caught a glimpse of my puzzled expression, and a muffled laugh passed through his smirk. He drank up my frustration like an exotic wine, apparently getting drunk off the idea of me failing to thrive.

I slumped back in my seat and tried to push past my irritation so I could focus on the words being spoken. It was practically unheard of for a foreigner to sit in on an important meeting like this, but despite having my own seat at the table, I might as well have been gagged and deafened .

“We have one more matter to discuss,” the general said in a tone that was filled with a finality that made my skin crawl. He looked directly at me, seeping the eerie feeling deep into my veins. “The castle roaches.”

I didn’t need to crack a code to understand who he was talking about. Every eye fell on me, ensuring I didn’t miss a single word.

“Yes,” the elder Aemastian said with a slow stroke of his beard. “The infestation has grown considerably despite our regular exterminations.”

Exterminations.

My stomach turned as I thought back to the hundreds of Ivalonians who lived in the prisons, and the other hundred or so who worked in the palace. Code words or not, how could they refer to people as something that needed to be exterminated?

“They have already done a considerable amount of damage to the palace,” another nobleman added. “We have plenty to deal with already, so perhaps it’s time we destroy their nest? We hardly need any of the others from the cellar invading our home.”

The cellar? The nest?

“It’s worth some serious consideration,” another older man said. “Though the clean-up would be messy. ”

“Not if we simply laced their nest with a fast-acting poison,” the previous nobleman replied. “Think of all the resources we could conserve by getting rid of the infestation once and for all.”