Page 24 of Fit for a Prince (Fit For A Crown #1)

Chapter twenty-three

I scrapped the rest of my notes on Lochlan the moment I returned to my chambers. He was useless to me now, and I preferred it that way. Even if he did surpass Atlas and become king, he would be a pathetic excuse for a ruler if he couldn’t rally the noblemen behind his choices.

He’d defended the Ivalonians, but why?

He surely had a reason, but that didn’t mean it was a good one. Anyone who had mysterious plans for my people was someone I couldn’t trust my people with. Which meant that I was down to only two options for survival, Cedric and—

“Prince Atlas has summoned you, my lady,” Beckham informed me the next morning, only an hour or so after I’d risen from a restless night’s sleep. “He requests your presence in the library. Your escort is already at the door.”

“Very well.” I stood from the breakfast table, brushing the crumbs off my blue satin skirt. Mara hadn’t had time to do more than brush my hair yet, so I would have to hope that Prince Atlas wouldn’t miss the fine jewels and cosmetics. “I’m ready.”

I followed the escort through the hall, feeling a strange surge of butterflies in my chest for the first time when meeting with a prince.

Atlas was the one who had requested I be let out more in the first place, yet he had waited until his brothers had spent time with me first. What game was he playing?

Cedric was mysterious, but not impossible to read. He was kind at his core but still wise enough to put his kingdom first, even if that meant letting an Ivalonian die because he knew better than to marry her.

Lochlan was the easiest to read. He was brash, rude, entirely too full of himself, and was half as brave as he claimed to be.

All that confused me about him were his ambitions.

I thought he hated Ivalonians, but instead he only seemed to hate me .

But his plans didn’t matter to me any longer, not when I had ambitions of my own to chase.

Then there was Atlas.

The escort guided me through the library doors, and a two-story octagonal room with cedar bookshelves as walls absorbed all of my focus.

The room smelled like freshly cut wood, and the low lighting felt more appropriate in the cozy room full of books.

A stone fireplace stood in the center of the room with an opening on two sides to enjoy the roaring flames from any corner of the library.

As I stepped further inside, Prince Atlas peered around the tall stone chimney from the second level.

“Thank you, Ivan. You can leave her with me,” the prince called down to the escort.

The door closed softly behind us, but I hardly felt alone with him in such a wide space. The second floor had a wraparound balcony that overlooked the lower section. The balcony was filled with cozy arm chairs, tea tables, and of course, thousands of books.

I found the staircase in the back of the room and made my way to the prince’s chosen spot.

He was seated in a plush leather armchair but was still sitting as straight as a board despite the worn leather that begged to embrace him.

The tea table in front of him was littered with books, some open and some still shut.

His nose was buried deep in a thick leather-bound volume, the title of which I couldn’t quite see. I walked around the tea table, choosing a seat across from him that wasn’t nearly as comfortable as it looked. Maybe that was why he sat so straight.

“Good read, Your Highness?” I asked, testing the waters as I settled into my seat. He looked up at me from over his book, those striking grey eyes catching me off guard when I’d grown used to his brothers' dark irises .

“Hard to say if I’m not reading it,” he said monotone. “Care to distract me further?”

Distract... Does he know about his father’s threat?

“I will admit I had hoped to be more than an ornament to your day,” I said with a slow cross of my legs that drew his eye to my shifting skirts. “Though if you prefer that I sit in silence, I will.”

“You, silent? I don’t think you know the meaning of the word.

” Atlas pressed a ribbon into his book, then lowered it to his lap.

It always astonished me how similar he looked to Lochlan, but also.

..not. Lochlan was commanding while Atlas was compelling.

Both were equally handsome and well-built, but I dared to think that Atlas carried himself better.

“I heard all about your silence during yesterday’s meeting. ”

My gut tightened. If Atlas had heard about it, then what all had been shared?

Mara’s face stuck in the front of my mind, making it hard for me to focus on Atlas’s next words.

“I heard it went well, despite a mysterious note that someone left in the general’s pocket,” Atlas said with a knowing smirk.

His pocket?

“Mysterious indeed,” I said, a bit breathier than I’d meant too. Lochlan had protected Mara...I guess he really did only hate me, rather than all Ivalonians. “The men seemed quite ruffled about it, but at least it was no fault of mine. I remained silent, after all.”

“Of course you did.” Atlas leaned back in his seat, finally making use of the chair’s cushioned back.

“A lady like you would never do anything so improper. And she especially wouldn’t know such vulgar words that even soldiers get scolded for saying.

.. You were silent. It’s not like there was a room full of other witnesses who saw you write a note or anything, right? ”

Guess he knows, after all.

“Witnesses lie.” I shrugged.

“So do Ivalonians.”

“I thought people weren’t supposed to say that word?”

“Oh, so you can say nasty words and I can’t?” He arched a brow.

“I didn’t say it, I wrote it.”

“Is that a confession?”

Drat.

“Perhaps it was a lie,” I said, locking onto his eyes with a steadfast determination not to let him best me. “Ivalonians lie, after all.”

“Do you always have an answer for everything?” Atlas’s intrigued tone drew me closer, stirring up those obnoxious butterflies in my chest again .

“If I didn’t, I never would have won King Leopold’s favor.” My response was more honest than I’d planned, but I supposed it was good not to lie all the time.

“I’ll remember that, Lady Diaspro.” He said my name like it was a spell he was rewriting, still not confident about what effects it may inflict.

“It’s rather impressive that you were able to charm such a particular king.

He never let anyone near his perfect son, yet somehow you won his favor.

..I presume you were from an affluent family that gained his attention? ”

My family...?

I didn’t like where this was going. I averted my eyes from him, finally noticing all the books sprawled across the table.

The one in his lap had a cover too worn to read, but its binding was similar to all the others he’d selected.

Each and every one of them was a genealogy or census record from Ivalon.

“Where did you get these?” I asked, my voice snagging in my throat as I recognized a few from Ivalon’s library that should have been nothing but ashes now.

“We recovered a few items of significance during the siege,” Atlas said plainly. “In case any of them could help King Septimus find his true goal.”

The vault. I understood now. They were looking for anything that might hide clues about the king’s treasure .

“You won’t find anything in a list of useless names,” I said tautly. “Especially when the majority of them are already dead.”

“I’m more interested in the living,” Atlas said as he raised his book, flipping through the pages like a slow taunt.

“Like you, my lady. A future princess must have quite the family tree, but I have yet to find a single mention of the name Diaspro . It’s a beautiful name.

I wouldn’t think something so lovely would be so difficult to find. ”

My shoulders stiffened. Was this the reason he’d waited to speak with me? He was busy doing his research...

“It’s difficult to find a needle in a haystack,” I said simply, hoping to dismiss his curiosity.

“Not when you burn away all the hay,” Atlas replied, his voice somehow both silky and coarse at the same time. “It might be simpler if you gave me your last name, as well. I don’t think I ever learned it.”

“I don’t think you ever need to,” I said. “My name and all those attached to it are dead. Why would you want to find something that no longer has meaning?”

“There you go again, having all the clever answers.” He rested his chin in his palm, analyzing me with a frustrated smile. “Too bad it wasn’t the one I was looking for. Let’s try this again. Tell me your full name, Diaspro. That’s an order. ”

Drat.

“Well, aren’t you the gentleman, ordering a lady around.” I huffed a loose strand of hair from my eyes, the butterflies in my chest long dead now. “It’s Onelle. Diaspro Onelle of Ivalon.”

“Onelle? I saw that somewhere.” He perked up, then reached for a book full of death records still lying open on the table.

My stomach churned as he flipped through the pages, finally stopping about halfway through.

“That’s right...the Onelle family. Lord and Lady Onelle were executed for being found guilty of tax evasion. I don’t see anything about a Diaspro.”

“That’s because children aren’t named alongside their parents’ crimes in order to protect them,” I said with a numb voice, focusing my attention on my fiddling fingers. “They were long gone before I climbed up the kingdom’s ranks.”

Atlas scanned through the entry again, glancing up at me between sentences as if trying to match my expression to the words on the page. He bookmarked and set it in his lap with the other one, tapping his fingers on the cover in an irritating rhythm.

“You expect me to believe that the future queen of Ivalon came from a family that died dishonorably by the hand of the king?” he asked coldly, the dissatisfaction oozing through his tight frown. “That doesn’t seem quite right.”

“Nothing about King Leopold was right .” I matched his cold tone with a heated glare. “Believe whatever you want, but that’s the only clever answer you’ll be receiving from me on the subject.”

He let out a quiet huff, biting the edge of his tongue as he set the two books on the table in front of him.

“I believe that there’s far more to your story than a set of criminal parents,” he said.

“And I also believe that you didn’t climb up the royal ranks by chance.

There’s no doubt that your position was earned and not given.

Which makes me wonder why you fought so hard to achieve it. ”

Because I had no other choice.

“What girl doesn’t want to be a princess?” I looked up at him through my lashes, but he wasn’t fooled.

“Say that you did want to simply be a princess.” He stood up, tracing his fingers over the bookcase like he was hunting down the last piece of information he required. “What do you plan to do after you win a crown?”

I lifted my chin to meet his gaze, locked onto those frustrating eyes.

“Take a long hot bath,” I said with a cheeky tilt of my head. “And for once, enjoy a day of my life. ”

Atlas’s lips twitched, a subtle smile pulling at his lips as he leaned against the wall of books. “I think that’s the most believable answer you’ve ever given me.”

“Good, because it’s true,” I said as I leaned my head back against the chair, shutting my eyes like I could imagine the warm water and fluffy white bubbles. “If I’m meant to play the role of a shallow princess, I might as well enjoy the perks.”

He stepped around the back of my chair, and when I opened my eyes, he was looking straight down at me.

“You’re far from shallow, Diaspro.” He said my name in a way that gave me chills, dispersing my illusion of the warm tub.

He leaned over the chair, bracing his palms on the arms as he hovered a few inches above my face.

“Which is why I fear that you have more in store for this kingdom than an import of bath salts.”

I kept looking up at him, his arms caging me in a way that made my heart patter with excitement.

“You fear me?” I whispered.

“I don’t fear Diaspro Onelle,” he whispered back, then slowly pulled away until he was only standing behind me again.

I looked forward, his shadow dancing on the bookshelves in front of me from the fire’s glow.

“I fear the girl that charmed the most wicked king of the century. I plan to find out everything I can about Prince Damon’s perfect fiancée. ”