Because of the bed, it was tempting to imagine the latter. But judging by the expression on her face, it was most certainly the former.
“You seem to have the wrong palace, Princess.”
“I do not,” she said, her tone stiff. “I am a prisoner in my own country, and I was brought here as a gift to King Kairos.”
Andres’s eyebrows shot upward. His older brother wouldn’t know what to do with a woman as a gift, even if he weren’t bound by marriage vows. “In which case you’re in the wrong room.”
Her expression turned stormy. “He did not wish to keep me. He, in turn, gave me to his brother.”
Andres could not process the absurdity of the statement. This woman, was a gift for him? “Are you telling me that you’ve been regifted?”
She frowned. “I suppose.”
Clearly, she didn’t see the humor in this. But then, if he were the one being passed around like an unwanted present at a white elephant party, he might be humorless too.
“Would you possibly mind waiting here for a moment?” he asked.
Her expression turned stormier still. “I would not have been here at all if I had any other options. I have nothing to do but wait.”
“Excellent.” He turned on his heel and walked back out of the room, stalking down the hall, down the curved staircase that led to Kairos’s office. He would no doubt find his brother bent over important paperwork, looking grave and serious and not at all like a man who had just given his younger brother a woman as a gift.
Andres pushed open the door to the office without knocking, and as he had guessed, Kairos was indeed sitting there laboring over work.
“Perhaps you would like to explain the woman in my bed?”
Kairos didn’t look up. “Andres, if I were tasked with explaining every woman in your bed, I would never get anything else done.”
“You know what I mean. There is a creature upstairs in my chamber.”
Kairos looked up. “Oh, yes, Zara.”
“Yes. A princess of some kind? She claims she’s a prisoner.”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Kairos said.
“Enlighten me.”
His brother actually smiled, the expression nearly knocking Andres to the floor. A smile on Kairos’s face was a rare sight. “She was given to me by dignitaries from Tirimia.”
“That much I gathered.”
“As you know, I’m trying to reestablish trade with them. They are our closest neighbor, and being at odds with them is pointless. More than that, it can be dangerous and costly.” Kairos’s expression turned serious again. “Our father didn’t see the point in mending bridges between the two nations. Here I sit, trying to restore Petras to its former glory, and this is one way I can accomplish that.”
“By accepting a woman as a gift like she was an expensive watch?”
“Yes, Merry Christmas a few weeks early.”
“Did you want me to keep her in my pocket and ask her the time?” Andres asked through clenched teeth.
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re going to marry her.”
Anger settled like lead in Andres’s stomach. “Oh, I see. This is your belated revenge?”
“Again, don’t be ridiculous. I’ve got a country to run. I hardly have time to seek revenge to the detriment of the people. Now, make no mistake, I may enjoy your discomfort a bit, but it is no less necessary that you make this union a reality.”
“You have no reason to hold on to your anger where I’m concerned. You’re better off with Tabitha than you were with Francesca anyway.”
“That,” Kairos said, “is debatable.”
Andres had never been under the illusion that his brother and his wife were head over heels in love, particularly not given the circumstances surrounding the marriage. But this was the first time he had ever heard Kairos speak negatively about the state of things.
The fact that Tabitha, once his brother’s PA, had turned out to be such a suitable queen was one reason Andres had been able to absolve himself of his indiscretion with Kairos’s first fiancée five years ago in a Monte Carlo hotel suite.
He’d been so drunk that he hadn’t remembered what had transpired between himself and Francesca. But there were numerous photos, and some very explicit video footage plastered all over the internet the following day that had left things in a very unambiguous light. Kairos had been forced to call off his marriage, disgraced and humiliated by his fiancée, and his own brother. Kairos hadn’t loved Francesca, that much was clear, and his ire hadn’t been born out of a broken heart, but out of the sting of public humiliation.
Shortly after, Kairos had announced his engagement to Tabitha, and the royal wedding had taken place as planned, on schedule, with a different bride. Everything neatly swept under the rug, as though it had never happened. Which made it easy for Andres himself to forget the part he had played in the way the dice had fallen.
But if things with Tabitha weren’t all that they appeared...
“And what does that have to do with me?” Andres asked.
“I need you married. I need you to help with the relations between Tirimia and Petras. Princess Zara solves both of those issues. You need to grow up and start behaving yourself. I was lenient with you even after the stunt you pulled with my fiancée. I have been very patient until now. While you have continued to whore your way through Europe and the States, I took over the responsibility of running the country.”
“So you’re saddling me with a woman who seems to be here against her will?”
“You knew you would have to marry someday. This is no surprise to you.”
“I figured I might have some involvement in the selection of my bride.”
Kairos pounded his hand down hard on the desk. “Men like us never do. You have lived a life sheltered from the responsibility that faces us. I have not had that luxury. I know the reality of it. You marry appropriately. You do not marry for love. Yes, I suppose I should be thankful you spared me the scandal of having to divorce Francesca. But I selected Tabitha in haste and...it is entirely possible we are facing a larger problem than an issue of marital happiness.”
“Are you unhappy?”
“I never expected to be happy. Neither do I require happiness.” Kairos rubbed his temples. “What I require is an heir. It may have escaped your notice that I don’t seem to possess one.”
“I assumed you were trying for one.”
Kairos curled his fingers into a fist. “We have never used birth control. Five years, and we have never tried to prevent pregnancy. Possibly more information
