He had to bite his cheek to stop himself smiling. Either Helia was still upset by his hasty exit the day before or she was not a morning person. Perhaps both. It was an idea he found oddly endearing and he filed the information away.
‘Good morning, Helia. Did you sleep well?’ Try as he might, he couldn’t hide his amusement.
‘Marvellously, thank you.’
‘I’ve taken the liberty of sending for breakfast.’
As if it had been planned, a knock sounded at the door.
‘That will be it right now.’
He opened the door and stood aside as a servant wheeled in a trolley with several cloches sitting on top.
He greeted Helia and Vasili with a bow, and was about to serve the new King and Queen when Vasili stopped him with a smile.
‘That’s all right, we can handle it from here.’
He closed the door, then pushed the trolley towards the small table in the room and went about lifting the lids before taking his seat and pouring two cups of coffee.
‘Join me?’
Vasili might not have had the same level of rigorous training to be King as his brother, but he did know that he needed different approaches to win different people over. Sometimes a blatant show of power was needed, but at other times a softer touch was more effective. Given Helia’s irascible mood, and the subject at hand, he knew he would need to be amiable. Charm her. And that was something he could do effortlessly.
He handed one of the cups to her, noting that she added neither cream nor sugar before taking a sip of the steaming hot drink.
‘Pancakes?’ he asked.
He watched Helia study him closely before she answered.
‘Yes, please.’
He loaded her plate with pancakes, cream and fresh berries, before serving himself the same. If what he wanted to speak to her about hadn’t been so important, he would have laughed at her confusion.
He watched her drain her cup before starting on the pancakes. If he was going to have a civilised conversation about their way forward, now was the time.
‘Helia, I would like to apologise for my behaviour yesterday. Both at the wedding and after. I shouldn’t have kissed you and I most certainly should not have left the way I did.’
‘Why did you leave?’
She seemed focused on cutting up her food. Her calm indifference had to be an act. Still, he was glad they had a distraction of sorts for this conversation.
He picked up his utensils. ‘I needed to think. The situation we find ourselves in is not an easy one to navigate, so we need to set some ground rules. Discuss our expectations.’
‘Go on.’
‘I know you have been told that in agreeing to be Queen you will be expected to bear heirs to the throne.’
Helia’s cautious gaze landed on him. ‘I have.’
‘I don’t want you to be concerned about that. I do not expect a physical relationship. You will not bear us any heirs. We will not have sex.’
After that kiss, he couldn’t take the risk. He needed this boundary for himself.
Vasili waited for his words to land. Watched her stiffen as she speared a strawberry.
‘Would it not have been prudent to mention this to me before we were married, Your Majesty?’ she snapped.
‘Your Majesty?’ Vasili repeated, taken aback by the sharpness of her tone.
