King Ero appeared scandalized at this news. “Well, my dear, that is simply unacceptable. I will ensure personally that whatever you need will be delivered promptly. If you'll excuse me, I will go speak with King Eamon right now and get this sorted out immediately. We want all children in the realm to be able to receive a good education.”
Whether the king was serious or not, I couldn't really tell. I guess I would find out soon enough once I returned to the school. "Thank you so much, Your Majesty, that would be amazing."
The king nodded and walked away in King Eamon’s direction. Corvus joined him, seemingly popping up from the shadows. The man was always lurking it seemed.
"You know," Alden said as he leaned against the table. "I think one day I'd like to try teaching also."
"Really?" My voice sounded much more skeptical than was polite, but that comment had caught me very off guard.
"You seem surprised."
I shrugged. "I mean, aren't there Royal tutors or something who do all that?"
Alden laughed. "The perk about being the younger brother means fewer responsibilities." When he saw my eyebrows rise at his flippant attitude toward being royalty, he quickly added, "Now, don't get me wrong. I do a lot to help my father and Dair, but it is nice being able to have my own life as well. I see how stressed my brother already is, and he isn’t even a ruler yet."
I had no clue if he were being genuine about anything he’d just told me. "If being a teacher is what you truly want, then I sincerely hope that you get a chance to try it."
To be honest, I couldn't picture any of these men as teachers. The fact of the matter was that ninety-nine percent of the teachers in the realm were women. Once again, showing that men felt above my position. So I wasn't sure if Alden was serious or if he was just playing a game like everybody else in this room. Even now, I could hear the fake laughter and the giggling, and I could see the forced smiles as people danced and held conversations based out of necessity versus an organic situation. Did they honestly think this was enough time for everybody to know whether they wanted to marry somebody else?
I was struggling trying to wrap my head around the entire thing. Some of these poor women were going to end up trapped in a life, married to men they knew nothing about. Everyone was on their best behavior, their masks firmly in place.
What would happen when the masks came off behind closed doors?
Chapter six
Theeveningwasprovingto be much more difficult than I had anticipated. There were so many women, and they were constantly swooning over me. Granted, as I looked around, I was not the only Royal being fawned over. I barely had a chance to speak with any of my friends, having been passed off from one woman to another, and it seemed things were getting more aggressive as time went on.
I wasn't joking when I told Dair I was over this. Yeah, I was only nineteen, but I'd had my fun with more women than I could count. It wasn’t like I was looking for some sappy epic romance, either. I just needed to find someone with a pretty face who found me attractive enough to let me put my babies in her. Bloody hell, that sounded crass… but it was the truth. That’s why we were here, and as if planned by the Goddess herself, there wasn’t a single woman in the room who didn’t fit those two requirements.
The woman currently in my arms had told me her name was Alice. I glanced down at her curly blonde hair and long eyelashes. Freckles dotted her nose, and she had the perfect lips. She blinked shyly as I considered her as my wife. What would that be like? King Torin and Queen Alice… or maybe it was Alyssa. Definitely something with an 'A'. In my current state of mind, I considered it a win that I even remembered that much about her. My beast was loving the attention, even if I wasn't completely into it. He wanted all of these ladies for himself; how ridiculous.
I glided Abby across the dance floor, and that's when I spotted my father, Alden, and Evie having a chummy conversation by one of the bars.Well, now that doesn't bode well. Goddess only knows what he's saying. My father had a tendency to just say whatever popped into his brain. He was a king after all, but I didn't need him talking me up to anyone. His snide comments of late had been becoming more frequent, and they were starting to sting more than they ever had in the past.
So I liked to have fun? Big fucking deal. I was going to be a king, and if I didn't have fun now, then when would I? No, I wouldn't be some bitter old king who'd never lived his life. I was going to live mine to the fullest before I was forced to take the responsibility I'd been born into. Father always acted like I was lazy, out of control, and immature, but all of my friends were that way. Except for one—his favorite, Alasdair—my lifelong best friend. Our personalities were so different, and our friendship really gave truth to the saying, ‘opposites attract’.
I saw my father’s eyebrows raise as Evie seemed to be ranting about something. I had to admit that the girl had some fire in her, and the way she spoke exactly how she felt was refreshing. There weren't many women like that in court. I had to admit to myself that I not only found her beautiful, butfascinating.
She’d tripped me, ignored me, talked with her mouth stuffed full of food, discussed inappropriate things, and had outright refused my advances. Why then did I want nothing more than to charge over to her right now and see what else I could do to rile her up? No, I couldn’t do that, and not only because my father would see right through me, but ultimately, this was a lifelong commitment. Not only to me but to my kingdom and to the realm. I had to be sure that the woman I chose would be able to handle the stress of running a kingdom and all the other duties that would be required of her.
"Your Highness?"
I tore my eyes away from where my father was and looked down at the cute blonde in my arms. "Yes, my lady?"
"Have you been listening to anything I've said?" Amanda asked me sheepishly.
"Please accept my sincerest apologies. I got distracted for a moment, and it's been such a long evening already."
Her thumb began making circles on my arm where she was gripping me tightly. Her cheeks flushed pink as she smiled up at me, and her brown eyes twinkled. "I'm sure you're exhausted, Prince Torin. If you want to, we could take a break?"
Did she mean a break or abreak?As one of her golden eyebrows lifted, I knew which one she meant. Was she honestly propositioning me on the dance floor amidst dozens of other women who could potentially end up being my wife? Did I care?
Nope. I didn’t.
“Lead the way, my lady,” I said, smirking.
Hand in hand, I was practically dragged to a dark alcove while my inner beast was preening at all of the attention.
“Prince Torin, I would be lying if I said I hadn’t dreamed of this exact night since I was old enough to know who you were,” Abigail cooed, running her hands up my chest.
