JAVIER STUDIED THE woman sitting across from him. Her rage had shrunk slightly and was now emanating off her in small waves rather than whole tsunamis.
She had not accepted a drink, and he had made a show of drinking in front of her, to prove that no one was attempting to poison her, or whatever she seemed to imagine.
He was going to have to have words with Matteo once he arrived in Monte Blanco. “You might want to lower your shields,” he said.
“Sure,” she said. “Allow me to relax. In front of the man who is holding me against my will.”
“Remember, you walked on your own two feet to the airplane, which you felt was the difference between a kidnapping and an impromptu vacation.”
“It’s a kidnapping,” she said. “And I’ll have some champagne.”
“Now that you’ve watched me drink a glass and a half and are satisfied that I’m not going to fall down dead?”
“Something like that.”
“Why are you in a temper now when you were fine before?”
“This is absurd. I haven’t been able to check my social media for hours.”
“Is that a problem for you?”
“It’s my entire business,” she said. “It’s built off that. Off connectivity. And viral posts. If I can’t make posts, I can’t go viral.”
“That sounds like something you would want to avoid.”
“You’re being obtuse. Surely you know what going viral means.”
“I’ve heard it,” he said. “I can’t say that I cared to look too deeply into it. The internet is the least of our concerns in Monte Blanco.”
“Well, it’s one of my primary concerns, considering it’s how I make my living. All fine for you to be able to ignore it, but I can’t.”
“Also not going to allow you to post from the plane. Anyway. We don’t have Wi-Fi up here.”
“How do you not have Wi-Fi? Every airplane has that.”
“My father didn’t have it installed. And my brother has not seen the use for it.”
“I find that hard to believe. He’s running a country.”
“Again. That is not a primary concern in my country. You may find that we have different priorities than you.”
“Do you have electricity?” she asked, in what he assumed was mock horror.
“We have electricity.”
“Do you live in a moldering castle?”
“It’s quite a bit less moldering than when my brother took the throne. But it is a bit medieval, I’m not going to lie.”
“Well. All of this is a bit medieval, isn’t it?”
“I felt it was quite modern, given you weren’t traded for a pair of sheep.”
“No. Just my father’s gambling debt, extracted from him when he was drunk. What kind of man is your brother that he would do that?”
“I would say honorable. But his primary concern is the country, and while I don’t know what his ultimate plans are for you, or why he wants you specifically, I do know there is a reason. One thing I know about him is that he has his reasons.”
“Woof,” she said.
In spite of himself, amusement tightened his stomach. And that was the last thing he expected to feel at her insolence. She had no idea who he was. He was a weapon. A human blade.
And she... She taunted him.
He was used to women reacting to him with awe. Sometimes they trembled with fear, but in a way that they seemed to enjoy. He was not blind to the effect he had on women. No indeed. He was a powerful man. A man with a title. A man with wealth.
He commanded a military.
Violet King did not tremble with fear when she looked at him.
He took a champagne glass from the table next to him and poured her a measure of liquid, reaching across the space and handing it to her. She didn’t move.
“You’ll have to come and get it. Contrary to what you may have heard, I don’t fetch or deliver.”
She scowled and leaned forward, grabbing hold of the glass and clutching it to her chest as she settled back in her chair.
She looked around the expansive airplane. “Do you think this thing is a little bit big?”
“I’ve never had any complaints.”
Color mounted in her cheeks. “Well. Indeed.” She downed half the glass of champagne without taking a breath. “I really do wish there was an internet connection.”
“But there isn’t. Anyway, we left your phone back in your office.”
She looked truly panicked at that. “What if somebody else gets a hold of it? I can’t have anybody posting on my social media who wasn’t approved.”
“Such strange concerns you have. Websites. You know, I’ve been fighting for the life and health of my people for the last several years. I can’t imagine being concerned that somebody might post something on a website in my name.”
“Optics,” she snapped.
“Optics are no concern of mine. I’m concerned with reality. That which you can touch and see. Smell. Feel. That is my concern. Reality.”
“It’s no less real. It changes people’s lives. It affects them profoundly. I built an entire business off of influence.”
“You make a product. I did a cursory amount of research on you, Violet. You don’t simply post air.”
“No. But for want of that air my products wouldn’t sell. It’s what exposes me to all those people. It’s what makes me relevant.”
“I should hope that more than a piece of code floating out in cyberspace would make you relevant.”
Her lips twitched and she took another sip of champagne. “I’m not going to argue about this with a man who thinks it’s perfectly reasonable to bundle me up and take me back to his country.”
“I didn’t say it was reasonable,” he said. “Only that it was going to be done.”
After that, they didn’t speak.
Upon arrival in Monte Blanco, Javier parted with Violet and made a straight path for his brother’s office.
“I’ve returned,” he said.
“Good,” Matteo said, barely looking up from his desk. “I assume you have brought the woman with you?”
“Yes. As promised.”
“I knew I could count on you. Did she come quietly?”
He thought of the constant barbs that he had been subjected to on the trip.
“No. She is never quiet.”
Matteo grimaced. “That could be a problem.”
“Your Highness.”
Javier turned around at the sound of the breathy voice. Matteo’s assistant, Livia, had come into the room. She was a small, drab creature, and he had no idea why his brother kept her on. But Matteo was ridiculously attached to her.
“Yes,” Matteo said, his voice gentling slightly.
“It’s only that the United Council chief called, and he is requesting the presence of Monte Blanco at a meeting. It’s about your inclusion.”
This was something his brother had been waiting for. His father had stayed out of international affairs, but it was important to both Matteo and Javier that Monte Blanco have a voice in worldwide matters.
“Then I shall call him.”
“I don’t know that that will be necessary. He only wishes to know if you will accept his invitation to come to the summit this week.”
“Well, I’m a bit busy,” Matteo said, gesturing toward Javier.
“Oh?” she asked.
“Yes,” he responded. “Javier has brought my bride to me.”
Livia’s eyes widened, but only for a moment. “Of course.” That slight widening was the only emotional reaction given by the assistant. But Javier knew how to read people, and he could see that she was disturbed.
He could also see that his brother did not notice. “It is of no consequence,” he said. “We must attend. Javier, you will make sure that Violet acclimates while I’m gone.”
“Of course,” he said. What he did not say was that he was not a trained babysitter for spoiled socialites, but a soldier. Still, he thought it.
“See that my things are collected immediately,” Matteo said, addressing Livia. “All the details handled.”
He spoke in such incomplete sentences to the woman, and yet she scurried to do his bidding, asking for no clarification at all.
“Don’t you think this is a bit outlandish, even for you?”
“My mouse will have no trouble taking care of things,” he said, using his nickname for Livia.
“Yes. I forgot. She is your mouse, living only to do as you ask. Though your appalling treatment of your assistant was not actually what I was referring to. That you had me drag this woman across the world, and you will not be in residence.”
“It’s perfect,” he said. “A more traditional sort of relationship, yes? Hearkening back to the days of old. We won’t meet until the wedding.”
“You forget, she’s an American. A thoroughly modern one.”
“You forget: she has no choice.”
“Why exactly do you want Violet King? That’s something that I don’t understand.”
“Because we need to modernize. Because we need to change the way that the world perceives Monte Blanco.”
“I was told by your fiancée that the world does not perceive it at all.”
“A blessing,” Matteo said. “Because if the world did have a perception of us before now, it would not be a good one.”
“And you want to change that.” He thought of everything Violet had said to him regarding the internet. “Why don’t you have Wi-Fi on your plane?”
Matteo blinked. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Violet seemed to find it odd that you didn’t. I told her you weren’t concerned with such things. But it appears that you are.”
“Well, I’ve never needed it in the air.”
“Your future bride would want it. Otherwise I think she will find traveling with you onerous.”
“I didn’t realize you would be so concerned for her comfort.”
“Well, you put her comfort in my charge.”
“And I leave it to you now.” Matteo stood from behind the desk. “I understand that it’s not ideal, but I know that you’ll also trust me when I tell you this is necessary.”
“I know,” Javier said. “You never do anything that isn’t.”
“I’m not our father,” Matteo said, and not for the first time Javier wondered if he was telling him or telling himself.
He was well familiar with that internal refrain. He knew his brother walked a hard road, but a different one than Javier did.
Javier had been part of his father’s army.
Under Javier’s oversight, missions had been carried out that had caused harm. He had believed, fully and completely, that he was in the right.
Until one day he’d seen the truth. Seen what love and loyalty had blinded him to.
And he had learned.
That a man could be a villain and not even know.
That with the right lie, a man could commit endless atrocities and call it justice.
“I know,” Javier repeated. “You have spent all these past years defying him. I hardly thought that a little bit of power was going to corrupt you entirely.”
“But I must be on guard against it. I understand that you may think it medieval for me to force the girl into marriage...”
Javier shrugged. “I have no thoughts on it one way or the other.” And it was true. He knew that Violet was unhappy with the situation, but her happiness was not his concern.
Swaths of unhappiness had been cut through his country for decades, and he and his brother were working as hard as they could to undo it. If Matteo thought that making Violet his queen would help with the situation, then it was collateral damage Javier was willing to accept.
“You say that,” Matteo said. “But I have a feeling that you always have thoughts.”
“Are they relevant, My King?”
“I told you, I am not our father. But for the fact that I’m a few years older than you, you would be King. Or, if I were dead.”
“Stay alive,” Javier said. “I have no desire to bear the burden of the crown.”
“And yet, the burden is heavy enough that I daresay you can feel the weight of it. It is not like you are immune to the responsibilities we face.”
“What is the point of sharing blood with our father if we don’t do everything, to the point of spilling it, to correct his wrongs?”
“No point at all,” Matteo said, nodding. “I must go check on my mouse’s progress.”
“You call her that to her face?”
“Yes. She finds it endearing.”
He thought back to the stricken look on Livia’s face when Matteo had mentioned his fiancée. But Javier also thought of the slight note of warmth in his brother’s voice when he said it. Mouse. He didn’t say it as if she were small or gray, though in Javier’s opinion she was both. No, he said it as if she were fragile. His to care for.
“She may.”
“No. It is because of how I found her. Shivering and gray, and far too small. Like a mouse.”
Javier was not certain that Livia liked to be reminded of her origins. However much Matteo might find his name for her affectionate. He meant what he had said to Violet. Javier was not a good man. Matteo might be, but for the two of them it was more honor than it was anything quite so human as goodness.
In fact, the only real evidence Javier had ever seen of softness in his brother was the presence of Livia in the palace. He didn’t know the full story of how he had come into... Possession of her, only that he had found her in quite an unfortunate situation and for some reason had decided it was his responsibility to fix that situation.
“You will keep things running while I’m gone,” Matteo said, a command and not a question.
“Of course I will.”
“And I will endeavor to make sure these meetings go well. You remember what I told you.”
“Of course. If ever you were to exhibit characteristics of our father, it would be better that you were dead.”
“I meant that.”
“And I would kill you myself.”
His brother smiled and walked forward clasping his forearm, and Javier clasped his in return. “And that is why I trust you. Because I believe you would.”
They were blood brothers. Bonded by blood they hated. The blood of their father. But their bond was unshakable and had always been. Because they had known early on that if they were ever going to overcome the evil of their line, they would have to transcend it.
And they could only do that together.
Their relationship was the most important thing in Javier’s life. Because it was the moral ballast for them both. Because Javier knew how easy it was to upset morality. How emotion could cloud it.
How it could cause pain.
Whether he understood Matteo’s being so intent to marry Violet or not, he would support it. All that mattered was Monte Blanco. Violet’s feelings were a nonissue.
All that mattered was the kingdom.