Page 36 of His Queen

CHAPTERELEVEN

MIRABELLA

“What doyou mean there are no blush roses? It’s roses. Everyone has them. Even I have them in my back yard.” I place a palm on my forehead while pacing my office. “Well, I don’t have enough of them for a wedding with twenty-three tables. No, we can’t use lavender roses. My God.” I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “Listen to me. I don’t care if you have to import them from Ecuador or hand-paint twenty dozen roses. But you better get me blush roses for this wedding.” I hang up, toss my phone on the desk and plop down on the chaise. “God, this is a disaster.”

“Knock, knock.”

I peek through one eye at Leandra. “Tell me you’re hiding a truck full of Xanax beneath that coat of yours.”

“That bad, huh?” She smiles and takes a seat across from me.

“My florist seems to think lavender roses can be substituted for blush roses like it’s even remotely the same shade.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“That depends. Do you have a shitload of blush roses for me?”

“Sorry. I can’t help you there.”

“This is my first project. I can’t have anything go wrong.”

“You haven’t spoken to Nicoli yet, I take it?”

“No.” I stand and walk over to the window. Nicoli’s car isn’t there, so he’s not back yet. “He left real early this morning. He was gone when I woke up.”

“I know.”

I glance at her. “You do?”

“Yeah. He, ah…” She clears her throat. “He came barging into our room this morning while Alexius and I were—you know.” Her cheeks flush, and I grin.

“Since when are you bashful about getting caught?”

“Anyway. He mentioned that Maximo had called and they needed to get to Myth urgently.”

“Myth?”

She nods. “Whatever happened there has to be serious for them to leave before dawn.”

I turn back to look out the window. The colors of dusk break through the gaps in the clouds, dark with rain. “Maximo always says trouble never sleeps. I have to tell you, if I didn’t grow up in this family, I would have made myself sick with worry every time they left the house.”

“You mean you don’t worry?”

“Of course I do. But I think I’m so used to the feeling, it seems normal to me now.”

Leandra nods in agreement. “I know what you mean,” she says softly. “Sometimes I feel like we’re living in a different world.”

“Weareliving in a different world,” I say simply. “A world where our husbands aren’t good men.”

She scoffs. “There are a lot of people who would argue that we’re crazy to stay when we know all the wrongs of this family.”

“True. But Alexius and Nicoli, they’ve never pretended to be anything other than who they truly are. They never hid the side of them others fear. So, if you think about it, maybe there’s a bad side to us that they speak to.” I shrug. “Maybe a part of us likes that they’re not always…good.”

“Are you saying we’re attracted to the danger?”

I smirk, taking a seat at my desk. “Yeah. I think I am.”

“And that’s why you haven’t told Nicoli about the Carrington-Winslow wedding?” She winks. “You’re attracted to trouble, and a part of you wants to see the…dark side of Nicoli when he finds out you lied to him.”

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