Destined for Greatness ✔️

Chapter 10

"I must say, I was rather surprised you invited me for tea," Jade said. She nodded for her guards to stay in the hallway and stepped into Maxwell's quarters. Of all the council members, he was the one she disliked least but distrusted most – both because she couldn't read his mind. Had she been able to, she would probably have found the same kind of hateful thoughts in his mind as she did in those of the other councilmen, but he did a good job of hiding his disapproval. In fact, if she weren't so convinced everyone in the castle hated her, she might even have thought he liked her.

He smiled, gesturing for her to progress into his room. Like Aaron's room, his quarters were split into two – a bedroom and a more parlour-like space. It was, of course, the latter in which he received her. A steaming pot of tea was already waiting for them on the table, a cup set up on either side.

"Why, Ma'am, just because the council and you have some differences to work out, does not mean we cannot be amiable in our free time. After all, we will soon belong to the same family. That is: I assume your interest in my nephew outweighs your dislike of castle life. Please, sit." He drew out a chair for her and flashed her another smile, this one big enough to show his sharp canines. There was something about the glint in his blue eyes that made it hard for her to trust him. Some kind of infinite amusement, as well as a sense of mystery. Something guarded behind the façade of effortless cheerfulness.

She sat down, providing him with a smile of her own. "You are quite right, though I wonder what your colleagues might think of you socialising with me."

Maxwell chuckled and reached for the tea pot. "May I?"

She pushed her cup a bit closer towards him, inclining her head. Had he poisoned the tea? No, that would kill him too. Except if he had built up a resistance against the poison he had used. But that was unlikely. Perhaps he had poisoned her cup. He had, after all, pulled out her chair for her, deciding where she would sit and therefore what cup she would use. But if he wanted her dead, there were easier ways to do it. Besides, her guards knew she was having tea with him, so if she dropped dead later, they'd know whom to question.

"Tell me, do the other councilmen know you invited me? Or maybe they asked you to get better acquainted with me, because you are the only one whose mind I can't read."

He poured her tea and returned her cup to her. "Must you assume I have bad intentions? So hostile. Perhaps I merely wish to get to know the woman who will, in all likelihood, soon mate my nephew."

"Somehow you don't strike me as a concerned uncle."

His hand fluttered to his chest. "I am shook you should think so little of me. I might be a bastard, but Aaron is still family." He poured his own tea and pulled a small bowl of sugar towards him. A little spoon was sticking out from it and he took it, jabbing it into the sugar a few times like he was digging a garden bed. "To answer your question: no, my fellow councilmen have no inkling that I am spending time with you, which does not mean they won't soon find out. They tend to be aware of everything that goes on between these walls."

"So they did not ask you to have this meeting?"

"They did not. They might have, had I not taken matters into my own hand already. You are right: being the only one whose mind is shut off from you, I am the perfect person to manipulate you. However, because you can't read me, you won't trust me, which is why it would be useless for me to try and control you."

"Right."

He grinned, his bright eyes twinkling. "See? You're wary already. I don't blame you. My colleagues and I have not exactly been on our best behaviour so far."

Jade regarded him a moment. He was one of those people who, were it not for the sharpness of his gaze, she would label 'approachable'. He had blond hair which was already greying around the edges, and a quick smile. He was tall, but not towering; strong, but not overly muscled; agile, but past his prime. He wasn't, in short, threatening. Or at least not on the surface.