Maid For You 4

Chapter 27

That afternoon after his meeting, Nikolas and I met up in the palace's library, and despite the nerve-racking conversation ahead, I was immediately taken aback by the beauty of the library. There were floor to ceiling white bookshelves with gold accents adorning the posts, and stairs leading up to the top level of the library, where there was a railing overlooking the open space.

"Cassie," I heard Nikolas's voice, snapping me out of my trance. I turned to find him in an archway, leading to another room in the library.

"Nikolas," I nodded, walking over to him while wringing my hands together. It's not like I'd tried to do anything wrong, and I really was hopeful that Nikolas would understand the whole situation once I explained it to him, but I still was anxious about telling him everything for some reason.

"We can sit in here," Nikolas said, pointing to the adjacent room. It was still beautiful and adorned, but the ceiling wasn't quite so tall, the floor was carpeted, and there were plush navy-blue armchairs. We each took a seat, and I smiled awkwardly.

"Nice library," I said.

"Thank you," he told me. "I'll have to tell you more about it, but for now, I can tell you are quite anxious to get off your chest whatever it is that you want to say, and I am rather anxious myself to hear what happened. I do understand that you and Coleman know each other, and I'm sure whatever you said wasn't maliciously intended..."

"Okay, let me explain," I cut him off, drawing in a deep breath. "It all starts before I came to Nikoto."

He rose an eyebrow.

"Queen Klara called me to the throne room the day before I came. Honestly, I had no idea why, but she told me that it would be a lesson in politics. I stood off to the side, along with Prince Coleman, and the King of New Spain came in."

Nikolas narrowed his eyes. "King Diego?"

"Yes," I said. "And, basically, Aregano has been financially supporting New Spain, but they'd recently been cut off. Queen Klara told him that if he wanted his pension reinstated that he'd need to make Princess Esmerelda break up with you."

Nikolas's eyes looked very sharp and cold as he looked at me. "Queen Klara?"

I squirmed a bit in my chair—his cold look probably wasn't directed towards me, but I was still the one in front of him facing an icy blue anger.

"Yeah. I mean, as you know, she wants Princess Calista to marry you, and she was pretty mad that you and Esmerelda went to Calista's debutante ball together."

I watched as Nikolas shot up from his chair and began pacing around the room. "And what did King Diego say?" he asked me.

"Well, he protested at first, but then when faced with the actual prospect of not getting money from Aregano, he agreed to cut things off between you and Esmerelda."

Nikolas shook his head. "Of course he did," he hissed under his breath. He then turned to look at me. "I just don't understand why were you were there. It simply doesn't make..." but then his voice trailed off, and his eyes were looked off, though they weren't focused on anything. After a few seconds, he looked at me in the eyes. "It's because you were coming to visit me. That's why she had you witness the whole spectacle. Like some sort of threat."

"That's what I got from it," I admitted.

He continued to shake his head, frustration etching its way onto his face. "Aregano has gone too far," he scowled. "They have no right to interfere with my personal life in this way!" He looked at me, and extended his arm is if to make a point. "Princess Calista has shown nothing but poorly concealed contempt for me, and is but a frivolous child. I wish to wed sooner rather than later, but they expect me to wait a few more years for their daughter, a daughter who dislikes me and with whom I am not particularly enamored either? It's ludicrous! Calista is not my fiancé. I am not breaking some betrothal or promise by spending time with or by courting other woman. There is no promise to break! Yet Klara thinks she has the right to dictate who I can or cannot spend my time with. How presumptuous. She may be the queen of Aregano, but her power does not extend to Nikoto."

Then he continued on his rant, only this time slipping into Russian. I had never seen Nikolas so angry as he paced around the room, going off on a tirade of words that I couldn't understand.

"And for her to have you witness it," Nikolas said, switching back into English. "Very well, you are Calista's lady-in-waiting, but I was still the one who invited you here. I do not like that she had you witness her meeting with King Diego just to make a point. Quite frankly, if something were to happen between the two of us, as everyone is so keen to insinuate, you'd then fall under Nikotan jurisdiction—not hers."

I didn't know what to say, so I continued to sit there somewhat awkwardly.

He sat himself back down in his chair and rested his arms on the armrests, his fists clenched tightly. "After the Winter Ball is over, I'm going to Aregano," he said. "I am going to clear up this matter once and for all. I am absolutely...fed up with this sort-of-half betrothal absurdity with Calista. I will straighten the matter with finality, and then we can all proceed forward with our lives!"

"I'm really sorry," I said, because I wasn't sure what else I could say. There was no real advice I could give, and a listening ear was the best I could provide. "I can't even imagine how frustrating it would be."

"And I suppose that is how Coleman knew about Esmerelda?" Nikolas asked.

"Yes," I said. "Well, and this is where I might be at fault." I sighed, and closed my eyes for a moment. "I didn't know what to do when you brought up Esmerelda, when you said how you were courting her. So I...so I called Coleman to ask him if I should tell you that Esmerelda was going to break up with you. I really wasn't sure what to do. I wanted to tell you the truth, I really did, but I was worried it would cause international political problems and stuff, and I didn't want to be the cause of that. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

"It's alright," Nikolas said. "I wish I'd known, but I also understand why you didn't tell me." He ran his hand through his pale hair. "You shouldn't have even been put in the middle of all this. That was wrong of Queen Klara, quite frankly."

"I'm still sorry," I said.

"Do not be, Cassie," he said. He gave me a kind smile, but then his features sharpened. "You are not the one who should be sorry."

To read up to Chapter 40, join my patreon! https://www.patreon.com/klafroth