The Heir (18+ Only) - Noblesse Oblige #2

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"I trust that you are prepared for dinner with our guests, Behati", Ardyn drawled when Behati entered her living room, where he had been sitting nursing a glass of brandy and waiting to escort her to dinner. He watched her approach with half-shut eyes, his pose languid as he sprawled against an arm of the white sectional that dominated the room. He was dressed in formal wear - all of it black, save for his white dress shirt, gray vest and gray necktie, and his hair had been neatly trimmed and combed back from his face.

Behati paused, considering him for a moment. She, too, was dressed formally in an elegant dress of a light gray mauve that fell from an embellished silver collar and mesh panel, hugging her frame before falling to the floor. A cape of the same color fell from the mesh-and-rhinestone panel to graze the floor. Her hair had been artfully piled on top of her head. Diamond drop earrings fell from her ears, and a matching diamond bracelet adorned her left wrist. Her makeup had been flawlessly applied, a dramatic smokey eye enhancing the blue of her irises.

"I'm always prepared", she said finally. She strolled to her sideboard, her movements revealing the toes of the strappy silver heels on her feet, and poured herself a glass of cool water. "Come to make sure I took my meds, husband? Blow the dust off your trophy wife?"

"You could never be a trophy wife, Behati. You're much too difficult to deal with", he replied.

"You were never good with words, Ardyn. Why I'd once assumed you'd get better with age is beyond me." She poured the pills she required into her hand and quickly took them, downing half the glass of water. Setting the glass down on the side bar, she smoothed down the skirt of her dress and turned to face him. "Come on then, Your Majesty. Let's go meet our future daughter-in-law."

Behati started towards the front door of her suite, but Ardyn reached out quickly and grabbed her arm. She glanced down her arm at him, cocking a brow in cool inquiry.

"He will not marry her", Ardyn said firmly.

"It's not your choice, now is it?" Behati replied, raising both brows.

"No - which I regret. That is why you shall convince our son not to marry this woman."

"Oh?" Behati asked with a laugh, pulling out of his grasp. "Will I?"

"Once you meet her, you will see that she will never be fit to rule alongside our son as the queen of this country."

"Kind of like how I'm no longer fit to be queen of this country?" Ardyn's expression hardened at her tone. Behati reached out and patted his arm lightly. "You'll never have Levi in the palm of your hands like you want him to be. You most definitely won't have me there either. Do your own dirty work, Ardyn darling." Blowing him a kiss, she sashayed out the suite.

Some things never change, Amrei mused as she listened to her mother waxing lyrical about the many achievements of Amaris during dinner with the Kaleniuses that night. She shifted in her seat, lightly touching the complex updo her hair had been braided and pinned into hastily as soon as Levi had left her dressing room. Still secure. Good.

Calanthe Sarafian, who was more of a calculating businesswoman than a mother, had easily taken hold of the conversation and steered it skillfully in whatever direction she chose. She was a striking Caucasian woman in her early forties, more elegant than beautiful. Her pin straight dark blonde hair had been expertly pinned up and smoothed away from her face. She had light hazel eyes, a straight nose, and bow-shaped lips on a wrinkle free, oval-shaped face. She was currently dressed in an austere dark blue evening gown with a split along one side that went up to her knee. The simple long gold necklace around her neck was the only thing that broke the monotony of the dress. In her ears were a pair of golden knobs, and on her hands she wore her plain gold wedding band and several other meaningless rings.