Her eyes gleamed with satisfaction as she faced Darling. “Good. I hope you let her have it with all barrels.”
The moment the servant returned with two others to start moving seats and adding place settings, Nylan’s wife came running out to challenge them.
The lead servant pointed to Darling.
Fury flashed in her eyes at being thwarted, but Lady Nylan checked it before she walked over to them. “Your Majesty, I beg your indulgence and tolerance in this matter. But given Princess Kiara’s delicate condition, I don’t think it’s wise to—”
“I’m pregnant, my lady, not infectious,” Kiara said, interrupting her. “Since I count Lady Starska and Lord Maris among my closest friends, I don’t mind sharing my space with them.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Desideria chimed in. “Zarya is a true gem. But if it causes you distress, we would be most happy to join them in the hallway.”
Nykyrian nodded. “Feel free to move all of our settings there.”
The countess inclined her head respectfully. “That won’t be necessary, Your Highnesses. I’m sure we’ll be able to find them a suitable spot.”
Darling cleared his throat to get her attention. “One on either side of me.”
She stiffened in anger. “Excuse me?”
Darling made sure to keep his tone flat and even. “You heard me, my lady. I expect my senior adviser and fiancée to be seated with me.”
She went pale with the news. “Fiancée?”
“Yes. Lady Starska and I are to be married. And I am sure she will be moved by your graciousness toward her.”
Darling wouldn’t have thought it possible, but her face turned even whiter.
Lady Nylan grabbed a waiter. “I need the man and woman in the hallway moved in here immediately. Do not drag your feet.”
Kiara winked at Darling. “You are so incredibly sneaky. I love it.”
He glanced over to Nykyrian. “I learned from the best.”
In under three minutes, Maris and Zarya returned to the dining room.
Zarya gave him a suspicious stare as she neared them. “What did you do?”
Darling blinked innocently. “What makes you think I did anything?”
Maris snorted. “The way the waiter behaved—like he was afraid for his life.”
Darling shrugged. “No idea why. I merely made a request.”
“Sure, you did,” Maris said with a short laugh. “I’ve heard your requests. They’re positively wrong.”
Zarya wasn’t sure what to think as she was shown to a seat next to the head of the table. Maris was seated across from her. Please tell me that seat belongs to Darling. Or at least one of his friends. The last thing she wanted was to be beside one of the nasty gerents who glared at them.
“My lady?”
She looked up as an older gentleman stopped beside her. His face was so wrinkled that he reminded her of a suit someone had dug out of the back of their closet. His gray eyes were cold and he smelled like rotten camphor balls. “Yes, my lord?”
“I just had to meet the woman who could turn a gay man straight. I didn’t think it was possible, especially someone as licentious and effeminate as our governor. Believe me, I know how much he loves a good hard cock in his ass. Congratulations.”
His rudeness stunned her silent. She sat there, slack jawed, trying to think of an appropriate response that wasn’t crude or profane.
For once, nothing, absolutely nothing came to mind. She simply reeled from it.
“Hey, Nylan? We need you over here for a second.”
He left her side.
So that was…
Gaping like a fish, she looked at Maris for corroboration on the man’s identity.
“Yeah,” Maris said with a snarl, “he’s that bastard.”
Darling returned to her side immediately. “Are you all right?”
She started to tell him what had happened, but she didn’t want to upset him. Given the past, she wasn’t sure Darling wouldn’t kill him for saying that to her.
Forcing a smile to her lips, she nodded. “Where are you sitting?”
He indicated the chair between her and Maris. Thank the gods for that favor. She wanted out of here so badly that she could taste it. But what bothered her most was the knowledge that this would have been her life all along had her father’s titles not been stripped.
She would have been just like the other women who passed judging sneers at her and Maris. Those who wouldn’t even speak to them. Frigid. Callous.
Mean.
That thought made her blood run cold. For the first time in her life, she was grateful that she’d been raised outside this realm. She’d much rather have eaten bread sandwiches with her father for weeks on end than have been fed like this every day if putting up with them was the price for it.
It just wasn’t worth it.
Once Darling was seated and dinner began, it did get better. At least as long as she ignored the stares—most of which were hostile—that the gerents and their spouses directed at them.
And as she ate, she became acutely aware of how Darling and Maris interacted with each other. For some reason, she’d never noticed it before.