Up for Heir - Stella Starling Page 0,70

breath, giving Hans a nasty glare.

“It’s just one weekend,” Hans said stubbornly.

“N-N-Not the whole weekend,” Edvin said just as stubbornly. “Saturday only.”

Because yes, he may have just had a mini internal meltdown, second-guessing the very best thing that had ever happened to him, but that didn’t mean he was ready to give up just because he was currently drowning in doubts and insecurities that he’d thought were already laid to rest. He wasn’t going to miss the Royal Ball on Sunday, not unless Leo changed his mind, but since Edvin had never been one who expected any pampering anyway, he could give up Saturday. If it would make Hans go away—for now, at least—it would be worth it.

“If you’re sure,” the director said, giving Edvin a grateful smile. “We are under a bit of a time crunch with this one.”

“We may not be able to finish everything in a single day,” Hans said with a calculating look.

“It-it’s all I can do,” Edvin said, standing firm… even though Hans’s “we” almost made him want to back out completely. Honestly, he’d half-expected Hans to pawn all the work off on him as soon as he got Edvin’s agreement, but if Hans planned on working with Edvin on Saturday… well, Edvin would deal, but it certainly wasn’t going to go the way their private work sessions had gone in the past. Just… no.

Hans gave him a snake-like smile. “We’ll see.”

“The Royal Ball is on Sunday,” Maja said with a wink for Edvin. “So Saturday’s all you’re getting, Hans. Isn’t that right, Edvin?”

“R-Right.”

Hans smirked, then glanced down at his watch again. “Be at my office Saturday at eight o’clock sharp. We’ll see how efficient you are before deciding about Sunday, hm? But right now I’ve got an appointment to get to.” He patted the counter briskly, turning away, and Edvin let out a relieved breath.

Mission accomplished.

But then Hans turned back one last time. “And Vinnie, you know what I like. Do bring breakfast on Saturday, won’t you?”

Edvin narrowed his eyes. No, he wouldn’t, actually, but no point saying that to Hans’s back. What he would do, now that Hans was finally gone, was try and find a way to shake off all the gut-clenching doubts he was drowning in.

Maybe… maybe by talking to Leo about them? He could be an adult and just ask, after all. Did Leo actually want to marry him? Was choosing Edvin more than a chance for Leo to thumb his nose at his royal duty? Did Leo think he could ever love Edvin back?

Edvin swallowed, his throat suddenly too tight again.

Actually, no. Maybe he couldn’t ask all that… at least, not until he was brave enough to hear the answers.

Chapter Thirteen

Leo

“Leo,” the queen called as Leo stood to follow the ambassador from Brachenstein out of the drawing room that he’d just spent the last two hours in. “A moment.”

“Yes, Mother?” he asked, tamping down his impatience to get back to his suite and call Eddie. He would rather be with Eddie tonight—well, every night, really—but with the palace playing host to so many visiting dignitaries for Rosavia’s five-hundredth anniversary celebrations, Leo’s calendar for the week leading up to the Royal Ball was packed with diplomatic events, and he hadn’t been able to get away.

No, that wasn’t true. He’d chosen not to.

Normally, in circumstances like these, Leo would have made the bare minimum of appearances he could get away with and relied on Sander to step in for the rest—or else have simply made his excuses and dodged out completely—but lately… lately he’d been looking at his role as heir in a new light.

It had been surprisingly satisfying to step more fully into what he’d been born for, and Leo suspected that having Eddie in his life had something to do with that. Even after a long and distressingly Eddie-lite week, Leo felt none of the restless itch to break free of his duties that had plagued him for so many years. Instead, he couldn’t wait to tell Eddie about the diplomatic headway he’d made each day, make him giggle by sharing some of the more ridiculous moments with him, and get his take on a few of the thornier questions that had arisen with some of the delegates.

Of course, there were plenty of other things he wanted to do with Eddie as well, things that had nothing at all to do with Leo representing the crown and everything to do with how badly Leo missed being able to get