Royal Ruse - Emma Lea Page 0,3

could get the same thing for free.

Effie was the spitting image of our mother, if a little more severe. It was the expression she wore almost constantly that gave her the severe look. If my sister ever really let go and smiled, she would be absolutely gorgeous. She was three years younger than me, but she was the CEO of the family business. Father handed her the reins almost the same day she graduated with her MBA. I’d been working in the finance department of the company for a year by then, but there was never any question that the CEO position would go to Effie. I didn’t even hold the CFO position, which suited me just fine. I liked numbers and data sets and not being responsible for the financial well-being of the company our parents had built.

“Good,” Effie mumbled, scrolling her way through the numbers on the screen. “These are good, much better than I expected.”

She sighed and leaned back in her chair, the slightest upturn of a smile on her lips as she finally looked at me.

“Sit,” she said, and I did. “So, what have you decided?”

I didn’t need to tell Effie why I was in her office. Mother would have already filled my sister in on the letter and summons from the king.

“I’m proposing to Clarissa tonight,” I said.

“I knew that,” she replied with a grimace.

Effie didn’t particularly like Clarissa, but she would never forbid me to marry her. She would make her displeasure known in other ways, although she would never aim her digs at me. Effie treated me as if she were the older sibling, doting on me when we were younger and acted as my protector through the harrowing years of high school bullying.

No, Effie wouldn’t make any disparaging remarks about Clarissa to me or make me feel stupid for wanting to marry her. She would, however, make life uncomfortable for Clarissa, or at least she had in the past. I didn’t know—but I hoped—that would change once Clarissa and I were married.

“Are you going to answer the king’s summons?”

I nodded. “Yes,” I replied and then immediately followed up with, “Do you think I’m doing the right thing?”

Effie picked up a silver pen and tapped it against her chin as she studied me across her desk.

“I think it will be good for you,” she said finally. “You’ll get to see the old country, meet some new people—” I grimaced. I wasn’t a fan of meeting new people…or people in general. She smiled fondly at me, or at least what passed for a smile in Effie’s world. “And I dare say the king could do with some of your stellar financial advice.”

I grimaced again. I didn’t want to give the new king financial advice.

“You sell yourself far too short,” Effie said with a shake of her head. “I would give you the CFO position in a heartbeat if you asked.”

“I don’t want it,” I replied. It was true. I got anxious just thinking about being the head of the department, although it made me feel good to know Effie valued my opinion and saw me as more than just the underachiever our parents saw me as.

“So, you’ll go to Kalopsia and see what the king wants,” Effie said with a nod.

“And I’ll probably come back,” I replied.

I was under no illusion that I was not the type of person the king needed in his new court.

“He should have summoned you,” I said.

She shook her head. “I would have turned him down,” she replied. “I’m already the queen of my domain, I don’t need a royal title to go with it.”

It was true. If ever there was a position custom made for a person, CEO of Andino Raïda was it for Effie. I still didn’t know the place where I fit. I doubted I would find it in Kalopsia, but it couldn’t hurt to go there and have a look around. No one said I had to stay there indefinitely. I may hate it. The king might hate me. None of this was set in stone.

“When will you leave?” Effie asked, leaning forward again and looking back at her computer. I was already being dismissed.

“A month or so,” I replied, standing to my feet. “Does that give you long enough to replace me?”

Effie looked up at me then and smiled softly. “No one can replace you, Lucas,” she said. She looked back at the computer and then back at me as a sudden thought hit