Royal Ruse - Emma Lea Page 0,43

Don’t be afraid to speak freely and ask questions. I believe in transparency and informality, where appropriate.”

“Lucas,” I said, my voice croaking. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Please call me Lucas. I don’t think I will ever be comfortable with my father’s title.”

The king smiled again. “You and me both,” he said.

Francesca

I didn’t think the queen would be so cool. I don’t know what I expected, really. I certainly didn’t expect her to be so young. Logically I knew she was young, but in my brain queen equaled old. I kept imagining her to be like Queen Elizabeth, the English queen. But Queen Meredith was nothing like the monarch who reigned over the United Kingdom for decades.

She was also pregnant, a secret she divulged when we all sat down in her sitting room. While the other women—and I—indulged in a little afternoon wine, the queen abstained and shared her impending offspring. There was no way I would have known if she hadn’t told me. Queen Meredith was not yet showing and as far as I knew, she hadn’t released the baby news to the press yet. It was humbling to be so quickly brought into the fold.

“So, um, please forgive my ignorance, but would you mind terribly explaining the different titles?” I asked, looking around the room.

Queen Meredith smiled. “I’m the queen,” she said and then laughed. “But I’m also addressed as vasilissa. It’s an old title and not used very often, but some members of parliament insist on it occasionally. Jamie is sometimes addressed as vasilefs which is the male form of vasilissa and basically just means king.”

“You called him Jamie earlier,” I said. “I thought his name was Christophe?”

“His name is Christophe,” Meredith replied. “Christophe James Kostopolous, but when I first met him he was introduced to me as Jamie. We spent quite a few years working together, and I knew nothing about him being the heir to a throne or even that he had another name. Personally, I prefer Jamie and I think he does too. The dignitaries all address him as King Christophe and I know he’s uncomfortable with it. When he’s home, he’s just Jamie, the man I fell in love with.”

“Not everyone likes that he is so…relaxed about his title,” one of the women said. She turned to me then. “I’m Elena Manolis, Varoni of Lethe. The anglicized version is Baroness.”

“Not Viscountess?” I asked.

Lady Elena shook her head. “No, that would be ypokomissa.”

I didn’t even attempt to pronounce that word. I barely understood it when she spoke it, and she spoke it flawlessly. Everything about Elena was flawless. Her skin was a rich olive and so smooth she looked like she’d been airbrushed. Her dark hair shone in the sunlight and hung in a glossy sheet to below her shoulders and her almond-shaped eyes were a surprising hazel color and framed with the most perfectly shaped eyebrows I had ever seen. She sat perched on her chair with such elegance she reminded me of the porcelain egret statue in my mother’s office. This was what I expected the queen to be like, but Meredith reclined in her chair and her red hair, although tamed, was hardly the silky sheet of Elena’s. I think I preferred the queen’s posture and casual elegance to Elena’s stuck-up poshness.

“And this is my sister, Athena.”

I turned to the younger version of Elena and smiled. “Nice to meet you. You weren’t in the other room earlier.”

Athena shook her head. “No. I’m not part of the court,” she said. “I just like to visit.”

“You just hang around the palace?” I asked.

Athena nodded with a grin at her sister. “Elena is mentoring me.”

Elena made discreet noise in the back of her throat as if she disagreed with Athena’s explanation.

“So you just follow your sister around all day?” I asked.

“Pretty much,” Athena replied with a shrug.

I raised an eyebrow and looked at the queen, but she just smiled in return. Okay, so the queen didn’t seem put out by Elena’s sister being around all the time. Maybe things in this royal court would be completely different to what Lucas’ mom had warned me about. I couldn’t help wondering what exactly Athena’s endgame was, though. Was she hoping to snag a titled husband? Was she one of those gold-digging women Maya had warned Lucas about? She was beautiful, there was no denying that. So was Elena, her sister, but there was something more stern about Elena that I think most men would