"Roman!" Sebastian cried in shock, "Look what you"ve done to my sweet sister. She never used language like that before you married her."
"Don"t look at me."
"Maybe I never said it but I thought it," she promised. "And you, Sebi, you need to get your act together. You want to be King? You need to start thinking about the future, not just f.u.c.king."
"You sound just like Kat," he murmured, looking away. He missed the intrigued glance that pa.s.sed between Anastasia and Roman.
"I think I"m going to like this one then," Anastasia piped in.
"d.a.m.n hard not to," Sebastian replied gruffly, almost to himself. Another impressed look pa.s.sed between the married couple. Anastasia had to talk to this girl. Anyone that could keep her brother"s attention for weeks instead of hours was worth meeting.
Chapter 17.
Kat tried to keep up but his brisk, no-nonsense stride kept her hurrying behind him. "Is everything all right Sergei? You seem unnaturally quiet. And for you, that"s saying something." He stopped abruptly and she almost ran into him. His eyes bored into her. "Don"t worry. He"ll be King," she said after a moment, linking her arm through his to control the pace. She"d all but sprinted from the sunroom to follow him.
They had gone through two hallways before he spoke. "Should he be? Does he truly want to be?"
"You know him better than me."
"Longer than you. I don"t know about better."
Kat just shrugged. "Who can even answer that? Not me. But I will tell you; in my experience spite is always a powerful motivator. Only something more important can reason with it." Her thoughts shifted to her mother, then to Blaze, and the look on his face that made her realize she had to let it go, for both of them.
He didn"t say anything else until they arrived. "Your room, Miss. I trust you"ll find it satisfactory."
"Sergei?" He turned to leave but she placed a hand on his arm. "It"s a decision only he can make. All we can do is ensure he has the chance to make it." He gave her that look again; the one that made her wonder if somehow Chinese had slipped out instead of English, and walked away.
Kat walked into her room, finally, but didn"t get much farther than the entry. Maybe it wasn"t the right room after all? She was destined to be a nomad even here, wasn"t she?
"h.e.l.lo," the lounging woman said with an easy smile, throwing her magazine down on the table and standing with a grace she doubted had been taught.
"Hi," Kat replied hesitantly. "Do I have the wrong room?"
The woman laughed. "No, Katrina dear. This is your room." She swept around Kat like she a mannequin and her the dressmaker, critical looks only.
"Kat actually, just Kat." She tried to meet her eyes but was getting a bit dizzy. "And you are?"
"Minus manners apparently. I"m Anastasia. Sebastian"s sister." She stopped in front of Kat, her hands clasped before her, and gave her a look that was equal parts suspicious and well-meaning.
"That"s why you looked familiar. You"re the picture Sebastian carries around in his wallet you know."
Anastasia laughed. "Does he still? So happy to be my brother"s most endearing trick." At Kat"s puzzled expression she continued. "I have been the sister that died for sympathy, the girlfriend to inspire jealously, the fiance back home for pity. I think once I might have even been the idealized version of the perfect woman as a challenge."
"Yeah, that sounds like Sebastian. Well, all he told me was that you were his sister."
"The truth. How refreshing. Maybe Sebi is growing up." She let that thought hang in the air and retreated back into the lounge area, expecting Kat to just follow. She didn"t want to disappoint her, Sebastian"s twin sister, or a princess for that matter, so she did.
"Is there something I can do for you Princess?"
"Anastasia, please. Or Ana. Stas never really sits right with me. Sounds like a Sezynian beer. No, I just wanted to chat. Couldn"t wait to finally meet Sebi"s American." Anastasia sat back in the armchair, ankles crossed, fingers entwined, and gave Kat a look more a.s.sessing than agreeable. She suddenly felt like she was on trial, one wrong word and it"d be an "off with her head" the Red Queen would be proud of.
"Sebi"s American? Is that what I"m called these days? Well, I guess I have been called worse, though I"d prefer Kat." She smiled, the one she thought was eager and honest but kept getting repaid with incredulous looks she couldn"t reason out. "Ask away," Kat continued. "I"ve already been interrogated by your mother so I"m used to this part."
"Mother interrogated you?" Anastasia asked in amus.e.m.e.nt, a little of her natural humor showing through.
"Oh, I"m sure she wouldn"t call it that. Definitely not. But she did keep giving me a look I can only describe as Royal with a capital R and I almost did a spit take or two so yeah, interrogate fits."
Anastasia laughed. "Ha, I love it," she said. And Kat couldn"t resist liking her, a smile that nice, all those straight white teeth to distract her. "Don"t take it personally. You"re an oddity around here."
"An American?"
"No, a friend of Sebi"s."
It was Kat"s turn to laugh. "Really? I"ve spent quite a bit of time with your brother and friends don"t seem to be something he has in short supply."
"I was talking about the female variety."
"So was I."
"Let"s just say my brother is very good at finding company but just dreadful at choosing it," Anastasia said in a conspiratorial tone.
"I"m trying to help him with that." At Anastasia"s mild look she added, "Did he really tell no one who I was? I swear, I might have to kill him."
"He does stuff like that. You get used to it."
"Do I really have to wear this?" Kat asked with a grumble from behind the screen.
"Yes," Anastasia said with a twinkle in her eye that Kat couldn"t see. "The turmeric is traditional dinner attire."
"And we"re having a traditional dinner, right? I"m not going to go down dressed like this and everyone"s wearing jeans and being served pizza from up the street, am I?"
"The pizza place isn"t down the street. It"s in the next town over."
"That is not an answer. You"re just as slippery as your brother."
Anastasia laughed. "Where do you think he learned it from? But I promise, we always go all out for our triumphantly returning royalty, don"t you worry."
Kat sighed in mistrust before turning to look at herself in the mirror. The traditional Sezynian tumeric seemed to be a cross between a Sari and a winter coat. The dress itself made her look like she was on fire deep oranges, rich reds, and vibrant yellows all swirling around to create a feeling of heat. It looked to her like pa.s.sion personified. She shifted restlessly even under her own gaze.
"Can I see it?" the princess asked. Kat took a deep breath and came out into the room. Anastasia laughed and Kat turned to flee but she grabbed her arm.
"I look ridiculous."
"No, you look gorgeous." Anastasia was making the second studious trip around her that day, taking her in from every angle, and Kat couldn"t manage to keep still.
"Then why are you laughing at me?"
"Because I can"t wait to see what Sebi thinks."
"Do you think he"ll like it?" Kat asked after a pause.
"The man would have to be blind not to."
Kat considered that for a moment before turning on the spot. "No, no, I"m changing."
"Kat dear," Anastasia drawled, "when the Princess tells you that you look gorgeous, you"re required to listen. You"re not changing, I"m not taking no for an answer. You don"t want to risk beheading, do you?" She shot Kat that trademark Petrescu wink she"d become all too familiar with, and continued. "I"m going to send Nadia over to do your hair while I go get ready. I"ll be back to go down to dinner in half an hour. And I won"t be late."
"Won"t be late," Kat murmured to herself after Anastasia closed the door behind her. "So not exactly like her brother then." For half an hour she was primped and prodded into perfection until she barely recognized the face in the mirror. She finally looked like the exotic foreigner Sebastian always insisted she was.
"I have arrived." Kat let out a breath she didn"t even realize she was holding at the sight of Anastasia in the doorway. She was dressed a lot like Kat, the same dreamy drapery though in ice blue and purple tones, pants instead of a skirt. "Let"s go," the princess said with a grin.
"This is really traditional Sezynian dress?" Kat asked in suspicion as they traversed the castle.
"Did I say that?" Anastasia asked with a smirk. But before she could say anything else they entered a wide dining room. "h.e.l.lo all," she said, stepping to the side of a tall, broad man and laying a kiss on his cheek.
"What are you wearing?" he asked in a thick accent that had Kat"s heart racing at its delicious sound.
"What, this old thing?" she said. "Roman, darling, meet Kat. Sebi"s American. Kat, my husband Roman."
His smile grew as he turned towards her. "The pleasure is mine," he said smoothly as he kissed her hand. Kat thought he actually meant it and smiled back. He shot a furtive look at his wife and her smile faltered.
Sebastian"s jovial voice charged right over the moment. "Roman, who is this you"re fawning over in front of your wife and when can I meet her?" Kat turned and the prince literally stopped in his tracks. "Kisa?" he asked in a whisper, his mouth falling open.
"She cleans up good, no?" Anastasia said with a wink.
Kat met his gaze but couldn"t hold it. Sebastian"s eyes held leagues of desire, flickering like the fire had done the night before, reminding her of exactly how she"d spent it. "Very well," he replied, taking Kat"s hand and placing his lips ever so gently against it. "I see you have met my sister." He straightened but did not drop her hand, running his thumb slowly over her fingers.
"Good thing too. Did you expect her to stay cooped up in her room all day?" Anastasia asked.
"Not without me," Sebastian murmured just loud enough for Kat to hear as she pulled out of his grasp. His hand alighted on her lower back, a caress barely realized. "I expected her to stay out of trouble but if she hooked up with you, alas, what a lost cause," he answered for everyone else.
"I don"t get in much trouble these days Sebi."
"She gets in enough," Roman a.s.serted. At his wife"s haughty look he added, "What about these clothes?"
A look of amus.e.m.e.nt flittered across the princess" face. "I"m not sure what you mean."
Sebastian met the eyes of his less reckless twin and couldn"t hold in a bark of laughter. "What did she say to get you to put this on, Kat?"
"That its traditional Sezynian attire."
"What?" Anastasia asked at the recrimination in the men"s stares. "Well it is inspired by the traditional tumeric. Enrique Vellini is a genius and we both look stunning."
"I will drink to that," Roman said, slipping his arms around Anastasia and pulling her into an embrace.
"Here here." Sebastian"s words were whispered against Kat"s skin, his breath fanning out across her cheek, his forehead gently skimming her temple.
"Please pretend like you"ve seen skin before." Kat tried to shuffle away from him but his fingers curved around her waist, halting her retreat.
"Oh, I can do more than pretend," he said in that seductive voice that rumbled across her skin. His hand started at her shoulder and slowly brushed down to her waist.
"Not here you can"t," Kat murmured, shifting away from his hand A lascivious comment started forming at the edge of his smile but he never got it out. Just as he started to speak a group of people entered the dining room and the mood shifted drastically, tension all set to suffocate them.
Kat recognized King Viktor from his portrait in the sunroom. There was no denying the resemblance to Sebastian, thirty years younger it would have been impossible to tell them apart. But his eyes held a severity it was hard to miss, his mouth pursed in a general scowl of disapproval. If Sebastian becomes King, will he turn into this, she wondered, a man without any of the abandon and fun she"d come to admire.
His brother, Prince Vlad, stood beside him, an even-tempered scowl on his face as well. When his eyes alighted on Sebastian the disapproval and gleam of satisfaction could not be missed. His stare made Kat quite happy it was only her and Blaze against the world with family like that, who needs enemies?
And then there was Anton, a woman beside him, standing to the side as if waiting for permission to move. Kat saw him smile at the Princess, give a slight nod to Roman. But when he locked gazes with Sebastian a cavalcade of emotions traipsed across his face annoyance, anger, regret, sadness finally settling down into one of practiced indifference. If he wanted to be King, he needed to become better at his poker face, Kat thought as the three men traipsed across the room to talk to Queen Ekatrina, the head of the family, perched on a throne at the end of the room.
"I thought we were wearing traditional dinner attire," the woman with the honey blond hair said mildly though her eyes held a challenge.
"Well I"m traditionally untraditional," Anastasia responded with a look.
"Since when?" the girl smirked.
"What, seven months now darling?" the princess asked, with a look at her husband.
"Eight," he answered, leaning down to kiss the wrist she"d presented to him with an offhand gesture. His lips moved quickly to her cheek and she smiled.
"Eight," she parroted back. "Kat, have you met Violetta? Violetta, this is Kat, Sebi"s American. Kat, Violetta, Anton"s wife," she introduced, never taking her eyes off of the slight girl.
"Sebi"s American is it? When will the man learn to look a bit closer to home?"
"Worked out so well for Anton," the Princess said. Her tone held just a whisper of condescension but Violetta heard it and her eyes narrowed shrewdly before an innocent smile slipped onto her face.
"Well we can"t all be this happy or stable, can we? Some people like to live up in the air, dreamers. Not me, I prefer my rock, permanence, inevitability. But, that"s me. Excuse me, will you? I wanted to go talk to Baba."
"What was that about?" Kat asked. Anastasia and Roman started speaking French quietly and didn"t answer. She turned to look at Sebastian who was staring at Violetta across the room, his brow furrowed in thought.
"Nothing," he claimed. "Nothing," he repeated, shaking himself back to the moment with a sip of his drink. His mouth curved into a teasing smile and he leaned in close. "Are we enjoying our self yet Kisa?"
"I"d probably be enjoying myself more if people didn"t keep addressing me as "Sebi"s American." You didn"t tell them anything about me."
He winked at her and his devilish smile grew. "Now where would the fun in that be? You"re talking to the Royal Rebel here, remember?" He leaned in, close, recalling that the last time he"d seen her she"d been wearing decidedly less clothes. "In fact, why don"t you and I get out of here and go somewhere much more private? In the name of rebellion."
"I"m really not in the mood, thanks," she said, putting a hand against his chest to block his approach. He lifted it to his mouth and let his lips fall against her palm instead, his tongue darting out to lick along her lifeline as it had the night before.
She pulled her hand away and Sebastian laughed. "Did you have a trying day? I do apologize for my absence you can blame Sergei. He insisted." Leaving her had been the last thing he wanted to do when he woke up next to her on the floor. Sergei, who was standing over them with a disapproving stare, really had insisted though. It had been one meeting and briefing and update after another. "What did you do today?"
"Well let"s see. Slept in, embarra.s.sed myself in front of your mother, got interrogated by your mother, then interrogated by your sister, got a tour of the house and grounds from your sister, then dressed and reported for dinner." Kat smiled up at him sweetly but he just laughed until it fell into a disapproving frown. "Did you really have to keep "me" vague and mysterious? I"ve embarra.s.sed myself in front of almost all the women in your family. All that"s left is your grandmother and I"ll have the trifecta."