Every morning since we’ve come to the palace has been pretty much the same. Affairs of state rarely want to wait until we’ve had coffee, our phones buzzing constantly and our assistants trying to deal with matters. I get it. I even admire seeing how Nathan calmly deals with it. Though he’s not my favorite person in the world, I know that he’s always planning something, so the fact that he never turns his phone around, despite the multiple buzzes and dings of alerts, until he’s finished is coffee is interesting. He has coffee and a muffin every morning.

Isadora has grapefruit. I’m a bacon and eggs man.

But I’m the only person down at breakfast today and I’m not sure why. I know it is pretty illogical but my first thought is to blame Nathan. So much for appreciating him…I kind of turn into an immature jerk when I think about him, making his whole opinion of me as some meathead worse, don’t I?

The halved ruby red grapefruit seems melodramatic against the cream backdrop of the royal china, waiting for Princess Isadora to lift the royal spoon and have breakfast. I wonder why I’m thinking about grapefruits and the crown’s dishes at all, until a familiar male steps stalk into the dining room.

“Nathan.” I nod.

He looks every bit as thrilled to see me as I am to see him. I’m a little surprised that the slasher in a horror movie demeanor Nathan always seems to have seems to be curling up around the edges. “Isadora must know you’re here already, so she’s taking her time to show up.” The sneer on his face tells me that he’s bothered by just how much I obviously care for Isadora. He doesn’t sit, but reaches to grab a muffin from one of the cake stands on the enormous dining table.

It pisses me right the fuck off. Because this wily asshole shouldn’t be anywhere near her. Yes, not three seconds ago I was contemplating that I might admire one thing about him, but the way he saunters in here with something else so harsh to say about Isadora and I just sets me off. “Are you even capable of loving her? Or is she just a golden-haired pawn in your latest scheme?” I spit the words back at him, standing up now and looking him right in the eyes. I am mad and I’ll let him have it.

“Do you think some meathead such as yourself isn’t too brutish for someone as smart as Isadora? There’s settling and there’s going far beneath…” Nathan lets his words trail off. That’s probably the first smart thing he’s done since we started verbally sparring over Isadora. But we both know that was too fucking far. I’m not just a cock and a set of fighting arms, and petty insults tell me Nathan’s distracted.

Still, I’m the brutish one, and it all makes sense because right now I want to punch a hole into Nathan’s head then throw him off the nearest cliff. My blood rushes through my veins like a hot geyser ready to erupt, and I don’t need to make him feel vindicated, but I’m quickly losing my cool.

“How I feel about Isadora, truly, is none of your business.” Nathan’s thumb rolls down the tin containing the muffin and then he tosses it at me. “Get some fiber, you look like you might burst.”

I catch it and crumble it in my hands, decimating it over the grapefruit I’d been about to eat. Bacon and eggs are my thing, but after I introduced Isadora to the gardens despite them being there the whole time, I figure I’d try another piece of the breakfast procession. But I picked a poor date for that, it seems. Who can eat a grapefruit if it’s covered in muffin? Maybe after I stab the serrated edge of the grapefruit spoon into Nathan’s chest, then I’ll eat a muffin.

“Get over yourself and keep whatever shit you have planned away from Isadora; she doesn’t deserve anything you have to offer.” I can offer my own low blow. I might appreciate the fact that he pulled himself back from how far he overstepped with those earlier comments, but first I’m going to let this seething rage subside by fizzling out in its own timeline.

Nathan raises an eyebrow, and that smug look of satisfaction on his face keeps my blood boiling. “Actually, I’m off to tea with Isadora and Queen Illeana.” He wields the words like a victory. “Did she not tell you that she’d be with me instead of breakfast with you?” Nathan turns around to leave, and I ignore him best I can, which isn’t that difficult because now I’m thinking about how I’m not going to see Isadora yet. I can’t believe just how disappointed that makes me feel, how it can distract even my hottest rage, but I am infatuated with her like I’ve never felt before.