19. My duty

19

MY DUTY

O nce I leave Julien, I head to the office where I know Kaine will be waiting. He's always at least twenty minutes early for work. I think it annoys him that I always arrive just on time.

I stop by the kitchen to grab a coffee—I have a feeling I'm going to need the caffeine. Dad joins me, getting his coffee cup.

"Hey, Madeline. I need to talk to you," he says, before I can walk away.

I turn to face him, my coffee cup warming my hands. "What's up?"

"I hate to tell you this, especially after last night, but I'm going to need you to choose a marriage candidate soon."

I lift an eyebrow. "How soon is soon?"

"By the end of the month." He grabs his coffee cup and takes a casual sip.

Casual after the bomb he just dropped.

I look at the date on my phone and realize that I have less than two weeks to choose a husband. Two weeks to decide who I want to spend my life with.

"Why the rush?" I ask. "I thought I had time."

"I'm sorry. It's just that we need an alliance," Dad explains. "If we want our enemies to stop coming after us, we need a strong front. We need to show them that the Scott Clan isn't to be messed with. And for that, we need another clan backing us."

I frown, not liking his explanation at all.

Are vampire clans so petty that they'd come after one another? Succubi and incubi may be vain and superficial, but the last thing any of them want is a war. Meanwhile, vampires are all apparently war hungry.

"Talk to Kaine." Dad continues talking like I'm not having a complete nervous breakdown. "He will help you choose a suitable candidate. He knows who the strongest clans are. Trust his judgment. But whoever you choose, it has to be a strong royal. An heir or a spare. I don't want any cousins of heirs, Madeline. I don't even want third born sons—first and second born only."

Vampires take marriage alliances way too seriously.

"I'll be in my office once you and Kaine narrow down a list for me." Dad smiles at me before he turns and strolls out of the kitchen.

I stand there with my coffee cup gripped tightly in my hand.

He can't be serious.

How am I supposed to choose a husband in eleven days? Even with Kaine's help, it's an impossible task.

I take a sip of my coffee, but even the comforting taste isn't enough to help soothe my aching soul.

Reluctantly, I make my way toward the office. Knowing Kaine, as soon as I tell him what my dad said, he'll pull out a slideshow and give me the pros and cons of each marriage candidate. But I've already been out with all of them. And for most of them, their personalities are the biggest cons.

When I walk into the office, Kaine is sitting at his desk with a huge law book open in front of him. I'm pretty sure the guy reads those books for fun, which makes me wonder what Lucien is like. Since the two of them are best friends, maybe they bonded over their love of boring vampire law books.

I sit down at my desk and swivel my chair to face Kaine.

He lifts an eyebrow at me. "What do you want?" He quickly looks back and his book, like he wants to dismiss me.

"My dad just informed me that I have until the end of the month to choose a husband," I inform him.

He doesn't look up from his book. "Okay."

Okay? OKAY? Is that all he has to say about the fact that I have less than two weeks to choose a husband ?

I can't murder him.

Or maybe I could. I've read enough vampire law books to know that a princess could get away with murder, as long as there was probable cause. Is annoyance probable cause?

I throw a pencil at him. Without looking up from his book, he catches the pencil before it hits him. He puts it down on his desk and—finally—shuts his book. He swivels in his chair so that he can face me.

"You're in a mood today," Kaine says.

I'm in a mood ?

Is he serious right now?

"Did you not hear what I said?" I throw my arms up. "My dad, the king, said I have until the end of the month to choose a husband. In case you weren't aware, that's less than two weeks."

"I'm failing to see what has made you upset." He furrows his brows like he's genuinely confused.

I take a deep breath through my nose and slowly exhale. "I have less than two weeks to choose my husband." I pause, then repeat, "A husband . You know, the guy I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with. The guy I'm supposed to have children with so I can have heirs. You know, that guy."

He stares blankly at me. "I'm still not sure what you're upset about. This is what we've been preparing for. You've always known that this is your duty."

My duty .

I groan, letting my head thump against my desk.

I'm doomed.

Why did I think Kaine would sympathize with me about this? Just because he was nice to me last night doesn't change the fact that he's a jerk. And he hates me. He was probably only being nice last night because he knew what my father was going to tell me today. Maybe he thinks I'll be easier to manipulate since he said some nice words.

Kaine shuts his heavy law book and pushes it to the side of his desk. "Have you given any thought to your options? I'd like it if you met with Prince Lucas again since you never did give him a chance."

I lift my head and hold up a finger, shaking it back and forth. "Nuh-uh. Absolutely not. No way am I going to meet with Prince Lucas. He's the most boring guy on the planet. I'm not spending the rest of my life with a guy like that."

Kaine rolls his eyes. "You're surprisingly petty."

"And you're a jerk." I clasp my hands together on my lap. "But you're not changing my mind about Prince Lucas. Or any of the other stupid princes."

"Why are you complaining?" he asks. "I thought you liked Prince Damek."

I nod. "I do like Damek, but I don't know him. I've barely spent any time with him. And while I think he could be a potential marriage candidate, I'd like longer than a few weeks to get to know him. We've only hung out a handful of times."

"And talked on the phone for hours every night," Kaine mumbles.

My eyes widen. "You know about that?"

He sighs. "Yes. I know everything. It's my job— you are my job. Though I'm still not sure why you like Prince Damek. His family is strong and would make good allies, but our history with the Rune Clan is so sketchy. He might not be the best choice."

"Right. You think I should choose somebody boring." I roll my eyes at him.

Kaine groans. "What did I do to get stuck with you? Lucien was so much more logical. You think too emotionally."

"Because choosing a husband should be emotional." I cover my face with my hands. "I'm so doomed."

"And now you're being dramatic."

I look up at his accusation. "You could try being a little sympathetic, Kaine. What if you were the one being forced into a political marriage?"

He shrugs. "I would do what I could to make my clan stronger. Besides, I would be happy to be chosen to marry a princess, though I never would. I know my place. No born vampire is going to marry a turned vampire. I'm simply not as strong and therefore not a good marriage candidate."

"I didn't know that turned vampires aren't as strong." I study him to try and gauge his feelings on the matter. Is he bothered by his lack of strength?

"Well, we aren't." He looks away from me, which makes me think he's bothered by the weakness.

"What about when Lucien comes back," I say, changing the subject away from turned vampires.

Kaine's eyes flash up to me. "What about when he comes back?"

"Then my political marriage would have been for nothing."

"You're not getting out of this, Princess Madeline, so stop trying." He levels me with a glare. "But you can think about that after work because today I am going to be teaching you about some recent vampire history."

I groan as I watch him get up and make his way over to the large bookshelf behind his desk.

All we ever do is study history and law. I get that, as queen, I need to know these things, but I never get a break.

"I hope Lucien comes back soon." I cross my arms over my chest.

"Lucien knows all of this stuff." Kaine puts the heavy book down on my desk. "He learned this at the academy and then he continued his lessons in university."

"I already went to university," I inform him, hoping he won't get any ideas. There is no way that I'm going back to college. "I did my four years, I got my degree, and I never want to step foot in a classroom again—not even to learn about vampire law."

"I'm not going to make you go back to university." Kaine scoots his chair over to my desk. "You're too old for that."

I give him a look. "Gee, thanks."

He chuckles. "You're twenty three—I'm not calling you old. Besides, I'm older than you are."

I rub a hand on the back of my neck. "You're twenty four. Don't pretend like you're that much older and wiser than me."

"I never claimed to be wise. But I did learn this." He taps my book. "Lucien and I took all the same classes."

I slide the book toward him. "So how about we don't study this and just say we did."

He slides the book back over to me. "Because you might need this someday."

"But I might not." I slide the book back again. "And if I ever do need it, you can just advise me on what I should do."

He snorts. "With this kind of attitude, I'm surprised you got passing grades to get a degree."

I smirk. "My professors were all human. I didn't go to a supernatural college."

"So you charmed them all into giving you good grades?" He shakes his head and slides the book in front of me again. "That's cheating, Princess Madeline."

"I went to a supernatural high school, don't worry. I just had to get my degree before I could work with my grandfather. It's not like I actually used anything I learned in college anyway."

"Well, you're not charming your way out of this." He opens the book and taps a page. "Start with the war of 1917—there will be a test on it."

"A test ?" I groan. "Come on, Kaine. This is so boring. Besides, shouldn't we focus on the husband thing? Or did you forget I have less than two weeks?"

"I already told you, you can think about who you want to marry on your own time. Right now, you must learn this." He slides his chair back to his desk. "Once you're engaged, you'll likely be spending your time with wedding planning and I want to drill this stuff into you as much as possible."

He opens his book and begins reading, leaving me with no choice but to study the book he handed me.

I look at my book and try to focus, but my head is too busy focusing on what I'm going to do to absorb anything.

This sucks.