Page 7 of The Autumn Prince

A sharp series of knocks on the door had me sitting up with a gasp. “Yes?”

“Good morning, sir,” came a muffled low voice. “May I enter?”

Oh, was this one of those valet types come to help get me ready for the day? I was totally naked under the covers but didn’t see anything I could put on quickly, so I stayed where I was.

“Come on in!”

The door opened and a skinny older man with stark white hair in a bun at the nape of his neck walked in with two younger men. Those two held silver trays with a stack of clothes on one and a pair of heeled shoes on the other.

“Welcome to the Autumn Court, Mister Darcy,” the older man said with a grin. “I’m Lars and this is Sherman and Landon. We’ve come to prepare you for the day.”

“Oh, well, thank you. I can take a shower and dress on my own, though.” I gestured to the end of the bed, hoping Sherman and Landon would set their things down.

Lars gave them a nod, and both men marched into the bathroom with their trays. I heard water start running, and gulped a bit.

“Uh, I’d rather not have an audience while I⁠—”

Lars waved that away. “They’ll just get things going for you. Like you were meant to last night.” He walked over and leaned against the bed post, crossing his arms, while I blinked at him. “So what gives? Why aren’t you in the prince’s bed right now?”

I drew back. “I hardly think that’s any of your business.”

“Don’t get snotty with me, kiddo.” He wagged a finger at me. “You’ve got a job to do, and that was a perfect opportunity to begin. What happened?”

“Sir—”

“Lars.”

“I— Fine. Lars, what I do or don’t do with His Majesty is still none⁠—”

“His Highness.”

“—of your… What?”

“His Majesty would be for the king. His Highness is for the prince.”

Like it fucking mattered?

“Again, fine, but you can’t⁠—”

“’Course I can. He’s not ugly, ill-tempered, or stupid, so why aren’t you⁠—”

“He’s a virgin!”

And I probably shouldn’t have said that, but this guy was really irritating me.

Lars groaned up at the ceiling. “Damn. Of all the things…” He sighed and shook his head. “I suppose I should’ve guessed, but I had no idea.”

I frowned at him, confused about why we were even having this conversation. “Seriously, why is this any of your⁠—”

“Well, you’ll just need to go a little slower then, hmm? Woo the boy. That can be part of your strategy.” He winked at me.

“My strategy? Look, he said I’m here to save the king— Court, so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m very good at analytics, so I’m going to observe how things work around here and see where tweaks might be made to improve things.”

Yeah, there was another reason not to seduce Incendis. I hadn’t even thought of that one last night, but he was sort of my boss at the moment and fucking the boss never worked out for anyone. I definitely knew that.

Lars clapped and the other two came out of the bathroom holding empty trays by their sides. The water wasn’t running anymore, making me wonder if they’d filled the tub for me.

“Excellent,” Lars said. “You observe Incendis and see what’s wrong with him. Add fixing his virginity problem to the list.”