Page 53 of The Royal Art of Revenge

“Hit a snag. See, I asked this guy I know to marry me, but he hasn’t given me an answer yet. I need to know if I’m going with plan A or plan B, and I can’t decide until he tells me.”

“What’s the difference?”

“I get a rich, powerful husband in plan A. In plan B, I don’t, but I get to ruin his life as compensation.”

He stares at me for a moment before a rumble of laughter bursts out of him. The deep sound fills the room, almost reverberating off the walls where it tickles against my skin and sends goosebumps up and down my bare legs.

“Do you want to know what I’ve been up to this evening?” He’s still laughing as he speaks.

“Figuring out how to solve world hunger? Maybe the homeless crisis in Orville? How to turn water into wine?”

“The homelessness thing was this morning. Not really made much progress on the world hunger issue, but don’t worry; I’ve got a team on the water to wine situation,” he answers, his bright blue eyes glittering with his now quiet laughter. “I’ve been figuring out how to deal with the Sinclair family.”

“Aw, look at that. We even have the same hobbies.”

He pauses with his glass raised to his lips, but I can see his smile, as warped as it is through the crystalline pattern. “Why do you want to marry me, Harriet?”

“I told you this last week. This agreement was always mine, and being the Crown Princess would offer me protection if I fuck something up when tearing my family’s life apart. You have power and resources I can’t access unless I’m your wife.” I shrug. “I’m sorry if you were expecting me to say I’m madly in love with you or anything like that, but I won’t lie. The first step to ruining their lives is taking the one thing Jasmine wants more than anything, and unfortunately for you, that is you.”

“What if I told you I could cancel the agreement with the Sinclairs and not marry Jasmine? Would you still want to marry me?”

I pause. I’ve never considered that. “Under what circumstances could you cancel it?”

“You,” he says simply. “I don’t want to marry her, and you are the get out of jail card I’ve been looking for. As I told you at the palace, my parents and I will do everything we can to make sure everything in your life is righted. We can hire legal counsel to void that agreement you signed with your father and get you full, unrestricted access to your trust fund, including removing him as trustee and installing an impartial third party. We can even help you move and get a new identity somewhere else if that’s what you want. With that all considered, their deceit in keeping your return quiet would be enough to show them untrustworthy.”

Huh.

How about that?

“And, if you decline the childhood marriage arrangements, the deal itself would be considered settled,” he continues. “That’s it. In the eyes of the Royal Family, the agreement was always for a marriage between the crown prince and Harriet Sinclair. If you refuse…” He shrugs. “It’s over.”

“It’s over? So, all I have to do is stand up, say I refuse to marry you, accept your offer of help to rebuild my life, and then none of it matters? I can leave and do whatever I want?”

“Pretty much, yes.”

“Then, no.”

“No, what?”

“No. My request that you marry me still stands.” I lower my hand, sitting up straighter. “I’m not changing my mind.”

CHAPTER TWELVE – HATTIE

“You’re not?” Crown Prince Finley stands up straight, finally setting his glass down. “You could escape all of this, Hattie. Get away from those people you hate. Not have the burden of being a royal.”

“It doesn’t matter.” I push myself up to standing and walk over to the island, stopping on the other side of it. “Do you think stopping Jasmine from marrying you is the only reason I suggested this? I’m not holding some petty grudge against some innocent girl who just happened to end up in my life, Your Royal Highness. Nothing that has happened to me was by chance. None of it was a coincidence.”

He says nothing. He merely watches me, keeping his intense gaze transfixed on mine, occasionally tapping his fingers against the side of his half-full glass.

“None of it happened because of some unfortunate luck or mere happenstance. There was no greater power with some ‘everything happens for a reason bullshit.’ No—I’m not standing here because I want to simply leave the Sinclairs. Everything is because of them. When I say I want to ruin them, I don’t mean fuck up a business deal. I mean I want to ruin every second of every day of their lives until they don’t want to live anymore.”

My fingers curl into my hand. My nails dig into my palm, but I barely feel the sting. It’s a sensation I’m so accustomed to; it’s grounding and calming in all the wrong ways, but I can’t help it.

It holds me here.

Where I can breathe.

Where I can be.