A Dance of Princes (The Heir, Book 1)

Chapter 9

“Have I said something wrong?” He asked, tone filled with a bit of embarrassment.

“No! You haven’t. You just... have such a way with words. Seriously, when I first saw you, I thought I was dreaming or watching a movie or something until you took my hand. I was star struck.”

“Well, I’m glad I didn’t give a negative impression.”

The Dining room was filled with an aroma of freshly cooked meals; freshly boiled potatoes with gravy, corned soup, and even pancakes and fresh honey syrup with blueberries and butter. The scents made my stomach growl as I entered the room.

“Good morning!”

I looked behind us and saw Jason walking into the room, which took me a bit by surprise. “Jason? You’re staying here too?”

“I guess so. The Queen asked me if I could help out around and plan out the upcoming events. I hope that isn’t a problem, Your Highness.”

“No, I don’t think that’s a problem at all,” I said with a smile before glancing to Octavian. I could see him tensing before he gripped onto my wrist and pulled me away from Jason to the other side of the dining table where we sat together. Grandma was there a few minutes later and sat at the end. We began to eat and she started chatting with Jason and Octavian about the upcoming benefit event for the animal shelters. Grandma is big on pets.

"Jason, you're scheduled to meet with the chairman of the St. Grace Animal Clinic Center. I'll have one of my drivers take you there this afternoon as planned."

"Yes, Your Majesty. Have they confirmed a set location for the benefit?"

"No they haven't. That is why I want you to ask them for it so that we can have the whole thing planned. The further ahead we know everything, the better and more successful the event will be."

Jason nodded before he took a sip of his glass of orange juice. Octavian was quiet as he sat next to me, his gaze only looking down onto his plate as he ate and only looked up when the Queen spoke to him.

"Vincent, darling," Grandma said, "you're going to be around Octavian the whole day. He's going to show you what it's like to be a Prince. Unfortunately, we have to speed things up a bit in order to commence your accession to the throne. I'm still handling things with the Council of Elders and I need to give them some preliminary evidence on your progress of your early learning stages as a Royal."

"What are they saying about me?" I asked curiously. If they think that I'm unfit to rule, then that would be a really huge burden on Grandma's shoulders since I don't know any other person who would claim the throne. Did Dad even have brothers? If he did, then Grandma wasn't telling me.

"They're just concerned about a foreigner coming to take over a country they know nothing about. It's why I need Octavian here to help you."

"I will do everything I can to teach him the ropes, Your Majesty," Octavian replied before giving me a warm smile. That smile is going to be one of my weak points.

"And I'm sure if Vincent would like, Jason could teach him as well."

"Yes, I will see to it that he becomes the next great King of Allyria."

The rest of breakfast was awkward; I could feel the tension between Jason and Octavian and I was beginning to think that having them both in the same area as each other was a bad idea. I'm going to have to do something to get them as far away as possible so that I don't get caught in the middle of their feud (if I wasn't tangled in it already).

When we changed into more appropriate clothing, Jason had bid us farewell for the day as he went to do some errands for the benefit. Octavian took me to the stables where I would be learning how to ride a horse. It wasn't that easy.