Free The Lost Princes of Ambria 06 - Taming the Lost Prince by Raye Morgan Page B

“I’ll have to take a look. I must have something somewhere.”
    She nodded as though she’d known that all along. “And the horse?”
    He drew in a long breath. “That’s a longer story.”
    “Of course.” She was glaring again. “And the artifact?”
    His eyes blazed at that one. “Now there, I have no idea what they’re talking about.”
    Pellea’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, but I think you do.”
    “Do you?” His back was really up now. “Then why don’t you tell me?”
    She searched his eyes for a moment, then shrugged. “We’re going to put together a letter of explanation,” she said, completely dismissing the subject of the artifact for now, “and send an ambassador right away.”
    “For this?” he said dismissively.
    She turned and looked at him. “Don’t you understand how important this is? We have to soothe ruffled feathers as quickly as we can.” Her eyes flashed and her hands smoothed down the bright red dress she was wearing, the outfit that was making her look like a Spanish dancer. “Unless you’d like to go back and explain it to them yourself?”
    He winced. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
    “Just so,” she said, as though that proved some point she’d been making all along.
    Watching all this, Kayla was at a loss. She knew Max was being cagey. Why hadn’t he brought up the princess? Why did he treat Pellea like someone he had to keep things from? She wished he would lay it all out for her. If they didn’t handle this properly, war could be the result.
    Either that, or extradition. She shuddered.
    “Pellea, does Monte … does the king know about this?” she asked her.
    “No.” Her face crumpled and for a second, Kayla was afraid she would cry. But she regained her composure quickly, taking Kayla’s hand in hers and squeezing it as though grateful she had her support and understanding. “No, he’s got his own international relations problems right now. I don’t want to bother him with this. I have to begin taking care of these things on my own and not go running to him with everything.”
    Kayla nodded sympathetically. Working with Pellea, she had seen for herself what a precarious tightrope she walked trying to become effective without becoming either obsessive or too dependent. She and Monte had been like the perfect couple from the beginning, in more ways than one. Their royal marriage was a partnership and Pellea worked at it night and day.
    Max rose, looking moody. “Your Majesty, let me just say this. The list you received from the foreign minister sounds like a bunch of excuses to me. I don’t know what’s really behind all this.” He stopped and swallowed hard. It really wasn’t easy for him to delve into his life and try to find explanations for this. But he would try.
    “Why not wait until I find out something from my contacts in the country. Just hold on until then. Maybe we’ll have something we can work with.”
    Pellea nodded, looking distracted. “Of course. You’ll let me know, won’t you?” She waved them off. “Until then, I’ll be counting on Kayla to manage things. So go, both of you. Get some lunch. I’ll talk to you later.”
    Kayla looked back as they closed the door. A jagged little piece of her heart tore at the look in Pellea’s face. She bit her lip and turned away.
    They walked away from the office. Kayla eyed at Max sideways and wondered how to broach the subject that was begging to be discussed. She kept expecting all this to be cleared up, and instead, she was just getting more confused.
    “You want to explain all that to me?” she said at last, when he didn’t volunteer anything.
    He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. “You mean, why I didn’t tell her about Princess Nadine?”
    She nodded. “You could start with that.”
    He shrugged and kept walking. “There was nothing about it in the complaint. So maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that’s not what this is all about.”
    She stopped him and searched