An Education in Royalty: A Somerset Novel (Somerset Series Book 1)

by Isadora Brown

  Maybe if she knew Nikolai long enough to watch him truly fall in love with someone, maybe she would believe it then. That made sense. That was, if Nikolai still talked to her by then. She had no idea what kind of person he would be once this whole situation was finished and they had caught the person threatening Nikolai's life. Would he pretend he didn't even know her – it was business as usual, or would they actually be friends instead of business acquaintances?

  Why are you even thinking about this, Lizzie? A voice in her head chastised. It doesn't matter one way or the other. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst, remember?

  She actually did remember, and as a result, pushed all thoughts about the vampire prince away, and instead, allowed her mind to remain blank. All this thinking was starting to give her a headache.

  "She's on her run, William," Nikolai explained, looking at his future brother-in-law. Sure, Karina was a nice woman, and Nikolai truly believed that she would make a good wife for his brother Lewis, but something truly rubbed him the wrong way about her brother William. He had seen him follow Elizabeth into the library the second night she was there and then leave abruptly. Hell, William had almost eaten her upon hearing her accelerated heartbeat. If Nikolai hadn't been there, it was highly unlikely Elizabeth would still be human, despite her talents. William could be a beast when he wanted to be. "You know she always goes on her run, and since she's on our schedule now, she runs during the twilight and comes back just in time for dinner." Nikolai felt suspicion and something more bubble inside of him, and he couldn't help but question, "Why?"

  "I would like to learn more about her, Majesty," William said, turning to look at Nikolai with a soft smirk touching his chiseled face.

  Nikolai didn't like the look of that smirk whatsoever. "Oh really?" Nikolai asked, perking his brow slightly. He didn't know why he was so interested in William's fascination with Elizabeth, and to be honest, he probably didn't want to go in depth about it.

  "You would not?" William teased, though the dark sparkle currently occupying his eyes had yet to fade into amusement. "She looks like a good fuck and I want nothing more than to have a go at her. I have been with many women – humans – but she looks tougher, as though she could handle me better than the others."

  "I think she would be sexually compatible with you, William," Marie said in her usually quiet voice, a hidden smirk of triumph touching her thin lips.

  "Anyone with breasts is sexually compatible with William," Nikolai retorted dryly, crossing his arms over his chest. He knew that the only reason Marie was encouraging such a match wasn't because she wanted the best for Elizabeth but because she still thought Elizabeth was trying to weasel Marie out of Nikolai's life and then jump to replace her. His fiancée was delusional.

  Without warning, the front doors burst open, and there stood Elizabeth, breathing somewhat raggedly, looking at her watch as though she was calculating the time she took for her run. She was in her jogging outfit, a loose t-shirt and tight sweatpants, clinging to her body due to the sweat. Oddly enough, the scent was rather sensual and musky; if Nikolai was being honest, it was quite alluring.

  As such, it was really no surprise to find William walking towards her and smiling when he had caught her attention. Nikolai and Marie kept where they were, in the center of the main hall, simply watching the two interact from where they stood. Something inside of Nikolai hoped that Elizabeth would see through William, and that she wouldn't agree to sleep with him. Yes, he knew she hated vampires, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

  "Hello Miss Grant," William said with an easy smile as he approached the woman. "You look lovely, even though you have just come in from a run."

  Lizzie looked at him as though he was lying to her before forcing a small smile. "Um, thank you?" she said, glancing over at Nikolai, silently asking him what William wanted from her. After he shrugged in response, she looked back at the man who had addressed her.

  "Right, well I was hoping I could ask you for something," William continued, tilting his head and locking his eyes with hers. "I have a couple of leads regarding who is threatening His Majesty and I wanted to talk to you about them over dinner tonight." He pressed his brows up, indicating that she should respond now, and that he was asking her out on a date.

  "Let me shower and we can talk about it in a half an hour," Lizzie said, catching him off-guard. Dinner was only a couple of hours away anyway, and she really didn't want to go anywhere with this guy by herself. At least she felt somewhat safe in the castle; there was always someone around.

  "Actually, I cannot stay for dinner here," William told her. "My business calls me elsewhere. I was hoping to entertain you over dinner tonight. Oh well. What if we met up tomorrow night then? Would that work for you?"

  Lizzie knew she couldn't say no even though she really, really wanted to. She turned her head so she could look at Nikolai, hoping he could give her some idea of how to respond. Surely if William had leads, he had already discussed them with Nikolai. But Nikolai's face gave nothing away. He would not be any help, at least not now, it would seem.

  "All right," she finally agreed.

  "Beautiful," he said, his smile genuine. "Then we shall meet at Higson's restaurant in Apusul Soarelui. Would midnight be all right?"

  "Of course," she agreed as her stomach clenched. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must shower." With that, she began to head upstairs, but not before looking at Nikolai once more.

  What had she gotten herself into?

  19

  “Hey," Nikolai said as Elizabeth was walking down the stairs, preparing to head out to dinner with William. Though he didn't exactly care who Elizabeth dated – she was her own woman after all – he knew exactly what William wanted from her. Nikolai was not the sort of man who wasted time with trivial feelings such as jealousy. He could care less about the situation, if he was being honest with himself. In fact, he was just trying to help her out with her date. If one could call it that. However, after knowing what he knew about her – how she tasted, how she smelled, how she looked after mind-blowing sex, he could admit that perhaps he was being a tad… protective.

  Nikolai raised his eyes up to the stairway Elizabeth was currently descending and in that moment, he realized that perhaps he was a little bit jealous, contrary to his character. He knew that rationally, he had no right to be. He was engaged to Marie and he was going to marry her. But Elizabeth looked – well, it was no surprise that she was beautiful, with the way she was wearing the classy, timeless little black dress with her hair pulled away from her face. He wanted her all for himself and hated that she was soon going to be dining with William alone. Nikolai hated William in that moment.

  Elizabeth perked her brow, indicating that she heard Nikolai address her and wanted to know what he had to say before she left. She paused on the steps, leveling with his height, and it took Nikolai a moment before he actually said something. He wanted his words to be perfect so she wouldn't think he was some jealous fool.

  "Right, well, I feel I should probably warn you," he said as nonchalantly as possible. He didn't want to reveal that he might actually care about her; his pride wouldn't allow that. "William only wants to take you out to dinner because he's planning on seducing and sleeping with you." The words came out more quickly than he had anticipated, but since the words were already spilled, he couldn't do anything more. Instead, he made sure his eyes were locked with hers and pressed his lips together before he said something he might later regret. That always seemed to happen when she was around.

  Instead of being shocked or looking offended, Elizabeth tilted her head back and started to laugh. Nikolai raised a brow when he suddenly realized that she was laughing at him. No one had laughed at him before; they never had the balls to do so, especially when the action was so blatant.

  "You think William would actually try something knowing that you hired me?" Elizabeth asked in obvious disbelief. "You're the prince of vampires. I am your bodyguard. Surely he wouldn't att
empt seducing me knowing that he has to answer to you…" She let her voice trail off when she saw how serious Nikolai was looking at her.

  "Listen," Nikolai murmured softly as though he cared. "Do what you want. I saw you in action and I know what you're capable of. Just… be careful." There, he said it. He sounded like such a sap, and luckily, no one else was around to learn how cheesy he really was. But he didn’t regret it; somewhere inside of him, he felt as though he needed to say it, so he didn't feel the need to take it back.

  "I will," she agreed, giving him a soft smile. "Thanks."

  Well. That was weird.

  Lizzie never thought they would have a conversation where Nikolai was concerned about her welfare and she actually thanked him for it. It made her feel an oddly warm sort of feeling inside that she promptly decided to ignore, and instead, focused on walking out of the house without tripping over herself.

  Her mind drifted back to Nikolai and the way his eyes narrowed as he took in the sight of her. Her stomach clenched just thinking about it, and a deep, dark part of her wished more than anything he would forego any royal modesty and take her against the wall.

  She wanted him. Again. But she knew that would be pushing it. William was more doable, more realistic, and he was helping her with her job.

  Despite the fact that she and William seemed to be currently living in the same place, they took two different cars, which bothered her only because she knew it wasn't great for the environment. It actually kind of annoyed her, especially because he hadn't even bothered to offer her a ride or anything. Maybe he was busy with something or he was being a typical vampire, only concerned with his self. Who knew? It was important that Lizzie got to the bottom of whatever information William had to offer her. If there was anything he had to offer her.

  It was twenty minutes later when she arrived at the restaurant, and William was waiting there, a glass of red wine already on the table for himself. He sure didn't waste any time, she thought to herself as she offered him an easy smile and sauntered over to him.

  "Miss Grant," he said warmly, standing up and leaning towards her in order to kiss her cheek. William pulled away after lingering a moment too long, and captured her eyes within his. "I am so glad you could make it. It didn't take too long to find the restaurant, no?"

  "No, no," she agreed, taking the seat he had gestured at. "I found everything all right. Thank you."

  The restaurant itself was a small, cozy, and screamed romance. The lights were dim, save for a burning candle on each circle-shaped table, and the table cloths were a deep red. William managed to secure a table close to a window, and Lizzie assumed the staff knew his royal identity because they made sure to cater to his every need – and hers as well – at the drop of a hat. Voices could be heard throughout the restaurant, but her human ears couldn’t decipher what they were saying. If Nikolai were here, she might have asked him to eavesdrop.

  Not that she was thinking about His Royal Pain in the Ass at a romantic restaurant with another man.

  No. Of course not.

  He resumed his position in front of her, sliding gracefully into his seat. Lizzie took the time to look at him; he was dressed beautifully, sharply, and not a lock of hair out of place. Yes, he was definitely handsome. There was no doubt about that. Whatever Nikolai had told her about William, she had to laugh at the mere notion of it. Although, the confrontation with him in the library did give her reason to pause, she hoped that William was past that and really did have some leads, because if not, this would be a great waste of time.

  Dinner was delicious – a three course menu that included a sweet salad and roasted duck with asparagus - and dessert was even more so. However, as dinner went along, Lizzie was getting a funny feeling that what Nikolai had warned her about was actually true. Not once did William mention the leads that he supposedly had, nor did he ask her how Nikolai was, how her job was doing, or anything related to the sole reason why she was there in the first place. In fact, he only seemed to be interested in whom she was as a person, what her likes and dislikes were, and basically things someone might ask on a date. She had no time for this, and though she answered half-heartedly, she never gave him a definitive answer. By the time they had finished dessert, she was aggravated enough to confront him about it.

  "William," she said sharply as she narrowed her eyes into his. "Listen, tonight was fun, although I realize that you might have gotten me out here on false pretenses. Any help you can give me that would be pertinent to my investigation would be incredibly helpful." She shot her brow up, indicating that she was serious and that whatever he had – if anything – needed to be told at that moment.

  William opened his mouth, and for a minute, she honestly thought he was going to refute her insinuation, but then a brilliant smile eclipsed his face and he dropped his head. Lizzie looked at him with slight confusion, and it wasn't until he looked back up did she realize that he was amused by something.

  "You caught me," William said, raising his hands in mock-surrender. "You are right. I really don't have any information regarding who is trying to harm His Highness. I was using this dinner as a pretext in order to get closer to you, Elizabeth. I hope you do not take offense."

  She tried to get upset with him just like she did in the library and attempted to infuse her hatred of vampires in order to become angry, but with the way William spoke and her developing friendship – yes friendship; she could admit it to herself – with Nikolai, she found that maybe vampires weren't as bad as they originally seemed. She would never ever date one, of course since Nikolai still hadn't convinced her that vampires could fall in love and be monogamous, but there was nothing that said she couldn't be friends with them, right? And hell, she might even flirt with one.

  A smile touched her face as she glanced down at her heavily-creamed coffee. "I am flattered, William," she said, really meaning it. "Truly, I am, but I cannot afford to be distracted when this job is incredibly important and my focus is crucial to saving Nikolai's – His Highness' – life."

  The look that crossed William's face was enigmatic and she couldn't decipher it no matter how hard she tried. However, that brilliant smile touched his lips once again, and he returned his eyes into hers. "Of course," he said, a very slight strain touching his voice. "Of course, I should have assumed that. It was silly that I hadn't. However, I hear that you will be attending the All-Hallows’ Eve Masquerade, yes? Will you do me the honor of saving me a dance? May I ask that of you?"

  Lizzie thought about it for a long minute, and couldn't come up with a valid reason why she couldn't dance with him. She gave him a smile. "I don't see why that would be a problem," she agreed before taking a long slip of her coffee.

  20

  He couldn't believe it. This never happened to somebody like him. He was skilled, practiced, charming… and apparently, the biggest asshole on the planet.

  Nikolai was currently staring up at the ceiling from his bed, shirtless. His palms were resting gently on his chest, and his black hair, for once, was messy. Lipstick marks were left against his neck, and his silk black sheets were tangled around his body. Marie was gone; she had been for a while, and he highly doubted she was coming back, despite the fact that she wanted to be queen more than anything else. There was a good chance her pride finally got the better of her and that was all there was to it.

  Maybe he should have expected something like this to happen, especially when he knew he truly didn't love Marie nor even cared about her. However, he knew she would have made a good queen. The colony would have approved of her because she was beautiful, cold, and well-bred. Now, the subjects might not even get a queen. It was highly unlikely his father would allow him to become King without some semblance of stability. That was why one never saw unwedded presidents in the United States; the people needed to know that their president was trustworthy, and a family usually constituted such stability.

  At the moment, he had none of that.

  Hell, he didn't even have control
of his mouth, it would seem.

  Nikolai's eyes stared up at the ceiling, his mind filled with scenarios as to why something like this could have happened. He looked at it from different point of views – sociologically, psychologically, and from a man’s point of view. He still couldn't get a direct answer - Actually, that wasn't true. Occam's Razor, right? The simplest answer was usually the right one.

  And the simplest answer for his stupid mistake? He was thinking about Elizabeth while he was having sex with Marie because he wanted to have sex with Elizabeth and not Marie. That was why he had said her name instead of his fiancée's. It was as simple as that. And there was no need to analyze just why he would want to make love with Elizabeth and not Marie; she was beautiful and different and warm. Plus, he had a feeling she was one hell of a wildcat in the sack. Being so tough and agile had to transfer over in some way.

  This mistake really wasn't his fault. Ever since she walked into his life, Nikolai had fantasized about Elizabeth. How could he not? He wanted to run his long fingers through her silky tresses, wanted to taste her, be inside of her, bury himself in her warmth, sink his teeth into her neck and watch as she climaxed because of it. God, he wanted to touch her, to watch her shudder, to hear her moan his name… There was a fire in her emerald eyes, a fire he only wanted to enhance. Vampires usually had cold eyes, but hers? Hers were alive, bright and…

  He shouldn't be thinking about her. In fact, he should be worried considering the fact that his fiancée left him and it wasn't exactly on the best of terms. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he didn't exactly care.

  Not to say that he suddenly liked Elizabeth, because he didn't. She still infuriated him to no end by being blatantly disrespectful, and for whatever reason that he didn't want to think about, he allowed her to get away with such behavior.