She snapped herself free of the mesmerising, surely overblown, memory and struggled to focus. If she managed to prove her worth, maybe redeem herself a little in this room, she could begin to right the wrong she’d done.
‘The previous treaty was skewed in favour of Valderra, we all know that. And yet Mendez never went through with it.’
‘He didn’t go through with it because the only copy of the Santo Sierran version, which had been witnessed by the King and legalised by each member of the council, went missing. To this day we do not know what happened to it.’
Jasmine’s gaze snapped to Reyes.
The clear warning in his eyes stilled any words she’d been thinking of speaking. Fighting to keep her composure, she faced the council as Alvarez continued. ‘And also because he’s propelled by greed, but at the moment he holds all the cards.’
Jasmine shook her head. ‘He holds all the cards because you choose to hide away in the dark.’
‘Excuse me?’ Reyes rasped.
An icy shiver raced across her skin but she persevered.
‘Why don’t you just call his bluff?’
‘I won’t gamble my kingdom’s economic future on a bluff, Jasmine. If the choice were mine to make, I’d cut him off at the knees. But I can’t do that. Not yet.’
The sound of her name on his lips produced another shiver. One that stalled her breath and made her lose her train of thought.
Jasmine frowned. ‘So...what’s the alternative?’
Silence descended on the table. The hairs on her nape stood up and Jasmine had a sense of foreboding so strong, she stumbled back and sank into her chair.
Reyes locked eyes with each member of his council before linking his fingers together. Poised, regal, his profile was so captivating, she couldn’t have looked away if she’d tried. But she still knew she didn’t want to hear what he was about to say.
‘Unless another solution is forthcoming, or a new treaty is negotiated in the next few weeks, it seems my solution is to buy time by finding myself a bride.’
‘BUT...THERE HAS to be another way!’
Reyes stared at Jasmine. Her lips were pressed together after her outburst.
‘Miss Nichols—’
Reyes held up his hand to stop his second advisor. ‘Go on,’ he said to Jasmine. His curiosity was getting the better of him by the minute. If what she was proposing was better than the idea of marrying a faceless stranger in order to maintain peace, he was all for it.
His one attempt to marry had left harrowing scars that he would never forget. Until his sister, Isabella, had dissolved her engagement recently, Reyes had accepted that he would rule Santo Sierra in his lifetime, then let his sister’s heirs inherit the throne.
But once again, the mantle was firmly on his shoulders.
‘What if we can prove that he was behind the treaty going missing?’
Reyes surged to his feet, knocking the chair over. ‘Gentlemen, give me the room.’
His men continued to stare at Jasmine with varying degrees of astonishment and suspicion. He slammed his hand on the table. ‘Now!’
They scrambled up and hurried out.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
She jumped back at his bellow. ‘I’m trying to help.’
He speared a hand through his hair. ‘By putting yourself in the crosshairs of a dangerous man?’ he demanded.
‘But this is your council...’
‘Some of whom are set in their ways and don’t welcome the sort of changes I hope to implement when I ascend to the throne.’
She frowned. ‘And you think if they know...?’ She stopped and gulped.
‘Until I know who I can trust, I’m not prepared to take that risk with your life.’ The knowledge that she’d almost given herself away greatly agitated him. He paced in front of her, trying to decipher why protecting her meant so much to him.
From the corner of his eye, he watched her reach out.
‘Reyes—’
‘No, don’t defy me on this, Jasmine. I won’t change my mind. I can’t have another destroyed life on my conscience.’ The words tumbled out.
They both froze. He saw the shock rocking through him reflected on her face.
‘What...what do you mean?’ Her voice was whisper-thin, puzzled.
He chopped off her question with a flick of his hand. ‘It doesn’t matter.’ He took a deep breath to regain the balance he seemed to lose so easily around her. ‘I’m calling the council back. You’ll refrain from mentioning what happened in Rio. Am I clear?’
For the first time since he’d known her, she nodded readily.
He strode to the door, shock still rocking his system. His men came back. They tossed ideas around half-heartedly, until he clenched his fist.
‘Gentlemen, we need to discuss the subject of my bride.’
Jasmine made a rough noise of disagreement. He ignored her. Looking at her would remind him of what he’d let slip. Remind him how easily she got under his skin.
‘Well, in a way your current trade visits are a good way of introducing any prospective brides to the people. But...’ Alvarez cleared his throat ‘...you need to be a little less closed off, Your Highness.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘I think any further visits should be less clandestine. The people need to see their prince embracing life a little. Remind them that you’re flesh and blood, and not a fairy-tale figure locked away in an ivory tower.’
Reyes pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Are you saying my discretion is a flaw?’
‘I’m saying the people don’t really know you. You brought Santo Sierra right up to the treaty table after your father fell ill, but the fact remains that the finish line was never crossed. And Santo Sierrans aren’t quite sure how to take that. You don’t want to estrange yourself from the people.’
Fury bubbled beneath his skin. Beside him, Jasmine’s tension slammed into him. Her face was clouded with a mixture of displeasure and misery. When her eyes met his, he glimpsed regret in them.
‘So you’re saying whatever I do, the people won’t be satisfied until they have me pressing the flesh, kissing babies with a promise of a royal wedding and an heir to swoon over?’ Reyes couldn’t suppress his sneer. The thought of putting himself out there, to be prodded and gawped over by the media, turned his stomach.
Alvarez knew Reyes’s personal history and how he felt about the media. But his councillor nodded warily. ‘That would be one way to reassure the people, yes.’
Gathering his fraying control, he turned back to his men. ‘And there’s no chance of presenting them with a royal wedding via Isabella?’ He tried for one last ounce of a reprieve. ‘Perhaps we can still rescue the situation with her ex-betrothed if we move fast enough...’
He stopped when Costanzo shook his head. ‘Her fiancé declared he didn’t want anything to do with Her Highness any longer after she broke things off. We had to pay his family reparations for the cancelled engagement. They won’t reconsider Her Highness as a suitor.’
‘Dios!’