The Wrath of the King by Danielle Bourdon

choose my own furniture though? I'm picky about how I like my space arranged.” She smiled a cheeky smile she hoped wasn't too contrived. Swiveling her chair toward him, thinking to block sight of the papers with her shoulders, her knee accidentally brushed his. A jolt of primal awareness knocked the cheeky smile right off her face.
    “You can put--” Paavo paused at the contact. His gaze became even more direct than it had been, then dropped to her legs for a brief moment.
    “I knew you wouldn't have any problem with me wanting to choose my own things,” Wynn said, abruptly pushing to a stand. Paavo's gaze followed her up. She ignored the rubbery feeling in her knees along with the curious glint in his eyes and gestured to the door. “Will you show me which room it is?”
    She hated to leave the papers exposed on the table, but distracting Paavo andgetting him out of the room was paramount.
    For ten seconds or so, Paavo said nothing. “I'll have one of the staff show you. There's a press conference I need to make announcing my ascension as sitting King and it won't wait. Be ready at six this evening for dinner. I'd like to go over a few more things with you.”
    “Of course. I'll be waiting.” Wynn suffered through what seemed an eternity of electric tension, chiding herself a hundred times over for noticing things she shouldn't be noticing. She didn't know how she felt about having dinner with Paavo yet again, and found no good reason to deny him that wouldn't raise suspicion.
    Paavo glanced toward the laptop, causing Wynn's breath to catch in her throat. Did he suspect she'd made duplicate copies? He met her eyes once more before departing with his stack of papers in hand.
    After the door closed, Wynn leaned against the desk, bracing her weight with a palm. She gave herself exactly half a minute to recover, then picked up the English version copies and folded them small enough to fit inside her jacket pocket.
    Fishing out her phone, she called Mattias.
    No answer. She didn't leave a message.
    Studying the bright icons on the screen, Wynn debated her next move. Call Chey and prove her loyalty remained where it should, or hold her tongue so she didn't end up in jail. Thumbing through the Contacts, she pressed Chey's name. The phone rang. Exhaling a breath, Wynn waited for Chey to answer.
    “Hello?” Chey said.
    “I can't talk long, but I have news.”

Chapter Six
    In the middle of pacing through Sander's room for exercise, Chey frowned as she discerned a thread of anxiety in Wynn's voice. “Why can't you talk? What's going on?”
    “Chey—he's making the announcement today. It'll probably be on television in a few minutes.”
    “About becoming the sitting King?” Chey asked, bemused why the news would set Wynn on edge. It was true that no one liked the idea, but it wasn't a surprise at this point.
    “Yes.” A long hesitation followed.
    “Wynn, what aren't you saying?” Chey braced a hand against her back when she paused at the end of Sander's bed. A quick glimpse proved he was still and silent, unaware of the world around him. It bothered her every time she looked at him.
    “Well, I—you know what, let me call you back in about ten minutes. I need to change rooms.” Wynn severed contact.
    Flustered, Chey pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at the screen. Sure enough, Wynn ended the call. “What is going on with that girl?”
    In the meantime, Chey turned on the television in Sander's room, searching for a channel denoting a public announcement coming soon. It only took her a few minutes to find one.
    Breaking News-Unexpected announcement by his Highness, Prince Paavo, in four minutes, the ticker tape read. Because it was in two languages, Chey had no trouble following along. Using the remote, she turned it up loud enough to hear, but not loud enough to overflow into the hallway.
    Moving back to her chair at the side of Sander's bed, she leaned against the cushion and stretched out her legs,