“Yes, a good observation, I think. For power does not entice me, personally. It is only that I must take it, as is my responsibility. My birthright. All my family are dead.”
“I’m sorry. But you have presented a scenario wherein my family might all be dead.”
“It is not what I want, Maximus King. I hope you understand. What I want is for the safety of my country to be secured. What I want is for you to help steady the situation that you have created.”
“Again, the situation was not mine.”
“Whose?”
“Your neighbors to the east, in Lackland. I believe they thought it better to depose the despot in power for their own reasons.”
“Yes, for reasons likely of taking over. Which I do not want either. So, you can see the situation I find myself in. I need money. Would you not like to have this power?”
“As I said, I am not overly enamored of power.”
“Then why do you do it? Why do you do this...this insipid job you pretend to do? What is it, repairing the reputations of Hollywood stars? And you kill people for money.”
“I carry out missions assigned to me. And often that results in the deaths of men who would kill countless others. Countless innocents.”
“You and the government then decide who is good and who is bad? What is that, if not an exercise in power? Playing God. Playing God with public opinion, playing God with life. Do not tell me you don’t wish for power. I am not stupid, me.”
She wondered, for a moment, if she had gone too far. He did not frighten her, not really. But she was very aware of the fact that if she pushed him too far, she would not get what she wanted, and that did frighten her. For she had no other plan. No other idea for how she might bail her country out of the disaster it found itself in.
“What other enticements have you to offer?”
She fortified herself with a breath. For she had been prepared for this moment. “Me. My body.”
He looked her up and down. “Please do not take this the wrong way, but I have no need.”
She narrowed her eyes, feeling insulted. “What does that mean?”
“I do not need to take a woman in trade for anything. If I want a woman, I simply have her.”
“Not me.”
“And that is supposed to be of particular enticement to me?”
She lifted a shoulder. “No man has had me. A shock, I would think, given that I have been kept prisoner for so long. But I think it was quite a game, right? To keep me untouched. For future leverage. Virginity is valuable.”
His gaze flickered dispassionately over her again. “Is it? Here it is quite disposable. Something to throw away at the earliest of conveniences.”
“Well, not for me. For every indignity I have suffered, for all that has been taken, not that. But I will give it to you.”
“I don’t have a need of your virginity, Princess. I didn’t even need my own. It’s been gone for twenty years and I haven’t missed it.”
“Money, then. What I have is a land rich with minerals. Gold and oil. Untapped. The dictators, they were not so smart, I think. But I learned a great many things, because I had nothing but time. So, I read. And what I discovered is that there is much unexplored in my country. But I need the investment to see it done. And I need to live. I need to keep living, or none of it matters. And for that I need you.”
“You think you can buy me?”
“You are bought. Repeatedly. Do not pretend to be a man of great principle now. If you are a man of great principle, then you would perform your task for free, but you do not.”
“No one works for free.”
“Yes, see? That is what I’m saying. No one works for free, and I do not expect you to. You protect me, and I will reward you in the end. Consider it a new mission, but this time you fix what it is you broke.”
“You believe you need a guard? That you are in danger? And for how long do you foresee needing this?”
“I am to be crowned Queen soon, and I think...some time. It has been held off by the council, my coronation, to see if I am fit after my time as prisoner. And I worry the neighboring countries...lie in wait. It will take time.”