Minerva batted her eyelashes at me and pushed her shoulders back. "Do I look lonely?" she said.
She looked like someone I wanted to push onto her back right then and there. Like someone I wanted to kiss until we were both dizzy. But there were things you didn't say to a princess, not when your station was so far below hers.
***
On her first day working as a maid, Eve finds the king dead on his throne. His murder kicks off a cascade of intrigue, and as the plots of the nobility come crashing down around her, Eve is torn between hungry princes, the ever-watching eyes of the royal court, and a mad princess who seems to know far more than she lets on. Complicating everything further is the Imperative, a magical curse through which the Andan nobles have bent the world to their whims. If she is to survive, Eve must learn what it means to find strength in the face of overwhelming power.
The Maid and the Monarch is created by EOK Gifford-Smith, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

The Maid and the Monarch

I let out a breath I wasn't aware I had been holding and headed for the hallway. Brienne waited for me outside.


(It's under control,) she signed. (Thank you for getting my niece out of there.)


(Thank you for restoring order,) I signed back, smiling. (What's the situation?)


(The prince has been hit a few times,) Brienne signed. (And he wants to see you and the princess immediately. He's furious about you taking control of the situation.)


I swore. Things were bad enough, I didn't need to deal with Leon's anger on top of everything else. 


(No one is seriously injured,) Brienne snorted. (This was a barfight between pampered children. Very few of them know how to throw a punch.)


(None of them gave you trouble then?) I signed.


(One did.) Brienne motioned to a few growing bruises on her arm. (He's with the prince now. General Dayton.)


Prince Leon's other companion. I tried to picture the elderly man punching Brienne.


Chapter 36: Gathering of Kings and Queens