"What about you?" she asked, turning the conversation away from herself. "What sort of trouble did young Christian Lykoudis get into while his elder brother was off learning to be king?"
I stretched back on the blanket, memories bubbling to the surface that I hadn't revisited in decades. "When Theo started accompanying our father on diplomatic trips, I was barely nine years old. Too young to be included, old enough to resent being left behind."
"Poor little prince," she teased gently.
"Oh, I made everyone pay for it," I assured her. "Once, I replaced all the formal portraits in the east wing with crude drawings I'd made of the subjects. Took the staff three days to notice every single one."
Her laughter echoed through the clearing. "You didn't!"
"I absolutely did. My artistic talent w
