Jimmy had no idea what was happening. He looked from one man to the other, knowing he should intervene but having no intention of getting up from behind his desk. It wasn’t like he could tell them to stop, anyway. They wouldn’t listen to him. And to be honest, he wasn’t even sure they understood him.

Being a king’s assistant wasn’t easy when you didn’t know the country's language.

Jimmy was working hard to learn, but with everything he had to do for Mery, there wasn’t much time to do anything else. By the time his day was over, the only thing he could think of was flopping into his bed and never getting back up. Unfortunately for him, that was never possible, and he always got up early the next day. It was the only way he’d found to keep up with his work, but sometimes he wished he’d told Mery he wouldn’t be his personal assistant.

He’d been tempted to do just that a dozen times a day ever since he’d agreed, but so far, the words had stayed in. He didn’t want to disappoint Mery or Sed.

The man on the right yelled at the man on the left, then gestured at Jimmy. As one, they turned to face him, sending him scrambling to his feet. What the fuck was happening?

“I already told both of you that the king can’t see you this morning,” he said, hoping he sounded like he knew what he was doing. He did, mostly. These two men didn’t have an appointment with the king, so they wouldn’t be able to see him. Unfortunately, convincing them of that wasn’t as easy as it ought to be. Sometimes these people were like children, believing they deserved everything they wanted.

“Who are you to keep the king from us?” the man on the right said in a heavily accented voice.

Sometimes Jimmy still wondered what the answer to that question was, but he couldn’t allow these people to see how hesitant he was. His job was to organize the king’s day and make sure no one who didn’t have an appointment bothered him, and that was what he’d do.

Unfortunately, it was never the easiest part of his job.

“I’m the king’s personal assistant, and, as I told you earlier, the only way you’ll see him is by making an appointment.”

“Do you know who I am?” the man on the left said.

He sounded convinced that Jimmy’s answer would be yes, but Jimmy couldn’t remember who he was. He should, considering who he was and who he worked for, but he’d been meeting so many new people every day that it was a miracle he remembered his own name.

“Who you are doesn’t matter. The only thing that does is whether or not you have an appointment with the king, and you don’t. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to make one if you want to see him.”

“The king will hear about this and about what an awful job you’re doing.”

Jimmy shrugged. “Feel free to tell him when you manage to see him.”

He already knew Mery wouldn’t fire him. He’d almost begged Jimmy to help him, something Jimmy didn’t understand. Jimmy was just a normal person. He didn’t have any qualifications when it came to being the king’s personal assistant beyond the fact that he was the king’s boyfriend’s best friend.

Well, king’s consort. No matter much Sed didn’t like being called that, there was no denying that was what he was. He and Mery hadn’t had an official ceremony yet, but Jimmy could tell it wouldn’t be long before they did.

That was going to be a nightmare to organize.

“You don’t belong here,” the other man said.

Jimmy wasn’t even surprised that only moments before, the two men had been fighting with each other, and now they’d allied against him. It took a lot for him to be surprised these days. But he knew that what the man was saying was true. He didn’t belong here. He shouldn’t be the king’s personal assistant, not when this wasn’t his country and he couldn’t even speak the language.

That wasn’t going to stop him from doing his job.

He might not understand why Mery had wanted him to be his personal assistant beyond the fact that he knew he could trust him, but he was now, and it meant something to him. It meant a lot, actually. It would have been easy for Mery to wash his hands of Jimmy. Jimmy would have needed to go back to the United States and find another job at a coffee shop, but instead, this was now his life .

Most people would have been over the moon happy at being a king’s personal assistant. Jimmy lived in a palace he would never have even seen from afar before. He didn’t have to cook anymore, go grocery shopping, or worry about bills. The only thing he had to do was his job, and even though he’d never been a personal assistant before, he thought he was doing well.

He stood up straighter, knowing the guards would step in if these two men tried anything. “I might not belong here, but neither do you. I already told you that you wouldn’t be seeing the king today, and I won’t change my mind. If you need to talk to him, I’ll schedule an appointment for both of you. In the meantime, you have to go.”

The man on the left took a step forward. 

Jimmy braced himself, ready to call the guards, but before he could do so, a strong wind whipped around the office. Jimmy wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or angry that Qebui was stepping in. Possibly both.

“You heard him,” Qebui said, appearing in front of Jimmy’s desk.

The two men almost fell over each other in their haste to bow to Qebui. “I apologize,” one of the men said.