"While I agree we are a team, you didn't have to go quite so far as to agree to a course of treatment without even asking me my thoughts on it," she pointed out defensively. He was not wrong that that her bias did cloud her judgment, and that was partially why she did not blame him for speaking up as to her condition before they left the deserted island, but he had pushed the proverbial envelope. Rhiane was relatively certain he had not spared a single glance in her direction while he typed on his device and nodded along to every one of Dr. Gulsvig's suggestions. The very least the crown prince could have done was look at his fiancee for any sign of agreement. Given that she had been incredibly reluctant with the pain medication in his bedroom she would have thought he'd anticipate her objections to a second prescription.

"If you want me to consult with you before I launch a public image strategy that directly affects you, I'd appreciate you doing the same for me when possible. When I told her we were sharing your bed I wasn't being a puppet, and I was trying to act as a team, but it upset you," she pointed out. The situations were not exactly the same but she hoped it illuminated the need for more communication. If they kept taking the lead from one another, without caring about the other's approval, they'd spend the next decade (depending on progeny) rehashing this same argument.

"I realize that in many ways there is no way to avoid being a child and puppet," she continued on. "I'm certain that your mother will not hesitate to threaten my brother and father if I assert myself in her presence. I entered the contest understanding that was the dynamic I would enter into; the courts will not take me seriously, they will hold me at a distance, just as they did at the engagement ball after their curiosities were satisfied. I am replaceable and hold no leverage except, perhaps, with you, but I do not want us to be a team of threats and blackmail. We'll just be miserable. I am just asking you to personally try to indulge me in what agency I have left intact and I will do the same for you." Not that she thought the heir to the throne was necessarily willing to make the concessions immediately. Rhiane felt that she was more masterful on broadcast than anyone in the palace gave her credit for, Ms. Viscomi included, but she could not safely test her limitations. To do so would require someone's backing and not even Luke would advocate on her behalf if she proposed a change in the tactical approach to their public ventures. It was this isolation as a commoner in a word of the powerful elite that made it dangerous to be aggressive. Choosing her clothes, or a room color, was as far as she was allowed to go without jeopardizing those at whom who she held dear.

And then as Luke casually stated there were 'far better things that happened today' he saw a flush appear on her cheeks and spread across her features. Before he had departed their engagement ball she had been given empty compliments from the aristocracy. The princess elect had graciously and modestly thanked them, smiled, but not been flustered. It was the sincerity of her fiance now that made her uncomfortable and embarrassed enough that her face changed color. "I... well," she started, unable to grasp her words. Rhiane cleared her throat and started to make a wide circle around him to get to the door. "I would have abandoned just about anyone for a box of dessert. The last time I got a present from anyone was years ago. That man even thoughtfully remembered something I like from a comment I made during the contest, something I didn't think anyone would care about enough to notice, something I barely recall saying. Having someone give you a gift also just feels precious," she concluded.

There was no clear way to get out the door without getting closer to Luke than she wanted and so she hung back. His implied compliment pulled at heartstrings that she would rather feign did not exist. Rhiane had joined the contest with the expectation there would be physical contact devoid of any and all intimate feelings, and that he was prodding, however inadvertently, to something deeper than shallow appreciation of her body was not within her limited expectations. "In the interest of full disclosure, I'm going to try a different approach than your mother and Ms. Viscomi want for the interview," she said, desperately trying to avoid the topic of her girlish reactions. "Instead of lauding the past and present for New Rome, and giving commendations, I'm going to talk more about the future. I know the queen expects lip service but it will destroy what little faith people have in me. That strategy might have worked a decade ago but not today. If I want to keep my credibility I need to work a different angle. I'm not doing this as an act of rebellion but because it will be an unmitigated disaster in no more than a few months for both of us if we maintain the current course."