He does, but carefully.

As Duncan left Stewart with his bruised ego, which he was sure would heal the moment he saw another lovely woman to court, he spotted Xira making her way back into the ballroom. The fuming queen had just found a quiet spot in the corner of the room where she could try to cool herself off without the risk of breaking someone’s jaw.

As she stood there, looking out into space, Duncan couldn’t help but admire her lovely body, her fit curves, and her exotic golden skin. The only reason why he hadn’t tried courting her yet was because of his upbringing. As the spare, his usefulness in the Kingdom was limited, at best. His only duty was to take over for his brother if something happened to him until he finally produced a heir to the throne. Until then, he wasn’t supposed to do anything scandalous, or it might make his brother look bad. The last few times, he tried sleeping with the daughter of a nobleman or spoke out of turn, his father chewed him out. The gods only knew what his father would think if he was caught flirting with the Queen of the Amazons…The young and single Queen of the Amazons…who is in dire need of a heir.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he might actually be able to get away with courting the Queen. She wasn’t married. Her people didn’t even get married, and she was the same rank as his mother and father, so she could probably vouch for him if they were ever caught. On top of that, she seemed to have the same disdain for his brother and sister as he did, and she was absolutely gorgeous. Even more so, now that the sun had set and the dim light was reflecting off of her lovely body.

Deciding that he had nothing to lose, aside from a few broken bones if he insulted her any further, he took a couple of wine glasses from a nearby servant and made his way over to Xira. Being careful not to startle her, thus risking a broken nose, he walked up next to her and offered her one of the wine glasses. “Sorry about my siblings,” he said, drawing her attention, “They tend to think that they have more privileges than they actually do.”

Xira sighed and glanced up at the youngest prince, “And you aren’t the same way?”

“Are you kidding,” he said with a chuckle, “I’m surprised that I was allowed to come to this party. I guess my father decided that while he’s looking for someone to fill the roil of Future Queen of Mirantia that he’ll look for someone to fill the office of Duchess of Lancish as well.”

Xira gave him a snarky smile, “And you are hoping that I will be your new Duchess?”

“Actually, I was hoping to get to know you first,” he said, smiling.

Xira arched her brow and studied him for a moment, then took the glass from his hand, “Very well. Your sister accused me of being an elf, and your brother was treating me like one of your swooning maids, it’s nice to see that at least one member of the royal family has some manners.” After taking a quick sip of her drink, she looked up at Duncan and repeated with a sharper tone, “Some. What do you wish to know?”