Royal Watch

by Stacey Marie Brown

  “You can do this. You will not be awkward, babble, or fall on your face,” I muttered to myself. Dalton pulled the car to the front of the steps where none other than Lennox stood, looking like several tree stumps had been shoved up his arse.

  “Oh, please say he’s not waiting for me.” My stomach dropped with disappointment. “Keep the car going, D-man. We’re going to Cuba. Actually, anywhere you want to go. My treat.”

  Dalton grinned, catching my gaze in the mirror again. “Not a fan of the new bodyguard?”

  “Not at all.” I pulled myself up between the front seat. “Are you?”

  Dalton stayed silent, but his mouth thinned.

  “Enough said.” I nodded. “What happened? I was so upset when you weren’t there earlier this week.”

  “It’s not my place to have an opinion on what His Highness decides, my lady.”

  “Like hell it’s not! You have been his lead guard since he was a boy. That’s fucked up. Do we even know who this guy is?”

  “He has impeccable military training. Spotless background check. He might not have a lot of personal guard service, but I can’t deny he is a natural. Whatever they went through in training, he seems to have a real dedication to the prince’s safety, and in the end, that is all that matters.”

  “Screw the formal niceties, Dalton. This is me. You matter. Your job matters.”

  “Thank you, ma’am, but don’t worry about me. I was promoted to overseeing all the security and guards,” he said with not an ounce of emotion.

  “Well, congrats.” I tilted my head. “If that was something you wanted?”

  His eyes met mine briefly before he unlatched his seatbelt, reaching for the door.

  “You are a very perceptive and wise young woman. I hope that doesn’t end up hurting you here instead of helping.” He stepped out before I could respond, walking around to my door and opening it.

  Lennox took a step down, nodding at Dalton. Dalton swung my door open, not responding to the new guard.

  “My lady,” Lennox said evenly, reaching for my hand.

  I climbed out, moving around his outstretched fingers, turning to Dalton. “Thank you, Dalton.” I nodded at him. “I know coming all the way to Wentworth House must have been inconvenient with all your new duties.”

  “You are welcome, my lady.” He bowed to me. “I enjoyed the break. And of course, seeing you again, my lady.”

  I grinned, stepping up the treads, ignoring Lennox next to me. I knew he got the not-so-subtle jabs at him. It was in my nature to be loyal. People were hard to trust in the world I lived in. When you found the few you did, you held on to them. Plus, I just didn’t like Lennox.

  Several steps away from the grand entrance, I realized Theo wasn’t here. I had no clue what to do without him, and I hated that.

  Lennox stayed silent next to me, but I could feel his cockiness kick in like we had just stepped onto a chessboard, and I was going to have to move first. After not taking his hand, he was turning this into a game of dominance.

  He should have known I would win in the end.

  I sighed, giving in this once. “Where’s Theo?”

  I swore I saw his mouth twitch.

  “His Highness apologizes for not meeting you here. Duties called him away.”

  “Away? Where?” My pitch rose as fear sank like a rock in my bones. Swinging to the man next to me, it was the first time I really noticed his eyes. A blue-hazel color that had me blinking in utter awe. Bright blue, the middle around the pupil was like a ring of flaming fire. Like a golden-brown sun against a bright blue sky. They reminded me of a wolf’s. Fierce and deadly.

  “He will be with you shortly.” He vaulted forward into the palace, forcing me to scramble after him. My heels clicked on the polished stone floor between the luxurious embroidered rugs underfoot. I tried not to gape, my eyes rolling over the foyer with awe. My house seemed like a peasant cottage in comparison.

  Ornate ceilings reached two stories high with large crystal chandeliers dotting every twelve feet. Fifteen-foot gold-trimmed antique mirrors lined the wall reflecting marble statues, rococo-style chairs, and benches upholstered in deep red silk. Deep blue drapes accented the massive windows, and a large round table under an even more elaborate chandelier sat in the middle of the room, ornamented with fresh white flowers.

  It was everything I imagined the inside of a palace to look. Exquisite. Refined. Stunning. But cold. Aloof. Not a home. I couldn’t imagine growing up here. You couldn’t touch anything.

  Afraid my arms would suddenly start flailing around like a Muppet, I locked my hands together in front of me, walking stiffly after Lennox. We moved up a flight of grand stairs, venturing down a corridor lined with rooms. The chambers were perfect, luxurious. But after a while, I couldn’t tell the difference between them, all having the same elegant, stuffy design.

  We went through a set of double doors, a guard standing at the entrance. I knew the king and queen opened the main part of the castle to tourists during the summer while they headed to one of their summer palaces. But the season had ended, with them returning home. When they were here, it was closed to visitors. But their private quarters were always off limits to tours. I was venturing into an area very few got to see.

  Lennox and the door guy nodded at each other but didn’t speak. A few doors down, Lennox turned to face me.

  “The private drawing room, ma’am.” Lennox motioned me into a room.

  I stepped into the space. It was smaller than the staterooms in the public area. Velvet sofas and chairs faced a huge fireplace on one side. Rich tapestries hung on two of the walls, making it feel slightly cozier. Enormous paintings, a mix of old royalty and Greek mythology, covered most of the walls. The same perfect white flowers on a table by windows covered in sheer drapes.

  Lennox stayed in the doorway, watching me take in the room.

  “His Highness will be with you shortly.”

  I didn’t even bother acknowledging him, as he was already shutting the doors, leaving me alone in the room. Too itchy to sit, I wandered around, examining the paintings and objects in the room. I brushed at my dress nervously. I never wore dresses or heels if I could help it; I was a jeans-and-riding-boots kind of girl. I figured this occasion more than called for it, but I felt uncomfortable. The dress I was wearing was one my mother was insistent on. It was the most conservative thing I owned, a pretty pastel pink, which I hated. It also was from when I was heavier. Even though a tailor took it in, it still felt unpleasant and stiff. My matching pink heels were even worse.

  I was like a walking bubblegum ball.

  Reaching the windows, I looked through, seeing half the gardens and a view of the city. The late-afternoon sun glinted off the old and new buildings in the city. Tall towers, steeples, and famous landmarks all could be seen from here. People moving up and down the four-lane street leading away and to the palace, going on with their lives, while I stood there and watched them from inside.

  It felt odd. I was more one of them than someone who’d be standing here. In the palace… about to be introduced to the queen and king.

  “Don’t vomit, Spencer,” I ordered myself.

  “Please don’t. The rug is an antique and would be very difficult to clean.” A woman’s eloquent voice came from behind me, and I lurched around, my hip knocking the table. In horror, I watched in slow motion as the vase with flowers tipped over, crashing onto the table, water and pieces of the vase spilling everywhere.

  “Oh, holy shite!” I cried, grabbing for the wreckage. Bits of the pretty vase cut my hands, the water sweeping between my fingers. My efforts were only making it worse, getting my dress soaked in the process.

  “Please.” She came closer. “Leave it. I will have someone clean it up.”

  My face burned as I clumsily set down the broken pieces, bile and mortification fighting in my stomach. This can’t be happening. I squeezed my lids together before taking a deep breath and spinning around.

  “Yo
u must be Spencer, the girl my son has talked about excessively for the last few days?”

  “Yes.” I swallowed, bending my legs into a curtsy. “Your Majesty.”

  I just broke what was probably a family heirloom, cursed, and looked like I peed on myself all in a matter of seconds in front of the Queen of Great Victoria.

  Way to go, Spencer. Way to not be awkward…

  Queen Catherine, in all her gorgeous and flawless splendor, stood there watching me, not a gleam of what she might be thinking or feeling near the surface.

  Dressed in a deep blue knee-length silk dress and tan heels, she was tall and lean, with the most delicate swan neck and dainty wrists. Her long, silky brown hair was coiled into a low bun. She possessed a wide mouth, green eyes, and high cheekbones, and she oozed elegance like it was a perfume she put on. She looked nowhere near her forty-three years. It was like the king ordered her straight out of a magazine.

  As a daughter of a duke and duchess, she was raised to be a queen. I wanted to believe her and King Alexander had fallen in love, but I knew too much about the real world behind the scenes to be such a hopeless romantic. There were stories that he had loved someone else, many rumors about affairs they both had, but it was all just that. Hearsay. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the truth.

  Whatever personal relationship they had, they were a great team. A front that had grown stronger in their reign. And made freaking perfect babies.

  “I apologize, Your Grace.” I dipped my head again, cursing silently at the water mark right at my crotch. Fucking perfect.

  Her head stayed perfectly still, her eyes gliding to the mess on the table, the sound of dripping water flooding more embarrassment into my cheeks.

  “That was a present from the queen of Norway, over a hundred years ago.”

  Oh. God. Of course, it was.

  “Always thought it was hideous.” She nodded at it, twirling back for the sofas, no emotion in her declaration. “Please, come sit, Spencer.” She gracefully perched herself on the furniture. “I was hoping to have a few moments alone with you before Theo was finished with his business.” She patted the spot next to her. “To get to know you.”

  I was in hell, right? I think I woke up in a cold sweat to this nightmare a couple nights ago.

  Wobbling on my heels, I strode to the sofa, trying to sit down elegantly, the dress crushing my legs together and cutting into my stomach. Forcing a small grin on my face through the discomfort, I folded my hands on my lap, feeling like a child being drilled by my mother in proper etiquette. Deciding the safest thing to do was keep my mouth shut until she asked me something, I pressed my lips loosely together.

  She took a few seconds to look me over; she was good at hiding what thoughts she had about my appearance.

  “Spencer, do you mind me being direct?”

  Oh. Feck. “No, of course not, Your Grace.” I gulped, trying to keep my lungs breathing.

  “You are a slight surprise. Until a week ago, when Theodore returned, I had heard nothing of you. Though he tells me you had been dating in secret for seven months.”

  “It wasn’t really in secret, but we didn’t want the paparazzi to find out about us. We weren’t ready for that.”

  “Yes. I can understand that. I am quite surprised he kept you from us as well.”

  As long as I dated Theo, he barely talked to his parents. They didn’t seem that close, but it still stung. My parents had known about him.

  “I’m sure he did not want to mention me until he knew we were serious.” I cupped my hands together on my lap.

  She nodded. “Since he has returned, he has spoken of nothing but you. He tells me how smart and funny you are. Different than the rest of the girls at school.”

  And there was that word again. Like Charlotte, I doubted the Queen meant it in a good way either, but she was a lot better at hiding her meaning.

  “He seems quite smitten with you.”

  “And I feel the same about him.” My nerves were starting to ease a bit, my response to feeling threatened lashing up my spine, straightening my back. You can get through this, Spencer. Theo is worth this.

  “I would hope so.” She tipped her head just a hair. “I want you perfectly aware of what comes with dating the Prince of Great Victoria. What will happen once we announce you are an item. Not just the pressure from the outside world, but what is expected of you here as well.”

  Panic pumped at my heart, rattling inside my ears, but I forced myself to nod.

  “Dating a prince is not like dating an ordinary boy at school. Believe me, I understand this more than anyone, but I always knew what was expected of me. I spent years watching and preparing for it. You have not.” I couldn’t tell if she was trying to scare me or honestly warning me.

  “I know. Theo and I have talked about it. I’m not a complete stranger to the world.”

  “Almost,” she replied evenly.

  I swallowed back the irritation flowering in my stomach. I was very much aware my family was the last layer, the fringe on the noble rug, but if you insulted my family, I was ready to throw down. Probably not very “royal,” but I could pick on our standing and my family, but anyone else? Oh, hell no.

  Theo. Think of Theo. Just get through this for him.

  “I want to be honest with you, Spencer. My son seems to suddenly be living in a cloud and will not listen to reason. I want one of you to have feet on the ground.”

  “What are you saying, Your Highness? You want us to break up?”

  “I want my son to be happy, which right now seems to entail being with you. However, if you want me completely candid, I would say that would be for the best. His father is not quite on board with you two. He has other ideas of who Theo should be with.” She gently placed her fingers on my arm. “I think you are a very sweet, beautiful girl, and I can see why my son is drawn to you. However, I do not think you really comprehend what is ahead of you. I dislike that my son will never get to date or experience the world like others his age, but he is a prince. That is our way of life. He understands this. He also knows announcing you two are together…” She swallowed, showing the first sign of any kind of emotion. “Society will treat this as an engagement.”

  I froze, air gluing in my throat, my stomach turning over. Engagement? We were eighteen and nineteen years old.

  “What?” I muttered.

  “I’m not saying you have to get married in the near future; we’d actually prefer if you didn’t.”

  I blinked. Blinked again. My head spun. Was she speaking English?

  “Mother…” a familiar voice sighed from the door, shooting me to my feet. “Are you scaring the crap out of her already?”

  “Theodore.” The queen rose, every move she made graceful, purposeful. “Watch your language. Ever since you have come back from the military, you have been speaking so vulgar.” There was barely a note of a reprimand as she glided to her son. “Very unbecoming of a prince.”

  “Sure, Mother.” He rolled his eyes. He looked unbelievably handsome, his shorter hair combed perfectly back, wearing dark pants and a pinstriped button-down shirt, though I always preferred him on the rare occasions he wore jeans and a T-shirt. The sling that held his arm a week ago was now gone, but he still appeared to be favoring it.

  She shook her head, a boys-will-be-boys gesture. “I must get ready. Your father and I are dining with Prime Minister Joseph and his husband, Paul,” she said, devoid of any emotion. A fact… something she didn’t even think about. She just did.

  “Right.” Theo nodded. “I forgot about that. I guess Father will meet Spencer tomorrow.”

  The queen brushed Theo’s perfectly pressed shirt like there was a microscopic wrinkle only she could see, then faced me. “Well, it was a pleasure getting to know you, Spencer. I hope you consider what I said.”

  I curtsied, not answering.

  “I’ll leave you two alone.” Lightly kissing him on the cheek, she stepped for the door. The guard who had been blending in
with the wall the entire time opened the door for her. “Oh, and I had Paulina make up the Queen Anne room for you, Spencer.”

  “Wow, could you get her any farther away from me?” Theo scoffed.

  “Decorum, Theodore. You must learn it,” she replied before leaving the room. Somehow her heels barely made any noise on the floor, the guard slipping out with her like a ghost.

  The door shut, leaving us alone.

  “I know that look.” He held up his hands, stepping to me. “Breathe, Spence.”

  “Breathe?” I exclaimed hoarsely, letting go of my pinned arms. “You want me to breathe?”

  He cringed, taking another tentative step like I was a wild animal.

  “What the hell was that, Theo?” I hissed, not wanting to raise my voice too high, but panic was taking over my body. “You don’t meet me downstairs, and you have Lennox retrieve me? I break an antique vase, swear, and completely humiliate myself meeting your mother. And not just a mother. The bloody Queen of Great Victoria!”

  “What’s wrong with Lennox?”

  My lids narrowed.

  “Right. Right… not the point.”

  “She was talking marriage, Theo. Marriage!” I continued pacing, the sick feeling in my gut not relenting. “I’m nineteen! We haven’t even made it official yet.”

  He rubbed his face. “I’m sorry. She shouldn’t have brought that up yet.”

  “Yet?”

  “Not until you settled in.”

  That wasn’t easing me one bit.

  He walked around the sofa, grabbing me by the arms, holding me in place. “I knew my father was keeping me longer for a reason.” He rubbed his hands over my skin. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to meet you. I promise it will never happen again.”

  “I’m not helpless, Theo. I can be on my own, probably prefer it most of the time, but this was a big deal. I think you forget your parents aren’t normal. This place is slightly intimidating, and I was already scared shiteless.”

  “Yes, they are the king and queen, but they are also my parents.” He tipped his head into mine.