AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Of course you bloody don’t,” she mutters. “Thaddeus Park messaged me the other day.”
“He did?” I say, suddenly dreading where this conversation is going. “I didn’t know you two were friends.”
“We’re not.” She finally looks at me, and although it’s only for a split second, it’s impossible not to notice how red her eyes are. “He asked for your number, and he wouldn’t believe me when I said you haven’t got a mobile.”
I scowl. “Probably because he saw me using Tibby’s. Did he say why he wanted it?”
“No, but it’s not exactly hard to guess, is it?”
No, it’s not. I lean my head back against the leather seat and sigh. I’ve never had a phone before—they weren’t allowed at most of my boarding schools, and since my mother doesn’t like using them, I’ve never seen the point—but this only reinforces my desire not to get one. “What else did he say?”
“The usual flattery and sycophancy,” she says. “Though he’s really not too terrible, all things consid—what on earth is goingon?”
She’s leaning forward now, craning her neck in a direction I can’t see. Frowning, I shift closer to her, the kind of close that would normally have her up in arms, but instead she barely seems to notice. And as the car slows, I see why.
Up ahead, clustered around large and extravagant wrought-iron gates, is a crowd of about a dozen people holding signs made of poster board. And even though the temperature is well above freezing, they’re clad in winter coats and hats, and every single one has a scarf wrapped around the lower half of their face, leaving only their eyes visible.
Our car slows, and the crowd turns toward us, thrusting their signs in the air. They look homemade, with different handwriting and colors, but they all hold the same sentiment.
ABOLISH THE MONARCHY
NO MORE FREELOADING
REVOLT AGAINST THE ROYALS
Unnerved, I shrink away from Maisie and back into my seat. “Is this normal?” I say, trying to pretend like the hint of fear in my voice has always been there.
“No,” says Maisie quietly, and in the front passenger seat, our protection officer speaks quietly on his phone, his head swiveling as he takes in the crowd.
“Additional security is on their way,” he says, glancing overhis shoulder and through the clear partition at Maisie and me. But it’s cold comfort as the protesters surround us, their mostly hidden faces inches from ours and separated only by glass.
None of them are shouting or hurling insults our way, though. They simply stare at us through the windows, and as the seconds tick by, I feel Maisie’s hand wrap around mine.
“Don’t look at them,” she whispers. And even though everything in me wants—needs—to keep my eyes on the protesters, I tear my gaze away and focus on the back of our driver’s head. He, too, is tense, and I notice that both men have unbuckled their seat belts.
Finally, after what feels like an hour but is probably no more than a minute or two, the gates open, and several security officers join the fray, all holding batons. They hastily usher the crowd away from the car, and at last we continue forward. Before we make it to the safety of what must be Sandringham Estate, however, I glance out the window one more time, only to meet the menacing stare of a man in a teal scarf.
He doesn’t speak—he doesn’t even move—but that single look is enough, and a shiver runs down my spine. I hastily avert my eyes again, my fingers tightening around Maisie’s. And even when we cross onto the private road and the gates swing shut, putting an ever-growing buffer between our Range Rover and the protesters, neither of us lets go.
CHAPTER FIVE
Maisie
Gia, we need to talk.
Gia
I think you’ve said enough.
Maisie
You’re taking this all entirely the wrong way, you know.
Gia
Am I? How good to know that yet again, you’re in the right, and I’m simply misunderstanding Her Royal Highness’s intentions.
Maisie
