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“Rowan.”
“Nothing.”
Yeah, double down. That’s the right thing to do. When caught in a lie, just lie again. That always works.
I clear my throat, gulping down the rest of the water. “I have to get ready for my appointment.”
I scurry out of the kitchen and rush to the bedroom to avoid my grandmother’s stare. The last thing I want to do is explain that I’m going to get a Pap test and checkup for a birth control prescription. The Prince and I have been using condoms, but I want to go back on the pill. Neither of us is sleeping with anyone else, and it feels…right. I want to be intimate with him on another level, and I want to make sure an accident doesn’t happen.
I can’t tell Grandma that, though.
As I change my clothing and run a brush through my hair, I try to still my beating heart.
She’s right. Something’s going on between me and the Prince, and we haven’t really talked about what it means. All I know is the best part of my day is when I see him. I want to spend more time with him. I want this to be real…
…but how could it be?
He’s still royalty, and I’m just a contractor working for the royal family.
Swallowing down my fears, I push my flame-red hair back over my shoulders and call out a goodbye through the house. I grab the puffy red jacket Grandma organized for me at the castle, zipping it up and bracing myself against the cold. When I step outside, the royal car is waiting for me in front of the house. I frown.
Eyvar, the Prince’s most trusted bodyguard, leans against the passenger side door. He nods to me. “His Highness wanted me to drive you to the doctor.”
“I told him I’d take a taxi.”
“He insisted.”
My heart flutters. Is that all it takes now? The Prince sending a car for me, and all of a sudden I’m all gooey inside?
I nod to Eyvar and let him open the back door for me. Slipping inside, I put my purse on my lap and wait for him to get in the driver’s seat. We travel in silence until I can’t take the tension in the car anymore.
“I know you don’t like me, Eyvar.”
He glances in the rearview mirror. “I have no opinion of you. I work for the Prince.”
“Oh, please. Come on.”
His jaw tenses. “The Prince is… He’s been hurt before.”
“You don’t think he’s ready for a relationship?”
“That’s not my place to say.” His eyes stay on the road.
I huff. “Eyvar.”
“He’s not like you and me, Miss Reed.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? He’s human, isn’t he?”
“He’s royalty.” The words come out quietly, but the weight of them makes me still. I glance out the window, watching the kingdom pass us by. It’s foreign and familiar, all at once. Like I’ll never quite belong, but I’ll miss it if I leave.
Eyvar thinks the same thing my grandmother does—that getting involved with the Prince is trouble. And damn it, don’t I know that? What’s the end game, here? He can’t be with me. He’ll probably end up married to some princess. Maybe one of the daughters of the Farcliff royals.
He won’t marry some lowly architect, no matter how many awards I have on my office wall.
Chewing the inside of my lip, I push the thought aside. We pull up outside a doctor’s office, and Eyvar comes around to open the door for me. His eyes stay focused on some distant spot, and I choose not to engage him in conversation. Instead, I head inside for my appointment.
I know I talk to the receptionist and fill out some forms, and I probably sit there for ten or twenty minutes as I wait—but the truth is, I don’t notice any of it. My mind is with the Prince. With the inevitable demise of our romance. What other possible outcome could there be? If he’d wanted to make our relationship public, wouldn’t he have said something by now? We’ve been seeing each other for over a month, but it feels like I’ve known him my whole life. It feels more than casual.
