A Royal Engagement: The Young Royals Book 1 (14 page)

"Perfect," I whispered.

"Everything you had hoped for?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied.

It might seem odd to outsiders that a twenty-four year old woman was only now getting her first kiss, but those people didn't have around the clock security.
 
Not to mention that I had no desire to have my private life splashed all over the covers of the latest trashy magazines.
 
I had avoided media attention by staying under the radar and that meant no dating...ever.

"So, does this mean you and he are going steady now?" she asked.

I rolled over to look at her.
 
She was smiling and there was no mockery in her eyes.

"No," I replied, "I told him I want to take things slow.
 
I don't want it getting out to the press before I'm ready to announce it."

I thought back to what she said earlier, about the guys not liking him.

"So none of my detail like him, huh.
 
What about you?" I asked, "Do you like him?"

She sighed, "He's cute and he looks real good in a uniform," she raised her eyebrows lasciviously, "And I know you like him, so yeah, I suppose I do."

"But?"

"What but? There was no but."
 
She smiled at me.

"Come on Mer, I know you.
 
You like him because I like him, but there's something you're not telling me."

She blew a breath out and flopped back on the bed.

"We've been looking into him and his family."

"What?
 
Why?"

"Because both he and his father were on the hunt and we are investigating everybody who was there," she said patiently.

"And what have you found?" I asked, not really sure if I want to know the answer.

"Nothing," she said.

"So, isn't that a good thing?" I asked, confused.

"When I say nothing," she replied, "I mean absolutely nothing.
 
No one is that squeaky clean.
 
There's not a speeding ticket or a report of youthful misbehaviour or even a lost library book.
 
It's like he and his father have been scrubbed clean and Benjamin doesn't like it, especially since he has such unhindered access to you."

"But he's not dangerous or anything is he?" I ask.

"Nah," she said, "I just think he's a little too smooth, too charming, you know?"

I lie back on the bed and stare at the ceiling, "Yeah.
 
I wasn't real happy with him after lunch today."

"That's an understatement.
 
What did he do?"

"Nothing really," I said, "I just didn't like the set up with the media and everything.
 
It felt too rehearsed and he even seemed to play up to the press, which you know I hate."

We were quiet
 
for a while, lost in our own thoughts.

"So you want to talk about what happened with Will?" she asked.

I covered my face with my hands, "You heard it?"

"We all heard it," she said, "Carlos wasn't the only one who wanted to hit
him
."

I roll over and bury my face in my hands, "God, I'm so embarrassed."

"What do you have to be embarrassed about?" she asked.

"Why do you think he hates me?" I asked rolling back onto my side towards her.
 
I may be about to be crowned Queen of a small European country, but that didn't mean I was immune to the effects of a good looking guy rejecting me.

Meredith rolled over on her side so that she was looking at me, "I don't think he hates you," she said softly, "But why does it matter?
 
You like Jordan."

I sighed, "Yeah I do," I replied, "It's just, I don't know, there's something about him.
 
I thought we could be friends, at least.
 
He was close to Jacob and I'd like him to be..."

"You'd like to be close to him too, so that you have a piece of Jacob."

"Is that silly?
 
I know Jacob was helping him, with his business, and I'd like to think I could help him too."

"Have you...have you been through your father's or Jacob's offices yet?" she asked gently.

"No," I replied, "I don't know if I can."

She reached out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear, "I think you need to.
 
I know their secretaries can bring you up to date on what they were working on, but I think you'll get a better feel for what they wanted to achieve if you took a look at their notes."

She was right, I knew she was right, but the thought of walking into their private spaces, smelling their aftershave, touching things that they'd touched, it all seemed like too much.
 
But I was going to have to do it soon.
 
The Lord High Chamberlain was clamouring for me to decide on the designs for my fathers rooms so they could get started on redecorating.
 
I needed to move into them soon, now that my mother had transitioned to the Chalet.

"Tomorrow," I said, closing my eyes and letting myself drift off, "I'll do it tomorrow."

But tomorrow was too full of it's own crap for me to add another thing to it.
 
It was Saturday, but that didn't matter.
 
Alex was in my room early, luckily bringing coffee with her, and breakfast.

I dragged myself out of bed and pulled on a robe, plopping down in a chair and snagging a cup of coffee to sip on while she ran through the day's itinerary.
 
I had morning meetings with my decorator, the Lord High Chamberlain and Chef.
 
The latter two would be regular occurrences going forward, although I didn't know why that would be in my purview.
 
I don't think my father met with the chef and the head of the household on a weekly basis, although I knew my mother did.
 
I had an awful feeling that I was about to be lumped with both the King's and Queen's jobs, much like a single parent had to fill both roles, and I wondered if anyone had thought about the implications.

Intuitively I knew that Parliament had and it would no doubt be a reason why I would not be fit to rule.
 
But there had to be a way around it.
 
Why couldn't the Queen Mother continue in her role while I took over the role of the King.
 
I was, technically, the Head of State and that's where my focus should be.

But we were a nation that had never found itself in this particular predicament.
 
As far back as the St Benét's had been ruling Merveille, all the heirs had been male.
 
There was no precedent for a female heir, but there was also nothing stopping us from having one.
 
Unfortunately, I didn't think Parliament would see it that way.
 
They were stuck on the labels of King and Queen.
 
There were 'King' duties and there were 'Queen' duties and now I would be responsible for both.

"Are you listening to me Alyssa?" Alex gently chided me.

"Sorry," I said, "I was just thinking.
 
I'm about to become a single parent."

"What!" she stood suddenly and I realised what I'd just said.

I laughed, "Sit down," I said, "I meant metaphorically, not literally."

She sat down gingerly, looking at me strangely, "What do you mean?" she finally asked.

I sighed and picked up a piece of bacon to chew on while I enlightened her, "I'm to be Queen," I began, "But we've never had a Queen as Head of State, it's only ever been a King."

"Yes," she said, "We know this already."

"No, I know," I said, "What I mean is, it's like I'm expected to hold both offices.
 
I need to run the country but I also need to fulfil all the duties that the Queen would normally fulfil.
 
And what if I get married?
 
Would my husband then become responsible for the running of the household?
 
Would he attend the Garden Parties and mix with the wives of the other Heads of State?"

"I've never thought of it like that," she said, "We should get Priscilla to work on this.
 
There are other countries that do it, so there must be some sort of protocol."

I nodded my head thoughtfully, "Yes," I said, "I need a report on how other female rulers manage the flipped roles.
 
And something before the Parliamentary meeting would be good."

Alex made a note on her tablet and then moved on.

"This afternoon there is a Garden Party to meet with the wives and daughters of the local nobility," she said, "And then you have a security briefing this afternoon.
 
Tonight there is an intimate dinner with some of your father's closest allies."

I groaned and leant my head back against the chair, closing my eyes, this was exactly what I was talking about.

"I'm going to need coffee and lots of it, all day," I moaned.

"You have a day off tomorrow," she said kindly.

"Thank God," I replied.

"Yes, after church, you have the day off."

I groaned again.
 
I had avoided church since the funeral due to my period of mourning.
 
It's not that I had a conscientious objection to religion, I believed in God myself, I just had an objection to having to conform to what society determined was religion.
 
To me, it was a private thing, something to be worked out between me and God, but if I skipped the service it would be yet another black mark against my name.

"Well, if I have to go, everyone does," I said, "That means you and Meredith and all the others."

She grimaced slightly but nodded.

"I also want to make some time to go through my father's and brother's offices," my voice was soft and hesitant.
 
I didn't really want to do it, but I knew I had to.

"Do you want me to help you?" she asked.

I nodded, "And Meredith," I said, "But no one else."

I knew that I needed to do it at my own pace.
 
Having Alex there would help to keep me on track and stop me getting side tracked and Meredith would be my emotional support.

"We could probably organise something for tomorrow afternoon," she said, tapping on her tablet, "How much time do you think you need?"

"Probably a couple of hours," I said with an exhale, "We'll start with my father's office this week and maybe do Jacob's next Sunday."

She tapped and swiped and typed and then nodded, "Okay, done.
 
Now you need to get dressed and head into your office."

She stood to her feet and smoothed down her skirt.
 
I reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Thanks Alex," I said sincerely, "I'm glad you're here."

She smiled shyly at me and dropped a small curtsey before leaving and ushering Bridgette and Annette in to get me ready for the day.

This was the third change of clothes for the day, and I still had one more to go.
 
I was so glad I had Savannah to organise my wardrobe, I would've been happy to just wear the one dress all day.
 
That was until I had been looked down upon by all those women at the Garden Party.
 
It wasn't hard to see that the local nobility did not approve of me becoming their ruler.

Thank God that was over.
 
The only bright spark had been when I'd had a chance to sit and chat with Lady Georgina, Will's sister.
 
She was delightful and I could see us becoming friends.
 
I had already made mention to Alex that I would like to have tea with her during the week so that we could really get to know one another.

Now I entered the briefing room for my security briefing.
 
Von Bartham was there, as was Benjamin and the rest of my detail.
 
The Chief of Police was also in attendance, which I thought odd.

The men stood as I strode into the room and waited for me to sit before they resumed their seats.

"What have you got for me?" I asked determining that I needed to take control of these meetings from this time out.
 
The Lord High Chamberlain and the Chef had practically steamrolled me this morning and I wasn't in any mood for it to be repeated here.
 
If I was going to be the absolute ruler, then I needed to rule absolutely.

"Things seem to be going smoothly so far," Von Bartham reported, "There has been no change to the threat assessment and no increase in threats or hate mail."

"God," I gasped, "I get hate mail?"

"It's not personal," Benjamin assured me, "We always receive some measure of hate mail and death threats.
 
They're usually from crack pots and anti-monarchists."

I knew this,
abstractly
, but being confronted with it so blandly was hard to take.

"If anything," Von Bartham resumed, "The fan mail has increased.
 
I think they like you."

That was nice to hear, but there were still people who hated me.
 
I wasn't really used to that.
 
I had always kept my head down and tried to walk the middle road so as not to upset anybody.

"Don't let it upset you, Your Highness," the Chief of Police remarked, "The people who pen these letters are not entirely sane."

"I don't think that makes it any better," I said, "They're even more of a threat if they're unstable."

"True," he acknowledged, "But it also means they are unorganised and sloppy.
 
We usually have them picked up before you even know about it."

I really didn't like his arrogant tone.

"Except that something happened to my father and brother," I retorted.

"Yes," Von Bartham stepped in, "But we are not convinced that that was the result of an outside threat."

"You're saying that my father and brother were killed by someone in the palace?"
 
I asked, my voice bordering on hysterical.

"Or at least someone close, with open access to them."