Page 97 of Royal Rising

“They’re doing fine,” I say in a firm voice. “Spencer delegated and everyone has their roles and is preparing to step up. There’s a press conference this afternoon, the statement went out…” I turn to Odin. “They’re doing great, all things considered.”

“Kalle?”

“Kalle,” I reassure him and Odin hisses in relief. I can only imagine the guilt and worry he’s gone through trying to get home as quickly as he can, not knowing what will be waiting for him when he gets here. “Everything is under control.”

34

Kalle

Ifeel a bitout of control. I wish Edie was here.

She’s gone when I wake up and for a moment, I wonder if it was all a dream.

And then I know it’s not because she left my T-shirt on the bed and it smells of her.

By the time I make it out of my room, Odin is back. And I’m not surprised when I find out it was Edie who picked him and Camille up at the airport, immediately dropping them off at the hospital to see Dad.

Dillon brought them back to the castle just in time for a late breakfast.

“I don’t remember the last time we had breakfast together,” Gunnar muses as he stabs sausages with his fork. The kitchen staff has set up a buffet for us in the dining room—eggs, bacon and sausages, toast with three different kinds of jam, and a stack of pancakes that quickly disappears thanks to Bo and Camille.

“I was thinking the same thing,” Odin says, taking a seat beside me.

“I feel like I’m in some sort of regency romance with the setup.” Stella waves at the sideboard with the silver chafing dishes, thetea service at the end. “Like this is a party at the country home. Not a party, obviously, because of the king…”

“Your dad would fit right in,” Bo says, taking pity on her. “With all those novels he’s been on the cover of, he’d think it was another photo shoot.”

“I think he should do more modelling.” Camille grins at Stella. “I think the books are better when he’s on the cover.”

Odin raises an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware that you’ve read his books.”

“I’m getting through them, thanks to Stella.” Camille lifts her cup to Stella.

“That was good of Edie to come and get us,” Odin says to me as Camille begins to talk books with Stella.

“When did she leave last night?” Lyra asks with a smirk, like she knows it was daylight when Edie made her escape.

“She crashed here,” I admit. “I wasn’t letting her drive down the hill in the storm.”

“Isn’t it convenient that it stopped storming, or we could be asking her all this,” Lyra says slyly.

“Edie? What am I missing?” Camille demands. “Are you finally getting out of the friend zone?”

It feels like nothing is wrong, like Dad isn’t lying in the hospital. It also feels like we’re all doing everything we can not to mention what’s going on. I may be relieved that Dad is out of the woods, but things need to be mentioned because things need to happen.

“Is Duncan still at the hospital?” I ask Spencer.

“Kalle really doesn’t like talking about his personal life, does he?” Gunnar whispers to Camille and Stella.

I don’t, but if I ease back into thinking about Edie, I’ll be useless today. Plus, I’m looking at it like a reward—if I get all the king stuff done today, I can focus on Edie tonight.

She deserves my full attention.

“He is.” Spencer sets his tablet on the table. “He’ll stay there until one of us relieves him.”

“Dad is going to hate being waited on hand and foot.” Odin frowns.

“He already does. Apparently there was an issue with one of the nurses showing a bit too much respect when she started her shift and found out the king was there. Dropped a perfect curtsy right there in the hall.” Spencer grins. “Your dad is already demanding to be sent home if people are going to start bowing to him.”

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