Page 113 of Royally Drawn

“Because you’re delightfully devilish,” Alexandra said. “The one who always tells us what she means.”

“Except right now,” Astrid said. “Because she’s not even honest with herself.”

“Excuse me, bitch?” I giggled, taking another big pull from the bottle.

“You’re obsessed with him.”

“I’m dick-blind. That’snotthe same thing as being obsessed. And it’s not a reason to fuck him again. It’s not a good reason to let him break my heart again, either.”

“Can we stop talking like this?” Odette asked. “Around the dead!”

“What are they going to do to us?” I asked.

“Someone could… report us.”

“To whom? The Queen?” Astrid asked.

She looked at Alexandra. They both burst into giggles.

“I was dick-blind once,” Astrid said.

“And then what?” Odette asked.

“Well, presently, I get this thing calledlightning crotch,and that’s a result of it persisting.”

“It’s a real thing!” Alexandra said. “The baby is sitting on a nerve. It’s so bad. Pregnancy is awful. I hated it.”

“And did itfour times?” I said.

“I have four beautiful babies to show for it. I wouldn’t change it, darling. I’m still dick-blind. I want to kill Rick half the time but damn if I don’t always let it go.”

“Parker can do no wrong as long as he properly grovels and goes down on me endlessly,” Astrid said. “It’s true.”

“You all are terrible,” Odette said. “A woman died. She was a bad woman, but she died, and here we are talking about sex.”

“Good,” Alexandra said. “I have all sorts of hangups because of that bitch. Fuck her! I hope she rots in hell. I amhappyshe’s gone. No longer can I worry that she will do something to steal one of my babies from me.”

“You thought that?” Odette asked.

“She did that to our mother, Odie,” Alexandra said. “Rick and I were always prepared to call the authorities to put her on blast. I feel like I can breathe again—for the first time since Mamma was alive. I can only hope our children never feel like that.”

“They won’t,” Astrid said. “Our daughters will be secure in their self-worth.”

“We don’t have to work on that with Linnea,” I giggled. “She got the memo.”

Odette snickered.

“We’re having a little girl,” Astrid said. “I know. She’s a girl. And I’m excited and terrified.”

“That’s thrilling!” Odette said.

“Beautiful,” I agreed.

“Parker is so excited,” Astrid said. He has a list of names a mile long. There are so many scientists, so little time.”

“That’s adorable,” I said.

“What will we tell our daughters?” Astrid asked. “About all of this? Because this was horrendous. We survived. I don’t want to scare our girls, but I want to be honest with them. Because I’m still not completely okay—I never will be.”

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