Page 79 of Royally Drawn

“What?” Alexandra asked, approaching. “Who’s getting in trouble?”

“Ingrid,” Odette squawked. “She just fooled around with Keir on this boat.”

Alexandra gaped. “Ingrid, what has gotten into you?”

“Keir, apparently,” Astrid giggled.

“Ingy, you cannot just… go at it whenever you choose!”

“Says who?” I asked, refusing to accept I was going to get in trouble. “No one got hurt or caught us. It’s fine.”

“Ingrid, sweetheart, I have your reputation to think about. I’m responsible for?—”

“Don’t shame me!” I said too loudly. “Don’t tell me that. Don’t treat me like… like I’m some slut.”

“Lower your voice,” she growled. “You are making a scene. You must be drunk.”

She reached for my glass. I’d hadonedrink. I downed the glass in protest, which only further angered her.

“Ingrid, you think he loves you, but he doesn’t. He’s having fun with you—at your expense—and risking your good reputation. He will discard you. He’s not serious. He has a history of dating women for a few months and moving on. That’s per Rick.”

I stormed below deck from whence I’d come, past Leah and Cecilia. I fought tears, not wanting to ruin anything for Cecilia and not wanting to worry anyone. I knew I would cry. Alexandra may not have meant to hurt me, but she did. I was ashamed, guilty, and cross with her because I knew better. My “reputation” was coded language that traumatised us all for years.

Something Real

KEIR

“Ingrid?” I found Ingrid in the stateroom where we’d escaped before. She was a creature of habit, and I’d guessed well. “Darling, are you okay? Cici said?—

“I am fine.” She said it in French, sniffling as she did.

“Can I come in?”

“I’m a mess, and you’ll make it worse,” Ingrid said. “You don’t want me.”

I opened the door to find her a wreck, sobbing on the bed in the foetal position. It broke my heart. I’d been upset with Lars on the yacht last month, but this was worse. I knew her enough to know she could be fragile. She could be sensitive. Someone had pushed her to the edge. I sat on the bed next to her, rubbing her back and waited for her to speak. I didn’t press her; I just showed her I cared.

“Alexandra is being a gigantic bitch, and I cannot go back out there.”

“What?” I asked. “How? What did she do?”

“Astrid put two and two together. She and I were having a bit of a laugh about my bad behaviour—all in good fun—and Alex went off ona tangent about my fucking reputation and her being responsible for it.”

“Ingrid, people adore you. I wouldn’t panic,” I said, confused.

“You don’t get it. She thinks I’m worth less. And… she thinks I’m some slag. I don’t… I’m not. I know that deep down. But... I worry there isn’t some kernel of truth.”

“Ingrid, you were a virgin until what? A bloody month ago?” I laughed. “Even if you’d been with a dozen men or more, that’s an unfair assessment.”

“Youmustsay that, though.”

“No,” I shook my head. “Leah has the libido of a sixteen-year-old boy. And she hasallthe choices and none of the chill. I’d come for them if anyone said anything to her. It’s okay to enjoy sex, and… you shouldn’t be shamed for that. Alexandra has hang-ups. She’s projecting.”

“She’d lose her mind if I were like Leah,” Ingrid said. “Not because she’s bi. She’s not a homophobe. But just because Leah iswild. And I’m giving her fits for having you stay over last night.”

“I can tone it down if I’m the problem.”

“You’re not.” Ingrid shook her head.

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