Page 31 of The King's Fake Bride

“In addition to the stammer, there was the constant comparison to my brother and the fact that I was never going to be good enough. No matter what I did or said, it wasn’t enough.”

“Why did it matter to them? You’re different people.”

“Yes, but to the interviewers, it makes for better media if they analyze every misstep you make. They twist everything until it’s one tangled web, and you don’t know which way is up and which is down.”

“And we just have to put up with that?”

“There’s not much we can do about it.” Xander gives me a sympathetic smile. “The public is always going to have their opinions.”

“Okay, so how do you do it?”

He presses his lips together and looks out the window at the gardens, the sun shining high above the treetops and the roses, not a gust of wind in sight.

“There’s a farmers market in town today. When I think I’m out of touch with the people, I like to go and spend my time with them.”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to do that. The security team told me that it was a bad idea to spend much time in town.”

“They follow orders from the head of security, who takes his orders from Jorge. Beyond that, they’ve always been overly cautious, and I think after the interview yesterday, it would do the people good to get to know you and see that you’re just another woman.”

I light up, getting to my feet when he does. “Are we going out?”

He nods and heads for the door. “Come on. It’s going to be a task to give the guards the slip.”

Laughing, I tilt my face to the sun, basking in the rays. Xander walks along beside me, his hand shooting out to catch me as I stumble over a rock on the ground.

He shakes his head as I regain my balance. “You’re going to get us caught before we even get to town.”

“Nobody knows we left, and we’re maybe a few dozen feet from town now. Just be happy that we got out of there.”

Xander looks back at the castle. “Look, you need to do your best to not draw too much attention to yourself. Even though being in town is safe enough, you never know who people are.”

“Do you worry this much when you sneak out on your own, or is this reserved for me?”

“I worry about you,” he says. “I know what I’m doing when I go out, and I know how not to get in trouble with the palace. You don’t.”

Snorting, I look at him over my shoulder. “You seem to forget one quick search of your name brings up hundreds of pictures of all the trouble you have gotten into.”

“You’ve been looking me up?” He stuffs his hands into the pockets of his shorts, the corner of his mouth tipping upward.

“I have to know what I’m getting into, since I didn’t know much about it when I first agreed.” I nudge him with my shoulder playfully, grinning when he rolls his eyes.

“Would you have changed anything if you knew about my reputation beforehand?”

“To be fair, you did tell me that you slept with a lot of women,” I say as we enter the town.

Heads turn and people whisper to each other as we make our way down the street to the lines of colorful booths set up outside shops.

Beatriz is the only familiar face I see, rushing out of the doorway of her café and over to me. “You didn’t tell me that you moved here for the prince.”

I wince and glance at the people watching us. “I wanted to meet you as myself.”

She grins and pulls me into a warm hug, guiding me into the café. “Come on. There’s a new vanilla iced latte recipe I’m trying out, and I could use a couple guinea pigs.”

Xander follows us, but he hesitates at the doorway. His eyes flit around the little building, taking in the whitewashed stone walls and the aged wooden floors. It’s like he’s looking for a threat in every inch of the room before deciding whether or not it’s safe to step inside.

Beatriz scurries behind the counter. “The pair of you take a seat and never mind the people watching. They’re all too nosy for their own good.”

Her words boom through the space, and the customers at other tables turn back to their own conversations. People still gawk in the window, but Beatriz rolls her eyes and glares at them until they leave.

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