Page 7 of Royally F*cked

“I said I’ll talk to her about it later.”

“Fiiiiine. You promise?”

“I promise, and when have I ever broken a promise to you?”

“Never,” she smiles.

“Glad we cleared that up,” I wink at her.

She’s quiet but only for a minute before she’s going again. “Jude, I have a question.”

“What is it? You’re not about to ask me to fire your lady in waiting, are you?” I had hoped that we could change the subject.

She scoffs. “No. Of course not. I do rather like Charlie.”

“I knew it!” I tease, and tickle Willow’s side until she’s gasping for breath and begging for mercy.

Tears of laughter dampen her cheeks as she catches her breath. I’d do anything to keep that smile on her face.

“Seriously, Jude.”

Doing my best to pretend to be serious, though it’s rather hard to do when she’s smiling at me and dabbing away her tears of laughter with a paper napkin. “What was your question?”

“Could I stay over at your flat tonight?”

Oscar drops his phone on the table and starts coughing.

Willow, staying the night at my place? I don’t think she’s ever spent a single night outside of the castle walls.

“Please, Jude! I won’t be a bother. Well, not really. But we could watch movies, like we did when I was just a girl. Except, instead of in the theater room, we could do it at your place. Charlie can come with me in case there’s some kind of royal emergency and you need to rush off. Then I won’t be alone.”

Pinching my nose, I try to think of a good answer. The right answer.

A sleepover. At my place. With the Princess Royal and her lady in waiting.

The cool big brother in me wants to say yes. Something tells me that I probably shouldn’t be the one to make that call though. “Ah. Well, I think that we need to speak with Papa and Nan about that first.”

Yup. Good call Prince. Let the king and queen handle it.

I’m rewarded with an exaggerated eye roll and a dramatic sigh.

“Ugh.”

“Ugh, indeed, Kiddo.”

Sometimes I think it would be nice if I could make decisions regarding Willow, but I wasn’t ready for that responsibility at eighteen and that’s not the way my parents wanted it either.

“Your Royal Highness.” Oscar clears his throat and gestures to his watch.

Times up. Soon the dinner crowd will descend upon this very pizzeria. Even though I could, I wouldn’t dare ask them to close for longer than they already have. They accommodate us several times a year as is and even though I make sure to compensate them well, closing for long periods of time can be damaging to a business.

There was a time when I visited this place with my parents almost weekly. Back then we came in and ate among the other patrons. Nowadays, that’s no longer possible.

I’m afraid that the people of Herefirth have become even more infatuated and dare I say, obsessed with us since my parents’ death.

“Can we take a slice to go? For Charlie?” Willow asks, seemingly forgetting all about her earlier disgruntlement with her lady in waiting.

Now this is a question I can answer. “Yes, but let’s make it quick. Shall we?”

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