Page 140 of Hawthorne

Fuck you and your arrogant, entitled arses.

I heard it. Loud and clear.

If before I was the one unreachable, now it’s her. How the hell do you reach royalty?They reach you. That’s how it's always been. the best you can do is send word to the palace, and she’ll decide to answer ornot.

The ball’s in her court, even if I am the one who has some making-up to do.

“As if,” I scoff. “She wouldn’t even let me set a fucking foot in her palace.”

The words feel bitter on my tongue, even though I know very well she has every right to keep me away.

The fact that she is the heir—the queen—changes everything. There isn’t a reason for my mother to keep a hold on meanymore. She could still leak everything, but the consortium would never let something alike get to the tabloids. The new ruler’s image is the most important to keep intact.

A humble worker for the nobility for her whole life, not knowing the huge secret that was her ascendency. Camilla also graduated with honours, a PhD in Biology and a Master’s in Conservation and Ecology Systematics. She is the perfect example to bring credibility back to the royal family. Someone from the people who had the fortune of finding her place on this broken ladder that is the noble society.

“Well…” Edgar breaks me out of my reverie. “Maybe there is a way you could get in there?”

“What are you on about?”

“This…” Edgar stands up and fishes a pastel-blue envelope from the back of his pants.

He hands it to me to, the back facing up. The first thing I notice is the wax sealing it. It’s bright golden, shaped with the royal insignia and her monogram. My finger grazes it for a long second before turning it around. On the front, there’s the Hawthorne’s coat-of-arms, thin gilded lines pressed into the thin paper. I used to be proud of my family, my name...But now? I despise it.

The lord chamberlain is commanded by the queen to invite,

His Grace, the Duke of Hawthorne, his brother, and mother to the Coronation ceremony of Her Majesty, in Livian’s Palace, on the Lord’s Day, Sunday, the First of May, 2022 at 12 am.

A void and impersonal piece of paper, after everything we’ve—

“Brother,” Edgar cuts off my spiralling thoughts. “This is your way in. Your one shot to make things right. Don’t waste it.”

His words echo inside me, convincing me to go for it. I fucked up once too many, and now I need to make things right. She may not want to see me ever again, but I can’t let her go this easily.

Whether I win my girl back or shit hits the fan…I’ll risk it.

43

Camilla of Severna

It’s been a nightmare since the king died.

Right after, urgent meetings were set. Everyone involved—a lot more than I would ever expect possible—showed up. Many were doubting the veracity of my lineage and wanted all the proof they could get. Once that was cleared out, the real difficulties started…I can barely get a glimpse of Primrose throughout the day, only seeing her late at night in my bedroom.

“You need to pay attention to this,” Joshua grumbles, laying all sorts of documents on the desk. “You are the queen now, and while Charles has left everything set, we will need your input soon.”

The number of things I need to learn about the Crown’s business is driving me crazy. On top of all the wood exportation and the nutmeg, now this…Why the hell did they remember to explore this rock? Oh, no. Wait…It’s glass.

Instead, I focus on something that sounds more interesting to my ears.

“Charles?” I question, quirking my eyebrow.

This is the one thing I haven’t been able to understand. The interaction between the king and Joshua had always given me the impression they were more intimate than they were in front of people, but the nature of their relationship still is unclear to me. Not that it matters, but it’s weird because it’s visible how important King Charles was to Joshua, but he acts like nothing has changed.

“The king,” he grits out, “had a huge breakthrough. He was a science enthusiast, and with the help of experts, he finally found a way to extract obsidian safely from those massive deposit areas.”

“I’m sorry,” I question. “Isn’t Devil’s Eye a deserted island of our archipelago?”

“Exactly,” Joshua confirms, bringing a specific green paper forward. “That’s exactly why the environmental evaluation was accepted by the National Institute for Environmental Health. There’s no towns or settlements it would affect.”

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