Page 39 of Royals
“Aww, come off it,” Seb says, elbowing her. “She’s liked him the whole time.”
While it’s definitely next-level surreal to watch my best friend nerd out with a costumed prince, we’re close to the bookstore now, so I scoot in between them, ignoring the look Isa cuts me.
“Okay, so here’s the deal,” I say. “Glynnis basically strong-armed Ash Bentley’s publisher here in the UK to do this signing since me and Isa missed out on Key Con thanks to all... this.” I wave my hand, taking in Seb, Scotland, all of it. “Which means best behavior from all of us, and byall of us, I meanSeb.”
He pushes his shoulders back, looking down at me, but the helmet kills any intimidation factor he may have been going for.
It strikes me suddenly that I sound a lot like Ellie the day of the race, reminding people how to act, but this book signing is important to me, and the race was...
Important to El.
Okay, so maybe a few more apologies are in order once we get back to the palace.
For now, I stop just outside the bookshop. It has a bright blue door with a bell over it, and next door, the window frame is painted hot pink, the colors especially cheerful against all thedark stone and the gray sky. It hasn’t rained yet, but it’s been threatening it all day, and I wish I’d thought to bring an umbrella.
“So,” I say, tugging my jacket tighter around me. “This is the Ash Bentley Show, not the You Know Who Show.” I nod at Seb. “We’re letting you tag along because... well, I’m not sure, really. I mean, if you’re this big of a fan, couldn’t you have seen her at a signing like a hundred times by now?”
Seb nods. “Oh yeah, I have signed first editions of the whole series.” Then he spreads his arms out, palms up. “But this is fun.”
I don’t mention that it’s not a huge amount of fun formebecause Isabel is smiling up at him again and is clearly living her own royal dream date today, which is something she deserves, frankly.
So I open the door to the shop and hope for the best.
The store is already pretty crowded, but because the date was announced so late, it’s not quite the packed house it could’ve been. Still, all the chairs are filled, and I immediately see that Seb is not the only one in costume. There are a lot of purple Miranda wigs, plenty of helmets that match Seb’s, and more mage robes than I can count.
Seeing them, I feel a smile start to spread across my face. Okay, this? This is much more my scene than a race or a party at a castle or whatever other crazy stuff I might have to do in Scotland.Here, I actually feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on things, and I’m still smiling as I make my way to the table of Finnigan Sparks books near the middle of the room.
Which is when I hear the first squeal.
It’s a high-pitched whistling sound that immediately makes me wince, and I’m already whirling around, expecting to findSeb with his stupid helmet off smiling his stupid smile like a stupid person.
But Seb is still near the door, still behelmeted, Isabel at his side, and, confused, I look around.
And realize the squealer is looking atme.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” she burbles, coming up to stand in front of me, practically shivering. She’s not in any kind of cosplay, just a T-shirt and jean shorts over black tights, and she flaps her hands, beaming at me.
“Daisy!” she goes on. “You’re Daisy Winters! Oh mygooooddddddd!”
Her accent is pretty and rolling, but her voice isloud, and suddenly a lot of heads are turning in my direction, and then there’s this... Look, “stampede” is way too strong a word, but there are definitely a lot of people heading toward me, and a lot of voices suddenly talking at once.
“You changed your hair!” I hear one girl wail, while another scoots closer, her Miranda wig slightly crooked. “When you told off that duchess at An Reis, I nearly died. I mean, I didn’t see it, but I read about it, and—”
“Is it true you’re dating Prince Sebastian?” another person asks, and in that weird moment of panic, I do the absolute worst thing I could possibly do.
I turn to look at Seb.
And maybe if there had only been a couple of girls standing there instead of about thirty, they wouldn’t have put it together, but one lone voice cries, “Is that him?”
I don’t even think, really. I just react, shaking my head and backing away. “Nope, just two friends from the US. Anyway,just came in to look at books, and”—I make a show of turning my head this way and that—“there... seem to be lots in here, so good job with that, bookstore!”
Giving the world’s most awkward thumbs-up, I turn to go, nearly dragging Isabel and Seb behind me, the bell over the door clanging cheerfully as we spill out onto the street.
Underneath his helmet, Seb is laughing, and to my surprise, even Isabel is smiling.
“SoIwas going to be the problem, was I?” Seb asks, and Isa puts an arm around my shoulders.
“How come you didn’t mention you got famous over here?” she asks, and I shake my head, still confused by what just happened. It’s not like I don’t know that people are interested in me, but they’ve always been interested because ofEllie, not, like, in actual me as a person. But those girls felt like...fans. Ofmine. Which is bizarre since I haven’t done anything worthy of fandom.
