Page 62 of Her Royal Highness
“I am growing and evolving under your influence, Quint.”
She’s joking, but there’s still something in her face, something that makes me feel sadder than moving rooms should warrant. I’m getting to room with Saks, after all, and I love Saks. A month ago, I would’ve been thrilled at this switch.
So why am I so bummed out now?
I glance at my phone and see I have a few notifications. When I pick it up, I open to the picture of me and Flora, the one she posted just yesterday, and see a handful of comments. There’s Lee withGIRL, WHAT?? ALSO: BABE!!!and right under him, Saks has chimed in,MEGA BABE.It’s funny, seeing the two of them together there in the comments, two friends from two very different parts of my life, and I wonder what it would be like if they met one day.
I’m still trying to picture it—Lee and Saks hanging out—when I notice the last comment.
HeyJude02: You look so happy.
Looking at the picture, my cheeks pink, my mouth open as I laugh, Flora’s face right next to mine, I really do look happy. Really happy. Because Iamhappy.
Or was until I realized I’d be switching rooms.
Without letting myself overthink it, I reply to Jude’s comment.
Okay, as far as replies go, an emoji isn’t much, but I figure it’s something.
Clearing my throat, I pick up the last of my things. “So I’d say this has been fun, but it’s really only been a little bit fun, andmostly annoying,” I say, and Flora tilts her head, looking up at me from underneath her lashes.
“Liar,” she says, and I make a big show of rolling my eyes.
“Maybe the fun outweighed the annoying, but only in, like, tiny, microscopic amounts.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Quint,” she replies, and then she gives a little laugh, shaking her head. “This is so silly. I’m going to see you every day even if we don’t live together anymore, so let’s not get maudlin here.” She waves one hand. “Go. Get settled with Saks and tell Miss Horsey I’m awaiting the pleasure of her company.”
“Will do,” I say, and I make myself walk out without a backward glance.
CHAPTER30
“Saks, can you give me some gossip on the royal family?”
We’re lying on Sakshi’s bed, technically studying for our upcoming history test, but my mind has been a million miles away.
If I’m honest, I’ve been out to lunch ever since Skye two weeks ago. Things between me and Flora have been pretty much the same—we get along, we chat, we sit together at lunch—but that moment in the orangery has been playing on a loop in my head. And not just that, but the whole weekend, really. Giving me her favorite room. Picking out the perfect dress for me. Is this just Flora trying to be nice now that we’re friends, or—
Okay, maybe this is why Dr. McKee decided I should room with Saks instead.
I come out of my reverie to see a long expanse of Sakshi’s thigh peeking out from beneath her skirt as she leans down to rummage under her bed.
“Poppet, I thought you’d never ask,” she says, coming back up with a stack of magazines. She flops them onto her green bedspread, grinning.
“Where did you get those?”
Saks sits up on her bed, crossing her legs. “I have my sources.”
She pulls the first glossy issue off the stack, setting it down with a thwack on the bed between us. The word “MAJESTY” is printed on top in curling letters.
“This is the latest issue,” Saks tells me. “And there’s a whole feature on Flora’s brother Alexander and his fiancée. Her name is Eleanor Winters, she’s American, we’reobsessed.”
Flicking open the magazine, she points to a picture of a blond woman with her cheek on Prince Alex’s shoulder as they stand in a garden. “Right,” I say, remembering Lee telling me about that. “I sort of know about her.”
“And this is her sister, Daisy,” Saks goes on, flipping another page. This one shows a redhead in jeans and T-shirt, her arm linked with a handsome guy also dressed way down. “She’s dating the chief Royal Wrecker, Miles Montgomery. Well, he was chief Royal Wrecker, he and Seb had some kind of falling-out, not one hundred percent sure it’s been sorted. Miles went to America to win Daisy back, so the story goes, and this is them there. We’re slightly obsessed with her, too.”
“They’re still fighting,” I say. “Seb mentioned this guy. Said he was dead.”
Clucking her tongue, Saks flips another page. “That’s a shame. The rumor was he was a calming influence on Seb. He’ll need that now that I’ve declared him a lost cause.”
