Page 3 of Rivals
Beatrice slid the binders eagerly across the breakfast table. The sight of all those color-coded plastic tabs felt oddly comforting. Studying was something Beatrice had always excelledat.
“Let’s get started,” she agreed, turning to the first page.
If Beatrice could fulfill her father’s dream and get the climate accord passed, maybe America would start taking her seriously. Maybe the press would actually discuss her accomplishments, instead of her fashion choices or her relationship with Teddy—would stop lamenting that she wasn’t the ruler her father had been.
This conference was her chance to start building a legacy as queen.
“I can’t believe this is the end of our tour.” Samantha glanced at her best friend, Nina Gonzalez, who was seated across from her on the royal family’s private jet. “How many flights have we been on now, seventy?”
“More like a hundred.”
Nina leaned down to press a brass button on the side of her seat. A hidden drawer popped out of the chair’s base, revealing neat rows of candy and peanuts. “The M&M’s are back!” she exclaimed, ripping open the corner of a bag. “I wonder whose job it is to restock the plane after our flights. They’re probably sick of buying more M&M’s every time.”
“I’m sure they started buying in bulk once they realized what an M&M monster you are,” Sam teased.
“I preferM&M enthusiast,thank you.” Nina passed her the bag, but Sam shook her head. Her stomach was too knotted with anticipation to handle any sugar.
Understanding flashed in Nina’s eyes. “Are you nervous about staying with the Davises?”
“Well, yeah.” Sam’s words tumbled out in a sudden rush. “What if Marshall’s parents don’t like me? And how am I supposed to act around them, anyway? Do I call them Lord and Lady, or by their first names, or—”
Nina threw an M&M that landed squarely in Sam’s chest,silencing her. “Quit freaking out. Just act like you do around my family, and you’ll be fine.”
“Somehow I doubt the Duke and Duchess of Orange want to sing show tunes in matching sweatpants.”
“That’s because they haven’t heard your rendition of ‘Mamma Mia,’ ” Nina said, and Sam smiled.
The thing was, she’d never stayed with a boyfriend’s family before. She’d never evenhada boyfriend until this year, when she’d started dating Lord Marshall Davis, heir to the dukedom of Orange. There had been men in her life—a number of men, if you counted all the names the tabloids had linked with hers—but those relationships had all quickly fizzled out.
And this time, the attention was more intense than ever. America couldn’t stop talking about her and Marshall, whether in disapproval or obsessive adulation. Sam had never gotten so much hate mail, or so much fan mail. There was evengear:coffee mugs printed with their faces, tank tops that saidteam samarshall, and a rather terrifying set of rag dolls, with Sam’s and Marshall’s palms sewn together so that they were forever holding hands. Her brother, Jeff, kept joking that he would buy one and leave it on Sam’s bed for her to find, at which point Sam had threatened to commission one of him and Daphne. Jeff hadn’t mentioned it again after that.
Sam wished she and Marshall could get a little more breathing room. But they had always been in the spotlight—at first, that had been theirgoal.They’d originally gotten together for show, just to make their respective exes jealous. Only later had they realized that their feelings were real. It wasn’t exactly a normal way to start dating.
But then, dating was never normal when you were Princess of America and heir to the throne.
Sam looked back at Nina, who’d curled her bare feet beneath her, a book in her lap. The bag of M&M’s was proppedon the leather armrest as Nina absentmindedly popped one candy after another into her mouth. Sam felt an overwhelming burst of affection for her.
“Thanks for coming with me this summer,” she said. “You know I couldn’t have done this tour without you.”
Nina glanced up from her book. “Please, you would have done just fine without me. Though you would’ve been forced to hold your own koala.”
Sam smiled at that. “Ah, Maxine the koala. What an icon.”
During their visit to the Phoenix Zoo, one of the animal handlers had offered Sam a koala to hold. “Thank you! I’m sure my friend would like to hold her,” she’d replied, dodging the offer. Before Nina could protest, the koala was thrust into her arms. Poor Maxine must have been even more anxious than Nina was, because she promptly peed down the front of Nina’s color-blocked dress.
“Are you sure you can’t stay another few days?” Sam added. “It’s going to be so long before I see you again.”
“You don’t want me crashing your time with Marshall.” Nina raised an eyebrow. “Besides, youdohave your own plane. You can always come see me if you get bored of the League of Kings conference and need an escape from all the stuck-up princes and princesses.”
“Speaking of the plane, are you sure you won’t take it back to the East Coast?”
“Absolutely not.” No matter how adamantly Sam had insisted upon it, Nina refused to takeEagle IIIwithout her. She’d booked a commercial flight back to Washington for later that afternoon.
“You’re the only person I know who would turn down a private plane. Which, I should point out, is fully stocked with M&M’s.”
“Ooh, good point. I should steal more while I still can.”Nina marched over to the other six seats on the plane, cheerfully grabbing M&M’s from the snack drawer beneath each of them.
A ding sounded through the cabin, and the seat-belt light overhead turned bright orange. “Your Royal Highness, Miss Gonzalez,” came the pilot’s voice, “we’re beginning our descent. Please take your seats.”
