Both Sabine and Eleanor were close friends of the royal family and told me that there was no such thing as too much preparation for an event of that nature. Sabine wasn’t able to stop gushing.
“It took me ages to learn the rules about how to properly greet a royal person and the order in which people are to be seated at dinner. Not to mention the basics of table place settings and—”
“I’m going to stop you right there,” I said with my hand up. “I’m already way past overwhelmed and bordering on slightly panicked. And I’m just a spectator.”
Her slender hand reached for mine. “It’s going to be okay, Felix. But you at least need to meet the prince while you’re here. He’s gorgeous and funny. You’ll love him. Just remember to call him ‘Your Royal Highness’ or ‘sir’ since it’s a formal event.”
My eyes jerked around, frantically searching for an exit or at the very least a men’s room. The very idea of calling Lio, my Lio, “sir” made me want to hurl or at least cackle maniacally with laughter. But this was no joke. He actually was His Royal Highness, soon to be His Majesty.
Sabine continued gushing about royal manners.
“Do not extend your hand for a handshake. If he extends his to you, you may shake it, but don’t forget to remove your dress gloves first.” She must have noticed me on the verge of losing my lunch because she smiled to reassure me. “Don’t worry, he’s super nice, so even if you mess up, I’m sure he won’t hold it against you.”
“You know him?” I’d coughed to try and cover my squeaky voice, but Sabine had been too far gone with her swoony crush-on-the-prince face to notice.
“We’re dating.”
I stood there staring at the beautiful woman in front of me while my heart winged its way out of my chest and fell with a splat on the intricate inlaid flooring.
“You’re…” I tried to clear my throat. “You’re dating Prince Lio?”
She blushed prettily and looked at her clasped hands held gracefully in front of her. “Well, it’s not official yet, but…”
I wondered if my abhorrence of the media included the comprehensive coverage that would surely follow the cold-blooded murder of a lovely art history professor in the music room of the royal palace in Monaco.
“Oh. That’s… oh. Good for you.” I thought I might choke on the words. “How exciting that must be. To be dating a prince, I mean. I can’t even imagine… He must be very special.”
The hours since seeing Lio the night before had already been spent in a perpetual state of nausea and second-guessing. I’d wanted to fall into him and get lost in his body for the rest of the night. But I’d known it was impossible. He was clearly well on his way to having the stand-up, presentable life he’d been raised for, and I had to admit part of me admired him for his family loyalty and sense of responsibility to his country and its traditions.
Of course, the selfish part of me wanted to claw at my chest in the town square and scream to the entire country that it was all bullshit pomp and circumstance obscuring the real Lio. The man who needed true love, not the fairy-tale fake love, and who needed to live a life with meaning regardless of what others thought.
Would he have that with Sabine?
I had to get out of my head and focus on what I was doing. I turned to the other woman in the room. She’d been introduced to me as Eleanor. I wasn’t sure what her role was, so I made a joke to break the tension I felt.
“And you? Are you also dating a royal?”
Silence fell like ghostly fog around the room.
Oh god, I groaned to myself when I realized exactly who Eleanor was. Lio had never told me the name of the woman his father had dallied with, but I noticed her slight baby bump when she turned to face me.
After a brief pause of surprise, she raised an eyebrow at me. “I guess you could say that. What about you, Felix? Are you dating a royal?”
I shook my head violently and stammered my way through the remainder of the class like an idiot.
I had to admit both Eleanor and Sabine were beautiful, smart, charming and capable. Either one of them would make an amazing queen, which sucked for me. I’d wanted to hate them. I’d resented the hell out of Eleanor contributing to the reason the throne was foisted on Lio so soon, and of course I wanted to hate Sabine for getting the happy ever after with the man I thought of as my very own Prince Charming. But, try as I might, I couldn’t hate these two complex and sincere women.