Chapter 30
Luc
One week later…
I couldn’t keep from smiling. As I passed one of the palace mirrors on the way to the princess’s room, I caught a glimpse of myself and realized how strange it was to see such an expression on my face. I chuckled and shook my head, taking in the sight before I continued on.
There was a reason for my smile, after all. I had a hell of a surprise in store for Ava, one that might have the power to turn around the poor mood she’d been in for the last week, one that might make the difference between her becoming the Princess of Edoria or moving back to Seattle, never to be seen again.
I approached her door and knocked. Music on the other side, a woman’s voice singing, caught my attention. The door opened and there she was, looking beautiful as ever. It was another rainy morning, the gray sky visible through the window past the sheen of the rain falling onto the glass.
“What’s up?” she asked.
I took a moment to listen to the music, cocking my head to the side. “Taylor Swift?”
Her expression crinkled into one of confusion. “Donottell me you’re a Taylor fan.”
I laughed. “Not quite. Even Edoria isn’t far enough away to escape American culture. I have to admit though, it is catchy.”
“Always full of surprises, Luc.” She stepped away from me, pressing a button on her phone to turn down the speaker.
“Speaking of surprises…”
She turned on her heels, a look of worry on her features. “Don’t tell me you have a surprise. I mean, I appreciate it if you do, but my stomach’s twisted into so many knots from everything I have to do next week that I don’t know if I can handle anything else on top of it.”
I leaned against the doorframe, crossing my arms over my chest.
“What if it was a surprise that might make all of those things coming up easier?”
She was confused. “You’re being awfully cryptic.”
“Well, that’s just because I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”
Ava regarded me with a bit more skepticism. “Alright, you’ve piqued my interest. Show me the surprise.”
I stepped away from the door, sweeping my arm toward the hallway. “Right this way, Princess.”
She flashed me one more skeptical look before stepping into her sneakers and coming out of the room.
“Am I going to like this?” she asked.
“Most definitely. Trust me, I’m not the surprise type; I wouldn’t have gone to all of this trouble if I wasn’t certain that it would lift your spirits.”
She chuckled. “I mean, seeing you with that smile on your face has already almost made it worth it. Where are we going, by the way?”
“Upstairs, top floor.”
“Does my father know about whatever this is?”
“He does.”
She laughed. “OK, so in that case, it means that I’m not going to open the door and see a bed covered in rose petals.”
The mere mention of what we’d been getting up to was enough to make my cock twitch. For a time, we’d tried to keep some distance between us not wanting to get caught. However, it’d proven to be nearly impossible to keep our hands off one another. Every night for the last week we’d slipped into one another’s rooms after the rest of the palace had gone to bed, having a little between-the-sheets fun.
Was it dangerous? Yes. Was it a bad idea? Almost certainly. But damned if it wasn’t hot as hell.
I pushed all of that out of my mind as we made our way down the hall toward the stairs.