I was about to check my phone when there was a knock at the door.
Owen, I assumed, but when I opened it, there stood his driver, Marco.
“Oh, hey, man,” I said.
“Hey…dude,” he said in as much of an attempt to mimic my voice as he could before smiling.
I laughed. “Is that what I sound like?”
“Sometimes, Mr. Kruse,” he said. “Sharon is waiting in the courtyard outside the North Library for their breakfast, if you’re ready. If not, I can wait and return to fetch you.”
“You can just tell me where it is, and I can go there on my own.”
Marco snickered before it turned into a full laugh. “Oh, Mr. Kruse, it’s so lovely that you think you’d be able to find your way around this palace without a map.”
As I reflected on the complicated path that had led us to Owen’s room the night before, I had no doubt Marco was right.
“In that case, let me just grab my phone real quick.” I headed to the nightstand, noticing a text from O:Hope you slept half as well as I did.
The energy that rushed through me reminded me of what it felt like to be cradled in his arms, enjoying his tickles. And even more, when I was lying across the couch with his finger pushing up against my prostate.
I pulled myself from my thoughts and followed Marco through the hallway as he guided me out of the building we were in, into an adjoining one, and through a series of corridors that proved to me just how much Marco wasn’t kidding about my needing an escort.
When we reached the doors with North Library over them, he led me inside the massive construction. Lights pushed in from an atrium overhead, revealing the aisles of books—enough to put the one at the community college to shame. There were several floors with balconies looking down to the main hall, which Marco escorted me through.
“Is it safe to say by your gaping mouth that you’re impressed?” Marco asked.
“Yes, I’d say more than impressed.”
“This particular library was created in honor of Queen Tara. It was where she spent much of her time as a child and well into her early twenties. And once she was crowned, it became where she would come when she could grab a spare moment, but those opportunities were few and far between, which only led to her cherishing her time here that much more.”
“You should be the tour guide here,” I joked.
“I used to work that job. I suppose I didn’t have much of a knack for it. Kicked me out, made me cart everyone around.”
The way he said it, I knew that wasn’t why he’d ended up in his current position.
He led me into another part of the library, where I saw Owen lounging on a chair on a balcony over us.
“Your Highness,” Marco said, which caused Owen to sit up erect, closing his book.
A smile whisked across his face that assured me he was as excited to see me as I was to see him. “Good morning, Keegan.”
“Your Highness,” I teased, which got him laughing before he put his book away and headed down a nearby ladder to join us. We made small talk with Marco, who then went on his way, and Owen ushered me through a set of French doors into a courtyard behind the library.
Lavender, purple, and pink flowers were arranged around a small pond with a fountain at the center. A table was set nearby, where a woman in a white dress already sat. She looked like the Sharon I’d seen in pictures online since Owen and I had begun our fake relationship…what had now become more than that. She sipped from a teacup, wearing a pair of specs as she read from a newspaper. Beyond the table, ducks swam around the pond. And just beyond that was what appeared to be a maze of green hedges.
The sight was a vision, so picturesque, far more impressive than anything I could have imagined.
My own little fairy-tale breakfast.
As we neared the table with six chairs around it, I noticed some biscuits and pastries.
“This is where we’re having breakfast?”
“Would you prefer we head to the Great Dining Hall with a hundred chairs so we can fan out and shout at each other?” Owen joked.
Sharon apparently heard us because she looked up, a pleasant smile spreading across her face.
