I could tell them being on the show sounds like it’ll be a good time.
I would be honest if I said I agreed to the Suitorette, because this will be an adventure, an experience, and I’m all for new things.
I like dating, I like men, and who doesn’t want to fall in love?
But I might be lying if I tried to explain how my decision hasnothingto do with the fact that Spencer is now officially dating Abigail Locke.
Dating twenty-five men under the constant surveillance of cameras will be fun. And even if it’s not, the start of the season is only a few days away and I’m not about to start regretting my decisions.
I don’t regret and I never second-guess.
When I was nine, I played hide and seek with my brothers and their friends. Ignoring my own rule of staying on the main floor of the castle, I snuck up to my mother’s dressing room and made a nest out of her beaver fur coat. Five hours—and a nap—later, I emerged furious that Spencer didn’t understand the stupid clue about where I was hiding. My parents had been away, and the castle staff and my brothers had been frantically searching for me the entire time.
When I was eleven, I stowed away on Birdie Bennet’s fishing boat because I was angry that my brothers were going on their annual fishing trip with Duncan and I wasn’t allowed to go.
The royal boat had to come and get me a day later.
At twelve, I organized a game of strip poker on a school bus heading to a field trip in Mary’s Harbour. No skin was shown before the teachers caught us, but Danny McDermot had beenthiscloseto stripping off his T-shirt.
At fifteen, I snuck out onto the battlements with a bottle of ten-year-old Châteauneuf-du-Pape that some French diplomat had gifted my father. I attempted to send a smoke signal to Kate and might have set the roof of the castle on fire if Bo hadn’t come storming up the drive and caught me.
I think it had been Spencer who told him I was there after I sent a series of half-drunken texts to him.
He got the clue where I was that time.
I’ve never regretted those decisions, nor did I second guess myself.
I also never took the time to think things through.
“Is there an explanation why your family shouldn’t find out fromyouthat you’re going to be the next Suitorette?” Kate asks, as always, the voice of reason. “Because they’re going to want to know.”
“They don’t tell me things.” Am I bitter about this?
Maybe just a little bit.
On screen, Kate shakes her head. “Are you still upset about Bo and Hettie being married? Should I remind you thatno oneknew aboutthat?”
“But it’s Bo.” And Spencer knew but didn’t tell me. I may be a little bitter about that.
Spencer, who is my… I’m not sure what he is to me.
Not that it matters, because Spencer Laz is nothing to me now. He’s with Abigail, and I say good for him.
Good for them.
My brothers—the crown princes of Laandia, Kalle, Odin, Bo, and Gunnar—are good men. Great men, even. But they are extraordinary men because our father is King Magnus and my brothers were born into a position not many men have the good fortunate to inherit in this world.
Spencer is the son of Duncan Laz, chief advisor and best friend to the king. But even without a crown, Spencer is extraordinary.
He is as brilliant and driven as a Forbes 100 businessman. As focused and loyal as a member of the Secret Service. And as savvy and sexy as any man in People’s Magazine Sexiest Man of the Year edition.
He’s also know-it-all, worrier, fixer of family affairs, and the best friend ofallmy brothers.
Kalle just asked him to be his best man, and this is after he did the same for Odin and Bo.
Spencer and I? We’re… friends?
I’m not exactly sure what to call him.
