“Dammit, Hannah.” She groaned into her pillow. “What time is it?”
“Ten o’clock!”
That can’t possibly be true. Surely, it’s still the middle of the night.
“Are you lying?”
“No, I am not! You missed breakfast with the Ducasses!”
Shit.
Evelyn opened her eyes but immediately closed them again to fend off the bright morning sunshine streaming through her large windows. “Why didn’t you wake me earlier?”
“I tried! You told me to fuck off and nearly singed my hair with your Fire magic.”
That does sound like me.
“So I left,” Hannah continued, “and you missed breakfastandyou didn’t get to meet the prince!”
Evelyn leaned against the headboard, slowly letting her eyes adjust. “You met Prince Alexander this morning?”
Hannah jumped on the bed and made herself comfortable. “Yes! He’s amazing!”
A sense of relief swept through Evelyn.
She likes him. She’s happy. It will be okay. I won’t have to set a prince on fire.
“Tell me everything.”
“The king introduced Alexander and he bowed to me and he has the mostgorgeoussmile and he sat across from me at breakfast and he is so friendly and he kept asking me questions about myself and what Carrowmore is like and his blond hair looks so soft and shiny, but he couldn’t stay long because he has work to do, but he promised to take me on a walk through the garden later and he said he is looking forward to getting to know me and he bowed to meagainbefore leaving and he is so, so, so perfect, Evelyn, you don’t even know!”
Hannah remembered she needed to breathe.
Evelyn processed the rapid-fire summary. “So… you like him?”
“YES!” Hannah flopped to her side on the bed.
“Well, then it’s good that I overslept. You and Alexander had time to get to know each other without me saying something dumb.”
“That’s a good point.” Hannah sat up again. “Maybe you should stay in this room while we’re in Gryon.”
“Hey! You can’t keep me prisoner. You aren’t a Ducasse yet.”
“But I will be soon!” Hannah laughed. “Can you imagine it? I could live here where it doesn’t rain every day. The palace is right on the Sapphire Sea and it wouldn’t be that far to travel to Neskowin. I could meet so many new people.”
Does she want to get married, or just get out of our drafty castle?
I can’t ask her that right now. Not while she’s this excited.
“Let’s hope Alexander continues to be charming and doesn’t turn into a jerk,” Evelyn said instead.
“Don’t even joke about that. He’sperfect. Nothing is going to ruin this for me.”
“How do you know he’s perfect? What do you like about him?”
Hannah paused like she wasn’t expecting the question. “He’s… a gentleman. He’s handsome. Everyone likes a prince, right?”
She only met him this morning. It’s okay that she doesn’t know him very well yet. But will she be able to see past the crown?
