A Royal Pain by Laura Heffernan

Author:Laura Heffernan [Heffernan, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Empress Books

Chapter Thirteen

OFFICIAL GUIDE TO BEING A PRINCESS: A princess shall maintain proper decorum at all times. There is never cause for behaving like a commoner.

Queen Claudette’s ultimatum rocked me to my core. I didn’t know if she could undo a marriage without either spouse’s consent, but didn’t want to find out. She could refuse to acknowledge it in her own country. She was, after all, in charge.

After she made the pronouncement, she swept away, back toward the residential area of the palace. I moved away from her, toward the throne room. Then I stopped and looked back. My brother hadn’t moved an inch. “Caleb?”

“Yes. Er, I think I better go alert security.” Before I could stop him, he scurried down the hall in the wrong direction like the rat he was. I wanted to go after him, but there wasn’t time. Queen Claudette was pretty clear that I shouldn’t make any detours before neutralizing the emus inside the castle.

Pierre met me in the hallway outside the throne room. How different from the last time we stood here together.

“Not to sound rude, but aren’t you too important to be here?” I asked.

“We both shouldn’t be here,” he said. “If we get stampeded by giant birds, it’s be a national tragedy. I’m here to ask you to wait for security to come take care of this. There is no reason in the world for you to enter the throne room. The birds are contained. The best thing we can do is make sure no one else stumbles in before the problem gets resolved.”

“That doesn’t feel like we’re helping,” I said.

“This is not our mess to clean up, chérie,” Pierre said. “Keeping others safe is plenty of help.”

“At least we’re more useful than my brother,” I grumbled, glaring at where Caleb had disappeared. He probably didn't even know where the security office was. I was definitely going to call our parents once this was resolved. “You’re aware that your mother threatened me with dissolving our marriage if I can’t fix this, right?”

Leaning over, he kissed me gently. “She's all talk. Mére knows that if she tries to get between you and me, it will send me out of the country again. And she’s worried that I won’t come back.”

Those words made it sound suspiciously like the Queen had feelings. Maybe we were all human after all. With a deep breath, I threw my head back and gestured toward the doors.

“How long is it to get security here?”

“They’re already on their way. Should be two or three minutes, tops.”

Okay, that wasn’t so bad. We could wait here. Security would definitely be better equip—

Frantic barking filled the air. I froze.

“Where’s Preacher?”

“I haven’t seen him. What time’s his daily walk with Bernadette?” The Queen’s chauffeur adored the little guy, and we were happy to let her walk him every afternoon. Even if Chef Eric spoiled him with treats on their way back to our suite.

Dread seized me by the throat. “Probably about twenty minutes ago. They might not be back yet.

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