Page 36 of A Wise Prince

I roll my eyes. Motherfucking siblings.

“Do you believe everything that Christian tells you?” I ask, raising my eyebrows.

“Well, he has no reason to lie, and I saw the photo of you two at the ball.” She gives me a knowing look. Shit. Auntie Lara is a smart cookie. The fact that her former husband was able to fool her for so long is impressive.

“I don’t think I’m at a point to settle down with anyone, if that’s what you are circling around,” I say, trying to get to the point.

“My love, I know you enjoy your…fluid lifestyle, but you aren’t getting any younger. Maybe it’s time to change your ways, August.”

I’m about to answer her with a sarcastic comment about her having to lose a spouse to change her ways, but Sten gets out of the pool and walks over to us.

“Hello, Auggie, how are you?” he asks as he grabs a bottle of water from a small refrigerator in the outdoor kitchen.

“Good, Sten, and you?”

“Living the dream. You up for some company tonight?” he asks. Sten’s still a good-looking guy. Up until recently, he was essentially an older version of me. He went from woman to woman, party to party. Edvard had all but given up him ever taking on the throne. And then Edvard was reunited with his son, Logan. I thought for sure Sten would spiral even further down since he was essentially off the hook for the throne, but instead, he became my aunt’s biggest supporter. Turns out, he always had a massive crush on her. I’m happy for them both. They bring out the best in each other. I can only hope to have that someday, maybe.

“Go change and we’ll have Franny make us reservations at the restaurant down the street,” he says casually as though we are a normal family having a meal together. I look back through to the main living space and see Nico, my head bodyguard, talking with Franny. Nico’s quiet but thorough in his job. I’m so used to security that I barely notice him half the time, which probably means he does a fucking good job. I wonder what security will look like for the three of us to go out together unscheduled.

I head inside and go to my room. My luggage is already arranged, my things put neatly away. Yeah, there are fucking perks to being royal. I change into something less formal for dinner and walk out to find Franny frowning with a phone up to his ear. Then he smiles. “Perfect.” He claps before hanging up.

I raise an eyebrow.

“Just logistics for dinner. Apparently, the First Family is here on vacation and the Secret Service closed down the restaurant for them, but they would be thrilled to have you all join them,” he says as though he’s just solved world hunger.

I frown. “The First Family?”

“Yes, the U.S. president and his wife and daughter,” he says nonchalantly.

My frown deepens because I just left the daughter in my bed several hours ago. She did mention something about seeing her family this week, but she would have said she was leaving today too, wouldn’t she? Franny must be mistaken. Then I remember that they have another daughter. My frown disappears.

“Very good. Guess we’ll be chumming it up with the Americans, then,” I muse. I try to squash the small part of me that grew excited about the thought of seeing Kate again. She can’t be mine. And she sure as shit can’t be here right now. My protective instincts want to keep her as far away from here as possible.

Kathryn

“God damn it,” I mutter as my phone continues to ring. I run out of the bathroom and grab it.

“Darling! We’re sending the jet now. Daddy was able to clear some extra days!” my mother cheerfully chirps from the other end of the line.

“Great,” I say, trying to sound super enthusiastic about that. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the last few days with Auggie. I feel like my mind is foggy and maybe some family time will clear it up.

“Fantastic. Your sister will arrive the day after tomorrow, but the jet will be there in a few hours, so go ahead and get packed up. I can’t wait to see you!” she says and hangs up.

“FML,” I curse as I let myself fall back on the bed. A knock at the door has me tossing on some clothes.

“Just a minute,” I call out as I stumble toward the door while pulling up my pants. I open it to find Anna standing there.

“Oh, hey,” I say to her.

She grins. “Want to go riding? I have a safer horse for you. I mean, if your hip is feeling better.”

“I’d love to, but my parents just called. I’m hopping on a plane and going to meet them for a long-overdue family vacation,” I say with a mild groan on the last word.

She snickers. “Will that be super painful or only mildly torturous?”

“Somewhere between a strong spanking and being put in front of the firing squad,” I say. “Hard to tell which end of the spectrum before I arrive.”

“Well, hopefully, it’s somewhere good,” she adds.

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