Page 67 of Royal Crush

I had the future king of Caverna’s number in my contacts now.

My life was weird.

Slipping down the hall, I rushed across the walkway and made it into my trailer before locking the door behind me. I hadn’t heard from Camillo at all, but I was taking that as a good sign that he was on his way home and getting settled in.

The last I’d seen him, he was practically green, trembling and sweating. His eyes had been rolling in his head as Cillian carried him away, and for a moment, I thought he was going to die. I’d tried to follow him, but Cillian gently took my arm and told me it was going to be okay.

“He’s had this before. It’s an infection, but they can clear it up. It’s better if you let him rest.”

“But I?—”

“I know,” Cillian rumbled. His voice was so soothing, and in spite of my racing heart, I found myself able to breathe a little easier. “He’s done this before. We know what we’re doing, and we can get him better. But you have to let him go.”

So I did. I let him go, and then I’d worried myself sick—not sleeping, barely eating, just…waiting.

I told myself not to call the moment I was alone. But it was eating me alive, and if Christoph really was going to try and fuck with me, I needed to let Camillo know. And frankly, any excuse to call him was a good one.

After tapping on his name, the phone rang and rang until it reached his voicemail. It was nondescript, I was assuming in case somehow someone managed to type in the wrong number. They didn’t need to know who he was.

But I couldn’t bring myself to say any of this over message, so I hung up and opened my call log. Prince Carlo was next on the list. The future king. The man closest to Camillo. A person I had zero permission and zero business calling.

My fingers trembled, and I tapped his name.

“Who is this?”

It was a wonder I’d mistaken Camillo’s for his. Their voices were nothing alike. I cleared my throat but said nothing.

“You could be arrested for this, you know.”

“It’s, ah—this is Aleric,” I stammered.

There was a beat of silence, then a chuckle. “Aleric King? The man I’m not allowed to speak to?”

Was…that a thing? “I’m so sorry. I’ll go. We can forget this ever happened and?—”

“No, no. But when my brother finds out, please make sure he knows it was you calling me. He deleted your number from my phone and forbade me from speaking with you.”

I choked on a laugh, though my cheeks blazed hotly. “Ah.”

“He’s not embarrassed of you, if that’s what you were worried about.”

I wasn’t. Until now. “Right.”

“He doesn’t want me meddling in his love life until he’s got a chance to tell you how he feels.”

And that sent my heart right into my mouth, balancing precariously between my teeth. With a single bite, I could crush it. I took a deep breath. “Well, ah. I haven’t been able to reach him, and there’s been a…complication at work.”

“What complication?” Prince Carlo sounded dangerous. “Do you need help?”

“I—well. No?” Was that an actual option? How much power did he have here, anyway? “Camillo—ah, His Highness?”

“Camillo is fine,” Carlo said, and I could hear a grin in his voice.

Christ, I was sweating. “He was having a car sent to pick me up, but the director just told me he wants to keep me for reshoots.”

“Is that normal?”

“Sometimes. Tonight, I think he’s angry at me because he wanted Camillo to shoot a few scenes, and I helped stand in the way of that when he said no.”

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