Page 25 of Royally Matched

Lily wasn’t sure how to answer the woman’s probing question. She knew exposing their engagement was off-limits as the king would want to be the one to orchestrate the announcement, but was she allowed to tell people she was involved with Max?

Rather than answer her directly, Lily said, “My father is an advisor to the king, not to mention Prince Maxwell and I went to boarding school together. Our families thought it a good idea for us to socialize together since we were both freshly back in town.”

“But that’s not the only reason, right?” Alexa inquired. “I can tell by the way you look at one another, it’s more than that. Plus, when you were in boarding school, didn’t you two date for a time? Have you two rekindled something from the past?”

At first, Lily was shocked by the woman’s blunt questions. Then she reminded herself it was common for daughters of noble families to hunt royals—single as well as married—to further their positions. Though a lot of things had modernized over the past centuries, that aspect of royal life had not. It was the whole reason her own parents had pushed her towards agreeing to the arrangement with Max. Even though she knew that this was common, and she would have to find a way to cope with it, it didn’t mean she had to like it. When all of this first started, she wouldn’t have cared that it seemed like Matilda and Alexa were far too invested in Max’s relationships. Now that she had grown to care for Max again, she didn’t like the idea of other women chasing after him.

“The Crown Prince is a good person, and I’m proud to count him amongst my friends.”

Matilda snorted with a roll of her eyes. “See, there must be something going on between them, Alexa, because anyone who knows the prince, knows he’s not a good man or anyone’s friend.”

“You shouldn’t say that about the Crown Prince. He’s a wonderful man.” As soon as the words escaped Lily’s lips, she realized she shouldn’t have said them. The other women pounced on them mercilessly.

“I knew it; you two are together,” Matilda stated with a wicked grin. Turning to Alexa, she added, “Wait until Georgina hears about this. She’s going to have a conniption.”

“Forget Georgina, wait until the press finds out.” Looking directly at Lily, she stated coldly, “You’re going to wish you never got tangled up with Prince Maxwell Beaumont. No woman ends up on the good side of the press afterward.”

Were they trying to upset her? Or were they warning her off? Perhaps it was both. Whatever the case, Lily didn’t like it.

Narrowing her gaze at the other two women, she said through clenched teeth. “You both sound ridiculous. Your wild speculations do you both a disservice.”

“So, you’re saying nothing is going on then?” Matilda probed, crossing her arms as she leaned back in her chair. “Because if that’s the case, you shouldn’t mind if I make an effort to attract the Crown Prince’s attention. After all, if he’s single, he’s fair game.”

Lily placed her napkin on the table and stood up, unable to stay a moment longer around either woman. “If you will excuse me, I need to go to the ladies’ room.”

Not waiting for their responses, she darted out of the room and made her way down a side hall of the establishment. Once in the bathroom, she entered a stall and leaned against one of the walls. She needed just five minutes where no one was watching her.

Silently, she prayed to God to help calm her nerves and to give her patience with the other women. She knew it would be difficult being back in the royal court and dealing with the horrible people that ran in her family’s social circles, but this last attack was harder than she imagined.

The door to the restroom opened and Lily could hear someone was entering. A moment later, she heard a woman say, “Can you believe that the Crown Prince is spending time with her? She doesn’t even care enough about Triola to live here permanently. She’s spent the past decade living abroad.”

“That doesn’t bother me as much as how basic she dresses,” another woman said to the first woman. “It’s like she puts as little effort as possible into how she looks. No future queen of Triola should present herself like that.”

“Ugh, I hope he doesn’t plan to marry that sow. Why can’t he see she’s not fit material to be the queen,” the first woman stated adamantly.

“Come on, let’s get back to the luncheon. Lady Margo will be opening her presents soon.”

The women retreated from the restroom, leaving Lily alone again. Just when she thought she couldn’t feel any worse, she had to overhear that conversation.

Lily exited the stall and went over to the sink. Looking at herself in the mirror, she analyzed herself critically. The pale yellow sundress she was wearing seemed appropriate when she put it on that day, but now she wondered if she had been dressing poorly without knowing it. She wasn’t much for fashion, and preferred function over style, but she didn’t consider herself a slob. Was she wrong? Perhaps it was time to hire a personal dresser and makeup artist. A lot of royals and celebrities did it, but Lily didn’t like how pretentiousit would make her look.

She closed her eyes and started to pray again. The only thing that was going to help her right now was her faith. She needed God to show her what to do, and how to handle all of this.

A moment later, the door opened again, and Lily’s head turned to the side to find Margo entering the restroom.

“There you are. I was looking for you everywhere. I didn’t want to start anything else without you.” She must have noticed Lily looked upset because she came up and placed her hand on the side of Lily’s arm. “Are you all right? What’s the matter? I can tell you’ve been crying.”

“It’s nothing,” Lily stated, pushing away the tears she hadn’t even realized had been falling since the other women left the room. “It’s your day, Margo. Let’s get out there and focus on you.”

Lily tried to push past her friend, but Margo reached out and stopped her. “Oh, no you don’t. You don’t get to push your own feelings aside for me. You’ve always done that for everyone else. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Some women are being catty, that’s all. It’s nothing, we’re both used to growing up in the royal court.”

“I know, but it doesn’t make it any easier.” Tilting her head to the side, Margo stated, “Let me guess, this has to do with the fact you’re in a relationship with Max again.”

“Who told you? Was it Richard? Did Max tell him?”

Margo shook her head. “No one had to tell me. I have two eyes, and it’sobvious to anyone that knows the two of you.”

“You can’t say anything to anyone,” Lily whispered. “The king would be furious if he knew I confirmed the fact.”

“Don’t worry about that. Your secret is safe with me. Let me give you a little advice. Though Richard isn’t next in line to the throne, he is a royal. When the other noble women found out we were dating, they were horrible to me. I had to decide whether my relationship with Richard was worth putting up with it, and that’s when I realized I loved him. I would rather deal with a hundred vicious gossiping harpies than be without him, and so I made peace with it. You need to do the same thing.”

Lily thought about Margo’s words. It was true, if Lily was going to be with Max, she needed to accept that parts of it would be harder than being with someone else. She had to decide if she cared enough about Max to be with him despite the difficulties that would come.

“Thank you. I appreciate you sharing that with me.” Lily would have plenty of time to worry about her future with Max, for now she wanted to focus on her friend. “I think we should join the others and open your gifts.”

Margo nodded. “Let’s go enjoy the rest of the afternoon.”

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