Page 27 of Royal Darling
I smile to myself. Emma is coming out of her cocoon, it seems, and I’m the lucky bastard who gets to witness it. I won’t touch though. I know better than to mess with this fragile beginning between me and the muse. Music is beckoning me back to her, and I’ll do everything I can to stay in her and Emma’s good graces.
Emma
I’m on pins and needles all day, waiting for the phone to ring or for a car to pull up with Gabriel springing out of it to read me the riot act and escort me home.
Nothing.
No texts. No phone calls.
Anna must be running interference for me.
Lucas and Jackson are getting along now.
Peace.
Thank you.
Jackson
The next morning, the bedroom door creaks open and my eyes fly open. I’ve always been a light sleeper. I’m on my stomach, my head turned toward the door. It’s Emma, backlit by the hallway, fully dressed, this time in a soft-looking jumper and jeans. The jumper clings to her magnificent tits. I close my eyes and imitate the sleep of the dead. She’s an early riser. I bet she’s here to beg for her next guitar lesson, and I’m too tired to move.
I hear her lock the door, tiptoe over to the bed, and the soft sound of her shoes coming off. She has no idea how tempting she is crawling into my bed in the early morning. Most guys would take advantage. She’s lucky it’s me, and I’m not interested in proper virgin princesses. I can appreciate her curves without touching. Though last night she didn’t seem so proper. She binge-watched an Italian soap opera while eating crisps and snort-laughing at the screen. I witnessed her eating crisps right out of her cleavage. She was a mess and much more interesting than the telly, which I couldn’t understand anyway.
I can feel her staring at me.
“Jackson?” she whispers.
I ignore her.
She slides a warm hand over my bare shoulder. “It’s time for our guitar lesson. It’s past seven this time. I know you like to sleep in.”
I grumble and turn my head the other way. Sleeping in means noon or later. The covers lift and she slides in, pressing right up against me. Just like yesterday. She has no sense of self-preservation. She sighs, leans close, and strokes my back, her voice small and vulnerable. “My father died a few months ago.”
My heart pumps harder at the dark despair I hear in her voice. I’ve never felt protective of anyone, yet I want to spare her that darkness.
Her hand leaves my back, and she settles on the bed, squeezing herself up against my side, confessing some more in a low voice. “I miss him terribly.” Her voice catches. “My mother went into such a deep state of grief, I feel like I lost her too. We were always so close. She just shut down, holed up in her room. She’ll barely speak to me and this was before I made a mess of everything. I’ve spent my whole life modeling myself after her regal example. I guess that’s why I got the courage to leave my arranged marriage. She just seemed indifferent to my wedding and it didn’t mean as much to me to try.”
She would’ve married a guy just to please her mum? That’s fucked up.
“Everything’s different now back home with the new king and queen in charge, and maybe that means I need to be different too, you know?”
I keep to my fake sleeping silence. I don’t want to embarrass her, and she seems to need to get it all out.
Her voice rises in volume. “I was my mother’s pride and joy. After four sons, I was her much-wanted daughter. She had another child just to give me a sister. Turned out she had twins, a boy and a girl. The twins were close, and I was a third wheel.”
She was still the favorite. Otherwise, why would she care so much what her mum thought about her life? My older brother was the favorite, and I long ago stopped caring what my mum thought of my life. She was relieved when I moved out.
She sighs. “Maybe I wasn’t as close to my mother as I thought. She kept the seriousness of my father’s condition from us until nearly the end.” She shifts and then her hand lands on my back, her fingertip tracing my ink. It tickles a little, but I soldier through. “I’ve learned my duties well and to what purpose? Everything’s changed. My parents no longer rule. The new queen, Anna, is completely revamping the palace, the entire island, actually, with her new ideas and industry. I don’t belong there anymore.” Her voice cracks. “I’ve lost my place.”
I can’t bear the misery in her voice. I shift my head toward her. “If you married that bloke, you would’ve had a new place.”
She jackknifes upright. “Ahh!”
I sit up and cover her mouth with my hand. “Shh, Lucas will hear and storm the room.”
Her eyes are huge. She pushes my hand away. “How much did you hear?”
“Everything.”
