Page 6 of Tall, Royal and Grumpy

I understood. I did. I understood why he emphasised perfection so much.

However, just because I knew he had a job to do didn’t mean his harsh words and doubt didn’t sting. They always did, digging another hole in my heart before I had even had the chance to fill in the previous one. I would never tell him—I couldn’t—but I just wished for the occasional word of support instead. Acknowledgement I was doing well. Some sort of praise. Just a smile. Something. Anything.

I would take measly scraps from him at this point. But even hoping for that was hoping for too much.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” I said stiffly, swallowing the wobble in my voice as I dropped my gaze.

I wouldn’t cry. A princess doesn’t cry in front of others. I kept up a brave front, showing nothing, feeling nothing. I straightened my spine and continued eating in a perfectly mastered manner despite having lost my appetite entirely. Chew. Swallow. Repeat.

Unable to taste anything but the sticky heat of never-ending sadness in my mouth.

* * *

Kareem excused himself from our late dinner and took his dessert in his office, allowing me to abandon the rest of my main and refuse dessert from a distressed butler who insisted I take it before accepting I wasn’t going to give in.

I made my way up to my bedroom on the second of four floors, the wide corridors of the marble palace lined with gold-trimmed red rugs and centuries worth of history. All this beauty presented in the form of carvings in the walls, paintings, old furniture, tapestries, swords, and armour.

“Princess,” a woman called out just as I wrapped my fingers around the handle on the engraved door of my bedroom.

I looked over and flashed a genuine smile at the woman sauntering over to me with Shehryar following closely behind. I almost laughed when I realised they were wearing identical troubled frowns. Like mother, like son.

“Mama Katiya,” I said, eyeing the plate covered by a silver serving lid she held in one hand.

Dammit, how did she find out so quickly?

If Shehryar was the closest thing I had to an actual brother, then his mother, Katiya, was the closest thing I had to a mother. At least since the late Queen had passed away.

Mama Katiya was the head maid in the palace, though she mainly worked with me as she’d been my nanny since my birth. She’d had Shehryar when she was nineteen, so she was only in her mid-forties. A tall, lithe woman with a figure that had filled out gorgeously with age. Besides having matching frowns with her son, their pale green eyes were the same too.

“You did not finish your main, nor did you take your dessert,” Mama Katiya said worriedly, her eyes roaming all over me.

“I left the dining hall five minutes ago,” I muttered with a grin. “How do you know already?”

“I always know, my dear.” She placed the back of her free hand to my forehead but took it off when she seemed satisfied that I didn’t have a temperature. “Do you feel nauseous?”

I shook my head. “I’m fine, Mama. Just not that hungry. I think it’s the jetlag.”

She cocked one lush hip as she sighed. “I understand, but please try to eat a bit more. I had Nina plate your dessert so you could eat it in your room.”

Mama Katiya settled the plate in my hands. “But—” I started.

“You have to try, my dear. Please.”

A buzzing sound pulsed through the corridor, and as Mama Katiya pulled off the beeper attached to the belt loop of her black dress, I glanced to Shehryar looking for help with the dessert in my hands. But he smirked back at me silently.

“My gosh, I just left him there a minute ago. What has he done now?” The older woman huffed and clipped the beeper back on her dress. “My dear, I have to go, but promise me you’ll eat some more.”

What Mama Katiya wanted, she got, so I pursed my lips together and nodded. “Okay.”

“Good night, Esmeralda,” she said and kissed my forehead.

“Good night, Mama,” I replied as she scurried off.

The moment she turned the corner, I shoved the covered plate in Shehryar’s direction. “Sher, can you please eat—”

“No.” He shook his head once sternly, his hands locked behind his back. “You know what my mum’s like. If she finds out I ate it instead of you again, she’ll kill us both.” I narrowed my eyes at him, but he flashed me a grin. “I’m sorry, Princess, but I value my ears.”

“Fine,” I said with an understanding smile because I valued mine too. They were still ringing from the last time Mama Katiya found out Shehryar ate something I claimed to have to eaten.

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