Chapter 11
Sophia
The door to my room opens and I look up to see Lottie enter.
"Hey," I say.
"So, when were you going to tell me that you slept with him?" she asks as she sits on my bed.
I spin my desk chair around so I can look at her. "What?"
"Lucas? You slept with him, right?"
"No."
"I can always tell," she teases. "But I can't believe you didn't tell me you were thinking about it." A hurt note fills her voice.
"I didn't know until it happened, I'd have told you if I was planning it. And anyway, it's not like anything really happened. I thought it was going to and then..." I trail off as my voice catches in my throat.
"What happened? Didn't you have protection? That's always disappointing."
I snort. "I have protection. I wasn't about to be reckless."
"It's important that there's no mini-heir to the throne running around."
I let out a small laugh. "You realise that even if I had a child, they'd be sixth in line?"
"I'm never going to understand how these things work," she complains.
"You won't have to. Archie will never be King." I watch my friend closely for her reaction.
She narrows her eyes at me. "I thought you didn't want to talk about your brother like that? You're just trying to distract me from your love life, aren't you?"
"Would I do that?" I ask sweetly.
Charlotte snorts. "I don't know why you're so against talking about it."
I let out a loud sigh and lean back in my chair. "It's not that I'm avoiding talking about it, it's more that there's nothing to tell. We had a great kiss, got back into the room, some clothes came off, but the moment I touched him, he freaked out."
"Where did you touch him?" she asks.
I raise an eyebrow. "Where do you think?"
"Ah. What happened then?"
"He ran out of the room and gave me the whole it's not you, it's me spiel, which would have been a lot more believable if I hadn't just felt his cock."
Lottie smothers a laugh. "I'm sorry, I just didn't expect you to say the word."
"Cock?" I echo. "You think because I'm a princess I'm not able to say it?"
"Kind of. Don't they teach it out of you?"
I roll my eyes. "Anyway, he left the room before anything happened. Maybe I'm just being a fool."
Her expression becomes serious, though it's somewhat undermined by the antennae bouncing in front of her eyes. "You're not being a fool," she assures me.
"How can you be certain? Maybe he's not really interested in me, and is just dating me in an attempt to be with a princess."
"Have you been photographed with him?" Lottie asks.
"No," I respond, instantly knowing that she means by the press and not just in general. There is a cute photo of the two of us from our golfing date on my phone, though. Not that I've been able to look at it since he ran out of my room.
"So he hasn't taken you anywhere and used the fact you're a princess to get something?"
"It barely comes up at all." One of the many things I like about spending time with Lucas.
"And he's not asking you to change?"
"No."
"How do you feel when you're with him?" She rearranges one of her wings so she's more comfortable, but I can see her watching me as she does.
"Like I can be me. I don't have to worry about all the protocol or the things I should be doing. I can say what I want, and he can too. I guess I feel...equal. No one's ever given me that before."
"Not even your family?"
I sigh. "They try when we're in private, but when there's an actual order we have to obey for public functions, it's hard. I don't feel that way with him."
"So it's going well?"
"Until he ran out of my room, I thought it was." I rub a hand over my face, hating that he's managed to make me question everything in one interaction.
"Maybe you should talk to him about it," she suggests. "There could be all kinds of reasons that he left. Maybe it is him, not you."
"Maybe it's not."
"There's only one way to find out, Sophia."
I let out a frustrated sigh. "Why are you right?"
"I'm just good at arguing," she responds. "It's what's going to make me a great lawyer."
I laugh despite the awful feelings brought on by Lucas running away. "If I were Queen, I'd hire you as the royal lawyer."
"Then you'd be a terrible Queen, because I'm not qualified yet," she responds.
"I'd also be sad because it would mean that a lot of my family were dead," I murmur.
"Best not to think about that."
"I'll add it to the list," I say with a sigh.
"Would it have been your first time if things had continued with Lucas?" she asks.
I shake my head. "The first time was a mistake." I grimace at the memory.
"There's clearly a story there."
I shrug. "I was with someone because they were everything my parents warned me to stay away from.
Honestly, I'm lucky he didn't leak photos or stories to the press about me.
I always assumed Dad did something to stop him from doing that.
He was the kind of demon who always made everything about me being a princess.
" It's one of the reasons I've been enjoying Lucas not doing that. It's a nice change of pace.
"Oh, that's not good," Lottie says.
"No, not really."
"But this is different."
"It is." I'm still not sure what it is about Lucas that's so reassuring, but I keep going back to what Mum says about knowing when things are right. So long as I trust my gut, it'll all be fine.
My mirror lights up and I reach out for it, disappointed when I discover it's just an alert about one of my lectures and not from Lucas.
"You know where he lives, right?" Lottie asks.
"Yes."
"Then go talk to him," she says. "The sooner the better. Why not go now?"
"You only just got here..."
"Yes. To ask your opinion on what I should wear for my date."
"Then why haven't you asked that?" I ask.
"I got distracted by your revelations."
I roll my eyes. "You want the blue dress you bought last week. Hair down, minimal make-up."
She raises an eyebrow. "You don't know where I'm going."
"I know my brother and what kind of dates he likes to go on."
"I never said it was with Archie."
"You never said it was with anyone, which is how I know it's with him," I counter.
"Fair point. What shoes should I wear?"
"If you take a handbag big enough for a spare pair of flats, wear heels. If not, send him a mirror message and ask."
"Are you trying to tell me he knows about shoes?"
"He has three sisters, a gay brother, and his godfather is a fashion designer, he knows plenty about shoes," I assure her.
"Wait, which of your brothers is gay?"
"Harold, but he's not announced it to the world yet. Just friends and family." It won't be long, though. He and his boyfriend are getting serious and will probably be getting engaged any day. After that, he'll probably shout it at the top of his lungs, he's so happy.
"Interesting. And his godfather?"
"Enrique..."
She squeals. "You know Enrique?"
I chuckle, it's just like my honorary uncle to have made just his first name into his household one. "Yes. He made my mother's wedding dress."
"It's official, I now have to marry your brother."
I shake my head in bemusement. "Does Archie not get a say in that?"
"Not any more," she quips as she hops to her feet. "Good luck with Lucas. I've seen how he looks at you when he picks you up for a date, I bet you'll get it sorted."
I give her a weak smile, but I'm hopeful she's right. "Thanks."
She's out of the room as fast as she entered, leaving me to my thoughts and the knowledge that I need to do what she says and talk to Lucas.
If I don't, then I'm always going to question what happened and what could have been, and I'm not quite ready to let the potential mate bond slip through my fingers.