“Hello, mum,” Freddie said, letting go of my hand and crossing the room. He kissed her cheek and she smiled at him. “Hello, Liam,” he said to the King.Liam stood from his chair and the two brothers shook hands.“I'd like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Zoey,” Freddie said when they'd finished. I appreciated that he called me his girlfriend.Both the Queen Mother and King now looked directly at me. Freddie favored the Queen Mother in looks. They shared the same kind eyes, although hers were blue to Freddie's green. They had similar smiles, although Freddie had a much more masculine jaw that I assumed favored his father. Her graying blonde hair was pulled into a neat bun at the back of her head.King Liam was a slightly different version of Freddie. Where Freddie was all grins and bright eyes, Liam was stern and powerful. He was taller, paler, thinner, and much more serious than his youngest brother. They shared the same reddish light-brown almost blond hair, although King Liam had

Everything was going wrong.My dress was wrinkled, my feet too swollen for my shoes, and to top it off, I was running late.I hadn't thought about the fact that my power cords for my phone wouldn't work in Paradisa since they used a different kind of plug, so my phone had died. My curling iron didn't work. I didn't have a hair dryer.The party was starting out in the garden and I wasn't anywhere near presentable, especially not to a queen and her friends.I was going to bring shame to the royal family and I hadn't even done anything yet. So much for helping Freddie's image.It didn't help that now I was crying, making my makeup run. I stood in front of the beautiful bathroom mirror and wished I was anywhere else. Why had I agreed to this party? I should have just waited until I was more ready to be in public.“It's fine,” Freddie assured me, putting his warm hands on my shoulders and smiling at me in the mirror. “Just take your time.”“But I want to be good!” I sobbed. “This is not t

“Well, that went better than expected,” Freddie said, wiping some dirt off his hands.His beautiful gray slacks were brown at the knees and a smudge of dirt lay swiped across the bridge of his nose.I raised an eyebrow at him. “Seriously?”He leaned over and wiped some dirt off my cheek. “We made it, didn't we?”He motioned to the forest just past the small meadow we were currently walking through. I dusted my hands together, trying to get the mud off. I'd managed to keep most of the dirt from my dress, but I wasn't much cleaner than Freddie.Behind us, trapped in the cultivated gardens of the castle, music still played. A tug of guilt found my middle, but I pushed it away. I didn't want to be at the party. I didn't want everyone looking at me and whispering.I wanted to be out here.Instead of a proper moat, the castle had carefully manicured lawns. Freddie and I had crossed those easily. The neat grass was held close to the castle by a waist-high rock wall. We'd scrambled over it, g

Shopping with Sophie was an experience unto itself.She was a force to be reckoned with. Sophie made shopping into an Olympic qualifying sport. We visited three stores, tried on over thirty dresses, twenty different kinds of slacks, thirty-seven skirts, and more types of shirts than I could keep track of.“With your hair and skin, you should wear pastels,” she advised, holding up a pink gown that shimmered in the light. “Some darker colors will work, but I think we need to stick with the lighter things. They will also give you an air of innocence.”“Are you saying I'm not innocent?” I asked her, putting back a deep burgundy sweater.She grinned at me. “Not in a million years. You're dating Freddie.”“He's not that much of a bad boy,” I replied. I held up a blue shirt.“Too low cut,” she said, shaking her head at the shirt. “And I know Freddie isn't all bad. He's just got the reputation.”“So why do I have to dress innocent?” I asked. I held up a long sleeve pale green shirt that Sophi

“... and did you see what the American was wearing?”I cringed as a photo of me popped up on the TV screen. It was from the garden party. My shoulders were bare and I wore the stupidest smile.“We here at “Royalty Watch” can not believe that the Queen Mother finds this appropriate. It is an affront to Paradisian values,” the commentator continued. “Add in her lewd behavior toward the prince, and I'm not sure that this American is going to be welcome in the royal household. Kissing before a Stair Walk? The scandal!”The screen flashed to a video of me kissing Freddie's cheek and holding the door open.I stuck out my tongue at the TV. “It wasn't lewd,” I said.“Lewd would have at least included tongue,” Freddie agreed, settling into the couch next to me. He put his arm over my shoulder and handed me a bowl of popcorn. “Want to get lewd now?”I looked over at him and grinned. We sat in a comfortable sitting room with a huge TV. In any other house, I would have called it a living room, bu