Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 64571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“Okay.” Teddy waits for me to keep going.
“I don’t know. I guess that makes it more real.”
“The two men trying to kidnap you already made it real.” This is true.
“I suppose I don’t want things to change. It’s like there is a whole other life over there I should be a part of, but I don’t want to be,” I admit. Finding out I’m a princess was fun and silly in the moment. It also makes for great jokes, but the reality of it is too big to comprehend, and I’m not sure I want to.
“They can’t force you to go back or whatever, as if Tristan would allow that to happen.” This is true. I bet he would offer to come with me if that’s what I wanted.
Since Tristan and I are fully together, he’s rather accommodating. The bear had a thorn in his paw, that thorn being his belief that we couldn’t be together, and now that it’s been removed, he’s no longer cold. In fact, he’s the opposite. The rest of the world can get cold. I’ll take the scorching heat he makes me feel every day.
“And I keep thinking about what happens after.” I finally look at her. “If Julian helps us. If we stop the queen. Then what? I go from being Lily Swan to Princess Liliana of Grandeurs?”
While crowns and tiaras are fun to put on and play around with, a real crown is heavy, and I don’t mean the jewels. It’s not a weight I have signed up to carry.
“You’ll still be Lily.” She gives me a cheeky smile. “Soon to be Lily Vanderbilt.”
“He hasn’t asked.” I glance down. Why do I get shy over this topic? I shouldn’t be, especially in front of Teddy.
“You think he’s actually going to ask?” She barks with laughter.
“Hey.”
“I mean, really? Ask?” She laughs harder. “I’d be more shocked about him asking you to marry him than about us just stumbling across a marriage certificate that he’d simply gotten.” I snort a laugh. “I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that you are already Lily Vanderbilt.”
“Thanks,” I tell her.
“Lily Pad.” Teddy reaches over and snags my hand. “Victor picked you, I picked you, and Tristan picked you. Well, he more than picked you.”
“How do you go from ridiculous to hitting a nail right on the head?”
“Beats the hell out of me.” She shrugs. “Besides, the princess thing is just paperwork. Actually, it’s a little insulting now that I think about it. We’re queens. We’ve been queens for years. How dare they try to demote us!”
“Easy for you to say. Your family doesn’t have a throne.”
“This is true.” She grins. “We just have generational trauma and a vineyard. Much more manageable.”
I laugh, and it feels good. Real. Like I’m still myself even if everything else is shifting. “Wait, you have a vineyard?” Why is this the first time I’m hearing of this?
“I think a couple of minor league baseball teams too. Who knows?” What makes it even funnier is that she’s not joking. When Grams passed, Teddy found out about all kinds of shit she owned.
The vault door clicks. We both turn as it swings open, and there he is—Tristan, filling the doorway with his broad shoulders that I dug my nails into this morning as I rode him. I wonder if the little marks are still there. His eyes find me immediately, like they always do.
“Found you,” he says.
“As if you didn’t know where I was,” I say. “Stalker.”
“Occupational hazard.” He steps inside. His gaze flicks to Teddy, then back to me. “Can I steal her?”
“She’s not mine to give,” Teddy says, standing and brushing off her hands. “But yes. Please. Take her. She’s been philosophizing about crowns for ten minutes.”
“I have not—”
“Have too.” Teddy presses a quick kiss to my cheek and whispers, “Go get him, queen.” She winks at me before she disappears through the door with Minnie trailing after her, tail flicking the whole way.
Tristan crosses to me and pulls me into him. I melt right into his body, mine always wanting contact with his. If I thought I was gone for Tristan before I ran away, I had no clue how deep I could really sink. I’d probably stalk him, but I don’t need to. If I stepped one foot out that door, he’d pop up out of nowhere.
“Julian’s people have responded,” he says without preamble. “Video call in twenty minutes. Encrypted, secure, all the works.” Holy crap. That was fast. While I knew he was reaching out, I didn’t expect such a swift response.
“And?” I don’t know if I’m going to be in on this call.
“And I wanted to find you first.” His hands run up and down my back, trying to soothe me. “This could go wrong in a dozen ways. He could be loyal to his mother. He could—” want me dead too. He can’t even say the words.