Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
What was happening?
Chapter 3
Unexpected
The booths were elevated from the rest of the club by three steps, the better to look down on the little people, who were big people to the other 99% of the population.
I navigated these steps like my life depended on it, even as I battled with everything that was going on in my brain and body.
Feet hurting. Phantom beast rearing her head for the first time since I lost her. Dream come true of meeting Prince Aleksei and doing it in a posh club when I was in a pretty frock with sexy shoes and really good hair.
I mean, how was this even real?
The human stopped just to the side of the low table sitting before the prince, and I stopped right in front of it. I barely caught myself from crying out, “I did it!” when I made it there with no incident.
I then stared at the long, powerful body folded into the plush booth, his face still in shadows, and I did this thinking it was good I couldn’t see his face, for after besting the effort of appearing before him without incident, I didn’t want to pass out at witnessing his sheer male beauty, live and in person.
I said nothing.
He said nothing.
The human said nothing.
I said more nothing.
The prince remained silent.
The human made an annoyed noise, got close, and hissed, “It’s customary to curtsy.”
Such was my surprise at his statement, my head jerked to the side (and slightly down) to take in the human. “What?”
“This is the True Heir of the realm. You curtsy,” he snapped imperiously.
He could not be serious.
“In a club?” I asked.
“Anywhere,” he spat.
Holy Beelzebub.
I turned back to the prince, and it was then I felt a chill sluice over my skin, the phantom in my chest subsided as my stomach curled into itself.
I felt this because he was sitting there, silent, expecting me to curtsy.
By the gods, it was the Year of the Dragon 2118. I’d seen people genuflecting to Aleksei, his father, King Fillion, his mother, Queen Calisa, brothers, Princes Timothee and Errol, and his sister, Aleece, but this was at ceremonial events where the royals were wearing crowns or troll skins or royal battle armor.
Not out at a (very elegant, but nevertheless just a…) bar.
I’d never curtsied. I didn’t really know how.
What I knew was I could feel the attention of everyone in the club, they were expecting me to do something, and I feared what they were expecting me to do was curtsy.
So I did.
It was awkward. It was frightening due to having to balance all my weight on a slender heel in an unnatural way that made me worry I’d fall face first into the table in front of the prince. It was terrifying considering I knew I had attention, and that always made me uncomfortable, but the fact I had everyone’s was excruciating.
And last, it was humiliating.
“Rise and then you can sit to his highness’s right side,” the human ordered.
I rose and moved to sit as told, doing this stiltedly, and that had nothing to do with the ache in my feet. I sat primly in the curve to his side, not close to him, thighs, knees and calves pressed together, and I tucked my handbag in my lap with the fingers of both hands curled tightly around it.
“Drink, madam?” the human asked.
My eyes jolted to him, and I told him something he knew, but I did it with a purpose.
I wasn’t “madam.”
I lived in the real world.
I was Laura.
“My name is Laura.”
His head bowed, but his attention shifted to the prince, so mine did too.
Almost imperceptibly, his face still in shadow, the prince nodded.
“May I bring you a drink, Mistress Laura?” the human queried.
Mistress Laura was even worse.
I opened my mouth.
“Champagne,” the prince drawled.
I closed my mouth.
Ah, so it was all coming clear.
I was summoned and expected to appear…now. I didn’t get to sit without genuflecting. I didn’t get an introduction, even if I knew who he was, he didn’t know who I was, and truly, neither of us knew each other at all outside of names. And I didn’t get to order my own drink.
I liked champagne (who didn’t?).
But I liked more ordering the beverage I would myself be consuming.
Since I could string two thoughts together as a wee child, I’d thought Prince Aleksei was everything a boy, then a man, then a prince who would be king should be.
He was exquisitely beautiful even when he was far younger, and it only grew bolder with age. He didn’t court the limelight. He didn’t do stupid stuff (like both his younger brothers did, and on occasion, his baby sister).
Sure, when he came of age, he was often seen out with a very beautiful female on his arm, and they had an alarming tendency to cycle in and out of that position frequently.