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“More like a tub. One this size.” I point at the large tubs of ice cream under the protective Perspex cover.
“A whole tub? I’m sure we could, for you, sir.”
I smile to myself as I imagine Maddie’s face as she opens the gift to find her favorite ice cream. “Thank you. I’ll give you the address.”
Chapter 26
Maddie
One thing I've learned when you’re a member of a royal family is you can't just rock up to your grandparents and tell them you've got news, even when you know that news will be music to their ears. That would be way too straightforward. You need to get in touch with their people to request an audience, find a time that suits both your calendars, made all the more complicated when your grandparents have been away for 10 days, and then you probably only get about 30 minutes to actually meet.
So, when Vladimir informs me both of my grandparents are available to see me this afternoon, the day they arrived back from France, I almost faint from shock.
Today, I get to make my grandparents ecstatically happy.
I said a sad goodbye to Chloe last week, promising to keep her up to date with all my goings on, and now I’m sitting with Grandmama and Grandpapa in their private drawing room, the afternoon sun shining through the large windows on the floor, the room decorated just as all the rooms in the palace are decorated: ornate, old fashioned, and super expensive.
But there’s a distinct atmosphere in the room, one I haven’t experienced with my grandparents before.
“You seem very bright and chipper today, Madeline,” Grandpapa observes.
“I do?” I ask, feeling inexplicably guilty.
“There’s nothing wrong with being bright and chipper, I was simply wondering whether there was any particular reason?” he asks.
Oh, there’s more than one reason. There’s my decision to stay, which I’m about to share with them and totally make their day, and then there’s the man I haven’t been able to get out of my mind.
Alex.
We’ve been messaging every day since he left, video chatting at night, and a few days ago he sent me a tub of the most incredible tasting mint chocolate chip gelato I’ve ever had in my entire life. It was so cute of him to remember it was my favorite, something I told him that day he took me to see the view on the motorcycle.
The distance has shown me that what I feel for him is real, and even though I haven’t seen him in real life for almost two weeks now, I find I’m falling for him more and more each day.
And in a few short days, I’m going to see him again when I travel to Ledonia for the first time to attend the Lunar Ball.
“While you were away, I went riding to this beautiful lake not too far from here,” I tell them, the memory fresh in my mind.
“Lake Glinthorpe. It is a lovely lake,” Grandmama comments. “Did you go with Chloe?”
“No, I went with someone else actually. I went with Prince Alexander.”
I watch my grandparents for their reaction. They share a look, both of them looking like I’ve told them I visited the lake with a bunch of gang bangers to play with guns.
Grandmama’s already given me two messages about Alex: she told me to befriend him and warned me off of him romantically. I followed through on one of those messages, so the way I see it, she’s got to be at least half way happy with me.
“Alexander's a jolly good horseman, I’ll give him that. Did you find it hard to keep up?” Grandpapa asks.
“We went slow.” I flick my gaze to my grandmama. Her features appear frozen. “You okay there, Grandmama?”
“Quite, dear.” She places her cup carefully on its saucer. “You two seem to have become friendly.”
I can’t help but grin. “Just doing what you told me.”
Except the kissing part.
“You know, Maddie, we're so very glad you called and asked to meet with us today,” Grandpapa says in a measured tone. “You’re making such wonderful progress here. You have taken on your new role with such courage and dedication.”
“Courage and dedication?” I ask, genuinely pleased he sees me that way. I would have said I’d taken on my new role more with paralyzing fear and mistakes. But maybe that's just me?
