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He gives a little bow. “Nothing would make me happier.”
We share a smile. Somehow, we've come to a truce, a truce that means I can become friends with Alex, the way Grandmama hopes.
But that’s where it needs to end. I absolutely can’t go catching feelings for the world’s Party Prince.
Even if I wonder whether I already have.
Chapter 16
Maddie
I sit in the backseat of the black palace car and look out the window at the bustling city streets. I’m trying to distract myself from my next engagement, aka my impending doom. It’s my first public appearance outside of the palace as princess, and I’m almost as nervous as I was the night of my presentation ball.
So far, no panic attack though.
I’m hoping to keep it that way.
My mind turns to Alex. Talk about a conundrum wrapped up in an enigma and stuffed in the back of your sock drawer.
Today he wasn’t what I’d expected at all, not after the ball and the peafowl incident.
He was…nice. Friendly. Totally disarming.
And when he looked at me with those deep, soulful eyes, I got the distinct impression he felt something for me. Something beyond the fact I’m his opposite number on the Malveauxian side of the fence. Something besides just doing his duty befriending the new girl.
It felt romantic. Definitely electric.
But then it’s so hard to know with that guy. He’s not exactly easy to read. He’s rude and then charming. Standoffish and then open.
Seriously, it’s enough to give a girl whiplash.
One thing I know for sure, I don’t have time to pull the enigma that is Alex out of the sock drawer to analyze him. I’ve got a job to do, and I’m starting to freak right out.
I glance out the window at the old stone buildings lining the streets as the car moves through the city on its way to the Tleurbonne Children’s Hospital, the location of my first public appearance. I’m happy that it’s for one of my newly acquired charities, and the fact it’s in support of sick kids means a lot to me.
I just need to make sure I hold it together and we’ll be good.
“We’re about three minutes away,” Vladmir says from the front passenger seat, making the nerves that are already bouncing around my belly like rubber balls pick up their pace.
“Thanks,” I reply, trying to sound bright and breezy.
Less than three minutes later, my driver pulls the sleek black car up to the entrance to the hospital, where a cluster of people are milling around on the front steps. A number of them have camera equipment, and those rubber nerve balls begin to bounce like Olympic high jumpers.
“Are they all here for me?” I ask Vlad.
“Of course, ma’am,” he replies. Like Alice, he only calls me Maddie when no one else is around. “You are the new and exciting princess. You can expect a lot of media attention, at least for a while.”
Although I’ve met a bunch of people in my new role already, it’s all been within the carefully controlled confines of the palace. There’s been no paparazzi and only the official photographers, who everyone seems to trust.
This feels different.
Of course I know Royals get media attention. I haven’t been living under a rock. The British Royals are super popular, and the media has been known to hound their princes and princesses. But this is Malveaux. Perhaps they’re nicer here? Less persistent?
I clasp my hands in my lap and take a few deep breaths.
I’ve got this.
Vladimir, good guy that he is, senses my nerves. “I know it seems a touch overwhelming, but I know you will be absolutely fine, ma’am.”
