Page 11 of King of the Crease

“What about my father?” I ask, bringing us back to reality. “He’d never allow this.”

“You’re thirty-six-years-old, Nicky. It shouldn’t be up to him to allow you to do this. You don’t need permission to live your life. And if the king hates this idea, tough. You’ve been a dutiful son and a dutiful prince. You’ve flown around the world on palace business for years and never complained. You’ve gone on dates with women. If you want to be a difficult diva for once, you’ve earned it. Tell him you’re taking a month off, and if he doesn’t like it, he can fuck himself up his own ass. Well, you should probably clean up the language, but keep the tone.”

Ever since she got me to smoke cloves in her room sophomore year, Millie has been pushing me out of my comfort zone. But is this dare one too far?

“Millie, I can’t…I can’t disappear for a month. I can’t pretend to be someone I’m not.”

“Aren’t you already doing that?” she asks pointedly. “What if you were able to go on a date with a man here? You two meet for a cup of coffee, talk about Christmas plans and favorite Friends episodes, and at the end, as he’s walking you back home, he kisses you on the front porch.”

I stare hard at Millie, almost right through her, as I fail to fight off the reel of that imaginary date.

A loud knock at the front door jostles us out of our silence.

“Prince Nicholas,” says Alfred when Millie opens up. Agnes stands beside him, her iPad clutched against her chest.

“Prince Nicholas, I don’t mean to rush you, but we have to get going,” Agnes says. “You’re needed back in the city for a meeting at the Met, and then to the airport.”

Alfred, Agnes, and Millie look at me, waiting for me to say something, to move, to follow the path I’ve been led down my entire life. I’ve been the best little prince in the world. Outside of one scandal, I’ve never stepped out of line. I’ve never sowed a wild oat. But it hits me that I’m thirty-six, and what life experience do I have to show for it?

“Actually, Agnes, I’ve decided to stay in Sourwood for a bit longer.”

“Your Highness?” Agnes’s eyebrows jump up her forehead.

Just when I’m about to fold, Millie squeezes my hand, giving me a boost of much-needed support. I stand up and approach my staff.

“That will be all, Agnes,” I say, my voice wavering for a moment before finding my strength. “You and Alfred can go back to the city without me. I’ll alert the king that I’m going on holiday, and that I’ll be back by the new year.”

“I beg your pardon?” Agnes’s face contorts as if I told her I was getting a face tattoo. “But we have to get back to the city, and then the airport.”

“You do. I don’t.”

At that, Agnes’s mouth fully hangs open. “There are several Christmas events in Ardenia that you’re needed for.”

“And I will miss them this year, unfortunately. I will alert the king to my change of plans and make it clear that while you tried to stop me, this is completely my decision.”

Millie gets on her tiptoes and claps like her giddy old teenage self.

“And if the king doesn’t like it, he can get…” I glance at my friend, who is dying for me to finish that thought. I’m still a member of the royal family, though. “He will simply have to deal with it. I have made my decision.”

“Your Highness, I can’t just leave you here,” Agnes pleads.

“Don’t worry. I’m in good hands. I’m going to crash in Millie’s guest room.”

“Crash?” It struggles out of Alfred’s mouth like a foreign language.

“And Alfred, since I won’t be on official palace business, you will return to Ardenia, too.”

“Your Highness…I don’t understand what’s going on.” I’ve never seen Agnes look so lost. I feel bad for putting her in this position.

“Agnes, for once in my life, I want to know what it’s like to live authentically, to not have to paper over my true desires with awkward setups and clandestine rendezvous with paid professionals. For a few weeks, maybe I could know what it feels like to be free.”

I search her eyes for the woman behind the schedule, the woman who’s known me since birth.

“Your Highness.” She reaches out and grabs my hands in hers. The hard walls of Agnes the Taskmaster fall away to reveal Agnes the Caretaker. “I want that for you, too. I’ve always wanted that for you.”

“How do you think the king will take you not going home?” Millie asks.

“That will be a problem for me,” Agnes says. Her eyes soften at me for a moment before she snaps back into schedule mode. “I will tell the king about your extended vacation. I will also inform him that you won’t be needing security while on vacation.”