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“The grocery store is simply a five-minute drive—”
“Ms. Wyntor,” he called my name like the principal. “Should anything happen to him in that five-minute drive or the subsequent time you are in that store, not only will I have failed in my duty but may also be charged and held for upwards of thirty years in prison, which I would accept gladly. I would never be able to return to my hometown without people wanting to stone me. My parents would be heartbroken as well as our people. It may be simple to you, but to our people—”
“Iskandar, that is enough!” Gale snapped, his voice cold and harsh.
“Forgive me, Your Highness, but where you go, so do I. That cannot change,” he stated in reply, his voice just as cold.
I noticed Gale’s hand clench, and I rushed around him toward Iskandar. I wasn’t trying to cause a fight. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t understand. It’s fine if you come. Just promise you won’t stand too close, and you won’t help him do anything.”
“Of course.” He nodded.
Gale, however, still looked ready to rip him a new one. Taking his hand, he blinked slowly before glancing at me.
“Let’s go. We’ll take my car,” I said to him. “I won’t drive fast. Can you follow behind?”
Iskandar nodded again.
Gale luckily said nothing more and followed me to the garage. The lights came on. Trying to make him laugh, I went around to the passenger side and opened the door for him, but he looked confused.
“You wish me to drive?”
So much for trying to be funny. “No, I was opening the door for you. Never mind, get in.”
Instead of doing that, he opened the driver’s side door for me. “After you then.”
I shook my head but got in and waited for him to come around to the other door. It was only then that his shoulders relaxed. Opening the garage and starting to pull out of the driveway, I also waited for Iskandar.
“You should just drive off,” Gale grumbled to himself.
“He nearly took off my head for suggesting he stay behind. Do you want him to actually kill me?” I was only half-joking, but I had a feeling that if I did anything to harm his precious royals, Iskandar would definitely kill me.
“You asked me once about the cons of royalty...well, being treated like glass is definitely one of them.”
“That isn’t just a royalty problem, though,” I said as I noticed the headlights turn on behind me. “As you can probably guess, my mom wasn’t strict with me in most things. However, when it came to public appearances and what I could eat, she was harsh. I can’t sit like this. I can’t eat that. Make sure you walk like this. It was even worse when I was in pageants. I finally broke down, and she let me stop.”
“You broke down?”
I nodded, turning onto the main street. “Yep, full-on tears and screaming and throwing things. I think I broke her heart, too, when I said I thought it was stupid and a waste of time, and that she was making me do it because she was too old and ugly to do them herself.”
He gasped. “You did not.”
I nodded, feeling ashamed of myself. “I did, too, and man, did she beat me for it.”
“She hit you?”
“Oh, no, not like abusive in anyway...I mean, she spanked me. She’s a firm believer in spanking kids.” I laughed.
He nodded slowly, and I wanted to ask if he was ever smacked as a child, but I already knew from his reaction. No, he was not. Who was going to spank his royal behind?
“Was your father strict?” he questioned as I stopped at the red light.
“Oh, yes. He was way worse than my mother. Where I could go, who I could be friends with, what schools I was going to attend, what majors I was allowed to take.”
“That’s why you studied international relations and business at Dartmouth?”
There went his profile knowledge of me again.
“One of these days, you are going to have to show me this file you have on me,” I said as I parked at the grocery store.
