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“I know where my youngest daughter is,” the King interrupted his only son. “Christian, your future family will be entirely your responsibility. Is that what you want?”
“I know what I want, Dad,” Christian asserted. “I’m thirty years old; I’m old enough to know what I want my life to be. I’m not changing my mind here. If that means my kids won’t be titled or will have to work for a living, so be it.”
“And what if Elin doesn’t have children? Lillian?” her mother asked.
Elin turned her head toward her sister and swallowed.
“Yeah, I know. I’m next up, and my kids would be, too.” Lillian rolled her eyes and leaned back against the uncomfortable, flower-patterned sofa. “It is what it is, as they say.”
“What on Earth does that mean?” her mother asked.
“It means Christian isn’t leaving me much choice, is he?” Lillian replied. “And I’m not going to insist Elin have kids. If she wants them, she wants them. If not, it falls to me. We’re three years apart, so it’s not likelyI’llever have to actually be Queen. If I have kids one day–”
“If?!” her father asked. “Where did I go wrong?” He looked to the ceiling.
“Dad, calm down. You have a fourth kid.Shemight want to procreate. And if she doesn’t – it’s not like it’s just us; we have cousins and second cousins and third cousins, too, probably. There’s probably a Duke in some country I’ve never even heard of that’s related to us.”
“That’s what you think of your duty?” he asked Lillian.
“No, it was just a joke, Dad. I know–”
“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” Elin interjected. “Christian is leaving; it’s decided. I will be Queen.Iwill decide who to date or marry – that’s not up to anyone in this room now, and it won’t be when I become Queen.”
“Technically, Father has to bless any of our weddings. So does parliament and–”
“Christian, shut up,” Elin said. “You want to go be a Captain? Be a Captain. You don’t really get a say in this anymore.”
She’d never spoken to her brother like that before, and his expression told her he realized that, too. Christian looked down at the red-and-gold thick carpet, and she felt the dynamic shift between them for the first time.
“Whether I have children or not is also not up for discussion. That’s something between whomever I decide to settle down with, assuming I decide to do that at all.”
“You’re not going to–”
“Queen Elizabeth I never married or had kids,” Lillian interrupted her mother. “Could be cool, Elin.”
“Cool?” her father asked.
“When will the announcement be? That’s the only question that matters. Everything else can be dealt with later,” Elin insisted.
???
“You were a regal badass in there,” Lillian said as they walked down the hall toward Elin’s suite of rooms.
“I was not.”
“You told Christian off,” her sister argued.
“Hey,” Christian said.
“What? She did,” Lillian replied.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m going to my room. I have to call my commanding officer. He’s expecting me back on–”
“Yeah, we know. We get it; you’re important in the Air Force, Christian. Go make your phone call. Elin and I are fine without you,” Lillian stated.
Elin met Christian’s eyes and asked, “Are you okay?”
Christian glanced at Lillian before she said, “Fine. I’ll be in Elin’s room so you two can do your super-secret twin thing.”
