Chapter Twelve
Prince Cadoc
The guards training had become more intense. It was worrisome that they were training in the middle of the Welsh countryside, as if they were expecting something. I should have been concerned. I should have talked it over with my father. As the heir to the throne, he would have told me anything that I wanted to know. As it was, the only thing I could think about was Penelope Peters.
When I’d surprised Jasper with the idea of bringing her to the training grounds, he hadn’t been happy.
“What the f**k are you thinking, Cadoc?” he’d demanded. “Do you know the kind of risk that could put you in? The kind of risk that could put her in? People will talk. You know that tensions are brewing all over. Coleum was destroyed because of a revolution, it won’t be long before that seeps over here.”
“Look, Jefferies, I can hear the disapproval in your voice,” I told him, “but you know how hard it is for me to make friends. This girl is the closest I’ve had in a long time. I can’t have her hate me. Besides, you get to see your girl and do something romantic for her. What’s wrong with that?”
There was a long pause. I half expected him to hang up the phone on me. Jasper wasn’t stupid. We both knew how this ended. If I got my way, and I always did, Penelope Peters was going to be mine. I knew it. I believed in it. Jasper did too. But that wasn’t what mattered right now.
What mattered was that he was with Penelope at that moment, and I needed to make things right between the two of them.
“Fine,” he said, “fine, bring her down there. But you’re giving her a codename.”
“Shakespeare,” I said, “Shakespeare.”
I’d somehow managed to arrange everything, without my parents finding out about it. My cousin, Reginald, or Prince Reginald of The Nation of Wales had decided to enlist in the guard. He was a Prince, the son of my uncle, and as such would more than likely never inherit. He decided to dedicate his life to protecting the family.
Being a Prince, it granted him certain privileges that a normal guardsman wouldn’t have. Including his. I found it at the far end of the campsite, complete with two guards that were Jaspers cousins.
They nodded at me and moved to the side so that I could go in.
Reggie was tall, with dark black hair, and the same, grey eyes that I had. “Well, well, well,” he drawled, sitting with his legs stretched out on his desk, “look what the cat dragged in.”
He had a bottle of scotch on the desk, along with two glasses.
“Hello, your majesty,” I said.
“Hello, your majesty,” he returned, raising his glass to me, “did you get your girl here safe and sound?”
“She’s not my girl,” I corrected, “she’s not my anything. She’s made that perfectly clear. I’m a commitment.”
He chuckled. “Well, she’s not wrong. At least this one is smart. She could be like that insufferable Marianne Wattford whose been throwing herself at you since we were in pre-school.”
“True,” I said, “I just don’t know what to do, Reg. She’s not like anyone I’ve ever met before. She’s not interested in me, or our world, or anything I’ve got to offer her.”
“Well, what is she interested in?”
“Friendship,” I plopped down in the chair across from him, very aware of the fact that I was sulking.
“So, be her friend,” he said, “do whatever it takes to get into her world. Then, when she least expects it, pull her into ours. She might say she wants nothing to do with us, but trust me, everyone does, cousin. This move with throwing the private ball for them, that was a good start. You mentioned something about New Years?”
I nodded. “I told her that if she was really serious about not blowing me off because of my world, she needed to be part of it some. So, she has to come to New Year’s.”
“Use it to your advantage, mate,” he said, “you know the press will be all over us for the Holiday Hunt. Plant the idea of you and her early. Make the world fall in love with the idea of her the same way you’ve fallen.”
“Do you think the Queen will like her?” I asked. “You know she’s always so hard to please.”
He paused. “It’s not the Queen you’ve got to worry about. I’ve been in on a few of the war council meetings with your father. He’s already talking arranged marriages, in case of a war outbreak. Scotland and Ireland’s Princesses are both prospects.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, “didn’t Coleum become democratic? Isn’t the revolution over?”
“The revolutionaries are calling fowl,” Reginald explained, “they’re saying that doing away with the monarchy wasn’t what they wanted. They wanted to restore the rightful heir to the throne.”
“Rose James gave up her throne,” I said, referring to the former Princess of Coleum, “there shouldn’t be anything to argue.”
“As long as there’s power involved, there’s always going to be something to argue,” Reginald said, “look, I wouldn’t worry about it to much. Coleum’s never been one to wage war on other nations, they’re too busy fighting amongst themselves. We won’t be going to war. This is all just a precaution. Do whatever you can to make the world want Penelope Peters as much as you do. Then, everything else will fall into place.”
“You think so?”
“I know so,” he said, “now, you want a drink?”
“Yes, please.” He poured me a glass of scotch, and I drank it gleefully. As I drank, I could feel him looking me up and down.
“Here’s the real question,” he said.
“Yes?” I raised an eyebrow.
“How is that fetching little actress friend of yours? Audrey Andrews? Is she coming to New Years?”
“Of course,” I said, “and I thought you hated her. She dumped champagne over you last time she was at the palace for that charity thing, and it was all over the internet.”
“Yes, well,” he said, “I’ve got to prepare myself for more champagne tossing, don’t I?”
He winked, and I shook my head. I didn’t even want to try to understand. I had asked Audrey what had happened at the event once, and all she had done was rant for an hour about how much she hated my cousin.
I stayed and drank with my cousin until the sun rose. As it did, I knew it was time to leave, and I dialed a number I rarely ever called. Dan Shunpike was a pap that made his entire fortune off getting any picture he could of me. Didn’t matter if I was sleeping or not. If I was involved, he was there to take pictures.
“Shunpike,” he said gruffly, “do you know what f*****g time it is?”
“It’s me,” I said.
He paused, clearly having a hard time believing what he was hearing. “What do you want?”
“In a few hours, I will be getting off my private jet with a girl and taking her back to Hollow Hills. Her name is Penelope Peters. She’s a scholarship student, if anybody asks, and nothing more than a close, personal, friend. Nothing more and nothing less is to be talked about when it comes to this girl. Do you understand, Shunpike?”
“Yes, your—”
“Don’t finish that sentence. This call never happened.”
I ended the call and glanced over at Reggie. He winked at me, and I got out of the tent. I walked over to where Jasper’s was. With a nod to his guard, I went inside. I was somehow unsurprised when I found the two of them half naked, asleep on Jasper’s cot. Jasper’s arm was wrapped tightly around her small form, and she wore only her bra, and her skirt was raised haphazardly.
Jasper’s tie was undone, and his dress shirt buttons had been undone as well. I clenched and unclenched my fists. I hated everything. That should have been me, I couldn’t help but think.
I coughed, clearing my throat.
The two of them startled awake at the sound.
“Oh, god!” Penelope grabbed her nearby shirt, using it to cover her bra, as if I hadn’t seen everything there was to see. As if it wasn’t already engraved in my memory for all eternity.
“Shite!” Jasper exclaimed. “Not cool, you prick.”
The two lovebirds got up from the cot and scrambled to dress. I watched, calmly, amused by their three stooges like antics as they covered themselves. Once they were fully clothed, they kissed each other a few times, and then Jasper shoved us out before his commanding officer could find them.
Back on the plane, Penelope stared out the window, biting down on her lip, her face flushed.
“How was it?” I asked.
She glanced over at me, her gaze narrowed. “We just slept.”
I chuckled wryly. “Relax, Shakespeare. I was just asking about your night. I wasn’t asking if you fucked.”
She scowled, and said nothing, turning her gaze back to the window. It wouldn’t have changed anything even if the two had screwed each other, but it was nice to know I had one less thing to have a complex about on top of everything else.
This girl didn’t cower. She didn’t give a s**t if I had a crown or didn’t have a crown. She treated me like everyone else. That was what I needed. Someone who would look at me and just see Cadoc. Not the crown.
Last year, during the trouble with Coleum, I’d met the Lost Princess of Coleum. She’d been a girl by the name of Rose James, who hadn’t even known that she was royal. She’d been brought in under the guise of a phony marriage to my cousin, Apollo, and revolution had broken out around them as the public had learned she was the daughter of Coleums former deposed monarch. She’d been willing to risk her life for someone that had almost ruined hers just because she loved Apollo.
That was what I needed. Love of the crown was important, but I wouldn’t survive on that alone. When Penelope was with me, I didn’t feel like the Prince. I just felt like myself. That was a rare and beautiful thing. Something I wanted to hold onto forever.
When we got off the plane, there was no one there. Too much security. But when we arrived at the school, that was when I knew the paps would strike. At least if Shunpike was worth his salt.
I got out of the car first, and instead of letting one of the guards help Penelope out, I grabbed her hand and placed my other one on the small of her back.
She looked up at me curiously. “What are you doing?”
“Just trust me,” I told her, “keep your head buried in my chest if you don’t want to get blinded.”
Her eyes widened, as if alarmed by my words. But she clutched my shirt and buried her face into my chest. The moment we stepped out, the photographers were there, surrounding us.
“Who’s the girl, your highness?”
“Are you done with Gwyneth?”
“Is this your new girlfriend?”
“Sneaking a girl on campus, eh?”
They shouted everything they could to get a reaction out of me. I kept my gaze firmly forward, and I held onto her as I led her back into her dorm.
I didn’t let her look up until we were by her bedroom door.
Audrey swung the door opened the moment she arrived. “What the hell happened? They came out like the plague.”
“Don’t know. Someone tipped them off about us,” I said.
Penelope squeaked. “No. No, we can’t have them thinking we’re a couple. I’m with Jasper. That will kill him.”
I smiled; half pleased that she was so concerned about him. Half annoyed that she didn’t want to shout from the rooftops that she was mine.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized, “this comes with the territory of being my friend. Don’t worry, I’ll have the palace issue a statement explaining everything.”
“You’re not going to get in trouble, are you?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I’m always in trouble for something. Last year, it was because I refused the Princess of Coleum and helped her end an ancient monarchy. This year, sneaking you into a secret location to see Jasper is nothing.”
She scrunched up her face, not knowing what to say to that. “You were almost engaged to the lost Princess of Coleum?”
“I’ve been almost engaged about six times,” I said, “honestly, I wouldn’t worry about it. Besides, not a one compares to you.”
“That’s right, Ever Blue,” Audrey said from where she stood behind her.
“Shut up,” Penelope muttered, “come off it, both of you.”
She laughed, and there was a sparkle in her eyes again that hadn’t been there for almost a month. She opened her mouth as if to say something more, closed it, and then slowly shut the door behind her.
When she was gone, I felt something I hadn’t for a while. Hope.