Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
She shook her head. “I knew the risk I was taking. And I knew it was worth it, to help you.”
“You’re amazing.”
Genoveve took a deep breath. “Thank you, Henry, so much, for inviting me into your home. My family is thousands of miles away. I wouldn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“Of course,” I said. “There’s a spare room here. Used to be my childhood bedroom, actually. The windowpanes are a little thin, and the carpet is green, but I’ve got plenty of cozy blankets. And lots of pancake mix for tomorrow.”
She smiled. “I’m so grateful.”
“Shit. You two probably haven’t had pancakes from a box mix in years, have you?”
“Oh, it’s all I would eat, growing up,” Genoveve said. “I miss it, actually. The prince, on the other hand… I don’t imagine he’s ever had boxed mix.”
“Oh, he has,” I said, giving Sebastian a playful look.
Sebastian smiled, nodding at Genoveve. “On Saturday mornings, sometimes I was allowed to come here to Henry’s house, and sometimes his mom would make us pancakes.”
“Right from the box?”
“Of course,” I said.
“And I loved them,” Sebastian said, leaning back on the couch. “More than the fancy kind at the castle.”
“How fancy could pancakes even be?” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Believe me, my mother tried to get the cooks to make them exactly the way she’d had them at a smaller castle in France,” Sebastian said. “They could never quite get it right.”
Genoveve laughed, taking another sip of her drink before letting out a long sigh. “I…” she started to say before going quiet.
“What is it?” Sebastian asked.
She shook her head. “I shouldn’t.”
“Say what’s on your mind, Genoveve,” I said. “There’s nothing to worry about here.”
She looked up hesitantly, big eyes moving between me and Sebastian, before ultimately settling on him. “I know I shouldn’t ask this, but… is it… is it true, Sebastian?”
He cocked his head to one side. “What do you mean?”
“Your secret.”
“That I’m gay?” he asked plainly. “Of course it’s true, Genoveve. You knew that.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t know. But I’m so happy you can marry a prince, if you choose,” she said. “I would never have known the queen would allow this.”
Sebastian’s eyes fell. “Well, I definitely won’t ever be marrying a prince.”
“Why not?”
“Because there is only one person I’ve ever loved, at least in that way. And he’s in this room with us.”
Genoveve’s eyes went wide. “Oh my goodness,” she said, staring at me like she was seeing me for the first time. “You—you two—you’re in love?”
“It’s okay, Genoveve, you don’t have to act surprised,” I said, chuckling. “It was obvious.”
“It wasn’t,” she said. “Well, when Sebastian kissed you, it made me wonder, but I thought it could have been a thing that… very good friends do.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “You helped me sneak around the castle, go to his room at night, all of that?”
“I thought you two were just very, very good old friends. I’m stupid.”
“Well, we are very good friends,” I said as Sebastian laughed.
“You are in love,” she said, realization dawning on her. “Of course. It makes so much more sense now.”
“He’s the only guy I’ve ever snuck around the castle with, that’s for sure,” Sebastian said.
Her eyes quickly went sad. “But you two can never marry,” she said softly. “With the way the queen worded her modifications…”
“I know,” he said. “And the strange thing is, I don’t want to give up being a prince. Now more than ever. I used to hate it so much, but it’s my life now. It is my legacy, whether I like it or not. Whether I chose it or not.”
“I understand,” Genoveve said.
“I understand, too,” I said, meeting his gaze. “I think I understand truly for the first time. Feeling even a fraction of what you go through, having your life plastered across media… I could never have fucking imagined what it actually feels like, Sebastian. And now I have some small idea.”
“It’s relentless,” he said. “But I know I could do so much good as a prince. As a king, eventually.”
“Of course you could,” Genoveve said. “You will.”
“And I want that more than anything in the world,” Sebastian said. “If I could be a representation for even one child down in the surrounding villages—a symbol of hope for them, that they could be powerful and different at the same time… it would be worth it.”
“I know,” I said. “It means a lot to you.”
“And she has set it up so that I have to choose between you and being royal.”
“You know what?” Genoveve said. “Fuck the queen.”
Sebastian and I both looked at her with wide eyes. She was the most innocent person I’d ever met, but even she had been broken down by the queen.
“Agreed,” I said.
“Me, too,” Sebastian finally said. “We can’t let her win. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but it isn’t going to involve marrying a prince.”