Princess Charming: A Sweet Lesbian Romance

by Mia Archer

  Father’s face grew darker and darker with every new thing he saw. Finally he sighed an turned to me.

  “I know you’ve been difficult over the years, but perhaps I should have listened to you more over those years as well,” he said. “Particularly if this is how he acts around you.”

  “I’m also pretty sure he was the one who let that photographer get through to take the picture that started all this in the first place,” I said. “He let that slip while he was carting me out of the park at top speed.”

  “Felix, is this true?”

  “Well you have to understand that I did all of this because I thought that…”

  “I don’t care what you thought, Felix. What I asked you was if all of this was true.”

  Felix hung his head. “Yes. Mostly.”

  “Mostly?” I said, some of the old me sneaking back to the surface. “I was having a wonderful time with a girl I might really have feelings for and you chased her off by holding her at gun point! You’re crazy!”

  “I only did that because it is unseemly for a royal of your station to be seen with another woman like that! If only you knew how you were embarrassing Allora with your…”

  My hand balled up into a fist. “Is that what this is about? Because I’m in love with another woman? Because if that’s it then I’m going to…”

  “Enough!” father roared. I jumped. I’d seen him angry before, but never to the point of yelling like that.

  “Everyone out of the room but Felix. We are going to have words,” father said, his voice suddenly quiet. If anything the quiet was more disconcerting than the yell. That was a voice he only used when someone was in serious trouble, and for once that someone wasn’t me.

  “But your highness,” Felix started.

  “I’ll deal with you in a moment. Amelia? Renata?”

  And so I stepped out of the room and closed the door behind us. As soon as the door clicked shut the shouting started. I winced. Even if it was Felix in there, that couldn’t be pleasant to deal with.

  As soon as we were out Renata held out her hands and one of the security people helpfully unlocked her cuffs.

  “Why didn’t you have them do that before you went in there?” I asked.

  Renata winked. “I figured it would make more of a point with your father if I had cuffs on when I went in there.”

  “So what do we do now?”

  “We wait for your father to be done, but in the meantime I just want to tell you that I’m sorry this happened like this. I tried to run interference with Felix. He was supposed to listen to me, but then he pulls this stunt.”

  “So this entire time you were sent out here to spy for father?”

  “Something like that,” she said. “I was actually supposed to be shadowing Felix, but outside his chain of command, to prepare to take over his job. Apparently he didn’t like that one bit when he heard about it a few months back and now we have this.”

  “The asshole,” I muttered.

  “Yes, well, given everything that happened and how I wasn’t able to hold him back I’d understand if you didn’t want me as the head of your security.”

  “Why would I do something like that? You let me have a normal life for the first time ever. I’m keeping you around!”

  Renata smiled and nodded.

  “So while we’re waiting, what do you say to finding a bar and having a drink to take the edge off.”

  Renata raised an eyebrow at that. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Great. I think I’m breaking free of Felix and now you’re going to mother me too?” Though to be fair I wasn’t entirely snarky with her even if I was a touch frustrated.

  “Not exactly,” Renata said. “I was thinking more along the lines of the drinking age here in the states being twenty-one, and you’re only eighteen. We’ve already broken enough American laws today, don’t you think?”

  I giggled. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. So we just hang out here?”

  “I think that sounds like a plan.”

  “I think this sounds like the beginning of a beautiful working relationship,” I replied.

  25: Dani

  “You can’t do this to me! I am an American citizen and you’re… well… um… You’re not!”

  I struggled against the jackbooted and suited thugs dragging me along the corridor. I suppose if I was going to be thrown into a prison cell then there were worse places to be thrown than the halls of this very expensive looking resort. This was the sort of place that looked designed to cater to billionaires or, well, royalty.

  Which made sense given the context.

  They pulled me to a door and one of the guards flashed a band. I was pushed into a regular room. At least it was regular by the standards of this place. There were two king sized beds, only full back in my room where the peasants hung out, and there was a nice big flat panel television on top of a dresser that had honest-to-goodness marble across the top.

  I mean I had a flat panel in the peasant quarters myself, but my flat panel wasn’t nearly as nice as this one. It was name brand with all the bells and whistles. I knew because they helpfully left a sticker on it that let me know it came with all the bells and whistles.

  I wheeled around just in time to see the door close. There was no one in here with me. Maybe they thought guards on the outside would be enough to keep me in here. Well I’d show them. I walked over to the door and pounded on it a couple of times.

  “This is kidnapping you know, right? I’m going to press charges and testify at your trials and it isn’t going to be pretty!”

  There was no answer from the other side. Maybe they thought they had diplomatic immunity or something. Like that old cop movie my dad always watched growing up where the guy with the weird accent had his immunity revoked with a shot to the head. I never understood the appeal of that movie just like I always thought the plot was a little silly, people couldn’t just break the law like that even if they were diplomats, but now here I was in just that situation and I didn’t even have a gun or a snappy one liner to get me out of it.

  Damn it.

  There was a big old window along one side. I walked over to have a look. See if maybe there was some way to get th hell out of here from that direction. Unfortunately as I rattled the windows it became apparent they weren’t meant to be opened even though they’d been designed to look like they could be. Not that it mattered. The only way I was going off of that balcony was down. I was on the fourth floor, and I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to survive that sort of fall.

  Okay then. Maybe I wasn’t going to be doing any escaping any time soon. Damn it. I fell down on the bed and grabbed a remote from the night stand. Flipped the television on and went through the channels. It’s not like they could keep me here forever, but they’d done me the solid of confiscating my phone before tossing me in here so it looked like I was going to have to party like it was 1999 and watch television like people did back in the dark ages before smartphones were a thing.

  Thankfully there was plenty to amuse me. As I flipped through the cable news channels I saw, well, me. Plastered all over TV. It seemed I’d been right about all those people taking videos. They’d been uploaded and now I didn’t need my phone to go online because all these news agencies were being nice enough to put the videos on TV for me instead.

  I flipped through the channels with a sort of detachment. On the one hand I knew I was looking at pictures of me being broadcast all over the country, all over the world, as people griped about the Allorans taking things too far. On the other hand I was having a hell of a time actually making the connection between the images on the screen and my own life. Things that happened on TV were supposed to be far away. Other people.

  A banging on the door drew my attention away from a pundit who was speculating that this incident might be state-sponsored terrorism of some sort. It was from a particularly conservative cable news channel that was long on sensationalism and shor
t on common sense and a dose of reality, but it still felt odd to see them talking about me like that. More banging on the door, followed by shouting.

  What the heck was going on out there?

  Then the door blew open and I blinked in surprise. Of all the people I thought would come to my rescue, Mr. Fredericks flanked by a bunch of local police officers was the last person I’d expected. He rushed into the room and looked me up and down.

  “Are you okay Danielle?” he asked. “Did they hurt you or anything?”

  Cops streamed into the room following a couple of security people, though I noted that the police were keeping a close eye on them. It seemed that the real law around these here parts had finally arrived. Took them long enough.

  “I’m fine, really,” I said. “I think this was all just a misunderstanding.”

  It had to be a misunderstanding. I couldn’t imagine Amelia pulling anything like this intentionally. She’d seemed pretty pissed off when she realized they’d pulled those guns on me. No, I’m sure wherever she was, she was fuming about this just as much as I was. It appeared that the princess of Allora didn’t have as much power as I would’ve thought royalty would have, though.

  I guess the Royal Company had lied about that. Either that or we were still in the part of the fairy tale where the princess hadn’t taken control of her destiny to get the girl. Either way, it seemed like I was getting out of here while the getting was good. Whether I wanted to or not.

  “We need to get you away from these people,” Mr. Fredericks said. “I was worried sick when I heard about what happened. Come on. The police will escort us out of here, and they’ll want to talk to you about what happened in the park.”

  “But I don’t want to go,” I said.

  Fredericks blinked. “You don’t? But these people kidnapped you!”

  “These jerks are still holding Amelia somewhere, and I’m not leaving until I talk to her!”

  “Perhaps I could help with that?”

  The voice was deep and commanding. It was the sort of voice that clearly communicated that its owner was used to being in command. Its owner was used to being obeyed. I looked to the front of the room and got the shock of my life as I saw Amelia standing there at the entrance with a man I recognized from television. Her father, the king.

  Apparently Fredericks recognized him as well. Maybe he’d been watching some of the same news I had while he was making his way over here to rescue me.

  “Now you listen here. I’m not going to have you hurt another hair on her body! I can’t believe you would have the audacity to arrest one of my students when she hasn’t done anything to…”

  The king held up a hand and, for a wonder, Fredericks went quiet. Damn. I would’ve given a pretty penny to know how he did that. That was the sort of trick that would’ve come in handy in multiple scenarios over the years, though I had a feeling it had more to do with Fredericks facing down the current head of a country and not some snot-nosed band kid trying to pull the same tricks snot-nosed band kids had pulled forever.

  “Please, allow me to talk,” he said.

  He moved forward into the room and it was clear he was in command. He brushed past Fredericks without a word and came to a stop right in front of me. I found myself shying away under that gaze. It was stern, and I had a feeling this guy had only come here so he could give me a dressing down for trying to kidnap his daughter or whatever the heck it was they thought I’d done that warranted the crazy overreaction I’d dealt with today.

  He took my hands in his. He had strong hands. I saw a couple of the cops in the room tense at that, but they didn’t come to my rescue. Probably a good thing. This whole situation was already screwed up enough as it is without adding local cops trying to arrest a foreign head of state to the list.

  “Dani, I want to extend to you my sincerest apologies,” he said.

  I blinked. Looked over my shoulder to Amelia who smiled and nodded. I saw that same security lady from before, the one who’d been carted off right along with us, standing behind Amelia with a smile of her own.

  Huh. That was interesting. Maybe things were looking up after all.

  “You are?”

  He chuckled. “Amelia and I have been at odds for some time now, and let’s just say that being at odds like that led to me making some bad decisions and not listening to her when I should have. That led to this. I can assure you that the person responsible for taking you into custody today has been removed from employment, and once we get everything squared away with the local police I’m sure they’ll want to have a word with him regarding his behavior today as well.”

  “Well I suppose that’s a start,” I said. “I don’t see why you had to overreact like this in the first place, though. Is it because I’m a girl? Because that’s seriously not cool if that’s what this is all about.”

  The king arched an eyebrow and I shut my mouth. Damn it. Me and my big mouth. It always got me in trouble, and now here I was talking to a damn king like he was Mr. Fredericks giving me a hard time. Only he smiled finally. I heard a giggle from behind him. It seemed Amelia thought this was very amusing.

  “I’m not sure what you’ve heard about my daughter, but my issue was less with her inclination to date women and more with her inclination to cause scenes with the press.” He sighed. “Though I suppose that’s something I’m going to have to get used to as well. It’s a different game from when I was young.”

  That last bit seemed more to himself than to me. He shook his head and looked around the room. Frowned at the police who were still standing around looking unsure of what to do.

  “I’m sure the police will want to have a word with you. They’ll be questioning Renata as well, but after that I want to extend an invitation for you to spend the rest of your vacation here with us, and then who knows? I understand you have several months of your American summer break ahead of you, right?”

  My mouth opened in pure surprise. I’d expected to get carted away by the feds for helping to create an international incident all because I’d fell for a pair of pretty eyes attached to a girl who happened to be a princess. I hadn’t expected the go-ahead from her father or an invitation to spend the rest of the week at a place like this and then maybe more after that. I looked over the king’s shoulder to Amelia to see if this was all actually true, and she grinned and nodded.

  The king cleared his throat. “Of course we would put you in a separate room of my daughter’s suite. Propriety and all that.”

  I blushed as I realized exactly what he meant, then nodded and smiled. I looked to Fredericks and he shrugged.

  “You are an adult, Dani,” he said. “We did our performance today so I don’t need you anymore. It’s your decision if you want to stay with us or go with them.”

  I didn’t hesitate for a moment with my decision. I pulled my hands away from the king and ran across the room to jump at Amelia and wrap her in a huge hug. A huge hug that was followed with a huge kiss, though I resisted the urge to make the kiss too steamy. We did have one hell of an audience here, after all. Just having Amelia in my arms was enough for me, though. We were still very much at the beginning of things, but I had a good feeling about this.

  Especially now that we’d leapt one hell of a hurdle in our budding romance!

  I came up for air and looked around the room. Fredericks had a huge smile on his face and the king was shaking his head as though he was still trying to get used to that sort of thing. Meanwhile all the cops and security people were pointedly looking in any direction but where we were. The cops. Right. Damn.

  “Um, so I need to talk to someone in uniform about what happened? Could we get that over with so I can get back to my vacation?”

  A guy in plainclothes stepped forward. “Right, ma’am, if you could just come over here for a moment with Miss Renata…”

  It ended up taking about an hour to sort everything out with the cops. It turns out they were only really annoyed at the guy giving the orders to abduct m
e, and it sounded like that guy was about to have a very bad day. It seemed like maybe he was serving as a bit of a convenient scapegoat for the whole international incident thing, but that wasn’t my problem. Besides, the way Amelia scowled whenever she heard this Felix guy brought up led me to believe that he maybe deserved everything he was about to get and more.

  Finally, after interviews that seemed to last forever, it was all over and it was just me and Amelia alone in the room. Well, almost alone. That Renata lady was still in there as well, though she was doing her best to make herself as scarce as possible. I guess if I was going to date Amelia then I was going to have to get used to the idea of people watching us at all times.

  That was going to take some getting used to, but it was worth it for her. Besides, I was still too high on the idea that we’d gotten away with everything to be too concerned with bodyguards for the moment.

  “So how do you feel about spending the rest of the day in the park?” I asked. “Though we’ll probably only be able to go on a few rides with all the lines.”

  Amelia grinned and took my hand. “Are you kidding? I’m the princess of Allora! I couldn’t pull rank when I was in disguise with you the past two days, but now we can get to the front of any line we want as long as we let them take our pictures for PR stuff.”

  “Huh. That’s going to take some getting used to.”

  Amelia looked serious for a moment. “Yeah, I’m afraid this is going to be sort of a big deal now. Especially after everything that happened today. Cameras everywhere. It’s a different world, and I understand if you don’t want to be a part of it.”

  I leaned in and kissed her. Now that it was just that Renata chick in the room I felt way more comfortable giving her a more thorough kiss than I had when there were a bunch of cops and the freakin’ king standing around.