Running The World With You

One day

I give the warm tea to Victoria. She's sitting on the sofa, lightly rocking back and forth. She obviously has risked a great deal to even talk to me.

"I'm going to talk to the prince once he gets back. Hey, it's gonna be fine." I coo. She sniffles and wipes her eyes. She just stopped crying. I've just been sitting with her for an hour. I don't want to send her back to where her family is without consulting Lucius.

Lucius better not be behind this. I know he's ruthless to me, but I don't think he would stoop this low. I do however,
know someone who would.

The king.

"W-will I get in trouble?" Victoria murmured. That, I don't know. I don't have any control over what the king or Lucius does to her family or her. I can only advocate.

"I don't know honey. Let's watch something. What shows do you like?" I ask. It's better that she's distracted from what is going on.

"S-Sofia the first." She sniffles. I nod and search it up on the TV. I put a random episode on. I hear the door open and some servants rush to the door.

Lucius is home.

"I'll be back in a second. Keep watching the show." I smile and walk out of the room. I see Lucius give his briefcase and his belongings to a maid. I look him dead in the eyes and storm up to him.

"We need to talk. Now." I demand. He looks confused. We both go into a spare study next to the sitting room Victoria is in.

"Do you have anything to do with a family being kept here for money?" I bark. He looks at me in the eyes, his eyes telling me nothing about what he is thinking.

"Which family?" Lucius asks. Which? Is there more than one family like Victoria's?

"A family with a little girl named Victoria, two brothers, and a mom and dad. Ring a bell?" His  fists ball up and his eyes look wild. He roughly puts his hand through his hair.

"Fuck. Did Victoria come up here?" He asks. His voice ragged and short. Why is he so worked up?

"Yes. She came into the kitchen while I was fixing myself lunch and told me her story. It's fucked up. I can't be with someone who would do that. So tell me. Are you behind this?" I demand. It's true. I cannot marry someone who would do such a horrible thing. Sure, maybe lock up the father, but all of them? No way.

"No. She's lying. Victoria doesn't have a family. She's my father's... mistake." Lucius sneers. Mistake?

"Mistake? How so?" I ask. If Lucius is telling the truth, then Victoria has been lying to me this whole time. But why?

"He uh.. cheated on my mom a while back with one of the maids. In return for the maid not telling my mother, she gets to live in the maid's quarters with her mother." Lucius says. This story makes a lot of sense. A lot more than Victoria's.

"So then why haven't you told your mother?" I ask. Something isn't adding up.

"My father has some... dirt on me from when I was a reckless teenager. Could hold me back from getting the throne. I'd rather not get into it." Ah, the classic blackmail. This really is the royal family. Luckily my family doesn't act like this.

"Ah. But why is Victoria lying to me?"  Lucius fidgets with the rings on his fingers. Damn, that's attractive. I have always appreciated a good set of hands. The only problems is the man attached to them.

"I don't know. Maybe my father put her up to it to make you grow apart from me. I've also heard Victoria has some sort of disability. In any case, try to steer clear of her. She's cute, but she's no good." Lucius explains. She is very cute, but I cannot take care of a liar without knowing her motives.

I lead Lucius to the room Victoria is in. When we walk in, she looks at Lucius and starts to rock back and forth again.

"Hey, Victoria, I know your real story. Lucius told me. Why don't you go rest in the maids quarters?" I gently say. She nods and quickly walks out of the room. She clearly knew Lucius was going to out her.

I turn the tv off and sit on the couch. Lucius sits next to me. I'm too confused to tell him to go away.

I scroll through some of the pictures on my phone. Crazy parties, summer camp, formal events, everything. My life used to be so exciting. Sure I didn't get to go out a lot, but when I did, I had a lot of fun.

I stop at a picture of me and my brother Leo. He was with his secret  boyfriend at the time. Leo is gay, but he can't become the king if anyone knows that. So, he's decided to stay alone and marry a girl from Britain who's a lesbian. They figure they can be each others covers while they sneak their actual lovers in and out.

My parents do know. I think the whole of Andorra would know if he didn't hide himself so well. I feel bad for him. He'll never be able to show who he truly is without being persecuted.

"Who's that?" Lucius says, glancing over at my phone. Can I not have any privacy?

"None of your business." I mutter. He furrows his brows.

"It is my business kitten. Don't forget who your marrying. I think I deserve to know who's pictures are on your phone." He murmurs in my ear. What a prick. I scoot away from him.

"Stop holding that over my head. You don't have to know everything about my life." I retort. He scoots closer to me.

"But I want to. Who was kitten before I knew her, hm?" He purrs. I can feel my heartbeat increasing. He makes me nervous.

"Normal. Now get away." I uncomfortably fidget but he's sitting so close to me. Lucius puts his hand on my leg. I try to move it but he's really strong.

I'm not going to forget what happened in his room. I know he's just trying to get into my pants. He'll never actually care about me.

"One day kitten. One day." He circles his fingers on my thigh and gets up. He gets really close to my face. I can feel his breath on me.

"One day, I'm going to make you scream." Lucius mutters. I can feel myself unintentionally getting wet. No no no. I cannot feel that way about him.

I'm about to protest but he gets up and walks off. I can't believe I actually felt something like that. Especially towards Lucius. Sure he's hot, but that's it. I want my first time to be sign someone special.

And that person is not Lucius.