THE ROYAL CROWN WARS

Chapter Fourteen

During dinner, the staff brought the bed from the guest bedroom and put it in mine. The beds sat close together, and they had even put a fuzzy blanket on the bed for Lizzie. It was so hard to sleep in the winter without a fuzzy blanket.

Reaching down to Lizzie's backpack, I pulled out the two headlamps.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "Those are for the secret passageway."

"What if the library is dark and we can't find the light?" I asked.

Her brow rose. "We're going right now?"

"We have to go back before my mom and dad come to wish us goodnight."

She took one of the headlamps out of my hand and put it on her head. "Let's just hope we don't run into Dean again."

He was the last person I wanted to see right now. If he caught us over there again, he'd tell our parents. There's no way they'd agree to let us keep investigating. They'd probably ground us forever if they knew what we were doing.

"He should be cleaning up by now, or relaxing." I hoped.

"Or drooling over Alexandria," Lizzie giggled.

I giggled. "I can't believe that Dean has a crush on Alexandria. She's so intense."

"I think Alexandria likes him too," said Lizzie. "It's weird. I can't imagine Alexandria wanting to date anyone. Or having the time. My dad pretty much makes her run errands from the time we get up to until bedtime."

"Imagine if they start dating and Alexandria starts spending all her time at the palace."

Lizzie shuddered. "Please. Please don't say that."

"Let's hope they'll be too shy to say anything about it."

"Kinda like you were too shy to ask Blake to dance at school?" Lizzie asked.

I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't too shy. Besides, Lena had already asked him to dance."

"But you're a princess," Lizzie pointed out.

"And, I don't want that to be the only reason why he wants to dance with me."

Mom and Dad openly discussed with me that our family had a lot of privileges. Our worries were not the same as a lot of other kids my age. It was important for me to understand.

But, people also wanted to hang out with me just because I was a princess. I wanted people to be friends with me for me and not because of some title.

Adjusting the headlamp on my head, I jerked the bedroom door open. I peeked around the corner and let out a sigh of relief. The coast was clear. Motioning for Lizzie to follow me, we headed down the hallway.

Glancing around the corner, I froze. A guard. She stood positioned against the wall with her gaze fixed directly in front of her. The floor squeaked underneath my weight and her head whipped around. Her brows knitted together.

"What are the two of you doing down there?"

Great. She saw us. Stepping around the corner, I swallowed hard. "We were going to get some water."

Her brow rose. "With headlamps on your heads?"

"We're telling scary stories," said Lizzie. "Besides, they're kinda fun." She clicked on the light and pointed her head straight up into the guard's face.

She covered her face with her hand. "I get it, I get it. Go get your water, but don't horse around down there. Get in and come back."

"We will," I squeaked out.