Royally Twisted [ON HOLD]

4

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"Are you sure we have to do this?" I ask.

"Peach, you love walkabouts, what's going on?" Kai stands in front of me, guiding my chin up until I meet his gaze. Right now, if I said no, he would cancel the whole thing; hell, he would even cancel his coronation if I asked him to – without explanation, no questions asked – this man would move heaven and earth if it would make me happier. He might be in service to our kingdom, but I know if I asked him to, he'd give it all up at the drop of a hat. Kai is everything I want, everything I need and I love this job.

So why don't I feel happy? Why do I just want to go to bed, curl up with Emma, and fall asleep? Why do I suddenly not want to engage in my job?

"People will be talking," I say. "About me and Brayden. They already are on social media—"

"I told you to stay off social media, Peach." He sounds stressed at the mere mention of it.

I shouldn't be mentioning it; I should've kept my mouth shut.

"How can I, though? He's all over the news, everywhere I turn. People whisper about it when we turn up to places. Even the damn palace team is talking about it. He's everywhere, despite being irrelevant and gone from my orbit. It's not fair."

Brayden is doing a TV interview live on national TV. We were always planning to do this walkabout to meet people camping outside the palace today, but since the press office told us about this, we moved it up to now instead to try and distract people.

He gathers me into his arms and kisses the top of my hair. "I know. Listen to me, if anyone talks to you about it, asks you anything, you just ignore or answer with 'the palace is aware and dealing with it'. I have the lawyers investigating and the publicity team dealing with how to deflect it. What is important for us, and for the people to focus on, is the coronation. If they focus on that, they'll probably not even care about that prat."

I nod as he caresses my face. "Are you sure?"

Kai kisses my forehead. "I'm sure. Peach, if anyone has the authority to make people forget, it's us. Look at how people are out there, waiting for us. Sure, they're probably gossiping out there as they wait for a glimpse of us, but you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because right now, that idiot is loud. He has his voice in the papers, and we're in here. The moment we walk out of those gates and talk to people, he'll be insignificant. We're king and queen, baby, and if we want them to think about how amazing we are, and forget him, we can make it happen. The people out there adore you. Probably more than they like me. All you have to do is stand there and their heads turn. Staying in here and hiding gives that prat power."

Kai's right. That's what makes him the best king; he's not arrogant with it, either. He knows the power he has, and he knows his knowledge set, and he uses it.