Royal Pain || z.m. [Book 2]

•five•

"Had fun at your tea party, princess?" Aria asked Liam as she followed him behind down the long hallway.

"You should've tagged along." Liam turned around smiling.

"Whatever." she rolled her eyes in annoyance. Aria didn't want to see the Genovian princess with the man she was madly in love with.

On the other end of the hallway, King Alexander was approaching them with a maid following his tracks, who was holding a large fruit basket.

"What do you have there Uncle Alex?" Aria raised a brow.

"A small gift for the prince and princess of Genovia. Such wonderful news, isn't it?" he beamed which only made the princess scowl. "Felicity?"

"Yes your majesty?" the maid replied.

"Have the basket of fruits and a large bouquet sent to Genovia immediately. I've also written a short letter congratulating the family so please gather everything for it to be sent off."

"Yes my king." Felicity bowed her head before heading off with the basket.

"Liam, you're just coming from there I'm guessing?"

"Yes uncle. I was quite eager to meet them." Liam grinned.

"Aha of course you were." the king chuckled. "What about you Aria?"

"I could care less." she scoffed.

"Darling, you can't keep holding onto your grudge."

Aria looked away, avoiding to make eye contact with her uncle. She had every right to hold a grudge against Genevieve. But no one understood her and her intentions. Genovia broke tradition and the rules by allowing Zayn to marry some girl off the street, and for some reason no one had a problem with that. In fact, they were all being very supportive which made Aria only angrier.

"Well, I'll be going. I've got a meeting." King Alexander sighed knowing it was impossible to get Aria listen to him. Now that she was an adult, she did whatever pleased her.

After the king was a far distance from the step-siblings, Liam spoke up. "You should really do something for them even if you don't want to. You don't want to shame Wellington, now do you?"

"Don't try to play the guilt card with me Liam. At least I'm not the one fucking a non-royal!" she huffed and stomped away.

***

Today was the day Genevieve had been fearing about for the past week. She was to go to the all-girls boarding school and meet her subjects. She didn't exactly know why she was nervous. Maybe it was because this was her first solo appearance. Genevieve was always so used to being beside Zayn during these public appearances.

She stood in front of the full-length fidgeting with the braid she had just done. She kept falling deep into her thoughts about what could possibly go wrong resulting in her messing up the braid. Genevieve sighed heavily as her fingers once again worked swiftly with her dark hair.

"Love," a pair of arms looped around Genevieve's small torso. She looked up at her reflection to see Zayn behind her, resting his chin on her shoulder. A smile instantly appeared on her face. "Stop worrying so much. You look beautiful."

"I feel like I'm going to screw up." she turned around to face him. "I feel so nauseous just thinking about it."

"I'm sure the girls will love you very much. Everyone in Genovia does as far as I know. And aren't you suppose to feel nauseous during your pregnancy?"

"I guess." Genevieve frowned still not entirely feeling confident about the whole situation. "Yes, but this sick feeling is for a different reason."