Grace

Chapter 27

Ben woke me up in the morning.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked and sat up.

I was in Simeon's room and he and Tarq were sharing Tarq's room. Apparently me going into that room and Tarq sharing with Simeon would have been a disaster so Ben's mattress had been hauled out really late last night.

"Simeon didn't dare wake you. He has an older sister who isn't so keen on mornings."

"And what makes you," I yawned, "think that I am."

"Well, you haven't thrown a shoe at me yet."

"True."

"Time is it?"

"Half seven nearly."

I nodded and got out of bed. "I might not own a hair dryer, but more than two minutes would have been nice."

"You've got five. Meet you down stairs."

I nodded and stumbled into his room.

"Boo!" Tarq yelled.

I screamed and jumped backwards three feet and fell to the floor. Tarq, Ben and Simeon laughed their heads off at me. They quickly ran when I glared at them. I pulled my self up when I was sure they were gone and then shut the door so that I could get dressed in uninterrupted peace. I moved quickly, more bothered about eating than what I looked like this morning. Quickly wasn't quick enough though. I was just about to pull my under-dress on when the laptop came to life.

"Hi, Be –"

I screamed and turned to the laptop, hands covering my chest, eyes wide. The guy who'd hijacked the computer was Christian. Ben's dad. The King. His brown eyes were wide with shock, his jaw had dropped and was sat there in a posh looking room staring at me. I stared at him and then we both looked away from the screen at the same time. He cleared his throat, I grabbed the jumper that was over the back of the desk chair, one of Ben's, and quickly pulled it on.

"Care to explain why you're in my son's room, Grace?" the King asked.

I sat down. He'd just seen me more or less naked, I figured we were beyond me staying stood up when he was the other side of the world. "All the girls apart from me are ill so I was moved over here. Ben's sleeping in Simeon's room. He, um, forgot to tell you?"

"Yes. I'm sorry I –"

"You didn't know," I said. "I'll tell him you called though."

He nodded. "Thank you. Sorry, again."

"Wait!" I blurted out before he could click the conversation closed.

He stopped just in time and his brows knitted. "Is Ben ok?"

I nodded, "I talked to him yesterday Your – Sir – Christian," I stammered out. I was pretty sure Ben wouldn't want me to tell anyone about our conversation the other day, let alone his dad, but I wasn't sure he'd tell his dad. I know I'd want to know if my child had settled something within themselves that had previously made them need counselling. I took a breath. "About him being king and how it's still a long way off. He got it."

"He did?" he asked quietly, relief flooding his voice and relaxing the muscles in his face. The King flopped back in his chair and looked more like 'just a dad' than I'd ever seen him. The issue that we were talking about was something only a future monarch would ever go through, but the worry it caused was exactly the same as any other issue a seventeen year old might face. "I don't know how you did it, Grace, to be honest I'm not entirely sure I'm bothered right now, but thank you."