Royalty Exposed

Chapter 42

When I woke up the next morning and rolled over, I saw that Carter wasn't there. Sitting up in the large bed, I looked around and didn't see my husband anywhere. For a second or two I listened for any noises, but didn't hear a thing. Not even the water running in the shower. Carter wasn't the type of guy who regularly worked out, but I knew that sometimes when he had a lot on his mind, he went for a run. That was my first guess as to where my husband could be. I knew if my guess what right, Carter had chosen to go for a run because of his mother.

He was wondering just as much as I was about why she wanted to talk to us. As long as I had known Carter and his mother, she had never once kindly requested to speak to us. She usually had the royal guards bring you to her. Or she showed up unannounced and demanded to talk to you.

I got out of bed knowing today was going to be a very long day because it wouldn't be until after five when we would find out just what Julia wanted. At least there were plenty of things we would be doing that would keep us busy, but I knew that she was still going to be on our mind regardless of how busy Carter and I were today. She just wouldn't be constantly on our minds like she would be if we didn't have anything planned to do.

What was mostly planned today was sightseeing and a lunch with another local government official, but I knew Carter and I wouldn't be alone like any normal couple would be. We would be followed by our royal guards, my assistant, and of course those pesky paparazzi.

After getting out of the bed, I headed off to take a shower. By the time that I was done with my shower and all dressed up ready to go, Carter still hadn't come back to our hotel room. I headed over to my side of the bed and grabbed my phone off the nightstand, wanting to check on Carter. There weren't any messages on the phone from him so I gave his phone a call, hoping he was going to answer.

I just wanted to make sure that he was okay and to remind him that he needed to come back to the hotel soon so he still could have time to take a shower. It wouldn't be too much longer until we had to leave the hotel to get our day started.

"Hello?" I heard Carter say after a few rings.

"Hey, where are you?" I asked him.

"I went for a run, but now I'm sitting in a park just thinking," he replied. I could tell whatever he had been thinking about had been something that he had been deep in thought about. Carter wasn't completely focused on our conversation.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. I wasn't sure if he was going to want to talk about whatever he was thinking about, which was most likely his mother, over the phone.

"I don't think I'm going to be completely okay until my mother stops bothering us," he answered.

"Do you think she'll actually stop bothering us one day?" I asked.

"You sound like you don't believe she will," he said.

"No, I don't. And that's because of how much she loves power. Telling her that she can't have something that she's so obsessed with just makes her want it more," I responded. Carter didn't say anything so I added, "Why don't you come back to our room? We can talk about it more if you want to when you get back here."

"I'll be back soon. I just want a few more minutes alone," he said. I could tell that he was no longer focused on our conversation. He was back in that mind space he had been when I had first called and he had answered.

"Okay babe, I'll be waiting here for you. I love you," I said.

"I love you too," he said before Carter hung up his phone. I hung up mine and then went to sit down on the couch, wondering why all of the sudden he seemed so distant.