One in a million (Prequel to 'Bad Blood')

Chapter 22: You better

James's POV

"That looks good," Dad said as he looked at the plates on the table. He nodded before looking at me. "Your mother's recipe?"

I nodded.

He smiled then. "Let's serve them." He took two plates while I took the other two.

We walked to the living room where the king and queen and their daughter and Cassandra would be. When we arrived, dad served King Alden and Queen Louisa while I served Princess Felicity and Cassandra. When I served Cassandra, she smiled at me. To other people, this was a regular smile, but I saw the love in her eyes.

"Well, Carl, today you've outdone yourself," Queen Louisa said as she looked at the plate in front of her. "This looks amazing!"

Dad smiled. "Thank you, Milady, but I cannot take the praise for that," He looked at me then. "James prepared lunch on his own."

The king and queen looked at me then. "Really?"

I glanced at Cassandra who didn't seem to interfere so I nodded.

"Well, you definitely know how to cook," Queen Louisa smiled before looking at the princess. "Doesn't that look good, sweetie?"

The princess nodded before trying to dig into her meal.

"Wait," Cassandra said as she took the spoon from the princess. "Let me help you, hon."

I smiled at that. I loved seeing Cassandra and the princess. She was so good with her. It seemed as if she knew exactly what to do. It just worked. And sometimes, that made me think too. About us. About the future...

"Come," Dad said as he patted me on the chest. He walked to the door and I followed him. We walked back to the kitchen, for our lunch. "You surely gained some points there."

I smiled as I went to sit down.

"What happened?" Chandler asked.

Dad looked at him. "Your brother made lunch for the royal family on his own," Dad then looked at me again. "And he did well."

Chandler looked at me. "Awesome!"

I chuckled.

"Will we eat that too?" Chandler asked as he looked around.

"No, son," Dad sighed before putting bread on the table. "We eat the same thing as usual."

"Oh..." Chandler sighed but didn't complain, he knew better. He was raised to appreciate the little things, to know his place in society.

We ate while making small talk until dad stood up. "It's time for their desserts," He took two plates and I took two plates. "We'll be right back, Chandler."

We walked to the living room and served the royal family again before taking away their dirty plates. We then walked back to the kitchen to continue lunch with Chandler.

We started talking again. Chandler was talking about the book he was reading at the moment. A crime novel. He loved it, he said, it's his favorite. He loved the mystery in it. He loved solving the crime.

Dad and I loved listening to him, perhaps because he could do what we couldn't: he could relax and educate himself.

Suddenly, the door to the kitchen opened.

We all looked at the door. I gulped as I saw Cassandra walk in with 4 plates in her hands. "Wait," Dad jumped up right away and took them from her. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, we must've lost track of time..."

Cassandra looked at our table and seemed rather upset. "Why aren't you eating a warm meal too?"

Dad looked at Cassandra. "We eat bread," He smiled politely. "We don't need more."

Cassandra looked from dad to me. "Are you coming?"

Dad looked at me before nodding.

I smiled a bit before looking at Chandler. "You'll have to tell me the rest later, ok bud?"

Chandler nodded slowly.

I walked to Cassandra and, together, we left the kitchen.

While we were walking, I glanced at her. I noticed she was deep in thoughts. "Is everything alright?"

She stopped then and sighed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

I looked at her. "About?"

"About your meals," She gulped. "Why aren't you eating warm meals?"

I shrugged. "It's always been that way for me."

"So you never had anything of the meals you made?"

I shook my head.

She sighed and looked down.

"Hey," I reached for her hands but she pulled them back as we were not hidden. "Cassandra," I said, gaining her attention. "I'm fine, I like bread, it's good."

She looked away.

"You don't have to worry about me," I quickly pecked her cheek, surprising her. "I'll be fine." I showed her a smile.

And luckily, she smiled too. "You better."

We continued our walk through the hallways, even though I didn't know where we were going to.

"So," I said, glancing at her. "Where are we going?"

"My room." She said before looking down, a slight blush appeared on her cheeks. 

I gulped. I wondered what she had been planning this time. I knew that every evening, we'd lay down and talk and kiss for what felt like hours. But never during the day. This was odd.

We arrived at her room and entered.

"Cassandra," I gulped one more time. "Why are we here?" I then realized that that may sound a bit rude so I went on: "Not that I don't like it here, but we're normally never here during the day. Usually, we're both busy during the day and we'd only do this during the evenings and..." I then realized I was starting to mumble so I took a deep breath before saying: "Why are we here?"

She sighed before looking down. "I have to go," She looked at me. "Back home."

"Oh..." I looked down then. It's odd how much it hurts me to hear her refer to the Southern Kingdom as her 'home'. I know that she's the Queen of the Southern Kingdom and that she's a Southerner, but... I don't know, I wanted her to feel at home here.

Cassandra didn't say anything, she just took her bag and started making it.

I walked to her and took her hands, making her stop packing. "I don't want you to go," I whispered. "I want you to stay."

Cassandra came closer to me, that close that our noses touched. She always sought comfort, I knew she needed it and I loved giving her that. "I don't want to go either, James," She looked me in the eyes. And, despite us being so close to each other, we didn't back off. "But I have to go, they need to see me."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Formalities."

I pulled back a little. "Are you going to be alright?"

She smiled then and nodded. "I'll hurry to be back."

I smiled then. "You better."

She nudged me playfully before going back to packing and, this time, I helped her.