Royalties

Part 2: Settling

Emrys
The journey back to the palace wasn't nearly as long as I was dreading. To be fair, I had no idea how far away it was in the first place, but since Rueben said we were out at his countryside estate, excuse me for assuming we were far as fuck away. Rueben told me about his family and his childhood, or at least the best parts of it. He actually shared more than I thought he would. Normally you don't talk about very personal things with someone you've just met, but Rueben had no problem letting me in on some of his childhood secrets. His favorite of which is when he hid his little brother's favorite stuffed animal when they were seven and ten. To this day, it seems like his younger brother has never found it. It was nice to see they had a good relationship.

    "Oh my god, is that the palace? Fucking finally," I sighed. My butt was starting to hurt from sitting for so long. Even though the trip was a reasonable couple of hours, carriages were not designed for comfort.

    "I don't think I've ever met someone so deceivingly pretty with such a foul mouth," Rueben laughed.

    "I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much," I sneered. "Where I'm from, it's pretty common to swear. It's almost weird if you don't."

    "Even in the workplace?"

    "Eh, I guess you're supposed to tone it down at work, but sometimes you slip up."

    "I bet you 'slip up' a lot."

    Rueben used air quotes as he teased me. He was right, yet again, so I flipped him off. I almost forgot he was a prince of this kingdom, but he laughed it off. I guess in a way, I was like a rare species for him. I highly doubt there were many people who'd give a prince the finger, let alone cuss in front of them. If I had to live like that, I'm sure I'd welcome the company of someone like that, too. But, I'd try to be careful when there were other people involved. I didn't need them staring at me with every step I take while I'm here.

    The carriage stopped and I jumped up. I would have gone for the door, but it opened before I could open it myself. A butler looking man stood with his hand extended for my use. I didn't really need help getting out of a carriage, but I would have felt even more awkward if I left him hanging. I stepped out, using the butler's hand, said thanks and took a few steps forward. Palaced were fucking ginormous. In theory, I knew that, but actually standing in front of one? Ridiculous. How did people live in them? There was just too much going on.

    Rueben stepped up next to me and gave me a curious look. I smiled and nodded my head. I'd let him lead the way.

    As soon as we walked through the doors, a young man was there to meet us. Well, sort of. He seemed to be waiting at the top of the stairs, and upon seeing us, or more precisely, Rueben, ran down the stairs.

    "Ruby, thank goodness you're back. Things with the neighboring kingdoms have been crazy. What were you thinking taking a little vacation without telling anyone where you were going or when you'd be back?!" the young man seemed overwhelmed and truly baffled by Rueben's actions. By the familiarity, I assumed this was the younger brother, who finally noticed I was standing there as well. "And who is this?"

    "Hi, I'm Emrys," I said awkwardly. I didn't know how else to introduce myself, but I felt like I should do it rather than leaving it up to Rueben. I was fully capable of telling this guy my name without help, but I'd leave the explaining of what I was doing here to Rueben. That seemed fair.

    "She's going to be working here at the palace. I just hired her this morning," Rueben said vaguely.

    It kind of felt like I should curtsey. That's what a noble lady would do, isn't it? But hey, I wasn't a noble lady so I didn't have to follow all those rules, right? Anyway, if I didn't have to do it to the crown prince, there was no way I was doing it to anyone. Maybe the king and queen, but I hadn't made up my mind about that yet.