i just might love you (a hosie royalty au)

Part 4 "I'm just here for the food."

***

"I'm just here for the food." Josie replied carefully, eyeing the bread the auburn haired girl had been beating. "Are you making bread?"

"No, I'm leading a revolt." She said sarcastically, holding back a grin as she studied the girl before her. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"It looked like you were assaulting that poor bread."

The auburn haired girl's face breaks out into a wide grin, an uncharacteristically girly giggle leaving her mouth. "Maybe I was." Her brows draw together in mock seriousness as she places her hands on her hips.

Josie just stared at the girl for a couple seconds. What the hell was going on? She shook her head to clear her clouded thoughts. "But seriously, why are you here?"

The Princess lets her arms fall to her sides, her fingers gently playing with the fabric of her dress. Her face morphed into what Josie thought was a forced expression of neutrality. The only way the brunette could tell the difference was the lack of sparkle her gaze held moments before.

"It's complicated." She replied softly, folding her arms in a deliberate attempt to guard herself. "I've been grounded."

"Grounded?" Josie tried to keep the surprise out of her voice, but it seeped through. "What for?"

"Got caught sneaking out again." She narrowed her eyes at the brunette. "Not that it's any of your business."

"Right."

The air between them began to fill with a tense awkwardness. Unlike that time in the woods, both girls were aware of who the other truly was. Well, to an extent.

"I didn't get your name." The Princess spoke into the silence.

"Oh, right." Remembering herself, Josie curtsied politely. "Lady Josette Saltzman of Gemini. But my friends call me Josie."

"Hope."

It takes a few seconds for the brunette to realize what the other girl meant, but then her face relaxed once she realized it was her name. Hope was looking at her with that same amused expression. This Josie character was beginning to endear herself to the Mikaelson heir.

"So, I take it you're not actually here visiting your aunt."

"My aunt?" Josie asked, a blush rising on her cheeks as she remembered her previous lie. "No... I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth. I just didn't know if—"

"You could trust me." Hope finished for her. "I get it."

The brunette kicks at the dirt on the floor, a growing feeling of dread pooling in her stomach. This wasn't going how she had wanted. Like she had planned for anything anyway. Plans were more her sisters thing. Speaking of her sister—

"My sister wanted me to get her a pastry, she's probably wondering where I am..."

"Of course." The auburn haired girl said kindly, a smirk crossing her face for only a moment. "Go right ahead. I won't snitch."

Josie walked over to a table with cloth covered plates, gently removing the fabric to find what she was looking for. With a triumphant look on her face and the desired pastry in hand, she spun around, only for the mysterious Mikaelson to be gone. She had vanished without a sound, only leaving behind the resting bread and Josie's memories. Part of her did feel like she had just witnessed a ghost. The other part felt awful at how gobsmacked she had acted, bumbling through their conversation like she had never taken an etiquette class in her whole entire life.

On her way back to Lizzie, Josie made a decision to tell her sister everything.

"You've met the Princess on two different occasions, alone may I add, and didn't even consider it as worth mentioning?!"

Josie spent the rest of her night preventing her sister from enacting a crazy plot.

*

The exam took place the next day. The twins had spent their time in the parlor with MG and Kaleb quizzing each other all morning. Even though they were Knights, they had an excellent grasp on history and literature. It came as a shock to the brunette twin, seeing as the Knights back home could hardly read, let alone spell their own names. But maybe that came down to their kingdoms education system. Scholars were expensive, and they definitely didn't have free education of any kind. Josie thanked the stars for her luck.

But she didn't consider herself all that lucky once she was presented with a stack of papers. It took her three hours to finish that exam.

They had packed everyone into the grand hall, stationing soldiers sporadically throughout the room to prevent cheating. A lot of the participants felt intimidated by this tactic, but that was just what King Niklaus wanted. Hope had rolled her eyes at this when he had been gloating about it at dinner. All she wanted was to be out hunting in the woods, instead she was stuck hearing about all the ways her father planned to send her suitors through the ringer. At least she could be slightly at ease when he didn't mention that Josette Saltzman girl... But maybe that was a bad thing.

***
A/n: I need to write action scenes to keep my attention span.