Up for Heir - Stella Starling Page 0,51

tangled into an impenetrable knot just trying to say hello and he’d once again totally failed to brush up on proper protocol. Was he supposed to have bowed? Genuflected? Done one of those sun salutation things that Ollie liked to practice out on the balcony at their apartment?

Wait, no. Probably not that last one, because he was pretty sure the sun salutations were from the yoga DVD Ollie had borrowed from the library as part of his new mindfulness kick, not the proper way to greet the sovereign of your country. Not that he’d met them yet—the actual sovereigns, Queen Aubrey and King Alphonse—but… but… but… oh, holy plebeian panic attacks, he probably would at some point, because they were, after all, Leo’s parents. Edvin’s boyfriend’s parents. And even if he sometimes forgot that Leo—his Leo, who was utterly perfect and yet still somehow managed to burn boiling water and had tiny crinkles at the corners of his eyes when he laughed—was also Crown Prince Leopold Octavius Ambrose van Rosavia, there was no way to forget it now that they were surrounded by a million reminders of just how far out of Edvin’s league the man was, because—oh holy hyperventilation, had Edvin mentioned that they were actually inside the Royal Palace?

The Royal Palace that was pictured on practically every postcard in the country and had its own Wikipedia page.

The Royal Palace that tourists took selfies in front of because it was a national freaking monument.

The Royal Palace that was even fancier and more intimidating than the picture-perfect castle at Zasfer; the one where Leo had first told Edvin that he thought they might… might suit. That Leo might… might want to marry him.

At the time, the magical moment had seemed too good to be true—in a lovely, dreamy, thank-you-fairy-godmother-may-I-please-have-another kind of way—but now, following Leo down a long, ornate hallway lined with pictures of Rosavian royalty that Edvin had previously only seen in history books but who were also Leo’s family, on their way to meet with a royal tailor who would no doubt laugh himself silly once Leo explained that his job was supposed to try and make Edvin look like he actually belonged in the palace and at the Royal Ball and in Leo’s life, there was just no denying the heart-aching truth: the fairy tale he’d been living seemed too good to be true… because it was.

Edvin stumbled, a wave of vertigo hitting him as every single insecurity he’d ever had suddenly welled up inside him all at once, threatening to suck him under and drown him in heartbroken misery.

His hands started to tremble, and his vision got dark at the edges.

He felt lightheaded.

He was… he was… oh shizzle, he couldn’t breathe, and he must have made some sort of pitiful sound or something, because Leo stopped abruptly and turned to him with a look of concern.

“Eddie, are you okay?”

Edvin shook his head, actually-not-metaphorically hyperventilating now, and Leo tipped his chin up and pulled him close, searching his face. “What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”

His warm, chocolate-brown eyes were filled with a mix of potent attention and genuine concern, overlaying the ever-present hint of sparkling good humor that had captured Edvin’s heart from the start. It was the stuff that never came through in the flashy, party-boy images that had been tabloid-staples for so many years. It was a side of Leo that Edvin selfishly liked to believe was just for him. And suddenly… suddenly he could breathe.

“Yes,” said Edvin.

Leo frowned in obvious concern.

Wait, no. What? Oh. Edvin had just accidentally confirmed that he wasn’t feeling well, when what he’d meant was that Leo looking at him like that did make him feel better.

“I mean… I m-m-mean, no,” he said quickly.

Except, hold on, did that sound like he didn’t feel well, or… or like he did?

Edvin had been excited by the invitation to come to the palace mostly because he was just excited to spend more time with Leo, but now, he really, really wished they were back at his too-small apartment or tucked into the back of one of Leo’s fancy cars or anywhere at all that he could just melt into Leo’s arms and not worry about Leo being Prince Leopold. But this was reality, and Leo really was a prince, and even though of course Edvin had known that from the beginning, he’d somehow not fully realized it until just now.

Princes didn’t fall for Edvins, not in real life, and that… that made