Her Royal Highness (Royals #2) - Rachel Hawkins Page 0,75

pissed-off duchesses, and it’s a problem. One is a fluke.”

He smiles at her, and it changes his face slightly, making him look younger, cuter. And also head over heels in love.

Daisy’s got it just as bad if the way she’s looking at him is any indication, and I find my own eyes searching out Flora across the room. Are we that obvious? Maybe not?

“Ohhhhh, so you’re Flora’s crush!”

I startle slightly, turning my head back to Daisy, who’s grinning at me. “What? No, we’re roommates. Or we were.”

“You can’t be both?” she asks before turning back to the boy at her side. “Miles, light of my life, pain in my ass, will you go get me and . . .”

“Millie,” I supply, and she nods.

“Great, Millie. Would you go get Millie and me a couple of drinks, please? The nonalcoholic kind, please.”

“That was also one time,” he mutters, but he presses a quick kiss to her temple before heading off toward the refreshments table.

“Seriously, spill,” she says as soon as he’s gone. “Because Ellie and Alex were gossiping about Flora having it bad for someone. And, I have to say, I’m relieved because you look so normal and nice? This family needs more normal and nice. I’m normal, but nice still eludes me a little. Sorry, is this too much?”

I shake my head. “No, I’m relieved, too. Just that there’s someone else who gets how weird this all is.”

“It is vast oceans of weird, my friend, for sure.”

For a moment, we just stand there, staring at all the people milling around. And then Daisy nudges me with her elbow, nodding toward Miles as he stands near the bar with Spiffy and Dons.

“But sometimes,” Daisy says, “you meet someone who makes it all worth it.”

I try my best to smile at her, but I clearly don’t do so great with it because Daisy reaches out and touches my arm now, her lips pressing together with sympathy. “Except it’s different when your person is just, like, the chips and salsa as opposed to the whole enchilada.”

Glancing over at her, I raise my eyebrows. “The chips and salsa?”

Daisy wrinkles her nose. “Okay, yeah, don’t tell Miles I called him that. I don’t think he’d see it as a compliment.”

“It’s a solid metaphor, though,” I admit, and Daisy grins, proud of herself.

“I thought so. But anyway, point is that even being with Miles felt weird at first, and he’s just the best friend. Watching my sister go through this with Alex . . .” She shakes her head. “She says he’s worth it, too, and I believe her, but I get it. Or I guess I get it as much as anyone can.”

That’s actually nice to hear, even though I’m not sure she does get it. Watching it and experiencing it are two different things. But she’s still the first person who at least gets that it’s weird. Perry and Saks have lived in this world for a long time, too, so they don’t have that same sense of it that I do, that this is . . . just not how people live, not really. It’s their world. It’s Flora’s world.

But it’s not mine.

But Flora? She’s mine. Or at least she is for right now.

I feel Daisy’s hand on my arm again, and she leans in. “Try not to overthink it. That’s the best advice I can give. Just . . . go with the flow.”

Looking around the room, at the expensive gowns and glittering jewels and actual swords affixed to the walls, that doesn’t seem possible, and I say so. “Has anyone in this room ever gone with the flow in their lives, you think?” I ask, and Daisy follows my gaze before shaking her head.

“Probably not, no, which is why they need us.”

Miles returns, holding goblets of water, and as he hands them to us, he apologizes, saying, “I know this is not the most exciting of beverage options, but it’s all they have that isn’t booze.”

“‘The most exciting of beverage options’—how am I attracted to you?” Daisy mutters, but she takes the water anyway before nodding at me and saying, “This is Millie. She’s Flora’s crush.”

“I know,” he says, surprising us both. “I read about that earlier.” Then he offers me a genuine smile. “Congrats and all that.”

“You read about it?” I ask. “Where?”

Thanks to a clever school chum with an iPhone, PEOPLE has these exclusive shots of Princess Flora of Scotland cozying up to her American roommate, Amelia