be so bad, I tell myself. Perhaps it will be a kind piece. Maybe it will start off like Clementine and Christian, and the story will be about the very different type of woman that Xander is now seeing. Maybe I can be that same breath of fresh air during the new period.
Before they turn and point out all my shortcomings and failings.
It’s a long shot, but I cling to it.
Bella returns with a mug of tea. I put my phone in my lap and take it from her. “Thank you.”
She sinks next to me on the sofa. “I’m so sorry you are going through this. At least I have had the benefit of being born into it. Did Xander prepare you for any of this?”
I exhale and stare down into my tea. “He talked about what Clementine has gone through. How the press has covered him throughout his life. But as far as the stuff you were telling me in the car, like about my rubbish …” My voice trails off, as this is still hard to grasp. “We thought we had more time.”
“He’ll beat himself up over that,” Bella says softly. “He’s so protective of the people he cares about. And he cares so much about you, Poppy. Xander would rather die than have you go through any of this.”
“Sometimes,” I say, my voice thick, “I’m afraid he will shove me away to protect me.”
Bella puts her hand on my arm. “If he tries to do that, we won’t let him get away with it. Love is about people coming together and being there for each other through the good and the bad. My parents have been through a lot of bad, and they’re still together. And that’s a testament to their love. I’m not saying you’re in love—I can’t speak to that—but if Xander loves you and you love him, like my parents love each other, you’ll overcome this. And all the other hardships life throws at you.”
I’m about to say something when my phone buzzes. I suck in my breath and feel Bella straighten next to me.
I pick it up. And my stomach sinks. Dread overwhelms me.
It’s a notification from Dishing Weekly for their Royals First coverage. The headline reads:
QUEEN OF COD REELS IN ROYALTY! Can a humble fish and chip shop girl turned biscuit baker capture the heart of Xander the Philanderer?
I stop breathing. Panic grips me. With a trembling finger, I tap the link to the story, and my screen is filled with pictures of me. One of me at the security gate at Kensington Palace. Me walking with Bella out of the shop. One of Xander and me that day in The Biscuit Cutter, when he came to see me and order a cake. Everything is blurring in my head as I try to process it. My phone begins going off, and so does Bella’s. But I get tunnel vision. I force myself to read the words that everyone in the world can read right now, too:
Could a biscuit queen rule the monarchy one day?
If Poppy Davies has her way, yes. Sources close to Prince Alexander say the opportunistic baker from Wales has whipped up a recipe to land herself a prince. And like a souffle, the romance is rising fast and piping hot! Dishing Weekly has all the scoop on the new couple, who have had sexy overnight trysts at Kensington Palace for about a month now. Talk about delicious!
A close friend of the couple said the spark between Poppy—a twenty-three-year-old Cardiff native whose family owns a fish and chip shop—and the twenty-seven-year-old heir to the throne was a surprise to all who know the playboy prince. Soon after meeting, the couple were making a love nest at Nott Cott, where Poppy often stays overnight for their secret romantic rendezvous.
“She’s not his usual type,” a Kensington Palace insider confided. “But Xander seems to be smitten with Poppy—for the time being.”
Davies is known on YouTube as a biscuit artist and is employed by The Biscuit Cutter, a bakery in the swanky Belgravia area of London. Palace sources say the couple has grown serious quickly, but there are concerns that the prince and Ms. Davies aren’t being realistic about their relationship.
“They are extremely different people,” a source from Buckingham Palace explains. “Poppy thinks she will be able to bake biscuits while being the queen. It’s utterly ridiculous. Taxpayers aren’t going to foot the bill for a queen to bake biscuits—which is what Poppy has