Royal Package - Lili Valente Page 0,33
question…” Andrew shoots Jeffery a sideways glance that makes me think this isn’t normal behavior for his brother before turning my way with a “let’s get out of here” flare of his nostrils. “You ready to tackle the maze, Lizzy?”
“Oh my God, yes! I can’t wait,” I say in a rush, forgetting to stutter in my eagerness to get out of the dining room.
But that’s all right.
I was talking to Andrew, and one slipup shouldn’t raise any eyebrows.
After saying our goodbyes to Jeffery and the queen, Andrew and I agree to meet by the maze entrance in twenty minutes. I don’t need that long to change into stretch pants, a T-shirt, and my borrowed sneakers, but I figure I can use the extra time to text with Lizzy.
Surely, she’s responded to my messages by now.
But when I get to my room, my only new message is from the nursery in the village, offering me twenty percent off my next bulk purchase of potting soil. Frown tugging at my forehead, I pop into my inbox, in case Lizzy decided email was a better mode of communication, but there’s nothing there either.
“Probably sucked into the work vortex,” I mutter as I toss my phone on the bed. Lizzy has always struggled with time, never remembering to check in with people so that we know she’s not dead in a ditch.
But it’s only been a little over fourteen hours since I hugged her goodbye.
Surely, she’s fine.
Promising myself not to start worrying until tomorrow morning, I change, slip out onto the balcony of my suite, swing a leg over the edge of the thick stone railing, and hop the four feet onto the ground below. Hopefully, when I’m spotted sneaking out of my bedroom on the security monitors, the guards won’t think I’m crazy. I just can’t handle a run-in with anyone in the royal family right now.
Well, anyone except Andrew.
So far, he’s the least stressful part of this game of pretend. I’m actually looking forward to seeing him again, and when I round the fountain, and his long, graceful shadow comes into view in the front of the maze, a rush of warmth floods my chest.
“There you are,” he says, in a husky rumble that makes my lips tingle. “So, you survived your first meal with my family.”
“It was delicious.” I stop beside him, gazing up at him in the moonlight. “Your mother and brothers seem very kind.”
“They are. But they’re also a bunch of whackos. Even Mother. Don’t let one semi-normal performance fool you.”
I smile. “How so?”
“Well, Nickolas is irritatingly cheerful and can’t make a decision to save his life. If he’s in charge of choosing where we go to dinner, we’ll end up wandering the streets for hours and then drunk in some pub where he saw a cute girl, ordering pizza at midnight.”
I hum beneath my breath. “I doubt I’ll be out with Nickolas while he’s trolling for girls, so I think I should be safe. And I like cheerful people.”
“Then you’ll hate Jeffrey,” Andrew counters. “He’s a zip-lipped grouch. He doesn’t talk much, and when he does, nine times out of ten, he’s saying something you don’t want to hear.”
I almost ask him what was up with the movie interrogation but decide it’s best not to mention it. Lizzy would gloss over the problem, not confront it. “It’s nice of him to set up a screening for us. And your mother seems awfully poised and accomplished to be a nutjob.”
“Exactly. That’s how she flies under the radar. She plays to her strengths, so no one will notice that she refuses to buy Christmas presents—not even for her own children, not even when we were kids—hates parties, and disappears to her beach cottage several times a year without telling anyone when she’ll be back.”
“Oh, please,” I scoff with a roll of my eyes. “You don’t know what weird is. Once you meet my family, you’ll see how lucky you are.”
He hitches his chin. “Yeah? So who’s the biggest oddball? Alexandra or Sabrina?”
The sound of my real name on his lips is so strange that my heart jerks in my chest, and for a moment, I can’t remember what we’re talking about.
Thankfully, my brain clicks back into gear before the silence stretches on for too long. “Well, my parents win the eccentric award, for sure, but of the three of us, Alexandra is the most…unique.”
“Unique is a nice way of saying mad,” he teases. “I’ll have to remember that. So what’s