Maid For You 4

Chapter 8

If anyone was listening carefully, they could have heard the sound of shattering glass from my heart breaking into a million little pieces.

Even for someone as austere as Prince Nikolas, breakups suck.

"Nikolas, that's not true," I told him. "That's not true at all!" Okay, obviously Queen Klara had pulled strings to make this breakup happen, and I would tell him that, but first I wanted to get my personal point across. "You're are honestly super awesome!" I told him.

He scoffed slightly, a rueful smile playing with his lips. "Cassie, I apologize. I have been quite whiny, one could say. I suppose my pride has merely been pricked, and I'm particularly heralded for my humility, as Prince Coleman is so keen to point out. So you do not—"

"Well yeah, sure, of course your pride is pricked!" I said. "I mean, Luke was this weird dreamy magical mutual break-up scenario thing, but in general, breakups are the worst, Nikolas. And it hurts and it hurts your pride. Even if you weren't super in-love the other person, it just is super rough. Because now you gotta move on alone, when you're used to having someone, and then you feel really bad because they broke up with you or for one reason or another, it didn't work out, and then you question your own worth.

"And this is going to sound like trite advice, but just because things don't work out with one person, doesn't mean you are undesirable or unlovable. It just means that they weren't the one! I mean it, Nikolas, when I say that you're amazing! And I'm not just throwing out words. Honestly I feel super lucky to be your friend. You are generous, and thoughtful, and kind—"

"Kind?" Nikolas repeated, he himself not seeming to believe it.

I almost chuckled. "I mean, I wouldn't describe you as a huge teddy bear, but you are definitely kind. At least, you're really nice to me! I mean, you sent me flowers because I was sad, for crying out loud! I mean, regular dudes don't just do that! They don't even think to do something like that, Nikolas! You always returned my calls and listened to me whine to you about all my problems. Yeah, you're a bit cold at first—pretty cold, actually, especially to people who are your maids, but you are seriously so nice. Not in the classic 'nice guy' way but you're just actually really nice."

Nikolas wasn't looking at me anymore, but down to the side, his pale skin once again doing nothing to hide the pink behind his cheeks. His lips were pursed, working against the smile fighting to wriggle its way onto his mouth.

"And again, like I said, you're super generous. I mean, here I am at your castle, because I picked you to be my prince for the day and you returned the favor by doing 800 million things for me. And you have a great smile, you know? Like, if people saw that bad boy more, it'd be game over! A smile and a puppy and bam! All the princesses would be swooning over you, Nik!" I threw my hands up.

"Cassie," Nikolas looked up at me, his face flushed. "You must stop, really."

"Why should I?" I asked defiantly, a grin on my face. "I'm only telling you the truth."

"You—I don't—Cassie, I do not know how to respond to such flattery," he said, turning his gaze away from me.

"It's not flattery, it's the truth. That's totally different."

"I—what I—what I mean is, I am not used to—to such—to such compliments. It—it's too much, really. I'm not accustomed to such behavior."

"You should be," I told Nikolas. "You're a real catch, you know that? And I'm not talking about you being the crown prince of Nikoto or whatever. You, Nikolas Nikotovich, are a great guy."

Nikolas was still looking down, his face still ablaze. "I am not normally like this," he told me hastily. "I don't—I am merely unaccustomed to such behavior, you must understand. I—I don't like that you are seeing me look like this. I look so...unruly. I would not have you thinking that—that I am..."