Royal Obligations

chapter 49: 150 Dresses

I shake my head. I have totally lost her. "My coronation what?"

Nadia sighs, but it's more of a long lasting groan. Besides Harlan, she was the most annoyed about my upcoming wedding. "You are a commoner." She says. "When you marry a prince you don't just become a princess. It's not that hard to comprehend."

Taylor pauses at a large door and turns around to face Nadia. "I didn't hear about this either."

"No one has heard about this yet because Forrest just made the plans a few days ago. Usually it happens after marriage, but Forrest wants Cordelia here to become a princess before they are married. Royalty is like a job title. You have to apply first even if you're married to the boss." She says breezily.

I glance over at Taylor, still completely at loss. Taylor was too busy discreetly glaring at Nadia to notice me. "Why is he changing it?" I ask.

Nadia rolls her eyes. "Probably because if he dies before your wedding the throne will go to Harlan. If you are crowned princess by the heir of Illéa and he officially names you the heir while doing so, you become the heir if anything were to happen to the prince."

I instantly pale and it becomes harder to breathe. Did he think something was going to happen to him? Forrest moving up my coronation ceremony only made it more real. More real in the sense that something terrible was going to happen to him.

"Where is he now?" I ask Nadia.

She doesn't look me in the eye as she twirls a piece of brown hair around her finger. "He's out in the gardens with Romeo. Last I saw him he was sunbathing-"

She couldn't finish her sentence before I began to walk away.

"Lila! Where the hell are you going?" Taylor calls after me. "We are on a tight schedule!"

"Excuse me for just a moment." I call over my shoulder as I stalk toward the gardens.

****

I slip off both my heels and stand on Forrest's bare chest. Nadia wasn't kidding when she said him and Romeo were tanning. I was surprised too, considering it was just the beginning of April and the air was still chilly.

Forrest jerks under my feet in shock while he rips off his sunglasses. His panicking eyes immediately soften as he looks up at me.

"Well hello there, love." He smirks playfully, but I give him a serious look.

"It's seventy degrees outside. What the hell are you doing?"

"Watch your mouth," Romeo calls out from beside him, making no effort to move.

I ignore him as I continue to look down at Forrest. He senses that something is wrong and I take that as my cue to step off his chest.

"Can I speak with you?" I ask, then glance over at Romeo. "Privately?"

"What's wrong?" Forrest asks the second I finish my sentence. "Something is wrong."

I grab his hand and pull him away from Romeo. We find ourselves by a large fountain and I take the opportunity to sit down on the ledge.

"Is this because I was out in the open with no protection?" Forrest asks as he takes the seat beside me.

"No-" I pause for a moment. "But that is still incredibly stupid."

"Are you having second thoughts about marrying me?" He asks in a worried tone.

"What? No of course not-"

"Oh my god are you pregnant-"

"Forrest!" I say suddenly. "How could you move up my coronation? Why not wait until after we are married?"