Royally Flushed

First Impressions

"Well that was uneventful. Now tell me, Louis, how does it feel being cheated on by an American?"

Henry sure was stepping in it.

"How can you cheat on someone you're not in a relationship with?"

Henry glanced my way as if I were a mere afterthought and adopted a smug look to his irritatingly gorgeous face.

"Well, I suppose what they say is true, Americans really don't care what they say, do they? Louis, are you going to let her speak for you again? Or should I just drape a collar around your neck and give the leash to Lady Spencer?"

Louis' grip around my waist tightened to an almost painful touch, and although he didn't say it, the tortured look of wanting to strangle someone but not being able to shone through in Louis' eyes, a look I knew all too well as I had adopted it more than a dozen different times when it came to fights with Robert.

"Henry, don't you have somewhere better to be? Like, I don't know, drugging some poor defenseless girl's drink at a dodgy pub?"

Henry's features darkened, and his eyes adopted a snake like quality as they turned into slits on his face.

"Watch what you say, Louis. The press love a quiet and good golden boy, not a partying player who won't be able to take their royal duties seriously. Who do you think they're going to want as their King when the time comes? You think about that, have a nice quarantine."

Once Henry had walked away and through the same doors that Louis' parents had gone through, we were the only two people left in the spacious room that seemed cold and detached, a place that was never really meant to be occupied but was forced to be a gathering place.

"I'm sorry about him, he shows himself as a completely different person to my parents and the outside world than he does with me. I hope he didn't upset you too much," Louis finally said, releasing me from his hold and striding towards one of the couches in front of us.

I wasn't going to say it, but I almost missed the feeling of his arm around my waist.

"It's fine...what did you mean, about the drugging a girl's drink? Has he really done that before?"

Louis pulled one leg up and rested his foot against his knee once he sat down and raked a hand through his dark hair that was spilling over his forehead into his face, an action that pulled his shirt up a bit and exposed a stripe of skin that made me want to join him on said couch, but I decided better of it and sat down on the sofa opposite of him, not wanting to tempt myself anymore than he had already done.

"There's speculation, but there have been more than a few girls that have complained to me about how they thought he had done it to them, and it's only the girls that aren't higher up in society, so they're less likely to be believed."

I thought over his words for a moment, a burning question popping to the forefront of my mind, although I wasn't quite sure how to word it.

"Why would they be telling you these things? Aren't you like, terrifying to speak to if you're not in the inner circle?"

He leaned forward and allowed his elbows to rest on his knees, allowing me a closer view of his chest as the V in his shirt dipped low.

"Lots of girls tell me lots of things, especially after they feel that we have a certain...bond."

"You're disgusting."

A smile lit up his face in earnest, and I realized that I meant my words. Of course he was a chauvinistic pig, he was the crowned Prince of England for crying out loud! How could I have expected him to be anything but an entitled player?

"And you are delightful."

He leaned back in his seat and raised his arms above his head and closed his eyes, probably expecting me to blush and giggle at his 'kind' words.

"When can I go home? This isn't fun."

"Home? But aren't you having the best time here with me, alone and secluded in an underground bunker?"

His words turned bitter and overly sarcastic, and I realized this probably wasn't any fun for him either.

Just then, the television above the conference table behind us began growing louder, but I realized the news anchors were just speaking louder than they had been moments before.

"This is urgent, we have confirmation on the perpetrators of the attack at Big Ben. A local crime ring self proclaimed 'The King's Horses' have officially claimed credit for the attack on their secure and untraceable website. Here is the footage that was posted."

The scene cut to a man in what looked like a basement wearing a horse mask and holding up a picture of the Big Ben clocktower. With his free hand, he lit up a lighter and set the picture on fire, lighting up the screen in a flurry of flames and forcing a sense of creeping nausea into me.

The scene cut to black and the anchormen were back on the screen speculating about why they had done it and why they'd killed so many people as the death toll had finally stopped climbing at a count of sixty-three people. Twelve children were among the dead, and it made me want to find the guilty and blow them up myself.

"Malia."

He sounded as if he'd been trying to get my attention for quite a while.

"Why didn't you tell me about this gang? You told me there was just a leader, not the name of his gang. You know a hell of a lot more than what you told me, and I need to know everything."

He looked concerned and a bit confused, but then his facial features morphed into indignation.

"That's classified, Princess. You might just have to do some research on your own."

I was about to argue, but suddenly Gordon came through the main door that they'd come in from and informed them that they were safe since the attackers had taken credit and they weren't in any immediate danger.

"Thank God, I was just starting to get claustrophobic."

Louis' eyes flashed in anger and annoyance.

"Gordon, you can go on and take Lady Spencer home, I'll stay here and return home with my parents when their security detail arrives. Wouldn't want to keep the lady where she feels unwanted."

His voice dripped in bitterness, but I didn't care at that moment. I just wanted to get away from him and his constantly changing attitude.

I didn't say anything more as I followed Gordon through the doors to the elevator, but when I cast a final glance behind me at Louis, I could have sworn he held a look of defeat, and wondered if maybe I would find an ally in him...or an enemy.