There is a knock at my door and I know it's not Grayson, his knocks sound different. It's either Lois or my mother, not that I can quite decide. Not really wanting to talk to either. I didn't have an amazing night's sleep and I wanted nothing more than to be alone right now.
It's just before breakfast so I have no clue what can't wait until then. I'll see them both on the way.
"Everly, darling?"
My eyes roll. Of course it's my mother. I don't want to talk to her. In the back of my mind I already know what she's going to talk about. It's all she and my father can talk about, it makes me nauseous on a daily basis. I try to ignore what they say because I don't want to listen to a word.
It only triggers my anxiety, forcing me to take deep breaths before I lose myself.
"Everly," my mother finally pushes into my room when I don't respond. "Why are you being rude and ignoring me?"
I glance over my shoulder at her and shake my head. "Was still sleeping," I lie and she narrows her eyes at me.
My eyes wander over her attire. Dark purple dress with a cream cardigan and a fresh manicure. I'm sure she gets her nails done at least once a week and I've never been offered, I wonder why. I'm never allowed a glimpse of the outside world.
She tuts at my response and walks to the bed. It dips beside me and she places a delicate hand on my shoulder. "I just wanted to know how you are feeling?"
There is no sincerity in her voice. She doesn't want to know how I am.
"Fine, why do you ask?"
My mother clears her throat and removes her hand from my body. "I just feel like you haven't really said much since the agreement of your marriage to Phillip."
I scoff. "Agreement?"
"Careful Everly."
"There was no agreement!" My voice rises. "You forced this on me. You feel like I've said nothing, that's because I don't want to go through with it and you and dad are not listening to anything I say. Why you'd want me to marry him is beyond me!"
She huffs out a breath and straightens her spine. "It's very common in royal families for royals to marry other royals. It's good for connections, for the strength of the family. It's been a tradition for years."
I open my mouth and want to shout at her but I refrain, that will get me nowhere. "Victoria and Louis didn't marry royals. You never forced them to marry anyone."
"That's because they found their own partners."
My eyebrows pull together rightly, scrunching my face up her words. "How am I meant to find a partner if I can't even leave the castle?! You and dad never make sense, I don't understand why you'd do this to me."
"Philip will be good for you darling, he's a very charming man." Her lips flick up into a smile but I see past it, it's not a kind, inviting smile. She's trying to patronise me.
My jaw hurts from gritting my teeth together. "He's almost twice my age, he's a total creep for one and I am not attracted to him in the slightest. How am I meant to live with someone for the rest of my life if I don't like them?"
My mother tuts at me and continues to shake her head. "Then you learn to like him, dear. It'll be great for you, a new chapter." She pats my leg and stands from the bed.
I stare at the back of her head, wishing they were somehow lasers. She approaches the door slowly and I stop myself from lashing out. She's not going to listen, she never does. She won't change now.
"I don't like him," I say in desperation. "I don't want to marry him."
She turns back to me, opening my door with her hand. "Well that's rich. You're lucky he even wants to marry you. With how difficult and childish you can be, I'd be surprised if anyone would even want to marry you out of free-will."
Her words make my fists clench. How fucking dare she.
The door slams behind her and I stand from the bed, watching the spot she was in moments ago. My eye sight becomes blurry as I narrow my gaze, breathing in deeply and then exhaling.
Don't let her get to you. Don't let her get to you. She's doing this on purpose. She's trying to make you think that no one else would marry you.
I'd rather be alone forever than marry Philip.
There is no doubt in my mind about that.
Another knock at my bedroom door has my eyes blinking rapidly, I try to recover my stance but I can't shake this heavy feeling. God, I wanted to smash shit up. Badly.
"It's me," I hear Grayson's voice and I manage to take a breath. I take a couple steps to the door and open it. He's already standing facing me and his eyes roam my face. "You okay?"
"She's just as delusional as my father. I am actually going to end up marrying him."
I didn't like the tone in my own voice. Like I've already given up. But how can I fight their power? If they want me to marry Philip, they're going to force me. No matter what it takes. What can I physically do to stop it?
Grayson glances down the hall and moves slightly closer. "Let's not talk about this here."
I nod and shut the door behind me. Taking us downstairs to the library so we could have some privacy, anything to be away from my parents. I don't want to hear anymore of their manipulative bullshit today.
I might actually lose it if I do.
He shuts the door behind me and I catapult myself onto the sofa, diving straight into the blanket that I left yesterday. I can hear Grayson's footsteps as he approaches me, perching on the arm.
My eyes stare straight up at the ceiling, beyond the idea of crying anymore. What's the point in wasting my energy on this?
"What did she say?" His voice is warm.
"That Philip will be good for me because he's charming."
He doesn't respond immediately, I glance over at Grayson whose eyes are already laying on mine. I shuffle up against the back of the sofa and unexpectedly he slides into the space beside me.
I pull my knees into my chest and wrap myself up in the blanket, not being bothered to put on the fire.
"Have you met him?"
"Philip?"
"Yeah."
"A couple times," I sigh and run a hand over my face. "I mean we barely spoke, he definitely used his eyes to take a journey on me."
Grayson grimaces and shakes his head. "I'm sorry," he apologises but he's already said sorry. So I presume he doesn't know what else to say.
I dismiss his words. "It doesn't matter."
"It does," he clears his throat and moves his leg so he's facing me. "I'm already in your father's good books and I can maintain that relationship with him. I can get his complete trust and then maybe in the future we can use it against him. For your benefit."
My fingers play with the hem of the blanket. It doesn't sound like a bad idea, if my father trusts him, I'm sure he'll tell him things that he would never tell me. We could take advantage of their situation, of their relationship.
"I don't want to talk about my parents or Philip anymore," I grumble and clench my eyes shut. "I hate thinking about them and talking about them all the time."
"Then let's stop," Grayson's voice cuts over mine.
My eyes float from his eyes down to his full lips, then his strong lined jaw. He must have shaved yesterday because he now has stubble but I can't help but notice how handsome he is.
I snort to myself silently. That is a thought I need to crush immediately.
"Tell me about how you're so damn intelligent."
The dryness of my throat increases, yeah that's really not helping with my intruding thoughts of him.
"I'm not intelligent." I shake my head and snuggle my face into the fluffy blanket.
He quirks his head and raises an eyebrow. "You can speak three languages, almost four. You've read almost every book in this library."
My mouth twitches but I don't want to show him how much his words affect me. "It's not that impressive," I begin to shake my head.
"You were home-schooled here?"
"Yeah."
"What grades did you get?"
I swallow harshly and then hold his stare. "A's and A*'s."
Grayson's eyes sparkle with something I didn't recognise but then he smiles. "And you're telling me that you're not intelligent?"
"What did you get in school?"
He extends his head up to the ceiling and breathes out. "Nothing like yours."
"Then what?" I'm intrigued now.
"Mostly B's, a couple C's and I got a D in French."
I pull the blanket away from my mouth. "They're good grades," I say honestly. "French is hard to learn."
"Can't be that hard if you've mastered it." The tone of his voice makes me relax and I'm not sure if I like it.
My lips part to exhale gently. "There really wasn't anything better to do. Besides, my parents had a lot of French movies and I had to watch them without subtitles."
Grayson rests his elbow on the arm of the sofa. "Leon: The Professional?"
"What?"
"The movie."
"I don't know what that is. If it's not some sweet romance, something about the war or a PG then I probably didn't get the chance to watch it." A laugh passes my lips but it's more of a pity to laugh at myself.
"Ahhhh," he says loudly. "It is about an assassin, it is quite violent."
My eyes narrow towards Grayson but I'm smiling. "Yeah, don't think they'd let me watch that one. But now I've got The Great Pottery Throwdown and Leon: The Professional on my list. Hopefully I'll get a chance to watch them."
Grayson's eyes widen, bright with optimism. "You will. At some point."
"How can you be sure?" I glance down.
Getting my hopes up isn't worth the pain sometimes. I might never get the chance to live a normal life but pretending I'm going to get one and then knowing it'll never happen destroys my soul.
"Because when I leave, for whatever reason. I'm going to do all I can to get you out of here."
I push up onto my knees and shuffle closer to him, our legs brushing through the fabric of our trousers. "I just don't understand why you want to help me, go through all this effort for me."
Grayson's eyebrow creases but he pulls back and then settles his eyes on mine once again. "I misunderstood you at first," he says seriously. "But I shouldn't be helping the Royal family do this to you. It's barbaric. The fact that no one on the outside realises that you can't leave because of their wishes, no one even suspects anything is wrong."
My throat releases a snort and my eyes roll. "Of course they don't. They've probably been feeding them rubbish on their TV appearances and interviews. Speaking for me. Making the outside world not even think twice about me."
His expression falls to a frown. "Yeah," he nods. "Exactly that."
I purse my lips but watch him carefully. Neither of us saying anything for a few moments. Grayson wants to help me, he seems sincere. I guess I'm just not used to anyone actually caring for me, or even thinking about me. The idea is confusing but if Grayson is my only hope, then I'm going to hold onto him.
"Thanks for treating me like a normal person." I blurt out suddenly.
Grayson runs a hand over his jaw. "You expected me to treat you like a Princess?" His voice is playful.
I can't fight the smile on my face, my hand raises and I push his shoulder gently. Not expecting to feel so many muscles underneath the material of his black shirt. He doesn't even move, my fingers do nothing to his strength.
"I think I'm the least Princess-like person ever," I recover quickly, trying to ignore the blood rushing to my face.
His eyes glance down at my cheeks and I wish they didn't. "Princesses don't have to be like anything," he shrugs and I tilt my head. "You can still be yourself."
Why do his words make me feel so warm?
"Not sure the outside world would like me for who I am inside."
"Of course they would. I might have thought some things about you when I first met you but you changed my mind in a matter of days because I saw the real you." He explains and leans into my leg that's against his. "The intelligent and determined side of you, not spoilt and irrational as they brush you as."
My heart thrashes inside my chest, we're not even skin to skin and I feel like chaos inside.
"I guess I haven't been the real me in a while. I lost myself a little bit."
"Don't let them win," Grayson's head shakes. "Don't lose yourself to this castle."
"I won't."
♛ ♛ ♛
Author's Note
Read up to chapter 28 on Patreon. Link in bio!
Hello huns, sorry it's been so long. A holiday and an illness later, I'm back!
What did you think about this chapter?
Grayson coming to his senses quickly is everything I love about this chapter. He's realising that Everly deserves so much better and he wants to help her🥺🥺
I hope everyone is good! I can't wait to share more of this book with you and their journey together!
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