“Me?” she said, surprised.
I nodded, wiping the corner of my mouth. “Yes, you. You are hunched over your phone like some stalker—”
“Stalker? You’re in my house.”
“I didn’t stalk you to get in here. You, however, are Googling me—”
“I don’t use Google. I use—”
“Right, you are Etheusing me.”
“I am not...” she lied badly, placing the phone behind her back.
My eyebrow raised.
“Okay, I am,” she admitted. “But...I’m not sure what to do with a prince.”
“I’m not a dog. You don’t have to do anything. Though if there is anything you want to find out, it would be easier just to ask me, seeing as how I am seated right next to you.”
“Would you tell me the truth? Or will you say it’s some royal secret?” She eyed me carefully.
I frowned at that. “It is a bit poor taste to insinuate I am a liar before actually asking me anything.”
“I wasn’t insinuating you would lie. You could simply refuse to tell me. That isn’t a lie. You don’t owe me anything. I wouldn’t tell you anything about me—”
“As of now, I have no questions since I was given a whole profile on you,” I said, lifting the pizza and taking another bite. I enjoyed the stunned and mortified look that grew on her face.
“By profile you mean—”
“Photo, date and location of birth, weight, height, likes, dislikes, hobbies. Even the locations of all the birthmarks you have on your body,” I replied, taking another bite in order to hide my grin.
Her whole face was void of emotions for a brief second before she opened her mouth again, and I recoiled, preparing for another scream. Instead, she said, “You’re lying.”
I thought about just reciting everything, but for some reason, I wanted to see her get all furious again. So, I pointed to my chest right under my heart. “You have a birthmark right here, correct?”
Her gaze went from my chest, then back to her own and then to my face. She grabbed a pillow, and I didn’t see it coming.
“What the hell?” she hollered at me, throwing it at my head. “You freaking stalker!”
“Aye.” I grabbed the pillow, rising from the couch. “You were just searching me, too.”
“I don’t have a whole profile on you.” She got up as well.
“I didn’t ask for one on you!”
“You just read it!”
“What was I supposed to do?”
“Give it back and say, ‘I’m not going to invade a stranger’s personal life.’”
“You are being very hypocritical at this moment. Again, you were looking into my—”
“You’re a prince! You are a public figure.”
“You’re an heiress and singer! You’re also a public figure.”
She stopped, and I wished she hadn’t taken that deep breath because I was acutely aware of how the tops of her breast rose from the top of her dress. She sat back down, kicking off her...glass slippers? What? They really made those?
She tucked her legs underneath her and folded her arms under her breasts—again, not helping.
“Fine.” She shot me a glare. “I’m sort of a public figure, too. Still, the fact that they put down such personal details is...a bit much.”
“It’s their job. They’d rather you be angry at them for having invaded your privacy than provide less information that could endanger a royal family member,” I tried to explain, tossing the pillow back onto the couch between us. “Besides, you are not a stranger. You are meant to be my future wife. All details concerning you were of importance.”
“Ugh. Stop saying that like it’s true.” She dropped her face into her hands. However, I guess whatever pins she had used to stabilizes her tiara gave way, and it fell forward. Reaching over her quickly, I grabbed it before it hit the ground.
“Thank God,” I whispered but then wanted to kick myself for my fear.
“Umm...”
Turning to her voice, I found her face very close to mine and my whole body now over hers. Backing up quickly, I held out the tiara to her. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to get so close. However, I could not let it fall.”
“It isn’t real.”
“Whether it is made of diamonds or not, it is a symbol of the monarchy. In Ersovia, if a tiara or crown falls to the ground, it means the end of that noble or that royal house,” I whispered, lifting the headpiece back to her hair, but she stopped me.
“Let’s not risk that again. I’ll just take it off,” she replied, taking it carefully from my hands and moving to put it on the coffee table. She paused and glanced around. She then reached for the pillow between us and placed the tiara on it before setting the pillow on the ground.
I smiled. Technically, it could fall to the floor but just couldn’t fall off the noble who was wearing it, but it was too convoluted and currently unimportant to get into.
“I’m surprised you did not say it was just superstition,” I replied when she sat back up. My body had reacted on impulse even though I didn’t believe in those silly superstitions, but apparently, some part of me listened too much to my mother.
“You dove over me to save it. Superstition or not, it was important to you, so I’ll do my best not to make you freak out.” She smiled warmly back at me.
And like an idiot, I felt myself smiling back at her.
Get a hold of yourself.
“Ugh.” I coughed and reached for my water. “You don’t need to search for anything. You are free to ask me any questions. I shall be honest.”
She eyed me like she didn’t believe me.
“I swear, I shall. So long as you swear you do not speak a word of what I tell you to anyone else.”
“Deal.” She turned her body around and faced me again. Odette raised an eyebrow, and I turned and did the same thing.
“Ask away.”
“Why in the h—why does the royal family of Ersovia want me to marry into it? Are you all lacking women or something?”
“The current population is actually fifty-one point seven percent women—”
“Then, why me? An American. Let alone an African American.” She was just as blunt as her mother. “Don’t give me that look. It’s Europe.”
“Ersovia has gotten very diverse over—”
“You aren’t answering,” she interjected. “Of all the women in the world you could have—”
“You are extremely rich,” I replied, just as blunt.
“Money? That’s the reason.”
I nodded.
She had a right to the truth. Once the public found out, there was going to be no way to ignore it, anyway.
“This world is full of millionaires. But a monarchy prefers more security than that. What are the odds of finding a woman worth billions, who is currently unmarried and young enough to marry? So the truth is that I am here as a gold digger.”
“You wouldn’t be the first one,” she said, not in the least bit surprised or fazed.
“Is there a line of eligible suitors I skipped in front of?”