Royally Bumped

21

─── ♔♔♔ ───

"Kai, hold on," I say as we start the walk back to the cottage. He stops by one of the corridors out of the private apartments. There are no guards down this part of the castle because the king and queen are down the other side, and our security is having the day off. When we're not out and about, our security has their own little house by ours and we're covered by the general Windsor Castle guards while on downtime.

It's just me and Kai in this corridor right now.

"What's up, Peach?" he asks.

I sigh and lean against the wall, unsure how to do this. This is going to be weird because he's going to assume I'm trying to make him jealous. Am I? I think deep down, probably. But also, this might become a thing. It might do, it might not.

This is mainly selfish.

"Last night, after you left... my phone went off. I had a message from Brayden saying we should talk. Me and him, I assume. Not you. I meant—" I sigh. "He wants to talk to me. I assume because now I'm engaged to a prince, and he's confused? I don't know."

He slumps a little and shifts his weight. "Did you respond?"

I shake my head. "No."

Kai runs a hand over his face, and the stress radiates off him. I wonder if that means a jealous thing, or if he's angry. Maybe he just doesn't care.

"Are you going to reply?" Kai asks.

I shrug. "No idea. Probably not. I just—this is what I wanted months ago, up until that night."

He furrows his brows at me. "What? What do you mean until that night? I thought it was the pregnancy that changed things for you?"

I shake my head. "No. You changed things. The way you treated me that night, the way you opened my eyes to how someone should be treated, not like he did. I felt like a human being that night, not like a doll—that's how Brayden made me feel. But it was normal for me to feel like that until you changed it."

He sighs. "Block him then, Peach. You have the power now. It sounds like you had none until, well, I guess I gave it to you."

"It's not that simple, though. What if he goes to the papers as my ex and spreads shit about me?"

He laughs. "He can try. The palace will shut that down as quickly as it's made. Even if he does, the people love you, so at worst, we'll get your take on it and release a counter statement. Just please tell me there are no sex tapes or anything like that."

I snort. "No. That was one thing he wanted, and I refused."

"Good. It's that stuff that can damage." Kai rubs his face again. "Do you want to reply? Are you asking for my permission to be with him again? As much as I would say no because of the abuse you say he put you through—"