The Princess & The Thief

Chapter 23-Sweet Seventeen

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"They tell me think with my head, not that thing in my chest,"
"They've got their hands at my neck, this time,"
"But you're the one that I want, and if that's really so wrong,"
"Then they don't know what this feeling is like..."
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Julie's POV

It was often custom for many of the event attendees to show up a few days before an actual ball, and the bigger the ball, the larger the amount of royals that did so.

A lot of people showed up before Julie's birthday.

Like the queen that had just found her in the hall, for instance. In her sixties, Julie knew her from a neighboring territory, and she was just one of the older royals that had been stopping her since they'd opened the gates to guests.

She was babbling on about how excited she was for the party and how gorgeous Julie was going to look, when Luke caught her attention.

He was now positioned behind Julie just like any normal guard would be, but seeing as they'd been heading to a dressing room before the queen stopped them, he was in normal clothes instead of any uniform. Julie felt inclined to introduce him, so she did, explaining how he was a friend slash bandmate slash bodyguard slash companion, along with Alex and Reggie; as best she could at least.

In response the queen eyed Luke, who to his credit didn't flinch under her withering gaze. "Hm, well one wouldn't hope one would get too close to their personal guards. I've had about five fall to assassination attempts on myself," she laughed as if they were sharing a quiet joke, "oh, they drop like flies."

Julie had to keep herself from recoiling. She did not appreciate the queen implying that something would happen to any of her friends, and they damn sure weren't disposable. The gall she had to say it in Julie's own castle too, in Luke's presence.

"Well I'm sure that says more about you than it does me." She offered her sweetest smile.

The queen made a distasteful face, apparently capable of picking up on sarcasm. Unwilling to remain in her presence a moment longer, Julie sauntered down the corridor, Luke following close behind.

Once out of earshot, he said, "that was..."

"Necessary." She turned the corner, observing the fall-hued castle grounds outside of the huge windows as she walked. "I'm inclined to be polite to my peers, sure, but it's even more important for me to set boundaries. Allowing disrespectful bullshit to be spread about my friends is one that I will not cross."

"Fair enough." A pause. "You do love your boundaries."

She gave Luke what he and the other boys called her Julie look. He grinned sheepishly.

"Kidding. Alex and Reggie are meeting us there, right?" Luke referred to the Taylor's quarters where they were going to get fitted in suits. He fell into step beside her, disregarding the formal five steps behind since they were alone.

"Yeah, Flynn too."

"Is it weird that I've never actually met her parents? Aren't they supposed to be big shot servants to the throne?"

"I mean they are our main cook and tailor, as well as good family friends, so probably." She threw him a sideways glance. "You've barely even been around my own dad though, so..."

He shrugged, pointedly staring straight ahead. "It's probably best if I stay as far off your dad's radar as possible."

"Reggie doesn't seem to think that way."