Her Royal Highness (Royals #2)(63)

“Seriously, spill,” she says as soon as he’s gone. “Because Ellie and Alex were gossiping about Flora having it bad for someone. And, I have to say, I’m relieved because you look so normal and nice? This family needs more normal and nice. I’m normal, but nice still eludes me a little. Sorry, is this too much?”

I shake my head. “No, I’m relieved, too. Just that there’s someone else who gets how weird this all is.”

“It is vast oceans of weird, my friend, for sure.”

For a moment, we just stand there, staring at all the people milling around. And then Daisy nudges me with her elbow, nodding toward Miles as he stands near the bar with Spiffy and Dons.

“But sometimes,” Daisy says, “you meet someone who makes it all worth it.”

I try my best to smile at her, but I clearly don’t do so great with it because Daisy reaches out and touches my arm now, her lips pressing together with sympathy. “Except it’s different when your person is just, like, the chips and salsa as opposed to the whole enchilada.”

Glancing over at her, I raise my eyebrows. “The chips and salsa?”

Daisy wrinkles her nose. “Okay, yeah, don’t tell Miles I called him that. I don’t think he’d see it as a compliment.”

“It’s a solid metaphor, though,” I admit, and Daisy grins, proud of herself.

“I thought so. But anyway, point is that even being with Miles felt weird at first, and he’s just the best friend. Watching my sister go through this with Alex . . .” She shakes her head. “She says he’s worth it, too, and I believe her, but I get it. Or I guess I get it as much as anyone can.”

That’s actually nice to hear, even though I’m not sure she does get it. Watching it and experiencing it are two different things. But she’s still the first person who at least gets that it’s weird. Perry and Saks have lived in this world for a long time, too, so they don’t have that same sense of it that I do, that this is . . . just not how people live, not really. It’s their world. It’s Flora’s world.

But it’s not mine.

But Flora? She’s mine. Or at least she is for right now.

I feel Daisy’s hand on my arm again, and she leans in. “Try not to overthink it. That’s the best advice I can give. Just . . . go with the flow.”

Looking around the room, at the expensive gowns and glittering jewels and actual swords affixed to the walls, that doesn’t seem possible, and I say so. “Has anyone in this room ever gone with the flow in their lives, you think?” I ask, and Daisy follows my gaze before shaking her head.

“Probably not, no, which is why they need us.”

Miles returns, holding goblets of water, and as he hands them to us, he apologizes, saying, “I know this is not the most exciting of beverage options, but it’s all they have that isn’t booze.”

“‘The most exciting of beverage options’—how am I attracted to you?” Daisy mutters, but she takes the water anyway before nodding at me and saying, “This is Millie. She’s Flora’s crush.”

“I know,” he says, surprising us both. “I read about that earlier.” Then he offers me a genuine smile. “Congrats and all that.”

“You read about it?” I ask. “Where?”





Thanks to a clever school chum with an iPhone, PEOPLE has these exclusive shots of Princess Flora of Scotland cozying up to her American roommate, Amelia Quint. The Princess and the Texan have been rumored to be more than friends recently, but these pictures of them kissing seem to put to rest any doubts as to the nature of their relationship.

However, don’t get your heart too set on this being the new Royal Romance now that Flora’s brother and his own American Girl, Ellie Winters, are getting closer to tying the knot.

“Flora was mad for Tam,” a source tells PEOPLE exclusively, referring to Lady Tamsin Campbell, once thought to be paired with Prince Sebastian, “and they’ll probably end up back together in the end. Flora only chucked her because she freaked out when it got too serious. Honestly, most of us think this thing with the roommate is just a ploy to make Tam jealous.”

Poor Amelia!


(“EXCLUSIVE: FLORA AND GAL PAL HEAT UP THE HIGHLANDS!” from People)





CHAPTER 36





I sit on the little tufted bench in the dim hallway, staring at my phone.



It’s not a bad picture of me with Flora. In fact, I look kind of . . . good in it. Not as good as Flora, of course, but then, I’m not superhuman. It’s cute, though, us hand in hand there by the rocks, smiling at each other. The next picture captured that moment when Flora pushed my hair back from my face, and okay, that one I can’t really look at because my heart-eyes are kind of ridiculous.

But I keep looking at that line about Flora “chucking” Tam. Flora told me Tamsin broke up with her, not the other way around. Is that true? I think back to seeing Tam back on Skye. She’d seemed cold and standoffish, yeah, but had that actually been hurt, not snobbery?

“There you are.”

I glance up to see Flora coming down the hall toward me, her dress belling out prettily as she walks. How many dresses like that does Flora own? I wonder.

Reaching out to me, she takes my hand. “We’re about to go in for dinner. It’ll be just like at Lord Henry’s, so we won’t get to sit together, but I’ve made sure you’re near Daisy so you’ll have someone to talk to at least, and—what is it?”