A Nordic King

“I know you’ve lost a lot,” I tell him, and he automatically stiffens. I’ve said the wrong thing. “But the girls have too. I couldn’t have avoided that tantrum, no one could have, because Clara is a girl who lost her mother and misses her very much.”

“She knows better than to break down like that, especially in public. Freja, perhaps…”

“No. Both of them lost the biggest part of their lives. I don’t care if Clara pretends to have it all together, she’s allowed to break, over and over again. They both are. They’re not as good at pretending as you are and they don’t have to be.”

“Pretending?” he says harshly.

I shrug, knowing I’m back to pushing his buttons again. “When you wear a crown, you wear a mask.”

His eyes narrow again, the softness gone. “You don’t know me enough to make that presumption.”

“That’s not my fault,” I tell him. “We could get to know each other better. I’ve told you this time and time again.”

“You’re forgetting your role, your place. It’s a very distinctive one.”

I can’t help but shake my head. Talking to him makes me feel so fucking small.

“Why do you hate me so much?” I whisper.

“What?” he says, taken aback, like this actually shocks him. “I don’t hate you.”

“Then why are you so bloody mean to me?”

His brows raise, mouth dropping just a bit. “I don’t … I don’t mean to be. I guess you just frustrate me.”

“Frustrate you? Why?”

He stares at me for a beat, and though I can see so much in his eyes, I can’t read any of it. “I don’t know,” he says quietly.

“Probably because you’re not used to dealing with normal people. Only the upper class, the aristocrats, the ones with blue blood. Royals. I’m the opposite of all of that. Always have been.”

I watch as he swallows, his eyes still locked on mine. If only I could read them, if only I could understand what he was thinking.

But why would I? It would just be something cruel.

“Probably,” he says after a pause.

Tension seems to fill the air between us, followed by palpable silence.

I clear my throat and take in a big breath, squaring my shoulders, wanting everything to be right again. “I just want you to know, that I did what I could with the girls and that’s the best I can do. After Clara melted down, we left. I saw people taking photos, and I know I should have behaved with more decorum than I did, but it is what it is. I can … I can work on being proper. You just have to give me time. Hell, give me a chance. I’m not sure that you have yet.”

He wiggles his jaw for a moment, then nods. I wonder if the bastard has any idea of how handsome he is. Probably.

“Okay.”

“So we’re cool?” I ask him, holding out my hand for him to shake.

And by cool I mean, not fired?

He glances at it, and I swear I see a smile flash for a second. It’s like trying to photograph lightning. “Yes, we’re cool,” he says, grabbing my hand. But he doesn’t shake it. He just gives it a long squeeze, the kind that makes that same lightning carry up through my veins, setting my heart on fire.

Then he lets go of my hand and turns toward the door.

“Aksel?” I call after him, thinking I might get flack for not addressing him as a king.

He stops and looks at me curiously.

“About the girls,” I say cautiously. “The reason why Clara was having problems. It’s because the last time they were at Tivoli, you were there as a family. It was awkward with just the three of us, with rides and everything. Anyway … I know it’s my habit to step on your toes and everything, but if I can make a suggestion?” He looks at me expectantly, to keep going. “I think they want to feel like a family again. Maybe there’s an outing we can do, the four of us. Maja too, if you want. And before you say anything, I know I’m not Helena, I’m the nanny. I am so very aware of that. I just think it would be good for them.”

He seems to consider that. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”

I can’t help the grin on my face, knowing how happy the girls are going to be.

It fades quickly when a very loud squeal sounds out from the hallway, followed by shouts and a stampede of both human and pig feet.

“What the hell was that?” Aksel cries out wildly.

Oh right. Snarf Snarf.

I give him a sheepish smile. “Okay, promise me you won’t get mad…”





Chapter 9





Aksel





“Her Royal Highness, Princess Stella, is here,” Agnes announces from the doorway to my office.

I glance up at her from my desk, putting my paperwork aside. “You can just call her my sister, you know.”

Agnes does not look amused. “Regardless, she’s here.” Then she turns and leaves.

I sigh. Seems like Aurora’s no respect for authority attitude is infectious among the staff.

I get up and start to head down the stairs to the first floor where the greeting room is when I run into Aurora herself on the staircase, who seems to be in a hurry, taking the steps two at a time.

Is it sad that I’ve really taken a shine to that uniform of hers? Lord help me if she ever finds out.

“Where are you going?” I ask her, grabbing her lightly by the arm.

“Aren’t we leaving now?” she says with those big eyes of hers. “I think your sister is here, I need to get the girls’ things.”

“Let Agnes or Johan do that,” I tell her, pulling her back down. “Come with me, you need to meet Stella and Anya.”

Aurora seems to hesitate, and then lets me lead her down the stairs. I don’t let go of her arm until I’m confident she won’t run away. Plus, her skin is horribly soft and silky. Distracting.

“I hope you warned your sister about Snarf Snarf,” she says.

“I didn’t. But that’s half the fun, isn’t it?”

The corner of her mouth quirks up. “You know how to have fun? Wow.”

I’m still in disbelief that this Snarf Snarf has been part of our family for three weeks now. When I first discovered that the girls had a goddamn pig in the house, it came right on the heels of the tabloid article of them at Tivoli. I think I about had a heart attack and lost my temper at Aurora, again.

For once, though, she was on my side and wanted the pig gone, back to the farm it was unscrupulously taken from. I just didn’t plan for the tears and guilt trip from Clara and Freja, who seemed to have a whole performance and speech planned out for that very instant. In fact, I’m starting to think their whole idea to go to the farm after Tivoli was part of some elaborate pig heist.

They talked about how they never had a pet even though they’d always asked for dogs and kittens and ponies (it was actually Helena that was adamant there be no animals in the house), that they had a void they needed filled, that they had all this love to give, that it would teach them responsibility and be a learning experience for them. They went full out. Then it was topped off with, “And we’re princesses. A princess should be able to have a pig if she wants.”

Maybe it was because of Clara’s public meltdown and the realization that the girls aren’t as strong as I thought, maybe it was because Aurora looked at me differently when I started to cave in. Either way, I said they could keep the pig on two conditions. One, that I never smell it. Two, that I never see it. If either of those conditions were to be broken, that pig would end up on the plate at Christmas dinner and, yes, I would force the girls to eat him.

Naturally, both those conditions have already been broken because, have you ever had a pig in your house? Damn impossible to ignore.

Aurora has been walking by my side as she usually does but just before I go through the doors into the greeting room, she hangs back, as if remembering proper protocol. I glance at her over my shoulder in surprise and she just gives me a meek smile, keeping her head down.

I have to say, for the first time, it feels wrong to see her like that.

She’s just being a nanny, I remind myself. The role you always remind her of.

“Stella,” I say to my sister as I step into the room, and as I expected she comes straight over to me and pulls me into a tight hug.