The Prince's Curse

Description

His Royal Highness, The Prince of Eastover, Ashton Fletcher Irwin was used to a certain lifestyle. When he turns 18, everything is upended over a curse laid upon him as a baby and he's forced to...attend college in America.

Special Agent Luke Hemmings is tasked with watching out for the young Prince, soon to be King of Eastover. The only issue, is the two cannot stand each other and though they're never allowed to be separate, cannot stand being in the same room.

Follow their story as they navigate curses, college, and culture.

prince!Ashton

guard!Luke

***

Excerpt from chapter 1:

Ashton looked at the man. He looked to be about his own age, if not a bit younger. He supposed if the two of them were meant to fit in around a college campus, he couldn't very well be a sophisticated older man.

    He realized the man wasn't going to bow to him, he couldn't if they were undercover, so Ashton spoke first.

    "Good afternoon, my friend. How do you do?" he stood up and met the boy in the middle of the room to shake his hand. That was something Americans did upon meeting a person, he'd learned that from his tutor.

    Luke tried and failed to hide a laugh at the formality.

    "Mate, you've got to try a lot harder than that to fit in," Luke shook his head at the crestfallen look on his wards face.

    The boy, the prince, was very handsome. He had curly caramel colored locks of hair piled on top of his head. His eyes were a muted green, and he was quite tall, which would mean he'd be difficult to hide if that was ever necessary. Luke's entire purpose of being there was to make sure it wasn't, but you never knew.

    He was also still wearing a gold crown on top of his head.

Luke tossed his bag onto the unmade bed, and flopped down, lying back and looking at the prince.

    "Oh, lighten up," Luke chastised. The prince huffed, folding his arms over his chest and sitting down gracefully in the desk chair next to him. "It's something you'll have to get used to, people don't talk like that here. Maybe they do wherever you're from--"

    "Eastover." Ashton corrected. Luke knew that, he'd read the file and knew everything he possibly could about the boy, probably more than Ashton himself even knew. He just liked the rise he was able to get out of him. "I am the current prince of Eastover, soon to be the king."

    "Well, here you're not. Here, you're just Ash Merwin, Creative Writing major." Luke glanced at the file he procured from his bag.

    Ugh, creative writing? Luke groaned. He hated writing, but since he and Ashton had to go everywhere together, he had to participate. The worst part of his job was the paperwork.

    "Do not call me Ash. 'Tis horribly informal,"

    Luke sat up and sighed.

    "It's supposed to be informal, dingus. You're not in Eastland anymore," he ignored the indignant "Eastover" tossed at him and continued on. "You've got to adapt, quickly, or our entire ploy is over. And why are you still wearing your crown? You've gotta take that off, it's a very big hint that you're...you."

    Ashton tsked. He did not like the way this commoner spoke to him. One did not address a future king in that manner.

    "Listen here, I know not what indecencies your rulers allow to occur in this land, but you should not be so informal to any royalty, foreign or not."

    Luke scrunched his nose with a scoff.

    "What are you even saying? Like, I can't even decode that,"

    It was Ashton's turn to scoff, although a prince as sophisticated as him would never make so embarrassing a sound. Instead he rolled his eyes at the peasant.

    "It is hardly my fault you are much too uneducated to understand what is clearly plain English. I fear you might struggle to interact amongst our peers when we attend classes on the morrow."

    "Ash, you're going to have to stop all that if you don't want to be tracked down. If you're acting so posh and weird, you'll stick out and someone will be able to locate you."

    "Do not call me Ash," he growled, standing up to hopefully intimidate the miscreant he was stuck with. "And I will speak however I wish, as I am a prince and you are but a lowlife fool,"

    Luke decided to ignore the insults, because if he kept going back at him, they'd be stuck here all day. Ashton was clearly someone who was used to getting his way.

    "All right. You can speak how you like to," he conceded. "But we do need to compromise on your name. 'Ashton' is a pretty uncommon name. If someone hears that, it'll be easy to connect the dots."

    Compromise was not something Ashton was used to, but this whole situation was rather new and confusing. He'd have to change a bit if he wanted to stay safe. He sat back down, nodding in approval.

    "All right, I shall permit to that concession."

***

I am so freaking excited about this. I really hope you like this. This might be my favorite book yet. till next time,

~ashtonfortherwin <3