The Hunted Royalty

Chapter 10

I wake up the next morning a little bit less stressed because today is a relaxed one. I've woken up a little earlier then what I need to so I decide that I want to make a list of the first couple things I need to do when I become queen. The first thing is to fly both my dad and brother over hear. My second is to see if Karson wants to go home and if so, I would give him a free flight ticket back. The third is that I need to find a king. I don't want to marry someone to make an ali but I know I should. It's not for me, it's for the people. I know who I want to marry if I had the choice, but it wouldn't be fair to him. I can't put all this pressure on him. So I decide to write down to meet with princes from other countries and see who would be willing to take my hand. My train of thought is interrupted when someone knocks on the door.

Their voices whispers when they talk, "Can I come in?"

I quickly shove everything into a drawer and say, "Yep." Karson quietly opens the door and closes it. He sits down on my bed and I spin my chair to face him.

"Is this a bad time to mention that we still have that history project?" He smiles. I laugh.

"I think she'll understand." I say sarcastically. We both laugh.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" He puts out his hand for me to take.

I smile "Sure, hold up." I grab some jeans and a blue off the shoulders crop top, go into the bathroom, and change.

We stop by his room on the way down, he grabs a jacket. "Are you forgetting something?" he asks, his voice teasing.

I groan, "Dang it! Let me go back to my room and get it." Just as I'm about to leave he catches me by the arm and pulls me back, "Here, Just take one of mine." he hands me a red, white, and black lettermans jacket and drapes it over my shoulders.

"Thank you." I say. We start heading out. We walk through the royal double doors of the palace and out into the cold winter air. The snow crunches beneath our feet as we walk to a nearby cafe. When we walk in, the barista curtsies. Everybody's head turns to look at us, I wave my hand, telling them to go back to what they were doing. Everyone's conversations return. I order a hot chocolate and Karson orders a coffee. We go sit at the chairs and tables outside. One or two other couples sit out there with us. We sit down and start talking about our families. I learn that Karson's mom died years ago due to cancer. It's only been him and his dad since he was 10. Then we move on to the conversation of me becoming queen. He asks me what the first things I want to get done are. I tell him the first few before we both fall silent. We both know I need to find a king, and fast. I look down at my hands for a second then I pull my head up to look at him. We look into each other's eyes for what feels like forever. Nobody wants to moves. Finally my aunt comes up to us and snaps her fingers back and forth between us.

"Earth to Melina." she says over and over again. Finally I turn my head to look at her.

"Huh?" I ask. She giggles and Karson laughs.

"Breakfast is in a couple of minutes, y'all don't have to come if you don't want. I mainly came here just to check on y'all because, you missy," she points her finger at me and smiles "need to learn to leave a note. I didn't want to make a big commotion so I had to sneak out. Now I have to sneak back in." I laugh.

"Sorry about that. We'll head back in a couple of minutes." I reply.

"And skip breakfast?" she asks, clarifying.

"And skip breakfast." Karson says.

"Okay." She smiles and starts heading out. Her boots leave imprints in the snow as she walks. Karson swiftly turns his head back to look down at his drink but I keep my head fixed where Aunt Katelyn walks. Before she turns to go around the corner, she turns her head to look at me and winks.