The Hunted Royalty

Chapter 13

The interviews came to an end after the whole Deimos debacle. Aunt Katelyn wanted everyone to leave because for one, safety precautions, and second, she seemed to realize that I may have been a little peeved about the boyfriend comment. I stand up on stage waving and smiling as the crowd leaves. After the last person leaves including the staff I turn to Aunt Katelyn and Karson and my face goes red with anger.

"Was no one going to inform me about y'alls little stunt?" I practically shout at them.

Aunt K looks like she's trying her absolute hardest not to laugh while as Karson tries to reassure me that it was all her idea. "Come on, it was a good excuse for why he was always by your side." She says calmly.

I start pacing back and forth on the stage throwing my arms every which way in exasperation, "You could have said that he was my bodyguard, or a family member, or I don't know . . . a friend from back home." I turn back to them.

"Why is this such a big deal?" Aunt Katelyn finally gives in and cracks a smile.

Because it's fake and I want it to be real, is what I want to say but instead, "Because I don't know if you quite understand how much trouble that's going to get me in back home. I'm not suppose to date till I'm, like, 30." I smile a little because even I know how stupid that excuse sounds. "And people may except him to be their next king."

She puts her finger on her chin and looks Karson up and down smirking, "I mean, he is a good contestant."

"AUNT KATELYN!" I shout, embarrassed and blushing. She laughs and puts her hands up in surrender. I must look like I'm about to go up and slap her because Karson locks his arms around me from behind and starts talking for the first time in this conversation.

"I mean she does have a good point," I turn my head as much as he allows me to and give him my deadliest glare I can muster. "Not about the king part but that it explains why I'm spending so much time with you." His voice calms me down a bit and he must notice because he loosens his grip ever so slightly. He leans closer and whispers in my ear, "and we can 'break up' if you really hate it that much."

"No," I give a frustrated sigh "it's not that. You just caught me off guard, that's all." He smiles at me sympathetically.

"Well I should get going." Aunt Katelyn says.

"Yea, we should t0." Karson says for me.

Karson and I walk back to my new room. I go into the bathroom to change back into the clothes I was wearing earlier, undo my hair, and take off all the makeup. My hair falls in curly waves down my back as I sit down on the couch near Karson. We sit in silence for a bit as I play with the hem of his lettermans jacket. I move all my hair to one side as I say, "I'm sorry for exploding on y'all." I give a small smile and look up at him.

"It's fine, you're just stressed that's all." The look he gives me makes me feel 100% better. He waves me over and I sit beside him with his arm on my shoulder playing with the collar of my jacket.

"I miss him." I say, barely audible.

"Who?"

"Darian, dad." I pause, "Mom."

"I know princess." He thinks for a second before saying, "I hate seeing you like this. Maybe if you talk about her a bit it might make you feel a little better."

I take a shaky breath. I've hardly talked about her since the crash. To painful. I try to think of a good memory to tell him. I laugh quietly when I find the right one. "Well, on my 6th birthday, my brother got the first piece of cake when I wanted it so I threw my plastic knife at him."

"Dramatic much?" he laughs.

"Nah, that's nothing compared to other times. After that my mom took me to my room and as she was scolding me, she laughed so hard and high fived me because she said she would have done it to."

"Hmm, what kind of cake?"

"Coconut."

"Worth it." Our laughs start off small but gradually get bigger.

I wipe a tear from my eye and try to choke out between my howls of laughter, "He still has the scar above his right eyebrow." That only made us laugh even harder.

After we stop laughing and go back to out positions on the couch Karson says, "Ya' know, when I was little my mom, dad, and I went to Europe for a vacation. So everything was going really great ya' know? Keep in mind I was 6 or 7ish. When we were leaving I had walked off to look at some toys and they didn't, somehow, notice that their child was missing so I got left at the airport. They noticed after the plane took off so they had to go through the whole flight to America, then get a plane ticket back. I was stuck there for so long until some babysitter my parents hired last minute brought me to her house where I had milk and cookies. When they finally got to me, my mom was a nervous wreck while my dad was cracking up." He laughs and shakes his head.

"That must have been traumatizing. Poor baby." I giggle.

"Nope. It was so much fun. I got major guilt points from my parents so I ended up getting the toy I was looking at." The way he talks about his mother, it's not like he's sad that she's gone, but that he's glad that she was there. We b0th look at each other and erupt in yet another fit of laughter.

After this, Karson and I grab chinese food to eat in my old room to look out for anything suspicious. When we get there, we do a search through the room to make sure there are no other notes. When we find none, we sit on the balcony and eat. We stay in silence, not tension filled, but peaceful. Karson's the first to break the silence.

"Are you going to come back to New Orleans after all this?" He looks like he's scared for the answer.

"No, I think I'll have to stay here." I must have confirmed his thoughts because his smile breaks my heart into a million pieces and puts it back together all at once.

"It's going to be so boring here without you." I laugh because it's easier then crying. I don't want him to leave. If he leaves I'll be stuck with someone like Liam Smith, and I do not want that.

"Life's gonna' be so boring without you to." I want to ask him to stay. To never leave. To live here, but I could never do that. I can't just take his life from him. "You know, however this ends, I'll stick with you till the end. No matter what." He says this so seriously that I know there's not even a fraction of a lie in that sentence.

"I know." I say, barely audible. I don't trust my voice not to crack. I try not to cry but a few tears escape.

"Oh, no don't cry, beautiful." He laughs a little which makes me laugh while the tears start pouring. He puts his food down, picks me up bridal style, sits down, and places me on his lap. His tears mix in my hair. I sit here thinking

Why can't I have the one thing I've wanted over everything else.