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I enjoyed the drive with Kevin much more than I would have with Ashton. We sang along to the songs in his car and chatted about all sorts of things. He even slowed down a little. For him that was a very big deal.

"The house that Ashton brought me to on Monday, is that where he lives when he's not at the palace?"

"Yup," Kevin said, making a turn. "This is Ashton's first time going back to the palace in a long time. I guess he's moving back into the palace now."

"Isn't that too risky?"

"Not really. You'll see why."

"Then where we went to his party was not his house?"

"That was one of his other houses. It's where we go to throw parties and chill sometimes."

"One of his other houses," I whispered.

How rich was this guy? Then again, he was the prince. What seemed like a lot to me probably meant nothing to him.

"I should take you guys to my beach house one day," Kevin continued. "It has a really great view."

"Wait, what? You wait until now to mention that you have a beach house?" I asked in shock.

Kevin shrugged. "It just never came up. Technically, it's my family's but they're always busy so no-one goes there."

After going through layers of security, we finally entered the Royal Realm and I stared at the huge, exquisite mansions and high-rise buildings in awe.

I was left completely speechless. Everything was so much different than in the Common or Noble Realm! Every single thing was so spotless and flawless, perfectly in place. It made me feel like I had no business even being there.

Even the air felt different, much purer. It was as if we'd driven into a totally new world.

After driving for a few more minutes, the large palace grounds came into view, but instead of entering through the main gate, Kevin drove through a wooded, winding path instead. After more than ten minutes of that, I was convinced we were lost.

"Maybe you should call Ashton," I suggested.

"I know where we are."

I peered through the forest of trees and then shot him a doubtful look. I'd seen Jumanji too many times to feel comfortable in a place like this.

"Maybe try calling him just in case."

"Trust me, Liz. I live here," he laughed. "No-one knows about this path. This route is only accessible by us. You might not see them, but there are guards stationed all around here."

I stared out the window, eager to spot one of them, but all I saw were lines and lines of towering trees.

We pulled up at a parking lot after a few more minutes. Ashton's car was already there and he was leaning on it while waiting for us.

I stared at the place. It was huge! I couldn't even tell which side of the palace we were at.

"You'll see something cool inside," Kevin chuckled.

We got out of the car and walked towards Ashton.

"When are we going to meet your aunts and uncles?" I asked Ashton, who looked at me as if I'd grown another head.

"Since we're meeting all of your family one by one," I remarked.

"When I set the date, I'll let you know," he answered stiffly.

We went up the steps and into the beautiful palace. It was even larger up close. I almost felt as if I'd stepped into a fairy tale.

Since we were here it would be polite to say hello to his parents as well.

"Are your parents home?" I asked.

"Why? Do you want to spend some alone time with me?" he asked suggestively. I rolled my eyes.

Kevin eyed him weirdly and led me away from him into the house. After scanning his fingerprints and irises, he typed in a code and the doors opened with a click.

I gaped at what I saw. We were definitely in the palace, but where we'd just entered was an exact replica of the house I'd visited on Monday. Every single thing was the same. The colours, the furniture... everything.

"How?" I wondered out loud.

"Told you you'd see something cool," Kevin laughed. "It's modelled just like the last house."

"But we're in the palace." I turned to Ashton. "You have a mansion in your palace?"

He smirked. "You don't?"

"This side of the palace is completely closed off to everyone except the royal family and us," Kevin explained as he led me to the living room. Ashton went up the stairs to get his sister.

"Why though? I thought the royal family lived in the north wing of the palace."

"Assassins also think that," he shrugged. "This is just an extra protective measure. It's almost impossible to find this part of the palace."

"So I'm guessing you live here too," I commented.

"I have a house here as well," he said sheepishly.

"And the house that me and the girls know?"

"I live there too," he chuckled.

I just nodded. There were no words.

"Only Royals live in the Royal Realm, but a handful of chosen noble families also own houses in the Royal Realm. Me and the other guys you met on Monday have houses in all three realms."

A few moments later we heard sounds of excited feet running down the stairs and Ashton shouting at someone to be careful.

I stood up as a cheerful looking girl entered the room. She looked about five years old and she was beautiful. She had her mother's light brown hair and her eyes were blue, like Ashton's, only hers were a much lighter shade of blue. But just by looking into them, I could tell they were related.

She ran over to me quickly and giggled.

"Hello, I'm Princess Brooke."

I smiled at her, she was so cute! I curtsied and stooped down to her height.

"Hi, Princess Brooke. I'm Elizabeth."

She giggled again. "I know." She paused. "I'm five and a half years old," she stated proudly.

My heart melted as she gave me a hug.

"How are you doing today?" I asked.

"I'm really excited because my mother's going to take me to the royal theatre after ballet, and it is going to be so much fun!" she said in one breath.

"Wow, that does sounds super fun," I smiled "I hope you have a blast!"

She nodded, then looked back at Ashton. "I like her. She's nice and pretty too," she said with a satisfied grin. Then she turned back to me. "You're going to marry Ashton, right?"

My jaw dropped and I flashed Ashton a surprised glance. He just stood there with an amused smirk on his face.

"Now, now Brooke. You should not ask questions like that so directly," the queen said, coming into the room with a warm smile.

Brooke only giggled. "Mother, I like her. I want her to marry Ashton," she said happily.

The queen gave me a dazzling smile as she took Princess Brooke's hand in hers.

"Hello, Elizabeth. It is so lovely to see you again so soon," she seemed to realize that Kevin was there too. "Hello Kevin."

Kevin smiled at her and returned the greeting.

"It's nice to see you too, your majesty," I smiled and curtsied.

"Please do not be so formal. Just Mrs. DeLorentes will do."

"Okay... Mrs. DeLorentes," I settled on that.

She smiled.

"Elizabeth."

"Yes, Princess Brooke?"

"Don't be so formal. Just call me Brooke," Brooke grinned, copying her mother. "Will you come back tomorrow and play with me?" she asked innocently.

How could I say no to her?

"I will," I promised.

Brooke grinned. "And then you can marry Ashton the day after that. I'll bring all of my friends too and-"

"That's enough from you," Ashton said as he scooped her up into his arms.

"Ha ha! I'm flying!" Brooke squealed as Ashton lifted her into the air and spun her around.

I looked on in surprised awe. I never imagined that Ashton could be so affectionate. At school he was either bored, flirting, smug or angry. Now here he was being really cute with Brooke too.

It was like I'd entered some alternate universe where he wasn't a jerk.

Mrs. DeLorentes gazed at them lovingly, and then she looked at her watch. "We should be leaving now, we do not wish to be late," she smiled.

Ashton set the grinning Brooke carefully on the ground and she hugged his feet.

"Tell them goodbye," Mrs. DeLorentes said.

"Goodbye Elizabeth! Goodbye Kevin!" she waved "I will see you tomorrow!"

"Will you not tell your brother goodbye too?" Mrs. DeLorentes asked.

Brooke considered for a while and then stuck her tongue out at Ashton whose jaw dropped.

"Why you little..." he said, chasing her around the living room, but allowing her to run faster.

Mrs. DeLorentes caught Brooke mid-run and waved bye to us. Brooke looked back at me and waved again.

"And that was Brooke," Aston said, slowly going back to his serious self again.

"Ashton, she's so adorable. She's such a little angel."

"Yeah a fallen one," he said, shaking his head. "Are you really coming back tomorrow?"

"Of course. I promised her, didn't I?"

He narrowed his eyes, "Yeah and you better keep that promise."

I waved him off. "I will."

I turned to Kevin, "Who knew Ashton could be so adorable? I should have gotten that on camera."

Ashton stared at me wide eyed. "I'm not adorable. I'm sexy."

"You are too adorable," I cooed.

"I am not."

"Are too!"

"I am not!'

"Yes, you are."

"Should I demonstrate just how sexy I am then?" he asked, beginning to lift his shirt up.

My hands flew to my eyes. "No thanks," I mumbled.

"You're too innocent," he scoffed, then smirked. "Maybe it's better that way."

"I don't even want to know what's going on inside your head."

Then I remembered Kevin saying something about Ashton thinking up ways to kill him.

"Can you hear each other's thoughts or something?" I asked, looking between Ashton and Kevin.

"You told her?" Ashton asked, plopping down onto the couch.

"Not exactly," Kevin said then looked at me.

I narrowed my eyes at them. "You know I asked that as a joke, right? There's no way that's even possible."

"Aite, bet," Kevin grinned. "Whisper something to me," he said, moving closer and leaning down to my height. "I'll tell Ashton through our mind link."

I whispered something in his ear and he straightened up.

"You know, if you keep calling me a jerk, I'm going to get mad," Ashton said, folding his arms.

My jaw dropped as Ashton basically revealed what my message was about. I dragged Kevin all the way across the room this time and I whispered another message as low as I could. This time the sentence was super long and didn't make any sense. Ashton repeated it easily.

"How does that even work?" I questioned in surprise.

"We can't hear everything; we can just hear what someone else wants us to hear. And we can also block that person out," Kevin explained.

"So like a mental phone call?"

"Something like that," Ashton nodded.

"That sounds pretty convenient," I said in awe.

"It is convenient. You can send a message to any amount of persons," Kevin said.

"It's very convenient in exams," Ashton grinned wickedly.

My mouth fell open in shock and I gave Kevin a slap that might have been a little too hard.

He stared at me wide eyed, "Why am I the one who gets hit?" he whined.

"Do you want me to hit the prince, then?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes! Go ahead and hit him instead," he complained while pointing to Ashton. "I'm the one who has to study harder because of this."

"Ashton, you're the worst," I laughed at Kevin's expression of fake sadness. "Hey, teach me how to do that too."

"And what will you do when you learn? Are you going to send me some hot thoughts?" Ashton mused.

Kevin threw his hands in the air. "I'm exiting this convo. I need food." He walked off to what was probably the kitchen, leaving me alone with Ashton.

"Do you ever have any decent thoughts in that head of yours?" I asked crossly. "And you do have a girlfriend, you know."

"You're no fun," he sighed. "Why did my soulmate have to be such an innocent nerd?"

"Don't call me your soulmate." I threw one of the couch pillows at him, but he caught it without looking.

He stared at me for a moment before getting up and crossing the distance between us.

He suddenly had a serious expression on his face and it was creeping me out. I stepped back until I bumped into the couch, clumsily falling onto the luxuriously soft material. Ashton was over to me in no time.

He placed one of his hands beside my head and leaned down until I could feel his minty breath fan over my face. My heartbeat quickened. What the heck was this situation?

"Um... Ashton. What are you doing?" I whispered.

Somehow, I didn't want to move away from him.

Should I? Could I?

His dark eyes searched mine, before his gaze lowered to my lips and then travelled back up to linger on my eyes.

His hand gently caressed my hair and he leaned down closer to me until his lips made contact with mine.

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