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A few seconds after CaVaughn left, Kevin and Ashton came in.

“Was someone else here with you?” Ashton asked with a frown.

I shot him a glare. “You didn’t tell me that your older brother was here.”

“I thought so. You didn’t ask,” he shrugged.

“I almost kicked him out of his own house,” I retorted mortified.

“What the hell did he want?” he grumbled, coming closer to me.

“We talked about the kingdom and stuff.”

Ashton didn’t seem convinced, but dropped the subject. He looked over at Brooke, who was still curled up snugly in the blankets.

I crossed my arms. “When were you going to tell me that you’re going to be the king?”

Suddenly, Jun appeared in the doorway. “Elizabeth!” he shouted, racing towards me, but Kevin caught him before Ashton could get his hands on him.

“If you touch my soulmate again, you’re dead. If you wake my sister up, you’re dead,” he warned.

Jun chuckled, “Sounds fun!”

“Okay, you’re coming with me,” Kevin sighed as he dragged Jun out of the room. He sent a warning glance at Ashton, who rolled his eyes.

“Your soulmate…” I whispered softly, but Ashton heard me. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

Just then, the queen came in with some medication for Brooke. She smiled at us.

“It looks like the gang is all here. I just passed Jun and Kevin downstairs.”

“We had a meeting,” Ashton informed her.

“I am sure your father would love to hear about it.”

“I’m sure he would,” Ashton scowled darkly.

“Ash...” she said with a frown. She sighed and then smiled at me.

“I hope you had a fun time with Brooke today. She can be very energetic.”

I laughed. “I had a great time. I don’t have siblings, so it’s nice to spend some time like this.”

She looked happy. “You are always welcome here, you know. Consider this your second home.”

“Mom, really?” Ashton said, rolling his eyes. “Nothing’s decided yet.”

I smiled to ease the awkwardness.

“I am so glad I got to see you, though, Elizabeth,” she moved on, ignoring Ashton. “My husband and I wanted to commemorate your relationship with Ashton. We want to make dinner reservations for both of you for tomorrow night. It will be completely private. Is that okay?”

“Uh… I…”

I was completely tongue tied. I looked over to Ashton for help, but he was just as speechless as I was.

“Great,” the queen smiled at us. “I will make the preparations immediately.”

She placed the medication on Brooke’s nightstand and left before any of us had the chance to change our minds.

I stared at Ashton. “Do something.”

“What am I supposed to do about this?” he asked dumbfounded.

“They’re your parents,” I said, trying to push him to go after his mom.

“If the king has anything to do with this, I doubt we can change his mind,” he glowered.

I remembered what his brother had said about his father. He did seem like he was planning out every detail of Ashton’s life. There was just one little problem. He was including me in all his plans without getting my confirmation first.

I was a bit worried about that. I didn’t want to end up getting pushed into this without a choice.

“You should talk to your dad about this. Even if you don’t have a say, I should at least get a choice."

“Just go along with it,” Ashton sighed. Then his eyes lit up. “Looks like we’re going on a date.”

“Not while you have a girlfriend, Ashton.”

“It’s not a serious date. If it makes you feel better I’ll tell her about it.”

“If it makes me feel better? Where’s your conscience?” I scoffed. “And she hates me.”

I stalked out of the room to find Mrs. DeLorentes. I didn’t like Nicole, but I wasn’t going to go out with her boyfriend either.

“Elizabeth, wait!” Ashton called after me, but I just increased my pace.

He caught up to me, but right before he could say anything, the king himself stepped out into the hallway.

“Keep your mouth shut,” Ashton threatened and I rolled my eyes at him.

“No, no. Let me in on this,” he said. “Is there something on your mind, Elizabeth?”

The queen appeared behind him looking confused.

I would have preferred to talk to her alone. I glanced at Ashton, who was still staring at me and groaned internally. I didn’t want to get him in trouble with his dad, but at the same time I didn’t want to go out with him like this. I’d been visiting the palace a lot. Surely that had to be enough.

Both of us stared at the ground in silence as the king waited patiently for one of us to talk.

“Never mind,” I mumbled after a suffocating moment of silence had passed.

“Is this about the dinner?” the queen asked.

I couldn’t lie to her, but I couldn’t tell her the truth either. I was about to tell her that it was okay, but Ashton spoke up first.

“Do we have to do this?”

“You don’t have to… but we’d like you to,” the king responded.

“I was asking mom,” Ashton spat.

I wished I could just disappear into the floor.

Don’t start an argument right now, I tried to mind message Ashton, but I doubt it would have worked anyways.

“But it will be delightful,” she tried to persuade him. “You do not want this either, dear?” she asked me.

“I need some time to think about it first,” I answered.

She tried not to show her disappointment. “I will cancel then.”

Ashton turned to his father angrily. “Get out of my head!”

I didn’t want to make the queen sad, and this awkward and tense situation was putting me on edge. Ashton did say he would explain this to Nicole. I didn’t know how he would accomplish that but…

“There are some matters that I must discuss with you, Elizabeth,” the king said as I deliberated. “Please,” he motioned to his office.

I started to walk towards it, but Ashton pulled me back.

“What do you want to discuss?” he growled.

“Nothing that can be said in the open like this,” the king replied. He looked at me. “You will be very interested in what I have to say.”

I looked over at Ashton, who was still glaring at his dad. I tried to shake my wrist free from his hold but he wouldn’t let go.

“It’s a trick,” he hissed.

“This involves your biological mother,” the king continued. “It’s up to you whether you’d like to hear it or not.”

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