A Royal Entanglement: The Young Royals Book 2 Read Free Page B

asked as the carriage began to move.
    She huffed and laughed, “Yeah,” she said, squeezing my hand.
    “Big day,” I said and she nodded.
    I shared a look with Will.   Alyssa was never this reticent.
    “You okay Princess?” Will asked.
    “You can’t call me that anymore,” she said and I let out the breath I didn’t realise I was holding.
    “I will not call you Queen,” Will said with a laugh.
    She smiled and I further relaxed.   I know the journey for her to get here had been a hard one.   Not only losing her brother and father but the fight she’d had with Parliament over her right to ascend and then the trauma of being kidnapped by someone she’d thought was a friend.   But through it all she had held strong and had made us all proud.
    “Okay,” she said, “You can still call me Princess, but not in public.   I have a rep to protect.”
    I snorted.   There she was, the Alyssa we had all grown to know and love.
    The carriage wove through the streets and we waved at the happy smiling people lining the roads.   There had been initial backlash to the thought of having a female Head of State, but as the people had gotten to know Alyssa, she had slowly won them over, especially the female half of the population.   Her initiatives to give women the equality that their foreign counterparts had been enjoying for years had won her some very avid supporters.
    “I miss Jacob,” she said, suddenly serious again.
    Will took one of her hands and I took the other and squeezed gently.
    “He would be so proud of you,” I said and Will nodded.
    “You know he would,” he said.
    She sighed, “I know,” she said, “I just would’ve loved to have his counsel over the last few months.   You two have been wonderful, but he’d been living in my father’s shadow and he would’ve had so much more insight into things.”
    We were silent for a while as we each got lost in our thoughts about the late Prince.   He and Alyssa were different and would have ruled with very different styles, not that one was better than the other, just that they were different.
    “Okay, enough sadness,” she said, “Today is a good day.”
    I grinned at her.   I’d been working closely with Alyssa as she prepared to take the crown and she constantly surprised me with the way she could cope with the pressures that surrounded her on a day-to-day basis.   I think Will had a lot to do with keeping her grounded and he had become a friend too.
    “So what is the first thing the Queen will do as Head of State?” I asked cheekily.
    “Did you know that Queen Victoria’s first decree was to demand an hour completely alone?”
    “What?” I laughed.
    “Apparently she had been constantly surrounded her entire life.   She had never ever been left alone and so when she was crowned, the first thing she demanded was an hour of absolute solitude.”
    “Is that what you want Princess?” Will asked gently.
    She shook her head and smiled, “No,” she said, “I’ve become very good at demanding alone time.”
    “So what is the one thing you want?” I asked.
    “Chocolate,” she said, and I laughed and shook my head.
    “Your fiancé has a contract with the best chocolatier in the world and you feel deprived of the stuff?” I asked.
    “I’ve been on a diet,” she said, “I had to look my best for the coronation.   The camera adds ten pounds don’t you know.”
    “Jonathon sent you a very special box especially for your coronation,” Will said and she glared at him.
    “And you’re only telling me this now?” she asked.
    He shrugged, “It was giving up chocolate or giving up cheese and since your consumption of Pemberton Cheese is what keeps the business afloat, I had to deny you the chocolate.”
    “I do not eat that much cheese,” she said, horrified.
    Will just raised an eyebrow at her and I shook my head with a smile.
    “Okay, maybe I do,” she said sulkily, “But Jonathon sent the chocolates to me, for me.   I