“You did WHAT?”

Britta stares at me like I have two heads and I can’t help but glance around. She’s being pretty loud, and we’re in a quiet little pub around the corner from the castle. We’re on our lunch break and still wearing our uniforms, so we can’t draw attention. It’s not the sort of place you should get excited in.

“Calm down,” I say to her. “People are staring.”

“I don’t care about them,” she says, her eyes wide. Britta has beautiful blue eyes and thick blonde hair. Her skin is so pale that I’m pretty sure I can see all of her organs. She’s very pretty, and when we go out together, guys usually pay more attention to her than to me. Though we’ve only gone out once or twice.

“It wasn’t a big deal,” I say to her. “I just stumbled in on him and he was really nice about it.”

“You saw Prince Nolan in his underwear?” she hisses, practically falling out of her chair.

I grin at her and shrug. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Tell. Me. Everything.” She pounds on the table between each word.

I’m afraid she’s going to have a stroke or something from all this excitement, so I launch into the story. I tell her about cleaning that wing of the castle, which she’s very familiar with, and walking in on the prince. I even tell her about how he came to see me a second time.

“I can’t believe you didn’t knock,” she chastises me. “You’re going to get fired.”

“Don’t act like you always knock,” I say. Of course she mentions the knocking thing, she can’t help herself when it comes to castle decorum.

“Of course I do.” She looks a little smug. “You know my family is proud of what we do.”

“Yeah, yeah. Well, if I had knocked, I wouldn’t have seen him standing there in just his underwear.”

“Describe it,” she says, getting seriously suddenly. She leans toward me across the table.

I raise an eyebrow. “Uhm, it was a little awkward. He gave me this cocky smile, and I apologized and ran away.”

“No, not the situation,” she says slowly. “Describe… it.”

I stare at her for a second, not understanding. Her eyes get a little wider and she glances down.

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

“Hazel,” she says. “Are you dense?”

I suddenly understand what she’s trying to say, and I can’t help but burst out in laughter. “You want me to describe his package!” I say, cackling.

“The royal package,” she whispers very seriously. It only makes me laugh that much harder. “It’s no joke, Hazel. From those loins, that man can make royalty. Do you understand that? Royalty, Hazel!”

I can barely breathe. I knew Britta and her family practically worshipped the royals, but I had no clue how obsessed she really was. She wants me to describe his junk all because that’s the magic cock that can create a little baby prince.

Truth is though, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. That man is a cocky asshole, but he’s so damn handsome. I don’t think I’ve never seen a man with a body like that, sculpted and absolutely perfect. He knows it, too, which makes it that much sexier.

When he ran into me the second time, I couldn’t help but glance down at his royal lower half. I kept picturing him bulging out of his briefs, practically tearing out. The man is enormous, and he wasn’t trying to hide it.

“Please, Hazel,” Britta says, reaching across the table. She takes my hands between hers and stares at me very intently. “I’m begging you.”

“Okay,” I say, shaking my head. “But only because you saved my life.”

“Yes, of course, you owe me a debt a million times over,” she says quickly. “Now describe it.”

“He’s a lucky man,” I say slowly. Britta practically groans, which is weird.

“He is huge, yes?” she asks.

I pull my hands away from her. “Okay, this is getting weird.”

She sighs. “I’m just so jealous of you. And you say he came to see you again?”

I nod slowly. “Seemed to just want to chat, actually.”

“Chat?” she asks, cocking her head. “What word is that?”

“Talk,” I say. “He just walked to talk to me.”

“Ah,” she says. “The prince does have a … reputation, but of course it isn’t true.”

“I heard. But why do you say it isn’t true?”

“He’s the prince,” she says simply. “He can do whatever he pleases with his subjects.”

“I’m not his subject,” I point out.

“Yes, true. Well, he can do whatever he wishes with me, then.” She smiles proudly.

I laugh and push back from the table. “I’m getting another drink. Want one?”

“Yes, please,” she says. “Today is a day for drinking. You saw the royal package, after all.”

I groan but can’t help but laugh as I walk over toward the bar. Polovia has some of the best beer in the world, and everyone here drinks it. I’m not much of a drinker, but they have this stuff that’s slightly sour, very light and airy, has practically no alcohol. I love it and can’t get enough. I always have one or two when I come here during lunch with Britta.

I get up to the bar and wait to be served. On the television, they’re doing a story about the royal family. I can just barely follow along, but apparently some cousin was given a new title, whatever that means. I can’t tell if it’s a big deal or not, but I suspect it isn’t. I mean, these royals are always making up titles and giving them to each other, right? None of it means anything.

Polovia is such a strange country. It’s very modern and European, but it still has a functioning monarchy. The royal family isn’t a figurehead like it is in England and elsewhere. The King is like the president, except with more power. Polovia has a parliament, but the King ultimately sets laws, with a vast veto power. However, parliament sets budgets, and the King can’t veto a budget that passes with a super majority.

I’m not usually interested in politics, but it’s good to be aware of stuff at least. I had only just heard of Prince Nolan before meeting him today, but I had no clue what he looked like. Mostly I just read his name on Wikipedia when I was trying to figure out what the hell the royal family actually does here. The Polovian people are pretty obsessed with the royals and are constantly scrutinizing them. I can only imagine what they think about Prince Nolan.

It’s a pretty conservative society, and the prince didn’t seem like a conservative man. Although sex is all over the media and on television, it’s practically not talked about, except by freakish people like Britta. And even that relatively tame conversation was pushing the boundaries for people in this country. They all have sex with each other constantly, but nobody ever talks about it, and there’s a lot of shame around it. I’m pretty inexperienced and a little reserved, but the people here make me look like a total whore.

I order two drinks and carry them back to the table. As soon as I sit down, Britta starts talking about rumors she’s heard about the prince. I half listen to her, since it’s all really boring stuff about breaches of etiquette and other mundane things. She talks about this stuff like it’s so important, but it’s just more evidence of the way the people here think about the royal family.

I keep thinking about the way he looked at me the second time we spoke. I don’t know why he ran into me again. It was almost like he was looking for me, but that can’t be right. From what I can tell, the prince is back in the castle in order to solidify his claim to the throne, or something like that. It sounds super important, so I can’t imagine he’d have time to come talk to a lowly maid like me.

But it happened. I can’t deny that. He was looking at me like he wanted to rip my clothes off, and I can’t just ignore that fact. I keep thinking about him, half naked, a cocky smile on his face, not bothering to cover up…

I need to get myself together. I have one goal, and that’s to get home. I don’t need to get involved with some arrogant, cocky, spoiled prince. I don’t know him and I don’t need to know him. I just need to keep my head down and get my work done.

So that’s what I’ll do. I’ll forget about this prince. I probably won’t even run into him again, anyway. I had my fun and now it’s done, which is probably for the best.