By Friday afternoon, Theo was starting to believe this ball might actually come together as planned. He walked through the ground floor of the castle, skimming through the tablet James had bought him to work on. Theo had protested he didn’t need it when he already had a phone and a laptop. But as soon as he had one, he realised how handy the damn thing was.

He was so absorbed, he didn’t notice until it was too late when Peggy grabbed him by the crook of his arm and steered him towards the kitchen. “Oi,” Theo said, looking up in surprise. Peggy wasn’t much shorter than he was, although she was three times his width and had a vice-like grip. So he wasn’t wriggling away any time soon.

“Don’t you ‘oi’ me, you cheeky sod,” Peggy huffed. “You’re sitting down for a cup of tea and that’s a fact. Look at you, you’re wasting away!”

He definitely wasn’t. For one thing, she kept sending cream cakes up to his room. For another, he and James were hand feeding each other chocolates last night. Naked. The mere thought almost made him go red.

“I’ve got so much to do,” Theo protested as Peggy frogmarched him inside the bustling kitchen. It was so busy compared to when Theo and James made their midnight omelettes. They only just managed to stop a hungry Blenheim from scurrying in alongside them. Theo had never known a small dog with such a big appetite.

“And it won’t get done if you faint from exhaustion,” Peggy said as she pushed him onto one of the stools at the counter nearest the kettle. A chorus of ‘hi, Theo!’, ‘hello, mate!’ and ‘how’s it going’ greeted him from the kitchen staff working around the room. Theo smiled and waved back at them. They were such a nice bunch.

“Fine,” he grumbled, locking the tablet screen and resting it on the counter. “I guess I could sit for five minutes.”

Peggy didn’t even ask him how he took his tea anymore. A strong brew with no sugar was plonked in front of him. Then she smacked a wad of dough onto a sprinkling of flour on the other side of the counter and began kneading it with practiced hands.

“What you got left to do, then?” she said.

“Um,” said Theo, looking towards his tablet. But he picked up his tea instead. “Not much, really,” he said honestly. “It’s going to be pandemonium tomorrow when we do the setup. But the weather forecast is great and everything is booked and sorted. I just have to make sure the rowboats arrive safely this afternoon and try on my suit a final time.”

Because, of course, James had insisted he buy Theo a new one. James had fretted he couldn’t get one tailormade from scratch. But he satisfied himself by having Theo try on a ridiculously expensive one on Tuesday, then getting it tailored to fit. Theo had acted like he was a numpty for making such a scene when Theo already had a perfectly good suit. But the truth was, he bloody loved James fussing over him.

Theo told himself that because James let him take charge in the bedroom, it was okay for Theo to allow James to dote on him outside of it. And it wasn’t just presents. James was generous with his time and attention, too.

He looked up and realised Peggy was grinning at him. “What?” Theo asked, flustered.

Peggy shook her head and continued kneading her dough. “Oh, nothing,” she said with a chuckle.

“You’ve got the catering order, haven’t you?” Theo questioned, changing the subject.

He wondered what look he’d had on his face when he’d been thinking about modelling his new suit for James the night before so it could be sent for final adjustments today. No sooner had he put it on did he have to take it off again for his insatiable lover. He’d had a hard job getting undressed that fast without wrinkling his clothes.

“Yes, yes, stop fretting,” Peggy said fondly. “It’s all arrived and we’ll all have vol-au-vents coming out of our ears by tomorrow. Are you happy?”

Theo nodded and sipped his tea. He knew he needed to chill, but the closer it got to the ball, the more stressed he became. He needed this to go so well so badly. It was like his audition to the events world. If he could pull this off, he’d be in with a chance of being contracted to organise other things. Awards shows, concerts, galas, launches. Anything. He wanted to specialise in charities, still. But there was so much he knew he could offer the world and this was his chance to show he was capable. One cock-up could bugger everything.

“Taking a break, are we?” an unwelcome voice drawled from behind Theo. He noticed the kitchen had gone unnaturally quiet. All the chatter and laughing had died down.

Theo placed his teacup on the counter and met eyes with Peggy, who had a grim look of determination on her face. But Theo plastered on a smile before he spun around on his stool with a twirl of his hands.

“Mr Bellamy-Walters,” he said brightly. James called him ‘Iggy’, Theo now knew. He was a first-class prick, by all accounts. Being aware of that helped Theo to be less scared of him. “How can I help you?”

“I was concerned the timetable for the fundraiser was still on track,” Iggy said with a sniff. He had his hands clasped behind his back and his nose up, as if he was inspecting a fresh dog turd.

“Nope, ahead of schedule, actually,” Theo said with the confidence he’d been lacking from his discussion with Peggy. Because, fuck it. If he was really honest, he knew this ball was going extremely well. He was still terrified something out of his control would throw a spanner in the works. But there genuinely wasn’t anything more Theo could be doing to move it along in that moment.

It seemed Peggy agreed.

“Oh, leave the boy alone, Ignatius,” she chided, whacking the dough with a rolling pin. Theo was unsure if that was entirely necessary or if she just felt like smacking something hard. “He doesn’t take lunch breaks, you know. I made him have some tea. If that’s a crime now, the country’s going to be in a lot of trouble.”

Iggy inclined his head in an ingratiating sort of way. “I am merely concerned for His Highness’s reputation,” he said smoothly.

Theo wanted to tell him to jog on. As if he’d let James down or embarrass him.

“It’s okay,” he said to them both, hopping back on his feet. “I’m just heading out to the courtyard to check on the progress of the fairy lights. Thanks for your concern, though, Mr Bellamy-Walters. James and I really appreciate it.”

He picked up his tablet, winked at Peggy and flounced off. If he was being sensible, he shouldn’t risk hinting there was more to him and James than a professional relationship. But damn, if Iggy didn’t go out of his way to breathe down their necks. James had to sneak to Theo’s room each night like a rebellious school child. They were grown adults and it got on Theo’s tits that Iggy thought he was the boss of what they did in their own private time behind doors.

Theo hated feeling closeted. He’d sworn never to try and hide who he was again, not since his stepdad had thrown him out. Life was too short to keep your true self locked away, like a damsel in a tower, waiting to be saved. Theo was the hero of his own story, and that hero was gay as fuck. Which shouldn’t matter, because he was good at his job. Surely that should be the only thing for Iggy to be concerned about.

The real world didn’t work like that, however, and Theo knew it. He sighed as he heard a familiar scramble of paws against the flagstones he was walking over. “Why can’t things just be simple, hey, Beanie?”

Beanie wagged her tail and held up her tennis ball hopefully for Theo. Theo smiled and took it from her to throw down the corridor. She chased after it as Bonney materialised from another room, yowling as she joined in on the game.

Theo was going to miss these dogs. He was going to miss everything about the castle. Nothing more so than James, though.

Over the past few days, they had been able to keep the melancholy at bay. They talked about their days and ate together and had spectacular sex. It had been pretty vanilla since James had asked to be tied up. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t creative and hot as fucking sin. Theo shivered as he mused on their escapades last night.

James liked being fucked just as much as he liked fucking Theo, which Theo was surprised by considering he was a more masculine sort. Not that Theo had made much of a habit fucking men more than once over the years. Lucky for him, he’d found a partner that enjoyed getting experimental between the sheets. (And on top of them. And on the floor…and the desk…and in the bath…)

But that was all going to come to an end soon. Theo sighed and stopped walking in the middle of the courtyard. With his sunglasses on, he could very easily use the excuse he was looking the scene over. But in reality, he just let his gaze drift into the middle distance.

He knew he couldn’t keep James. He was meant for the world. Theo couldn’t possibly have him for himself. It was so typical. The one guy he wanted to continue seeing was the one he had to let go.

All because the monarchy was too terrified to take a moral stand and enter the twenty-first century. It was absolutely infuriating. Theo would be lying if he said it didn’t make him feel inferior in a way he’d refused to indulge in years. No matter how far LGBT rights had come, there was always something still holding them back, even in a country as progressive as Great Britain.

Theo shook his head, trying to chase those thoughts away. He had promised himself he wasn’t going to squander any of the hours he did have with this beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful man. He wouldn’t be ungrateful for the gift of the time they had together.

His phone dinged with a text message, pulling him from his reverie. He threw Beanie’s ball again towards one of the rose bushes he could smell in the warm afternoon breeze and scratched behind Bonney’s ears. Then he fished the phone from his pocket to check the message.

The number was unknown. But with all the orders and such Theo had been making lately, that wasn’t so much of a surprise. Even though he saved all the various companies’ contact details as he went, other people within those companies were continuously contacting him. Normally they emailed, though. A text was unusual.

Then Theo opened the message and realised it had nothing to do with work at all.

I know you’re fucking him. There will be consequences.

Theo’s blood ran cold. He tried to keep his breathing under control as he reread the message several times. Then he locked his phone, placed it in his pocket and did his best to surreptitiously look round to see if anyone was watching him. He thought he might be sick.

He had assumed some people sort of knew. The way Peggy grinned at him and the cheerful way Manjeet always said hello when he was in the castle. Even Quintin, the extremely proper butler, was overly polite to Theo. They all seemed warm around him, especially if he was with James.

But had someone seen James going into his room at night? Or leaving it in the morning? Did they take offence to the fact that James was shagging a man or a commoner or both?

What did they mean by consequences?

A whine at his feet made Theo look down. Beanie and Bonney had been joined by the rest of the pack. Bertie pawed at Theo’s jeans, Blenheim whined again while Bouncer headbutted Theo’s leg. He let out a shaky breath. At least the pups were on his side.

But someone out there wasn’t. Someone had the power to destroy both Theo and James’s lives.

Theo could only think of one person who was so dead set against them being together and might know about it already. Hadn’t he just told Theo he was concerned with James’s reputation?

How far would Ignatius Bellamy-Walters go to protect the Royal Family?

Theo worried he was about to find out.