“Well don’t just stand there on ceremony, let’s get the kettle on,” Charlotte said as she was helped out of the car by her chauffeur. Spots of rain had started and as if out of nowhere the chauffeur produced an umbrella to save the princess’ perfectly coiffed hair.

“My, this place hasn’t changed a bit,” she continued a little wistfully, looking up at the stone building from beneath her shelter.

“Your Highness,” I spluttered, “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“No, of course you weren’t. A last minute decision,” she said and hooked her arm in mine, taking charge. “Who were you expecting, though?” Before I could speak she answered for me, “My infuriating brother perhaps, William?”

“No, no… Wait, why would you think that?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said. “I haven’t been keeping up to date with all the comings and goings lately. Too busy with my own schedule. Come on, let’s get a cuppa and I can tell you all about it.”

More stunned than anything at her sudden appearance and eagerness to have a chinwag I let her lead us into the house, making a beeline for the kitchen.

“It’s incredible, it’s exactly how I remember it. Not one little bit has changed. There’s that cranky old AGA range. A devil to turn on. Oh, and look: the place where Will dropped a really heavy baking bowl and cracked the floor tile in the process.” She leaned in as if she were about to tell me a huge secret. “We were trying to steal the leftover chocolate batter from under the cook’s nose, but of course we got caught and it all went horribly wrong. We didn’t get any cakes for a month after that. Which is a really big deal when you’re four.”

I smiled fondly at the princess, enjoying the tale, and the little titbit of information about William’s childhood, and her’s of course. “He must have been about ten, right?”

She nodded. “I think so. Maybe eleven. I can’t remember if it was before or after the twins’ birthday.”

A pleasant silence descended upon the room. Charlotte with her own nostalgic thoughts and mine now back on William, again. I brewed the tea and found a packet of bourbon biscuits and arranged them on a plate, wondering if the princess still had a hankering for chocolate after her story.

I took the items on a tray into the sitting room and we arranged ourselves around a small side table with two wingback chairs angled next to it. I pushed the plate of biscuits towards her.

“Oh, not for me, thanks.”

“I can get you something else if you like, if you’re hungry?”

“No, I’m fine. I had a big lunch at the Waldorf in Edinburgh.”

Trying not to let the awkwardness of her impromptu arrival and my nerves get the best of me, especially lately since she seemed be opening the door for us to be friendly with each other, I asked, “Charlotte, why are you here? You said so yourself, your schedule is packed, so why come here? To see me?”

“You don’t beat around the bush do you?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean any offense—”

“Nonsense,” she said smiling, “I’m not offended. I like it when people get to the point. Small talk can be so tiresome.”

I nodded and waited for her to answer my question, my suspicions rising. She bit her lip as a sneaky smile appeared on her face, as if she were trying to stop it from spreading. Would Will really put his sister up to come and check on me? And if so, for what purpose? We were over before it even began. His life was with Annabelle now, and getting any other royals involved in the scandal probably wouldn’t be the greatest idea.

“Well, I was in the neighbourhood…”

“No you were not,” I said with a little laugh. “Edinburgh is miles away.”

She shrugged. “No, truly, I had time some time to kill before the charity fashion show tonight.”

“Mhm,” I murmured, unconvinced. Though doubts were starting to creep in that I was being too sceptical of the princess and her motivations. Maybe she had just decided to pop by, since she was relatively close, to be kind. Or more likely to see the manor that she seemed rather nostalgic about. Her trip might have nothing at all to do with me after all. I wasn’t that important in the great scheme of things and her busy life, and to be fair we weren’t exactly close friends. I’d helped her out one time, and I was under no illusions that it didn’t automatically make us bosom buddies.

“Will the marchioness be joining us soon?” I asked cautiously.

“Aunt Gertie? I shouldn’t expect so… she hates the rain. Barely leaves her own apartments nowadays. Though she dotes on Victoria whenever she can. But of course Vicky is in London. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason,” I said, trying to mask my surprise.

“I mean it’s not out of the realm of possibility, she can be a bit unpredictable,” Charlotte quickly corrected herself as if she’d just realised the faux pas she’d made. Then she quickly changed the subject. “You know everyone is still talking about that dress you wore, and more importantly that dance.”

I blushed and dipped my gaze, hoping she’d move on to another topic. But of course it seemed like all Rothchester’s were out to torture me, and she kept on reliving the moment of a lifetime.

“You looked stunning. I still can’t believe William did it. Quite the little scandal. Well, maybe that’s not true… I’m not that surprised, to be honest,” she said trailing off.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh don’t play coy with me. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

“Who? William?”

“Yes, of course William!”

“No, you’re mistaken… there’s nothing—”

“There’s everything between you two. What I don’t understand is why you’re not going for it.”

I swallowed and put down the biscuit I was about to nibble, my appetite gone. Then I turned to her, my face serious. “Even if that were true—which I’m not saying it is—it doesn’t matter. And I apologise in advance if I sound rude, but have you quite forgotten who you are talking about? He’s a prince… and not just any prince. He’ll be king someday! And I am a nobody!” I said getting to my feet, almost forgetting myself and who I was speaking too.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout at you, Charlotte.”

“Sit down, Sophie. Please.”

I did as she requested and she took my hand.

“You love him, don’t you? With all your heart?”

There was no way I could answer that question without dissolving into a puddle of tears, so I stayed quiet.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret. Someone recently told me that I need to start putting myself first. Do what I want to do for a change. And you know? I’m beginning to think they were right. And right now I’m passing on that same advice; you have to do what’s in your heart otherwise you’ll be full of regrets later on in life… Ricky wouldn’t want you or William to be unhappy.”

“Frederick?” I questioned abruptly and took my hand back. “What does Frederick have anything to do with this? Did he send you—” I cut myself short. I’d promised William that I would never reveal anything about the letter he’d received from his brother.

Charlotte’s perfectly sculpted eyebrows narrowed slightly. “If he did,” she said slowly, “that’s between you and me only, Sophie. I believe I can trust you.”

“You can.”

“Good. And hopefully I can trust you to do the right thing for yourself. But whatever you decide to do, know that I’ll be behind you one hundred percent.”

The radio, set to a local classical station, was keeping me company after Charlotte left for her event in Edinburgh. It had been especially nice to see her again, and with it just being the two of us a lot more relaxed too, less formal, even with the tense moments and conversations that had passed between us during the afternoon. And though she was younger than me I still felt the need to curtsey every five goddamn minutes. But I did believe we were becoming friends and I smiled, remembering her kind words and advice.

I wondered if she would later mention our conversation to her brother William. Of course a part of me was praying that she would and that he would come find me, like Prince Charming on a white horse and we’d ride off into the distance. But the more sensible half of me was groaning, telling myself to grow the hell up. No matter how in love Charlotte believed us to be, life was not a fairy-tale and the sooner I moved on and distanced myself from the royal family and most importantly William, the better.

The Marchioness of Haven couldn’t come soon enough. Though after Charlotte’s slip up I wasn’t entirely sure that she was coming anymore. If she did though, the marchioness would bring her own entourage and staff and I’d be free to leave once she was settled. Free to go wherever I wanted, another country perhaps. One that wasn’t in the Commonwealth, I thought bitterly. I’d reinvent myself and as the years would pass by I’d forget how Will made me feel. Time would heal my wounds.

The soothing classical music died suddenly and a news bulletin filled the airwaves, breaking my train of thought that had been meandering along possible future tracks.

We interrupt our programming to bring travellers in the north of Scotland urgent information. Local police are advising drivers to forgo traveling westbound on the A96 from Lossiemouth to Inverness due to a severe accident that has traffic backed up for miles.

It is reported that a plane in distress attempted to land on the single carriageway but subsequently lost control. We will have more information for you soon as the story develops.

I switched the radio off and sat for a moment and sent up a small prayer of thanks that Charlotte would be ok and nowhere near the downed plane.

Her driver would be taking her the direct route south to Edinburgh for her fashion show, instead of the long way eastwards and around near to where they’d reported the accident happening. However, after a few minutes and a couple sips of tea, unable to get the queasiness I felt in the pit of stomach to disappear, I grabbed my phone anyway and sent her a quick text message. Just in case, I told myself. I wouldn’t be able to sleep otherwise, not knowing if the princess, William’s sister and my new friend, was safe.

Minutes dragged while I waited for a reply. But I didn’t get one. I cautioned myself to not panic, she would be fine. Probably just in a remote area with no reception for her phone, or had it switched off. But that didn’t stop me from pacing around the room, wearing down the already ancient carpet even further.

It was my duty to alert someone in the Palace, right? Just in case, chimed in my head again. With my resolve obliterated by all the what-ifs running around I dialled Brittany. She would know if everything was ok. She always had all the latest gossip, was practically the first to know the latest titbits, so she would’ve heard if Princess Charlotte had been caught up in the accident.

“Hello stranger,” she chirped when she picked up. “I have a bone to pick with you. A little birdie told me you resigned? Why on earth didn’t you tell me? You just packed your bags and didn’t even say goodbye!”

“Hi Britt, I’m really sorry. I should’ve told you, but knowing you, you would’ve talked me out of it. But anyway, that’s not what I’m calling about.”

“What’s wrong? You sound dreadful… is everything ok?”

“You’ll probably think I’m overreacting but have you heard anything about Princess Charlotte recently? She came to visit me up at Morvyn Manor and—”

“Wait, back up. You’re in Scotland?”

“Yes, I’ll explain everything later, I promise. But Princess Charlotte—is she ok?”

“Why wouldn’t she be? I saw her tweeting a few minutes ago at that fancy fashion show—”

“Oh, thank God. I thought the worst… there was an accident, I’m not really sure exactly of the details, but it was near here, and…”

“Calm down, Sophie. She’s fine. And you’ll be pleased to know your prince is too,” she said, lowering her voice to a whisper, and launching into her full on gossip mode.

I hadn’t told her a thing about how close I’d got to Will, far too risky to tell her something like that, even if she was my closest friend. Maybe I’d tell her when we were both old and grey, retired in some country home somewhere, reliving our glory days at the palace, rehashing the scandals. But of course she would’ve seen the photo of us dancing by now. And even though I knew I should’ve changed the subject, I couldn’t help but want to hear that he was ok too. I expected her to tell me tales from his recent trip to Monaco but as she continued to talk my stomach began to curdle even worse than it had before.

“Apparently he’s gone off gallivanting again. His mother is having conniptions, though I’m not sure the two things are related. Either way she’s not happy. And her footmen are bearing the brunt of her anger. But the last I heard, his friend, you know that one with all the money, the billionaire—”

“Jeremy?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Totally swoon worthy if you ask me. Anyway he made an appearance and the two of them, thick as thieves, left pretty quickly afterwards. There was talk from William’s security details that they were taking Jeremy’s private plane up north somewhere.”

“Up north?” I managed to squeak out.

Brittany paused for a moment. “Ooh, you don’t think he’s coming up to see you is he?”

The phone dropped from my hand and landed with a soft thud by my feet. “Oh no… please God no.”

“Soph? Are you still there? Sophie?”

I heard her distant voice coming from the phone, but I didn’t go back to pick it up. I was already launching myself out of the room, grabbing my coat and car keys, ready to go find him. I didn’t care what the radio said, I was going to drive towards the accident, and no one would be able to stop me.

I was halfway to my rental car, my hair already coated with fine drizzle from the short walk, when I heard a low drone passing by overhead. I looked up into the grey clouds searching for the origin of the noise. It was then I saw a small black shape, a ball really, gracefully falling through the sky. My mind couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing and I couldn’t look away. Whatever it was dropped like a stone through the wispy clouds.

My stomach lurched when I recognised the outline. I put my hand up to my mouth as I gasped, not wanting to believe what I was seeing. “Jesus.”

Limbs came into focus, outstretched like a starfish and then a second later the form juddered, yanked back up into the clouds as a billowy fabric spilled out. A black and white chute slowed the figure’s descent, but still the rate at which he was dropping was surely too fast and my insides pulled on their own safety cords with desperation, willing the crazy man to land safely.

In the short moments between the long nerve-wracking seconds as I stood unable to move, watching the shape get forever closer, my mind had decided, all on its own, that the figure was indeed a man. As soon as that conclusion had been made, it automatically asked: who?

And there was only one person I knew insane enough to fling himself out of an airplane in low-visibility weather. I wanted to kill him… that was if he landed without a scratch first.

Unable to stand the outcome of what may happen, I covered my eyes, splaying my fingers slightly and only looking through the cracks when I thought it was all over.

I spotted him landing with a dull thud on the long lawn that followed the gravel driveway at the front of the manor. He was about two hundred metres away and motionless.

My legs were moving before I even registered the movement, running hard towards him. Wind whipped at my hair and did the same to the deflated chute up ahead. Hard intakes of breath wracked my body but I wouldn’t stop.

Finally, I reached him. Thankfully Will was stirring, getting to his feet with ruddy red cheeks and a big broad smile to greet me on his lips.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he called and raised his hand in a wave.

I launched myself at him, fists driving hard against his chest. “You bastard. You absolute sodding bastard!”

The tears burst free; I was unable to stop them, totally overcome with emotion.

“You idiot! I thought you were dead… thought you’d been in an accident,” I sputtered, gasping for air but not letting my anger fizzle out just yet. He’d made me think all sorts of terrible things in the space of a few minutes. First the incident on the radio, and now this, him just falling from the sky and almost giving me a heart attack.

“Hey there. Shh, I’m ok. But this definitely wasn’t the welcome I was expecting…” he said, stopping my assault, grabbing my wrists and pulling me against him. “I thought you’d be pleased.”

He wrapped his arms around me and I melted into his chest, crying and thinking I wouldn’t ever stop. But I felt the adrenaline wither away the longer he kept a hold of me. “Pleased? I thought you were dead,” I whispered, almost choking on the words.

“I promise you I’m not going anywhere.”

“Let’s get you inside,” I heard him say and he led me towards the manor. His hair blew in the wind and my cheeks flushed at the sudden awareness of his hands touching my shivering body. It brought back a flood of memories, the way he’d pulled me against him as we had slept in my bed, the way he’d caressed my face and drew his fingers through my hair. I’d missed him. I missed our talks, I missed just being around him. And just like that, out of thin air, he’d appeared. A magic trick of sorts, but that illusion didn’t automatically disappear my apprehension and I stepped out of his embrace, steadying myself and stalked towards the main entrance.

“Sophie?”

I tucked my hands in my coat pockets and continued to stride away, leaving him to catch up.

“Sophie, wait up. What’s wrong?”

“What the hell are you doing here?” I shouted, whirling around to face him. He was ruining all of the progress I’d made to get over him. Would I ever get over him? I asked myself. Doubtful.

He chuckled. “Would you believe I have my great aunt in my other parachute?”

“No, try again,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Well, damn,” he said, looking up at the sky. “I must have left her in the plane then.”

I wanted to crack a smile, but I didn’t let myself. “Or back in London!”

I needed to know why he was here. Actually, no I didn’t. What I really needed to do was to somehow pack him up and ship him back to the palace, but a tiny part of me wanted to hear him out. He had, after all, jumped out of a plane to be here.

His grin faded. “I came to talk to you.”

“You know any other normal person would’ve called, or come by regular means of transportation. The bus, the plane, a sodding taxi would’ve done nicely!”

“You know I’m not a regular kind of guy.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Look, can we go inside? It’s freezing out here.”

I glowered at him. “You should’ve thought about that before you decided to pop by.”

“Sophie. Please?”

“How’s Annabelle?” I asked sharply, unable to resist taking the jab.

“Fine, at least she was when I left her,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “Are we really going to stand out here and take shots at each other all day or would you like to get warm, have some dinner, and talk like adults?”

“Oh, so now you’ve grown up?” I muttered. “Don’t make me laugh. That stunt you just pulled proved otherwise.”

He blew out a breath. “Actually I think I have… and you’re the reason why.”

Well I didn’t know what to say to that. I wanted my words to hurt him just as I had hurt over these last few days, but he was being too brutally honest with me and I didn’t know how to handle that.

“Two royals in one day; who would’ve thought it… I am popular,” I said, my tone dripping with sarcasm. I was re-evaluating whether this had been the plan all along, Charlotte softening me up and then William would come in for the kill.

“What do you mean?”

“Your sister came by.”

“Lottie was here?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“You didn’t know?”

He shook his head and held up his hands. “Whatever she said or did, I had nothing to do with it.”

His look was earnest enough, but I wasn’t fooled. “Don’t worry, she just wanted to see how I was.”

“So… are you going to let me in now?” he said with a cheeky smile. He thought he’d already won me over somehow. But that merely put my defences back up.

Fine,” I said tightly, walking to the door. “Come in then. Not like I can stop you anyway… it’s your family’s property, not mine. But as soon as I call you a taxi you’re gone.”

I pushed open the door and disappeared into the kitchen, with the full intent of finding something stronger than tea to calm my nerves. It had been that kind of day, I thought. I saw a tea towel first and threw it at him so he could contend with his dripping wet hair. He caught it and began to pat himself dry.

I still couldn’t believe he was here. William right there in the kitchen. Only hours before Charlotte had been telling me what he was like as a boy running around this very kitchen.

But we were here alone, and that fact was not lost on me. I had no way of running from him, no way of hiding. What was he going to say? What was I going to do about what he was going to say?

My chest ached at the thought of having him here to touch, to kiss, to love, but whatever he came here for didn’t matter, unless he suddenly materialised a fairy godmother that was going to transform me into a princess. I wasn’t going to allow him to ruin his life, his reputation, or his already rocky relationship with his family, even if one of them were on our side.

Will moved from around the island and crowded me at the fridge. I offered one of the two bottles of beer I’d pulled out but he shook his head and took another step, forcing my back to press up against the cold steel of the big appliance.

“I had to see you, Sophie,” he started, his eyes searching mine.

“The marchioness isn’t coming, is she?” I asked, already knowing the answer to my question. The notion had hit me earlier that afternoon, but I’d pushed it aside, dismissing it without any further examination, confident that the king wouldn’t concoct such a ruse and Charlotte just wasn’t up-to-date like she’d admitted. But apparently I’d misread the princess and His Majesty. And potentially his son too.

“No,” he said, placing a hand on either side of my head, a wry smile on his face. “She’s not. It’s just us.”

He was too close. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. All I wanted to do was kiss his lips but if I did that, all would be lost and we would be stuck in the same hole again come morning.

“Why are you here, William?” I asked again, forcing the words out.

He sighed and pushed away, giving me some room to breathe. “Why did you quit, Sophie?” he shot back. “Why did you leave without saying goodbye?”

“You know why. I couldn’t continue to work for you as your secretary, or anywhere near you for that matter, given what had happened between us. It’s not right, Will.” I wasn’t going to tell him that I didn’t want to be there when he got married to Annabelle and had children; an outsider looking in on the happiness I desperately wanted. It would be torture.

He took the bottle that was clenched so tightly in my hand and placed it on a counter out of sight, then reached out a hand. “Come. I want to show you something.”

I stared at his hand, at the gesture and all that it would entail. My skin was so eager to touch his but I remained strong.

“Please, Sophie,” he urged, something flickering in his eyes that looked like sorrow. That look broke me.

I swallowed, reached out and touched his hand, ignoring the warmth that licked up my arm at the contact.

William interlocked our fingers together before pulling me out of the kitchen, my foolish body following.