Page 24 of Royal Resistance

I pause for an instant—not to reconsider, but to make sure I get it right this time. “Would you like to meet me for coffee tomorrow?” I ask.

A light flickers in her eyes. “Your Highness…”

“Magnus.” I catch her hand, rubbing my thumb over the soft skin. “Please, Selene.”

Her breath catches, and she looks down at my hand holding hers, at the stroking of my thumb. I wait because I can be patient.

I don’t like to be, but it’s possible.

“All right,” she says reluctantly. “Coffee. But that’s it. No rings or crowns.”

I grin. “At least for the first date.”

8

Selene

The only reason I agree to meet King Magnus for coffee is because of Diandra Laz.

After I dance with Magnus—when he proposes marriage not once but twice—the brunette I saw earlier attaches herself to me.

Actually, she attaches herself to Courtney, which is the same thing.

It turns out that Diandra is the younger sister of Duncan Laz and has known Magnus for years.

Knows everything about him, she confides, like I want to know everything.

I don’t not want to know everything. I’m not sure what I want.

There has been a visible absence of relationships in my life, before and after Darren. While Avelaine is a small country, and I’ve never had the public scrutiny of other royal families, I’ve always been aware of the constant surveillance of the press. Even if I could fly under the radar, I was going to be queen, and that underscored every move I made.

There was no random meeting men in bars, no casual dating; there were no relationships that didn’t have a purpose or an agenda. I’ve never even met a man for coffee.

I’ve had sixteen proposals of marriage, but I only knew three of the men, and they were acquaintances at best. The men who wanted to marry me talked to my father. Or their fathers did.

Or their lawyers.

Romance has been sorely lacking in my life. For six years, there was just Darren, but ours was never a relationship based on affection. Baron von Lier of Belgium was ambitious and wanted to be king of something. Somewhere. I was the easiest way to that.

I know that now, but for the past six years, I refused to let myself consider that he was using me.

Darren had been so using me.

But that’s over now. I’ve moved on. I no longer have ties to Avelaine, and marrying me will no longer lead a man to a throne.

So what does Magnus actually want from me? I have no throne, no influence. I’m a psychologist, no longer a princess.

Maybe he needs someone to talk to. A few sessions of therapy.

Every member of a royal family could definitely use that.

I get the sense Diandra is vouching for Magnus, if that’s possible. She makes him sound like a good man who wouldn’t use a woman for her status.

I’ve honestly never met a man who doesn’t do that. At least not one who was interested in me.

“You should call him,” she says at the end of the evening when Great Big Sea has replaced Tragically Hip, and the dessert buffet has been picked over. “Magnus is a really good guy.”

“So you’ve said. A few times.”