Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 117920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
I have to say, for the first time, it feels wrong to see her like that.
She’s just being a nanny, I remind myself. The role you always remind her of.
“Stella,” I say to my sister as I step into the room, and as I expected she comes straight over to me and pulls me into a tight hug.
“Good to see you, Brother,” she says to me, kissing me on the cheek. “It’s been too long.”
“It has,” I tell her, smiling at her warmly. My sister is about eight years younger than me and went through a bitter divorce earlier this year which had her and her young daughter, Anya, moving from Denmark to England. When Aurora brought up the idea of us all having an outing as a family, I thought I should invite Stella as well. Anya is a year older than Clara and they all get along really well, so it would be nice for them to have that family connection again.
“And Anya,” I say to her as she shyly plays with her pigtails. “You must be excited for our trip to Legoland.”
Anya nods. She’s slow to warm up to me sometimes but she’ll come around.
“Oh,” I say, switching to English and putting my arm out in a gesture for Aurora to come forward. “This is Clara and Freja’s new nanny, Aurora.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Aurora says, doing a modest curtsey.
“If you’re working for my brother then no formalities are needed,” Stella says, coming over to shake her hand. “Besides, I’m barely a royal. I’m the black sheep of the family. Getting a divorce and all that.”
Aurora smiles at her. “I’ve only heard great things about you from Aksel.”
I stare at Aurora for a moment since I’ve barely ever mentioned Stella to her before. But here she is, trying to talk me up for some reason.
Stella playfully nudges me. “Great things? That surprises me.”
I murmur in agreement, wondering what Aurora’s game is. Surely she wouldn’t be nice to me for the sake of being nice, would she?
A horrendous high-pitched squeal interrupts us, which makes Stella gasp.
I glare at Aurora. “Remember condition number one?”
“That was that you didn’t smell him.”
“For helvede,” Stella says, eyes bugging out of her head. “What was that?”
“That was Snarf Snarf,” Aurora explains.
“Snarf Snarf?”
“Yes, because apparently that’s what a pig sounds like in Danish,” she says. “I always thought it was a Thundercats reference, but no.”
“Aksel?” Stella looks at me in disbelief.
“A pig!?” Anya exclaims.
“The girls have a pet now,” I say dryly, refusing to find any humor in the situation. I glance at Aurora. “Perhaps you should go check on them. We need to go soon anyway.”
Aurora nods and quickly leaves the room.
“She’s pretty,” Stella remarks as she watches her go, seemingly impressed. “I can see why you hired her.”
I try not to roll my eyes. “No. That’s exactly why I didn’t want to hire her.”
“Because she’s pretty?”
“Because people like you would make assumptions like you just did, thinking I’m some lecherous old man.”
She laughs. “Oh, Aksel. You can hardly be called lecherous, or old, for that matter.”
“Can I go play with the pig?” Anya asks politely. I glance at her and she’s obviously been dying to go out there and join her cousins.
I shrug and look at Stella. “If your mother says it’s alright. But we need to leave in five minutes.”
Anya runs off and Stella smirks, shaking her head.
“What?” I ask. Stella always has some opinion about something.
“I just never thought you’d have a pet pig running around the palace, that’s all. If our parents could see you now...”
I clear my throat, feeling guilt and unease creep up again. Always happens at the strangest times, just little jabs to knock me off balance.
“I’m sorry,” she says quickly, putting her hand on my arm. “I know it’s hard without Helena.”
“Yes, well. It is hard without her. It’s hard without Father and Mother, too.”
She nods slowly, looking around her. The greeting room is one of the more opulent rooms in the palace, with chandeliers and oil paintings and gilded furnishings, meant for impressing guests. “You know, it sure looks different when you’re older. Coming back here like this … it’s like I never grew up here at all and my childhood belonged to someone else.”
“Because it did,” I tell her.
“How so?”
I gnaw on my lip for a moment, wondering if Stella would understand things the way that I do. We had almost the same childhood, except I was groomed to be a future king and she wasn’t.
“I just feel like … childhood is where our true selves lie. Because we were given freedom to think and explore and be what we wanted, no matter what restrictions were placed on us. And as we got older, we lost that freedom. We had to become other people.”