When Kaylie woke up the next morning hugging a red heart pillow, it took her a few seconds to remember where she was. She was in a castle, in Tolvania, with a real-life queen, princess, and prince, where the prince was far too handsome for his own good. And the real kicker, she was expected to write a fairy tale based on the royal family’s Christmas traditions. She was also supposed to go this morning and help chop down an upside-down Christmas tree.
She laughed to herself. If this doesn’t sound like a make-believe story, I don’t know what does, she thought. She’d even gotten the Cinderella part down when she’d been mopping the floors last night after the whole bubble bath fiasco. Only she had been mopping floors with a real-life prince who could give Prince Charming a run for his money when it came to good looks. For the actual charming part, Kaylie thought Prince Alexander could use some work.
She did have to admit that while he was far from warm and inviting, he had handled the whole bathroom situation very well. She’d been surprised that once he’d gotten over the shock, he hadn’t yelled at her or blamed her for anything. Instead, he’d focused on solutions and had worked right alongside her to clean up the mess. She liked that while he was a prince, he’d also shown he was more than ready to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty, literally, if something needed to be done.
When she checked the time on her phone, she bolted up in bed. It was five minutes after eight o’clock. She was supposed to meet everyone at eight for breakfast. She could’ve sworn she’d set her alarm for seven to give herself enough time to get ready, but had apparently forgotten in the chaos of the previous night.
She quickly threw on some black pants, a black sweater, and some black riding boots and washed her face and brushed her teeth in record time. She raced out of her room and when she got to the bottom of the stairs, she found Blixen waiting.
“Are you making sure I get to the dining room?” she asked Blixen with a laugh. “Okay, lead the way.”
When Blixen took off and she had to run to keep up with him.
“Wait for me!”
She was breathless by the time she followed Blixen into the dining room and was relieved to find only the prince and princess at the table. At least she wouldn’t have to explain her tardiness to the queen.
“I’m so sorry I’m late,” she said, catching her breath.
“You slept in,” the princess said.
“My alarm never went off,” Kaylie answered as she quickly took a seat next to the princess. “I thought I set it but I must have done something wrong. It was a crazy night.”
“Yes, it was,” the prince said. His expression gave nothing away.
The princess reached for a silver domed cover that was on a platter in front of Kaylie and took it off with gusto.
“Christmas gingerbread pancakes,” the princess said, excited. “They’re Chef Jake’s specialty and my favorite, and he made them so you could try them, too.”
Kaylie’s eyes grew huge as she stared at the giant stack of star-shaped pancakes and blissfully inhaled a delectable warm, spicy, ginger, and cinnamon scent.
“I’m honored,” Kaylie said and meant it. She wasn’t usually a breakfast person, but this morning she was going to make an exception. Her mouth was already watering. She picked up a fork and brought a pancake over to her plate.
The princess beamed her approval as she held up a red crystal dish. “And don’t forget to try them with the cream cheese frosting.”
Kaylie laughed. “Wait, is this breakfast or dessert?”
“Both!” the princess grinned back at her and moved the frosting closer to Kaylie.
“When in Rome,” Kaylie said as she put a big dollop of frosting onto her pancake.
“Or Tolvania,” the prince said, watching her. “We only do this for special occasions at the holidays. Usually, our breakfasts are much healthier. We can get you something else if you like.”
“Oh, no,” Kaylie said. “If I’m going to go for it, I’m going all in. Are these another Christmas tradition?”
“Yes.” The princess nodded. “My grandmother loves them, too.”
Kaylie eyed her pancake. “So, they’re fit for a queen. Well, then I’m sure they are delicious.” As she took her first bite, she quickly found out why everyone loved them so much. They were incredible, a little spicy, a little sweet, the perfect combination, she thought. When she saw the princess closely watching her, she gave her an enthusiastic two thumbs up.
“I told you she’d like them.” The princess turned to her father with a victorious smile.
The prince laughed. “It does appear you’ve found another fan of Chef Jake’s famous Christmas gingerbread pancakes.”
“Absolutely,” Kaylie agreed, grinning. “I need to carb load for our little Christmas tree adventure this morning.”
“And have energy for your tour,” the princess said. “We have a big castle.”
Kaylie laughed. “I can see that. I might have to stay all Christmas to see everything here.” When the prince frowned, she rushed to continue. “Don’t worry. That was a joke.”
The prince didn’t crack a smile. “I’m afraid I have some news that isn’t a joke. My mother just got an update and it’s going to take at least another day to clear the roads and make sure the runway is okay and safe to fly. You won’t be able to leave later today,” the prince said. “I’m sorry.”
I bet you are, Kaylie thought, knowing the prince wanted her gone as much as she wanted to leave.
“So, the new plan is that my mother would like me to give you a tour of the castle this morning and show you as many of our Christmas traditions as possible that are on her list,” the prince said.
“She doesn’t still think I’m writing the fa…” Kaylie caught herself just in time when she saw the princess staring at her. “The feature story on Tolvania?”
The prince shrugged. “You’d have to talk to her about that.”
To stop herself from saying something she’d regret, she quickly stabbed another bite of pancake and stuffed it into her mouth.
“After your tour, we can go get our upside-down Christmas tree and then decorate it,” the princess said merrily.
“What?” The prince frowned. “Decorating the tree isn’t in the schedule.”
The princess laughed. “Father, everyone knows you have to decorate the tree. You’d better put it in the schedule right now.”
Kaylie laughed.
When the prince gave her a look, she just shrugged. “What can I say? She’s right.”
“She is absolutely right,” the queen agreed as she entered the room. She turned her attention to Kaylie. “I hope you slept well?”
Kaylie stole a glance at the prince. She was relieved when he didn’t say anything. “I slept very well. The ruby room is a real gem, pun intended. Thank you so much.”
The princess looked at Kaylie’s empty plate. “You should have another pancake. Having two is our tradition.”
“Seriously?” Kaylie asked, looking at the queen.
The queen nodded.
Kaylie happily put another pancake on her plate. “Then who would I be to fight tradition?”
The queen chuckled. “Just remember you said that.”
Fifteen minutes and another pancake later, Kaylie was walking with the prince down a long hallway on the same floor as her bedroom. She kept checking to see if her phone could get a signal, but she was having no luck.
“You can put away your phone,” the prince said. “You’re not going to need it.”
“I need it to take some pictures.”
The prince stopped walking abruptly and the angry look on his face had Kaylie taking a step back.
“We need to set some ground rules right now before we go any further,” the prince said through gritted teeth. “You will not be taking any photographs of me or anyone in my family ever, is that understood?”
“But I wasn’t going to take any of the family, only…”
“Do you understand?” the prince interrupted.
Kaylie was so surprised by his harsh tone she just nodded and quickly put away her phone.
As the prince kept walking, she could see he was still extremely tense and guarded.
“You know we don’t have to do this tour if you don’t want,” Kaylie called after him.
The prince kept staring straight ahead. “Tell that to my mother.”
Kaylie’s mouth snapped shut. She hated feeling like a burden, but she also hated having to deal with the queen.
As they walked side by side, she could literally feel the tension radiating off the prince. She knew she had to do something to try and lighten the mood or it was going to be a miserable morning. She stepped in front of him and held out her hand. “Truce?”
The prince looked surprised. “Are we battling?”
Kaylie gave him a look. “It kind of feels like it.” When she saw him stare at her outstretched hand but make no move to take it, she rushed on. “Am I allowed to shake your hand, or am I supposed to curtsy or bow? Exactly what do you do here in Tolvania?” When she asked the question, she was serious. She had absolutely zero experience interviewing anyone royal and the last thing she wanted to do was make a fool of herself. She felt like she had already started to go down that road and was trying to reroute and redeem herself.
When the prince finally took her hand in his, she was just as startled by his gesture as she was by the spark she felt when he touched her. Her eyes flew to his. Her heart raced.
“We are allowed to shake hands,” he said, locking eyes with her. “It’s our way to determine if the person we’re meeting is a friend or foe.”
Since his expression gave nothing away Kaylie couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not. She shook his hand with a firm grip.
“Okay, then, what vibe are you getting from me? Friend or foe?” Kaylie asked.
When he wouldn’t let go of her hand and looked into her eyes, Kaylie felt a jolt of electricity. She stared back at him, breathless.
“That is to be determined,” he said as he dropped her hand and continued down the hall.
For a moment, Kaylie just stared after him and tried to reassure herself that her heart was only racing because she was totally out of her element, in a foreign country, in a castle with a royal family, hired to do an assignment she wasn’t qualified to do. That had to be it, she told herself.
“So how are you going to determine if I’m a friend or foe?” Kaylie asked. She just couldn’t let it go. “I ate the pancakes—doesn’t that make me friend-worthy?”
“Hardly,” the prince scoffed. “Anyone worth their weight usually eats at least three pancakes.”
“But Anna said two was tradition,” Kaylie exclaimed. When she saw the twinkle in his eyes, she playfully slapped his arm. “Stop joking around.”
The prince, stunned, stared at the arm Kaylie just slapped.
“Did you just hit me?” he asked, dead serious.
Kaylie cringed. “I did. Sorry. I was just kidding around and got a little carried away.”
“You don’t hit a prince,” he said with authority. “And there’s a punishment for hitting a member of the royal family. It looks like our first stop will be the dungeon.”
Kaylie laughed loudly. “Good one.”
But when the prince didn’t blink, Kaylie could feel a sense of dread wash over her. She rubbed her hand that had hit the prince, imagining what it would feel like in shackles. She shuddered as her always-overactive imagination conjured up all kinds of horrors that could be waiting for her in the dungeon.
“I really am sorry,” Kaylie said, telling herself to stop being so ridiculous. She kept waiting for the prince to crack a smile to show he was just pulling her leg, but his expression stayed stern.
He walked to the end of the hallway and stopped at a bookcase.
She gasped when he took a book off the shelf and the entire bookcase moved to the side, revealing a dark staircase going down that disappeared into the darkness.
“Wait, there’s really a dungeon? You weren’t kidding?” Kaylie asked with growing dread.
“After you,” the prince said as he motioned toward the stairs.