Eight

I pulled into the delivery bay under the palace and into my designated spot. I hadn't even taken the car out of gear before Luke had opened the door, undoing his seat belt in the process. My mouth dropped open in shock as he just got out, slamming the door. He caught it last second, bent down into the car to speak.

"Thanks for the lift," he sighed to me.

"Lift?" I said back to him.

"Well, yeah, if you're going by what my parents say, they said you're just giving me a lift. So, thank you for the lift, Grace," Luke said, standing back up and slammed the door closed again. I winced at the noise and watched him walk across the car park and into the locked staircase and I sat in the car in shock.

Why I was sad I didn't know – I told him several times to forget me but it felt like I was being torn apart by it which in itself was stupid. It felt like someone had shoved a dagger in my diaphragm and I was unable to breathe. I curled up into the driver's seat and just took a few deep breathes trying to still my tears.

I jumped when there was a knock on the car door. Kieran was beside the door, in his suit. I unlocked the door and climbed out. Kieran looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"You okay there, Miss Williams?" Kieran asked me. "You look like you've been crying, and you were curled over,"

"Just... lady things," I lied and he looked uncomfortable as he rubbed his hand on trousers.

"Er, okay then." Kieran said. "Got His Royal Highness' suit?"

"Yes, it's in the boot of the car," I said.

"And your dress, Miss, it's in there too?" Kieran asked me and I nodded "Good. So in regards to your status, we don't want you to be a maid anymore. We never realised your friendship with the Monarch, so we're changing your role officially to security. Of course, we don't expect you to do the security workload, you're here for your own brief."

"I believe you mentioned this before, sir,"

"I believe I have too, however, it's hard to expect such an event like a spontaneous friendship between yourself and the Prince," Kieran said and I looked over at him in shock – what was he suggesting?

"We haven't done anything, sir, we're just... acquaintances," I told him and he nodded.

"I didn't think you two had done anything, Grace, based on his past of super models and a-list celebrities I don't think you'd be filling the bill, however if the suspect see's you with His Royal Highness it might put yourself at risk, Grace,' Kieran said. 'If you continue to be seen close with him in public, you will be under pressure and under scrutiny from the suspect, do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir,"

"I just thought I would let you know. Her Royal Highness the Queen has organised some hair and make up artists for you tonight as a thank you, they're in your room at the moment." Kieran said.

"Thank you, Sir," I said.

I sat holed up in my room for quite a few hours; there was a gift basket left on the coffee table in the middle of the room from Caroline, thanking for me taking her son out to find his suit and apologising for his behaviour at breakfast. Part of me was tempted just to return it to her, thanking her for the opportunity to work here but I would have to leave. Perhaps I could say it was a family emergency and just leave?

Or was I just being melodramatic and over the top. It was a certain personality trait I had – over exaggerated everything without me even noticing but this was logical. But this was logical – surely. It didn't take a miracle to work out that this wasn't like it was in pop music, or what it was like in teenage books, or what this was like in films. This wasn't a boy and a girl meet and defy all odds and end up together with hundreds of children who run around whilst we have family picnics in the park. This was reality; if I didn't get shredded apart by him, or his family, or my family, or my friends, or even acquaintances, or work, the media would have me. But my maths had it that media was seventh in line to rip me apart.

I shifted uncomfortably in the chair and realised I was sitting on his jumper, the crest on the upper corner and I sighed. But deep down, I really did like Luke – and he was my Soulfinder. The child part of me wanted it. My Mum sit beside me and read me fairy tales from the big white books we had when I was a child, but then closed it and told me the fairytale of Soulfinder's. I wanted that happiness that only he could give me, the sense of feeling complete. And in all honesty, it had been just over twenty four hours since I arrived here, but I already felt better as a human. It was like I was gently buzzing. I liked him. In time, I knew I would fall in love with him and it would make it a thousand times harder to do anything.

The worst thing of all was that Luke liked me back. He didn't care about any of this, he saw me as a random person who just happened to be his Soulfinder – thus the most important part of his life. He wanted to protect me and keep me safe. That was obvious – the way he held me in his sleep and the way he treated me at breakfast. But, I wasn't sure.

My brain was spinning. I needed time. I needed time to sit down with Luke and talk it all through like adults, and not like bickering children. Well, without me being like a bickering child. Luke was spoilt as a kid and even now, it's not hard to notice how he thought he always got his way, so he only ever saw his side of the story. Perhaps if I confine in him and tell him my fears properly, not sugar coating them like I did previous, not hiding anything, he might start to understand.

However, the next time I saw him would be at the ball and given the mood he was in with me before he left the car, I wouldn't be overly surprised if he was flirting with everything that had a pulse whilst I stood there doing bugger all because I was just "security," and nothing more.

God, this was going to kill me before long.

There was a sharp knock at the door and I got up, straightening out my shirt and using the hem to wipe away the mascara that had come off whilst I was crying at some point, and walked to the door hoping it was look.

'Hello, Grace, we're here to do your makeup and hair,' I heard before the door is even open, and outside stood a team of four girls, three of which were very tanned. 'We're here very early, as we've been told by Her Royal Highness that you need to be downstairs with the rest of the security at half six for the briefing. Guest arrive at half seven and the Royal family will make their appearance at eight, and the event will last until eleven, but I'm sure you're aware of this,' The main girl said, swooping in the room with confidence. Clearly raised in a higher class family. She looked me up and down, and then at a time.

'We're gunna need a miracle to pull this one off,' She muttered not very quietly to her team who smirked and I kicked the door closed. I was wishing the night away before I had even started.

It didn't take the long to pull off a "miracle" and they had left me after forty five minutes on the job. As I wasn't a princess or anything special, they had put my hair up in an elegant bun, pinning it into place, but leaving a few stray bits of hair down and curling them, so I had a few strands either side of my face which didn't leave me looking like a child. My make up was subtle – grey eye shadow, eyeliner in a petite little flick, mascara, foundation, power and a tiny bit of blusher. Nothing much, but enough to make me blend into the crowd. The girls had even put me in my dress, which had dropped nicely since me arriving home. They zipped up the side for me (all just to match the eye shadow with the dress colour) and suggested a small petticoat underneath. And they were gone.

I stood looking at myself in the mirror and I couldn't recognise myself. Jack used to tell me I had a quality of innocent about me but he couldn't put his finger on – perhaps it was my chubby cheeks, small stature, baby hands or a ringing innocence in my eyes – but whatever it was, it made me "Me" however it had been taken away from me. I went from being Grace to a security girl and the Prince's "hooking up" ball. That was who I was for tonight. Not Luke's Soulfinder or girlfriend – wait, shit, I was his girlfriend? – But just security.

I was his girlfriend I remembered. The memory had receded but made a friendly reappearance. Fuck. I shook my head to clear it. I was security. Tonight, I was nothing to him. We can take tomorrow when it claws its way around

Fuck again – I never brought any shoes to go with the dress and I wasn't the type of girl to bring heels with me. But who was I out to impress? Luke? Ha! The dress – a grey halter neck which gathered under my bust and flowed out to the floor with a handful of gems that caught the light in a brilliant manner and sparkled every time I moved – was floor length. I shoved my Converse on underneath. I was security with a tiny touch of Grace then. Couldn't remove everything.

And I left the room, leaving the key in my dress' bra.

I had already memorised my way down to the Grand Hall thanks to my gift, managing to get down there in about ten minutes careful not to stand on my dress as I made it. Figuring out which was led down to one of the back doors, I edged into the room and found the rest of security; all of them men in tails – a very formal type of suit. One or two of them looked around as I made me way to the group but other than that, no one noticed I appeared.

"Grace, glad you could make it, got a bit lost?" Kieran asked me and I nodded. Of course I didn't, however, it was easier than explaining that I had sat in my room crying for ages which he told me to get ready.

"We had only just started, Grace, don't worry," Kieran told me politely before addressing the whole group.

"Tonight is the big night, as you know gentleman and... Grace, this room will contain the Royal families of most of the EU, as well as some other countries. Mingling will be at high, so security has to be unprecedented as we are setting an example. So, you will be covering all exits ready to block it on the code word. If we're in lock down, you do not let anyone out. If there is an attack of sort, everyone will be escorted back to their rooms, their keys taken, and you will guard the hallway until we get the all clear. However, everyone will get searched before they come in. Royal families won't, their security will be checked, triple checked, searched, and checked again. You will not talk to the Royal family unless you are spoken too, and will address them correctly. Furthermore, none of you will go home with anyone tonight, or your job will be at risk," Kieran listed out and I gulped as everyone else chuckled.

"Perfect, now I want you in this order," Kieran said and he read out a list of people and their locations; four on the upstairs left door, four on the upstairs right door, two in the middle, two down the bottom of the grand staircase, two in each corner, one along the way, one on the right hand door and myself on the left hand door. The doors were waitress staff and caterers, so they didn't need extra security. I sighed, before walking over to my post.

However, I was happy – it was out the way, chances are Luke wouldn't find me over here.

It was 7:54pm and it was packed to the rafters already; princesses aged from sixteen up were vying for an opportunity for Luke's hand in not only marriage, but to carry his inevitable child too. The room was awash with colours, from subtle pink to bright yellow, all in big dresses as they floated around. No one had given me a second look next in my dress as security. Everyone just floated around like they were on clouds and it grounded my worthlessness; these were all perfect models grown up perfectly with etiquette and – oh yeah – they were royal.

A bell rung, and a man in a very formal navy suit walked into the middle of the grand staircase.

"Ladies and gentleman, we welcome His Royal Highness, King Edward, and Her Royal Highness, Queen Caroline," He said, and down the stairs came the King and Queen, arms linked, smiles on their faces. There was an applaud from everyone in the lobby. "And His Royal Highness, Prince Theodore, and His Royal Highness, Prince Luke,"

A louder clap and I noticed all the girls start playing with their hair, their dresses, and adjusting how they stood to get a good angle for Luke. Him and his brother came out the stairs, standing right in the middle for a second. Theo turned slightly to say something to him and he smiled, sticking his hands deep into his pockets and he smirked. They stood at the top of the stairs for a moment, Luke staring out into the distance, whilst Theo scanned the room. I noticed his eyes linger on me for a moment as he smiled slightly, but he continued to scan the room. He then muttered something to Luke, and he focused back on the room, scanning like he did. He simply skipped over me, before looking at the rest of the room. I saw him grin back to the room, turning to Theo. I saw him say, "Yeah, i'll take that one," before both of them walked down the stairs.

I shivered slightly. Tonight will be a long night.

It was edging on eleven o'clock, and I had painstakingly watched Luke chat up every single girl in the room, smiling, joking, flirting – the full works. I cringed each time, getting increasingly annoyed and upset at the same time. The room started to empty as the event came to a close, but the room was still busy when I heard someone beside me.

"You're jealous," Luke said. I turned to my side and he was leaning against the wall, shoe on the wall as he leaned against me.

"I'm not," I muttered back and he laughed gently.

"Okay," Luke said. "You have roast dinners right?" Luke asked me and I looked at him in shock.

"What?"

"I'll take that as a yes," Luke said. "When you have a roast dinner, you have your vegetables first, then the potatoes, parsnips, you leave the best to last, right? You leave the chicken?" Luke asked. "You're my chicken,"

"That's not romantic," I sighed.

"Grace, please, please give this a go," Luke said.

"You just spent three hours chatting everyone up, and you're asking me to give it a go, what – was none of them good enough," I muttered.

"You can lip read, you saw me earlier say to my brother, what did I say?"

"You said, 'Yeah, I'll take that one,' whilst looking at some girl," I said and he sighed.

"Grace, I was talking about you. Theo knows about us. He's put it together, and he can tell when I lie. He looked around the room trying to find you, told me that my girl was looking beautiful, but I had to make it up to her, as I'm stupid. He said to look at you subtly and make a decision if I want you forever, if I wanted to get married to you one day, grow old." I look at Luke as he spoke out to the room before turning back to me. "I said I'll take it,"

"What?" I asked.

"Grace, please," He sighed looking back at me, "I don't want anyone in this room, I want you. I'm sorry I pushed you into this state; I'm willing to sit down and talk about it. We're from different planets, you're right; however, it won't stop us,"

"So?"

"So, let's go back to yours. Let's talk,"

I bailed out early, walking back to my room acutely aware that Luke was following me. I pulled out my key from my bra, putting it in the door as Luke raised his eyebrow at me, but followed without a word. He came into my room, closing the door.

"Grace," he said, going to speak but I rushed forward to him, going on tiptoes, pressing my lips against his. He hesitated for a second before kissing back, pushing his tongue into my mouth, his hands holding my back. My hands explored his shirt, untucking the shirt, untying his tie as his hand explored the back of my dress and in one quick movement he unzipped my dress.

"I love you, Grace," Luke said.

"I love you too," I muttered as he grinned at me, my dress dropping off me as he picked me up, my legs wrapped around his waist.