ROYAL ROCK(8)

But that wasn’t going to happen, even if he made my stomach do flips. Trip was by far the most handsome man I’d ever seen, and I was sure that didn’t help his insane self-confidence issue at all. The guy probably thought that all he had to do was ask and I’d throw myself at him.

Maybe I would. I sighed, looking at myself in the mirror. I wore a tasteful cocktail dress, blue and slim, hugging my hips. When he asked if I was afraid that he’d find me soaking wet, I had to admit to myself that he was right. I was soaking wet, and I couldn’t stand the thought of him knowing what he did to me.

The man was just too arrogant. I didn’t care that he had a perfect jaw and full, kissable lips. I wasn’t about to throw myself at him like every other woman probably did.

Trip was probably used to women simply falling all over themselves to get involved with him. The guy was royalty in this country after all. Any girl would be lucky to be with the king.

Except for me, of course. I didn’t want Trip. I wanted to stay far, far away from him.

A knock at my door pulled me in that direction. I walked over and peeked through the eyehole instead of just opening the door.

Dad was standing there. I opened the door and he smiled at me.

“You look great,” he said. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

Dad was wearing his nice suit and tie. He usually wore a suit and tie every day to work, but this was his fancy outfit. He looked so dapper when he decided to dress up.

“You’ll fit right in with the other royalty,” I said to him as we left my room, the door shutting behind me.

He laughed. “I doubt it.”

“Really, Dad. Isn’t it weird being here?”

“A little bit, but it’s also been nice so far. Everyone is so kind.”

“Despite the fact that I hit the king.”

He laughed and shrugged. “Well, kings, you know? That’s why we kicked them out of America.”

“It just seems so crazy. I mean, it’s the twenty-first century, and this country still has a king.”

He nodded, frowning. “I’ve been reading about that. Apparently there are a lot of people who want that to change.”

“I read about that, too.”

“But I don’t know. This country has a lower crime rate and a higher literacy rate than America does. They seem to be doing okay.”

“That’s a good point.” I frowned at him and he just smiled.

“Don’t worry too much about it. It’s not like we can change anything.”

Just then, Lucy stepped out of their room. She was wearing a floor-length gown with her hair in a complicated updo. She looked like she was going to prom.

“You look great,” Dad said to her, kissing her on the cheek.

“Thanks, Robert.” She gave me a look. “Are you going to behave?”

I glared at her. “I don’t plan on hitting anyone, if that’s what you’re asking.”

She smiled. “Good. Let’s go enjoy ourselves, shall we?”

As we moved down the hall, a servant appeared out of nowhere. It was like he materialized from the wall.

“This way, please,” he said. He was wearing the same outfit all of the servants wore, a black jacket over white dress pants. Even the women wore a version of this outfit, which was strange, but no stranger than everything else we’d seen so far.

He led us down a series of twisting hallways. I was too busy staring at the art on the walls to really notice exactly where we were walking. The place was just so overwhelmingly beautiful, and every inch of it was decorated like an art gallery. Twisting sculptures depicting famous battles and myths from their history dotted the place, and I didn’t recognize a single thing.

As we came up to an ornate set of double doors, I realized how little I knew about this place. Starkland seemed very familiar on the surface, since it was another European country, but I didn’t know a thing about their nation, about what the people liked, about their history. It was completely and utterly foreign to me, a total mystery.

The servant pushed open the double doors. “Announcing Robert, Lucy, and Bryce Koch of America,” he called out, and music began to play.

If I thought walking through the quiet, empty halls was overwhelming, then stepping into an enormous banquet room packed with people was even worse. Live music played as people clapped and we were ushered inside. As we went, I recognized a few faces in the crowd from my time researching Starkland on Wikipedia. These were famous men and women, the upper levels of the upper levels, the best of the best. Some of them were ministers in the cabinet, and some of them were prominent business people, but all of them were powerful.

We were taken to a long table at the very front of the room. Sitting at the middle of the table was Trip, grinning down at me like he knew what I was thinking. He was wearing more formal clothing this time, and I couldn’t help but think how incredibly handsome he looked.