I could see by Janet's shaky hands that her request was the part of this conversation she'd feared since the beginning, so I repeated myself. "I said, what would I be doing exactly?"

She sighed. "Clarence's father is upset by his appearance at clubs and how his photographs with women are being portrayed in the media. His solution is for Clarence to find a suitable girl to date seriously so the tabloids have no choice but to show him acting as he should, with only one woman at his side. A woman who is a suitable queen-type, you know?"

"That doesn't sound fair." I furrow my brow.

Janet shrugged. "Nothing's fair, I guess. But the point is, they're also looking for a public relations intern to help coordinate the whole thing."

"Really? So you want me to find your cousin someone to date?" That doesn't seem like something to freak out over. I sat forward in my chair. Was she about to offer me a job in a palace?

She took a deep breath. "Well, that's where the ask comes in. I was thinking we could wrap them up in one package."

It took a second for my brain to catch up to her words.

"Oh, no." I stood up and crossed my arms. "He was definitely right. That's insane! I'm not going to, like, marry him just so I can afford Law School. I'd rather starve."

I heard Clarence's laugh ring out from the top of the stairs.

"No, not wife, well, yes, but not like-" Janet let out a sort of yelp in frustration. "I mean his father wants him to pick a girlfriend who could, you know, be a queen one day. Or just count past ten, honestly."

"High praise." I stared at her, but sat back down. "So what would that entail, exactly? Just parading around and pretending to date him?"

"Not exactly." She flinched in anticipation of my response, so I gave none and waited for her to continue.

"I mean, you don't have to actually date him, obviously. I wouldn't have suggested that. But you just pretend to date him, you know? You live at the palace and host some formal events. There's honestly a lot of party planning and photo opportunities. It's all pretty boring. You're like perfect for it, though. I bet we could get His Majesty to title your internship however you wanted."

"But I'd have to work with him." I pointed up the stairs. "All day, every day, all summer."

Janet wrung her hands and grimaced. "Yes, but you'd also get to work with me?" Her face turned into a slight smile.

"That wouldn't be so bad." I was trying to be diplomatic, but this whole thing sounded like she was pulling my leg.

"Clarence, I know you can hear us," I called towards the stairs. "You wanna have some input into your future or shall the two of us just let Janet decide everything?"

"I do not deci-"

Clarence stepped into the living room far too quickly to have come all the way from upstairs. "I do want a say, but it seems my handler and my father have conspired against me. I either have her find someone suitable to my father, or he'll pick someone for me. I'm not sure who he'd pick, but I'm pretty sure she'd be worse than anyone Janet could come up with."

"And you can't just say no?" I asked. This all seems so outrageous. How can anyone force you to date anyone?

"Have you tried saying no to a king before?" Janet answered before Clarence could. The look on his face said he agreed with her assessment.

"So, let me see if I have this right..." I put my hand up so they don't interrupt me. "You could try not to cooperate with him, but no matter what you do, there will be a girl parading around behind you acting as your almost-fiancée whether you like it or not?"

Clarence nodded. "Yup. A little demeaning to the both of us, don't you think?"

I shrugged. "A lot of things us lowly commoners have to do for work are demeaning. Can't say I've ever had to find a fiancé as part of my job before, though."

"Isn't being a prince awesome?" He mimed an exaggerated bow. "If you can think of a way out of it, I'll pay for your law school myself."

"Are you serious?" Janet looked livid as she walked towards him, talking through gritted teeth. "How about we talk about this upstairs?"

And with that, Janet practically dragged Clarence up the stairs to her office and slammed the door. Once the office door was closed, I could only faintly hear Clarence and Janet shouting at each other.

Sliding the book off of the table where I had left it earlier, I sat back on the couch to take a look inside. I opened the front cover and found the table of contents, searching for Prince Clarence of Montalivet, but there wasn't one. This was a pretty elaborate prank, even for Janet.

* * *

I'd read the entire section on the King's childhood and marriage when the shouting upstairs intensified and then ground to silence. Hearing nothing but the ticking of the clock above the fireplace was unnerving, so I tiptoed up the stairs to hear what was going on. It's not eavesdropping if they're talking about me.

"I'm really out of options, then?" Clarence was talking only slightly above his normal speaking volume. "She's my only choice?"

Janet said something I couldn't quite make out. Apparently someone had only one eyebrow.

"Do you think she'll accept it, though?" His voice shook as his feet paced across the floor. "Can she handle it?"

Janet's voice came through the wall as an indistinct murmur and I briefly considered crawling closer to the door so I could hear what she was saying. I stood up to creep closer when the doorknob turned. Tripping over myself, I raced down the stairs as quickly as possible and settled myself on the couch, flipping the book open to a random page.

Moments later, Janet descended the staircase. "Hey, Genevieve," she sighed, sitting down beside me. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay." I shrugged and held up the book. "Hey, why can't I find your cousin in this?"

She drew her brows together and pointed to the open page. "He's definitely in there. Oh, you couldn't find him because his name is actually His Royal Highness Prince Alexandre Phillipe Clarence George Henri." She paused and counted something on her fingers. "I might have missed one." She pointed to the line on the table of contents.

"Prince Alexandre." I tried the name out on my tongue, closing the book. "So why is it you want me to date-"

"Pretend to date," she interjected.

"Why is it you want me to pretend to date Prince Alexandre whatever of Montalivet?"

"Honestly?" She looked at me. "We're kind of out of time. We tried to find him an actual girlfriend. Well, first he tried, and then I tried to help. We just can't find anyone who he likes who is also suitable."

"And you think I am?"

She looked at me, letting her eyes fall down from my head to my feet, calculating. "I think you could be, with some grooming. I mean, you're smart and kind, which the king will love. And you'll look great standing next to each other, which the people will love."

"So, how is this supposed to help me, exactly?" I was still trying to understand how this could look like an internship to literally anyone with eyes. "I'm pretty sure I can't put 'dated a prince' on my resume."

"That's why you'd be a public relations intern." She smiled at me. "You officially have a position and if anyone needed a reference, they could call me and-"

"You don't think it'll look a little too convenient that I got an internship while I'm dating the prince?" She really hasn't thought this through.

"Well," she trailed off, suspiciously quiet. "I mean, Montalivet doesn't even make the news that often, so you probably don't have to worry."

"Janet," I warn her. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Well, I thought about it and I think the only way this works is if we say you've had the internship this whole year. That way we can say the two of you fell in love after you started working for the palace and the optics are just a lot better."

"Janet, are you forgetting I had a ring on my finger until a couple weeks ago?"

"No, I'm just saying maybe you dumped Josh for Clarence." She shrugged. "No one has to know any different."

"Josh knows different, Janet. You're playing with fire."

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." She stood up and walked towards the door. "Just promise you'll think about it, okay?"