60. Crystal.

[Luke]
I stared at the clock on the wall as boredom hit me, I was stuck in a meeting with the King and the council and I'd zoned out more than twice.
Sir Thomas was giving me the stink eye because he knew I wasn't paying attention but I just ignored him and hoped the time would move faster so that I could get out of the meeting.
A lot had happened since I helped Claire find her mother or the woman she thought was her mother.
Fortunately, Liam had forgiven me and he had come back to work, he had even been promoted and I was really happy for him.
He was still sad about Megan but he wasn't willing to tell her the truth and I could not put him in that kind of situation so I didn't ask him to impersonate me again.
If Megan noticed that I was different to her, she did not comment on it, she just seemed to adapt to my new behavior and the engagement was still on.
It was foolish to think the King would change his mind just because I appeared to be more responsible than I'd been before.
I had changed my mind about Megan, the more I hung out with her, the more I realized that my friend was still somewhere inside her and I also realized that we had more in common than I ever thought.
Controlling parents, I'll just go right ahead and check that box, a non-existent private life, another check, longing for freedom, yeah another check, and the list goes on and on.
I could have married her if only I wasn't completely and utterly in love with Claire.
I had never loved anyone the way I loved her, not even Crystal who was my first love.
Claire had not returned from America and I missed her very much. I thought of going to surprise her but I couldn't because the press would find out about it and the King would too. Claire might even find out the truth and I didn't want that to happen yet.
"Thank you very much for your presence gentlemen, ladies, your majesty, your highness."
"Thank you very much." I smiled as the meeting came to an end and the men and women began to leave the office.
Some of them came to say hello to me and I kept my smile on throughout it all, smiling and shaking hands, it was something I'd learned how to do right out of my mother's womb, I was basically an expert at it, my emotions be damned.
"What did you think of the meeting?" The King asked me as we walked out of the office.
"Great, good, very informative." I plastered a smile on my face and tried not to give anything away that I'd not been paying attention to anything during the meeting.
"Good, what do you think we should do about the complaints the people raised?" He asked and that was when I started to panic.
I did not even remember what issues had been raised at the meeting earlier.
"This is why you need to pay attention more, Luke." I mentally facepalmed myself.
"Um… I think they raised some genuine complaints and we should listen to them more." I said turning my face away so he could not read my expressions.
He kept quiet for a while and my heart started beating rapidly, I just knew that I'd fucked up.
"That…" he cleared his throat before he continued. "That is a very good answer, that's the first thing a King needs to know, he needs to learn to be more responsive to his subjects."
Well, what do you know! I did not fuck up.
"Do you think there's anything else I could do better at?" He asked me.
"Your parenting," I replied inside my head obviously, I couldn't say that to him.
"Nothing, your majesty, you're a good King," I said and curtsied.
"Luke." He sighed and stopped walking, causing everyone else to stop too. "I know I've been pushing you so hard but it's because I'm trying to prepare you for taking the throne, you have no idea what it's like to rule until you have this heavy crown on your head." He said and knocked his temple twice.
"I understand," I replied sadly, there was no way I could escape my fate, I was going to be King someday and sadly that did not make me as happy and proud as I should be.
Rather it made me sad, thinking about how my whole life would be under scrutiny from the press and the people, how I would have to live up to impossible expectations and also keep everyone satisfied.
After the short discussion I had with my father, I went to my room to take a rest. I had to attend a garden party in the evening. It was being hosted by the baroness who was Megan's mother and I could not reject the invitation.
***
I arrived at the garden party as early as I could, which was two hours later. The garden was decorated with lots of lights and decorations.
I eyed the large open bar immediately after I got in, but before I could make my way to it, I was cornered by Megan and her mother.
"Hi babe, I'm glad you could make it." Megan smiled at me and I leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek.
"Your highness." Mrs. Margaret Jorgensen, Megan's famed mother smiled at me and curtsied.
"Mighty fine party you have going on here Mrs. Jorgensen." I smiled at her.
"Thank you, and please just call me Margaret, welcome to the party." She said,
"Okay, Margaret, thanks for inviting me."
She stayed and chatted with us for a while before she left to go and greet some other guests. I realized that Megan was more touchy than ever now, she was holding my arm and even leaning into me.
"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." She cleared her throat and created a distance between us after her mother left. "It's just, she thinks we're this happy couple who are so in love, I don't want to worry her."
"I'm sorry." I apologized but she looked away from me before responding.
"Why, you have nothing to be sorry for, your highness."
"Yes, Megan, look at me please." I realized she was knowingly avoiding my eyes. "I don't treat you well and I'm sorry about that."
"I have no choice, no say in anything." She murmured before looking away from me again.
"What did you say?" I asked her because I didn't quite hear what she said.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She looked panicked. "I was just mumbling to myself." She said and I sighed.
"What's fun to do at these parties?" I asked her.
"Drugs." She replied immediately and my eyes went wide.
"No, I was joking." She laughed and then I began to laugh too.
"That was a good one." I smiled.
"Did you want to dance before they start hounding us for one?" She asked me and I nodded.
"Lead the way." There were a lot of flashes of cameras as we made our way to the front of the crowd where the dancing was happening.
Her mother loved very high class society parties and I grimaced when I saw the amount of press and photographers she had invited to her party.
"May I cut in." Someone asked and I nodded.
In case you didn't know, I was still in my signature hat and shades so my face was covered.
"May I have this dance, your majesty." A voice that I was very familiar with said behind me and I turned to see the last woman I ever thought I would see again in my life.
"Crystal?" I frowned, my blood boiling as I stared at her.
"Did you miss me, your highness?" She purred, wrapping her hands around my neck.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked in anger.
"Oh, come on don't be like that, there's a lot of cameras here today." She warned as I tried to remove her hands from my neck.
"I see you haven't changed at all, what do you want this time?" I spat out.
"I see you're still camera shy." She smiled at me and tried to raise my hat up but I quickly stopped her.
"Don't," I spoke through my teeth angrily.
"Fine, I missed you, Luke, didn't you kiss me?" She asked, pouting flirtatiously.
"That's not going to work on me anymore Crystal, I had a lot of years to think about your betrayal." I spat out.
"Oh come on, you can't possibly still hate me, it's been a few years now."
"You betrayed me." I tried not to yell as I tried once again to step out of his arms.
"No come on, I did you a favor, my superiors would have published those photos if it hadn't been for me, do you think I was the only one who took your money?" She scoffed. "That's crazy."
"You're all leeches, blood-sucking parasites." I stepped out of her arms and backed away from her.
"You need to get out of here."