Page 125 of Royal Icing

The queen let out a startled laugh, then quickly composed herself. “Yes, Leopold. I meant you. I see what you do for our people, even if you think I don’t.”

He was silent for a moment as he considered this. It was the perfect job, a permanent solution to his ingrained need to help the people of this country. He wouldn’t even have to do it on the down-low this time. No one could stand in his way or hold him back. He could do so much good. And he’d be more suited to that than taking care of elephants or working in a diner.

But there was the Emma part of it all. What would a permanent position here to do their relationship?

Leo bit his lip. “I do hope that the position will allow for remote work some of the time.”

The queen turned away from the window and sat primly on the edge of the couch. “Things are getting serious with the baker.”

He struggled to find the right words. “She’s more than a baker, Mom.”

“I know,” she said quietly.

“But you’re right. Things are getting more serious. And we need to have a conversation about what that means.”

She turned toward him. “Go on.”

“I can’t have you making snide remarks about her being American or being from a poor family. Emma’s background has nothing to do with her value and her worth as a human being. She’s incredible. Kind and funny and so smart. I think in time you’ll see that.”

The queen stood and reached into her purse. “I already do.”

The righteousness fell out of his sails. Considering she had cut him off for merely dancing with Emma, he had expected more of a fight.

“I won’t expose Emma to a toxic environment,” he continued. There was no way to tell if this was a permanent attitude change. “If you want to be in our lives, I am setting a boundary—today—that you will be kind. Or at the very least, neutral. I won’t have her treated like she’s ‘less than’ because of where she grew up or what her family situation is. This whole ‘keeping the royal bloodline pure’ thing is archaic and creepy. And you need to start attending therapy. Like, tomorrow.”

The queen pulled a face for a moment, then seemed to decide not to comment. She removed a small box from her purse and rose to her feet. She pressed it into his hand. “Fine. Emma’sunprecedented arrival here opened my eyes to a lot of things I was too stubborn to see. You have my word.”

“What’s this?” he asked.

She gestured at it, and he opened the lid. A massive solitaire-cut diamond winked at him from the box.

The fuck?

“For when you’re ready. It was your grandmother’s. I was planning to give this to your brother but…”

Was this his mom’s way of saying she approved of Emma? After cutting him off just for being seen with her? Maybe she had poisoned it.

“Well,” he said slowly. “Thank you. I think it’ll be a while till we get to that stage. We still have to figure out how to make this work.”

“Yes. Well. She came to see me, you know. After the protest.”

He froze. Was that where she had disappeared to?

“She explained a lot about your motives. And she shared her story with me.” Her eyebrows contracted, and she went back to staring out the window. “You’re right to be worried about the shelters in the kingdom. We need to do better. Incidentally, I have one more piece of news to share.”

Leo’s breath caught. This was either going to be really good or result in another royal shouting match. He carefully shut the door behind him and consciously tried to adopt a blank expression.

“There’s been an unfortunate issue with the permits for the new ski resort. So it seems the lot is available, after all.”

His mouth dropped open. “It is?”

“The deed is in your envelope. Your father’s already signed off on the project,” she said carefully.

His mind raced a thousand miles a minute. There was so much to do. He needed to call his project manager and the contractors and?—

He stopped. First, he needed to be present in this moment with his mom. He had never seen her have a change of heart on anything. They should consider making it a national holiday.

Before he could think better of it, he ran in and hugged her tight. She was rigid under his grasp but relaxed enough to pat him awkwardly on the back.