Aksel glares at me, and I have to fight the urge to stick my tongue out at him.
Alas, I am punished for speaking out, because when we haul our bags into the main cabin, Aksel immediately claims the bedroom for him and Aurora, and Magnus and Ella take the loft, leaving Orlando and I on the sofa bed.
My brother smirks at me, eying the couch.
What a dick.
“All right,” Magnus says, when he comes down from the loft. “Now that we’re all settled, I think it’s time to start getting drunk. Someone go get the American and the Swede.”
Aksel puts his boots back on and heads outside.
Magnus starts bringing out bottles of wine, cans of beer, bottles of hard liquor, and all the mixers you could want.
“Shouldn’t we have something to eat first?” Ella asks him.
He answers by grabbing a few bags of chips and triumphantly plopping them on the table. “Problem solved.”
Viktor, Aksel, and Maggie walk back inside the cabin, Magnus gets the fire roaring, and then the fun begins.
Aurora and Maggie argue over whose Spotify playlist to play first.
Orlando finishes a beer in five gulps, which prompts Magnus to do the same, and dear lord, those two are so similar that I know the next two nights are going to be nothing but crazy.
Then, as we all start drinking more, we start fanning out into groups, much like we’re at a high school dance.
I’m on the couch with Aurora, Ella, and Maggie, while the men are all in the kitchen, laughing their heads off in a drunken stupor.
Ella shakes her head, watching them, and then turns to us. “If any of your men do something stupid, I’m afraid there’s no one to blame but Magnus.”
“Nah, Viktor knows well enough,” Maggie says, making an effort to adjust herself on the couch cushions. “I don’t know what it is, but when the two of them get together, they turn into teenagers.”
“I know Orlando doesn’t know them that well,” I tell her. “But I can already tell it’s the same thing with him. Two peas in a pod.”
“Three peas, once Viktor gets going,” Maggie adds.
“Meanwhile, I want Aksel to get drunk,” Aurora says, pouting, her eyes glued to him as he casually sips a scotch, smiling in amusement at the other men. “It’s so bloody rare that he does. You can attest to that, Stella.”
I nod, taking a sip of my wine. “I’ve only seen it twice, so it’s a nice change of pace when it happens.”
“That’s it,” she says with a determined nod. “That’s my mission. I’m getting the King of Denmark drunk. If not tonight, then tomorrow night.”
“I’m sure Viktor and the others will be helping you without you even knowing it,” Maggie says, raising her can of sparkling apple juice.
“I bet you wish the nine months were over,” I tell her.
“Yep,” she says, pressing her lips together. “I’m over being pregnant. It’s not just about not having a glass of wine anymore. Or, you know, several. I just want to meet the little one.”
“Do you know the sex yet?” Ella asks.
Maggie shakes her head. “We want to be surprised. We don’t care either way. As long as it’s healthy.”
“And if it’s not healthy, then you’re just going to give it the boot or…?” Aurora jokes.
Maggie laughs. “You know what I mean. Though, god, I just realized how often people say that and what it actually sounds like. No, we’re just so very excited. And I’m extra excited to not have to pee every five minutes. Excuse me.”
“Here let me help you,” Aurora says, helping Maggie to her feet. The two of them go and get their boots on, while the men still aren’t paying any attention. Typical.
I watch them go outside and then look to Ella. “Must be so weird to be an ordinary girl and then get sucked up into this royal mess,” I tell her.
She nods. “I think about that a lot. I know being the Princess of Liechtenstein isn’t the same as being the Princess of Denmark, but at least we were raised with our roles in mind, even if I did spend a lot of time pretending I wasn’t a princess. You know, before I met Magnus.”
“They both seem to handle it well. I know the press has been far more brutal to Maggie and Aurora than they are to us.”
“I don’t know, you were dragged pretty badly,” Ella says with an impish smile, taking a sip of her drink. She gestures with head at Magnus behind us. “As for me, well that was all his doing. Luckily, all his stupid shenanigans ended the moment he met me.”
“You’re a good influence on him,” I say to her.
She grins. “And you’re a good influence on your prince, too.”
I raise my glass to hers. “Here’s to us then. To the princesses and their reformed princes.”
“To us,” she says.
We clink our glasses and slam our drinks back.
Chapter 4
Maggie
“Oh my god, we’re snowed in,” I cry, staring out the door at the space between the cabin and the outhouse, a motion detector light coming on and illuminating what used to be a path. Now it’s covered in a thick dump of snow and the flakes are falling from the sky fast and hard.
I close the door, trying to keep the heat in and then waddle as quickly as I can back to bed, feeling like a penguin in a foot race. I rip back the covers and get back under them, attempting to snuggle up to Viktor, but my damn stomach is in the way.
“Viktor,” I whisper. He doesn’t move. He’s out, snoring extra loud, which is why I woke up in the first place. For once I didn’t even have to pee, but he was going off like a chainsaw, brought on by all the copious amounts of booze he’s had.
“Viktor,” I say again, louder. I poke him in the side.
He mumbles something, doing a half-snort, half-snore thing. He’s lucky he’s so damn handsome.
I poke him again.
Finally
