35. Prince Frederick

(Author's Note: I turned Prince Frederick into a bit of a bad boy. He was a little too perfect for my tastes in the show and wanted to rough him up a bit. Enjoy!)

I spent the next week lying in bed, watching Arthur re-runs, eating donuts, and basically moping around the house. Who knew a friendship ending could hit so hard in the emotional department? I'd never been dumped before but if it was anything like this then screw that noise. I'll just spend the rest of my life eating Ben and Jerrys on Friday nights alone, thank you very much.

But alas, life must go on. No one in my family knew what happened save Eloise and Francesca, and they didn't utter a word about it to the others. On the plus side this stopped any awkward or intrusive questions. But on the bad side everyone was confused as to why I was being so mopey and not wanting to leave my room the whole week. Eloise told everyone that I was sad I didn't get to see everything I wanted to at the conference in Edinburgh, which I didn't. By some miracle they bought it and let me wallow in my grief most of the time. As I said though, this couldn't last forever and it ended the day my eldest brother knocked on my bedroom door.

"Daphne? Baby sis? You doing ok?" The door opened a crack so he could pop his head in. I was laying on my stomach on my bed, tired of binge-watching The Land Before Time movie series. My head was facing the wall so he couldn't see my vagrant expression. He shut the door behind him, coming over to sit on the edge of my bed. I think he felt genuinely bad for me- all without having idea why I was so miserable. His hand reached out to rub the back of my head.

"Awe, don't worry, baby sis. There'll be other conferences. Your supervisor will understand; he'll just be happy you made an attempt to go." "Yeah….." I sighed, lowering my eyes a little. I just really wanted to still be alone right now. Too bad no one gave Anthony the memo. "These things happen, Daphne. It's not your fault; that's just part of life." "I know…." "Everything will be ok, I promise," he gave my hair a pat. Another sad sigh fell from my lips. "Thanks, big bro," though I didn't sound grateful.

Sensing I was still upset, Anthony thought to himself for a moment. Then his face lit up. "I know what will cheer you up! The whole family's been invited to a Father's Day brunch at the palace. That should be fun; there'll be a chocolate fountain and dessert bar and all the things you like!" "Mmmmmm, I don't feel like going, Anthony. You guys go without me; I wanna stay home." He blinked perplexed. "But baby sis, you've been formally invited by the estate. You can't stay home; it would look bad, like an insult to our hosts. You have to come." "But I don't want to. I just… don't feel like it. Please don't make me go. I really don't want to."

Anthony let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Daphne, but you and I both know you can't refuse an invitation like this. You'll have fun! We're all going! And it's not just us- Simon will be there!" Simon! My heart skipped a beat. I hadn't heard his name said out loud in a couple of days; it hurt- it still hurt to hear. No, I wasn't ready to see him again. I wasn't ready for this. Simon didn't want to be friends; he's made that crystal clear. He doesn't like me…. So how can I face him now when I… when I…..

When I'm still in love with him?

Yes, I accepted sometime this week after talking it over for hours with my sisters that I love Simon. I still love him. I'm in love with him in the most hopeful, hopeless way. And now there's nothing I can do about it. We're done, through, finished. The story's ended, and it turns out it wasn't a love story. Maybe it's for the best since we couldn't get married anyway. But still…. My hands clenched onto the bottom of my pillow tighter. I can't help it; I can't stop loving him. I wish there was an "off switch", but tragically there's not. Francesca says I need to find a new man, but I doubt that'll solve anything. No matter who comes along going forward, I'll still….

I begrudgingly joined my siblings to Buckingham Palace for Father's Day brunch. We wouldn't see the royal family; this was the standard every high-racking family in London was automatically invited. No one would notice if we went, but everyone would notice if we didn't go- how twisted and ironic is that? We were all dressed up in our fancy wear, with Anthony leading everyone inside. We got to the front gate and I paused, which was easy to do since I was bringing up the rear. I looked through the entrance into the interior, reluctant to go another step forward. My hand lifted up to where my heart was.

He's in there…. Do I… Do I want to go inside? Do I want to see him? If you asked me a week ago, I would have given anything to see him again, but now… I admit, the more time we spent apart, the more nervous I grew to meet up face-to-face. How would I feel? How would I react? I'd never been in a situation like this before and had no idea what to do. Most people dealt with this in middle school, but I skipped over that period. And I was paying for it. Ugh! Why couldn't I have dated in high school like every other girl my age? It would have fixed everything now. But noooooooo; instead I have to act like a confused child, constantly embarrassing myself like this. Nugh, forget it! I'm not going inside! I didn't sign up for any of this; I should be in Brussels working on my dissertation right now. Screw this! I'm going home!

I was about to turn around and march off when this guy down the street caught my eye. He seemed lost, like he was looking for a street sign. How you could be lost in front of Buckingham Palace is beyond me. Deciding to ignore it, I spun around to head in the opposite direction until a voice caught my attention.

"Hey! Hey, you there! This Buckingham Palace?" The man called out. Immediately I could tell he had an ascent- like German or Austrian. Realizing he's not from around here, my politeness took over and I stopped to glance back over my shoulder at him. The guy took a few steps closer to me, coming near enough for me to get a good look at him. Man! He was hot! I'll give him that. Like one of those studs you'd see in a magazine or in an action movie. I blinked a few times, trying to gather my composure.

"Erm, yeah? This is Buckingham Palace," I didn't sound as graceful as you might think. His head turned back to it. "Thought so. How many palaces are there like this in London? Ah, it's my own fault. I wanted to walk when I should have taken a cab. Oh well," he spoke so casually to me, it kinda caught me off guard. Is he normally this friendly, whoever he is? My cheeks blushed without my permission a tiny bit when he flashed me a brilliant smile.

"You goin' in too?" "Uh, um, well I… I uh… My family's inside. We were invited for… brunch," my eyes fell as I said this. Oh great, now I have a feeling I have to go inside. He, however… His grin widened. "Ah, great! We can go in together!" "Together?!" My head shot up. It was like he was speaking Latin to me. He shrugged. "Sure, why not? You're invited, I'm invited." "You were invited?" He laughed. "Don't sound so surprised. Admittedly I haven't in England long, but I got my card back in Munich. You sound like a local, though." "I am; I-I mean I was born here in London." "Mmmmmm, you seem a little…. more than your typical London gal." "What do you mean?!" I blinked, shocked by his audacity. I forgot the difference between Continental and English men. And yeah, there's a huge difference. Not sure if I liked that or not. "Trust me, babe; it's not an insult. But let's continue this little chat inside, shall we? I'm getting real hungry."

This man…. I couldn't put my finger on it but there was something about him. His eyes, his mannerisms, even his voice; they all conveyed that he was experienced, if you know what I mean. He's the total opposite of someone like me, who's never even kissed a guy before. Simon was like that too….. and it made me feel safe. But him…. It's hard to explain. When I was with Simon, I knew it was a new experience for both of us and he let me lead whenever I wanted and needed to. But this guy- it was obvious that he was the one in charge. His voice was like the promise of sin in both the good and bad way. I didn't want to be so quick to judge or demonize him, but I've never had good experiences with men being so blatantly upfront with me before. I mean, the last one who was now has a restraining order…..

My head shook as I made myself come back down to reality. Mystery German man was still waiting for a reply, after all. "Mmmmm, t-thanks but… I don't even know you." "Friedrich- Friedrich Wagner," he stuck out his hand for mine. I stared at it for a second, thinking to myself. Friedrich- that's a familiar-sounding name. Where have I heard it before? I've definitely heard it, but I can't put my finger on where. To be polite, I smiled and put my hand against his. "Daphne Bridgerton." That's when he surprised me by holding onto my hand rather than shaking it; how very European of him. His strong fingers curled around my palm, giving my hand a squeeze before letting out. His eyes lit up in realization once I revealed who I was.

"Bridgerton? Don't tell me you're "Daphne Bridgerton"? The heiress?" Oh boy, here we go. I inwardly groaned and rolled my eyes simultaneously. "Uh…. no?" This made him laugh again- a real laugh. "Heh, well can't say I'm surprised. No wonder you're so famous- you're beautiful!" "Excuse me! I am not famous!" "Uh, are you on twitter? You are very famous. Do you know how many guys would cut off their right arm to slide into your DMs?" I don't care about them; I only want to hear from one man. My heartrate did increase however, when Friedrich suddenly touched my arm out of the blue. He acted like this was completely normal, but it was gigantic to me. My heart sped up and couldn't slow down so long as he had his hand on me; his hand was on me, and he was smiling.

"Now I get it. That explains so much." "U-Uh, e-explains what?!" "Oh, nothing. Come on, let's go inside." I felt like I was going to explode when he tugged my arm in to wrap around his- and I don't know if it was in a good way. He's touching me! Why does he keep touching me so much?! Simon never… I had to give myself a punishing mental slap. No, don't! Stop thinking about him! No more Simon! That's all done now! Besides, my eyes nervously gazed up to the German man. You have more pressing matters at hand, like how do I get my arm away from him?! It's not that I thought he was gross or anything; I actually thought he was rather attractive. But I just don't hold men's arms like that! Not unless they're my brothers' or husband… Oh, wait.

Friedrich blinked baffled when I unexpectedly yanked myself away from him. His head spun to me in surprise. "Something wrong?" "No! I-I mean, no…. I just… I should probably get back to my family." "Oh, is that all? Then come; I'll take you to them." "You don't have to do that. Plus you don't know where they are," I smirked a little. He chuckled softly. "I can hazard a guess- they're probably in the dining room and waiting for you. Come, we'll go in together." I couldn't help but blush at him saying this. Why does he want to go in with me? We don't even know each other, and he's already smiling so much…..

The German man took a few steps until he was standing right beside me. He flashed me another award-winning grin. "You're shy, aren't you?" "I guess you could say that." "Come on. No one's going to think the lesser of you for showing up with a German." "Oh, I didn't think…!" "Haha, I know; I'm just teasing. But let's go in together. I don't know a lot of people inside, but I'd still like to make an entrance." He's so blunt! My smirk widened. "What makes you think we'll make an entrance?" His own smile grew; his eyes clapped onto mine. "Because I'll come through those doors with the most gorgeous lady in London at my side.

If that's not making an entrance, I don't know what is."