43. Similarly Occupied

Anthony walked me to the drawing room where Prince Friederich was waiting inside. My brother opened the door and looked at me. "I'll wait out here." "Thank you," with one final grin at him, I entered. The prince, who had been admiring a portrait of Daddy hung above the fireplace spun around to face me. His eyes lit up, which is funny because I was under the impression he was here to see me. My feet came to a halt at the centre of the room, right in front of the one of the gigantic windows facing the garden out back.

Friederich took a step toward me. "Daphne….." "Hello, your highness. It's nice to see you again." "Well it's nice to see you too. You're looking well; how are you?" "I'm good, thank you. And yourself?" "I'm good too. I just wanted to come and see how you're doing," his hands clasped behind his back in a gentlemanly fashion. I blinked confused. "How I'm doing?" "After what happened with Nigel, I mean," the prince clarified. "That was two weeks ago," I counted. He responded with a nod. "Yes, I thought it would be bad form to come sooner." Friederich said this and I smiled at him. At least he's making an effort to be cordial- it's something I appreciated.

I proceeded to go sit on the couch and pat the cushion beside me. Friederich obliged sitting at the opposite end of the sofa, which wasn't too far since it wasn't that big. We looked at each other for a second before mutually grinning. I leaned back in a more relaxed posture while he leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees with his hands clasped in front of him; also seemingly at ease. There still weren't any of the bubbles or butterflies like with Simon but I'd almost forgotten how remarkably handsome Friederich is. He had this rugged, unpolished, bad boy aura about him which wasn't completely unattractive. I released a small breath, sensing that now was a good time to break the quiet that had fallen over us.

"So, have you been enjoying your time here in the UK?" Friederich shrugged. "Eh, it's alright. I miss the nightlife of Munich but London hasn't turned out to be totally boring." I shook my head. "I can't say anything to that. I'm more of a "museum girl" myself." "Why does that not surprise me?" He chuckled, then spun his head back in my direction. I smiled in return. "It's amazing your supervisor would let you leave the university for this long. What year of PhD are you in?" "Second; just about to go for review so I can start my third year." "Wow! Well done. That's quite an accomplishment- three years of PhD completed, and in mathematics too." "It's ok. I have a pretty good supervisor who's given me some time off now before I go up in front of the department; I'm lucky that way." "I'll say. Hope my PhD supervisor is as accommodating as that." Friederich didn't reply immediately to this. Instead he continued to eye me, running his finger along his bottom lip as if trying to hide a smile. I noticed, gazing over curiously.

"What is it, your majesty?" "Your majesty? What happened to "Friederich"?" My cheeks blushed the moment he said this, causing him to chuckle softly. "You can drop the formalities with me, sweetheart. I quite like the way my name sounds when you say it. You should say it more often." "You say such things…. We've only met one time before. Granted, you did save me, and I'm really grateful." "I know you are. I caught that bastard creeping around the palace, and when I saw him approach you, I realized we were after the same thing." All I could do was stare at Friederich for a silent, still second. What did…..? What did he just say? Ironically the more he talked that way, the easier it became for me to reply on my feet in turn. My mouth closed for a second.

"Back at Buckingham Palace, you said you wanted something from me." "I did, didn't I?" Friederich nodded. "Would it be stupid of me to ask what that is?" I ventured to inquire. It was the prince's turn to watch me for a few moments, straightening up his back a little. "Oh, it's just a little game I'm currently playing. But I have to tell you that I'm a notorious rogue, and what I want from you is not at all honourable," he said with a playful, dashing smirk. Surprised at my own boldness I grinned back at him, meeting his gaze straight on. "I had a feeling. There's something I want too, and I feel like I have to act more Machiavellian if I'm going to get it soon." Friederich laughed. "Baby girl, there isn't a manipulating bone in your body; anyone can see that." "I'll have you know I own my own copy "The Prince"." "Yeah, but I get the feeling you don't want to conquer fifteenth century Italy." I too laughed at this. "You got me; I'm not after European domination, or at least Italian domination. No, what I want is a lot more….. individual," my eyes drifted off into nowhere when I said this.

Another pregnant pause slipped between us. Friederich glanced up at the ceiling in a pondering manner. "I sense that you and I are after different things." "Yes. You already have what I want for yourself….." My gaze lowered a bit forlornly. "What's that? A kingdom?" "A PhD position, though I doubt I'll get a funded one," I corrected, grinning up at him. He blinked startled. "That's what you want?" "More than anything…." "Uh… huh. And that's difficult for you to achieve because…..? You're a bad student or something?" "No, nothing like that. I'm actually a pretty good student! That's not the problem. I'm just not married yet…" My mouth accidently let slip. Friederich looked genuinely surprised to hear this; his eyes widening slightly. "Marriage?" My own eyes grew huge, instantly realizing and regretting my mistake. Thinking my best course of action to undo any damage going forward was to not reply verbally, but merely looking his way. Our eyes met, not moving off each other's for a little while. Eventually his lips parted. "So…?" "So….." Was my tart answer. He saw my reaction and decided to switch the subject- thankfully.

"Did you hear what happened to Nigel?" "No, and I don't really care," just so long as I don't have to see him ever again. Friederich's head nodded in agreement. "Well, looks like you won't have to deal with him anymore. Our statements made it really easy to get him carted off." "Good, thank you….." My voice trailed off. The prince thought to himself for a minute. "By the way, do you know why that duke… What's his name?" "Simon?" I perked up, stunned that the prince would bring him up now of all times. "Yeah, Simon. You know why he hit the creep like that?" My jaw dropped, but unsurprisingly nothing came out. What was there to say? Friederich could read my expression and figured it out on his own.

"is he the one you're in love with?" I tossed up my hands, leaning back against the couch cushion. "It doesn't matter now. He doesn't love me." "Mmmmmm, you sure about that?" Friedrich's eyebrow raised up. "Yes, he's made it very clear that he doesn't want to even be friends with me. If he does love me, he's got a very odd way of showing it," I hrumphed, if that's even a word. He stretched out his arms across the back of the rim of the couch. "Too bad. I admire the Duke of Hastings; took a lot of courage to do what he did. He's a stand-up sort of man; that's clear. Good guy….. He's got something good about him." I ogled the prince wide-eyed. This massive grin emerged on my face without my noticing. Of course I nodded in agreement. "You're right; he's a very good man. And it makes me really happy to hear you say that." "But you're still convinced he's not in love with you?" He retorted gently. I nodded. "He's not….. I don't even think he likes me; let alone loves me. That ship has sailed, unfortunately," this long, long sigh fell from my lips.

Friederich grinned after a minute, shaking his head gently; his eyes wandered out a bit before returning to me. "Maybe I can see what the duke can't." "Huh?" I peered up to his face puzzled by this statement. He smiled- a dazzling smile. "Oh, nothing. I'm just saying if a woman like you were in love with me, I'd immediately need is five minutes alone in a room with you, and then another five minutes, and then another, and another." "There'd better be a ring involved in all those five-minute spurts, sir," I rebuffed. He laughed again. "You are old-fashioned." "Let's say "loyal" to my future partner," a grin came to my lips. He nodded. "Fine, loyal. I can deal with that."

It was then that I took another good look at the prince. My brother's words suddenly started racing through my mind. "You should at least be friends with your future husband." Friends….. Can I see myself being friends with the prince? I'll admit, the more time we spend together, the more comfortable I am around him. He doesn't "do it" for me, like you see in all the rom com movies. But then again, Simon didn't give me butterflies from the very start either. It wasn't until after we'd became good friends, and while I still doubt Friederich will ever make me feel that way…. I can picture us becoming friends. I like him; I already like him in a platonic way. Who knows? Maybe that's enough. Not all marriages involve friendship, but isn't it better if you are friends with your spouse? That does sound better…..

My lips opened on their own accord. I looked right at the prince. "Friederich?" "Much better," he smiled in approval, making me grin in turn. "Do you think….? Do you…. want to be friends….?" Ok, I was smiling; so why did I sound so god damn awkward?! I didn't know what to think when this perplexed and startled look washed over Friederich's face. He blinked- several times. It was like he was mentally trying to process the words I'd just said to him; like they didn't belong in a sentence together. "Friends?" He finally clambered. I blushed a bit shyly. "W-With me….. Do you…. want to be friends with me?" More confused blinking on his end.

"But…. you're a girl, and I'm a guy." "So? Women and men can be friends, can't they?" He scratched the side of his head. "Well, yeah; I guess so. It's just…. No woman's asked me that before. We usually date or…" He didn't finish his sentence as he glanced back up my way. His mouth then closed; our stares met for a while following this exchange. Friederich's expression grew softer and softer by the second, eventually ending up in a smile. "Friends….. Heh, never been just a "friend" with someone like you before." "Someone like me?" My eyebrow lifted. His smile widened. "A drop-dead gorgeous young girl. Don't know what being "just friends" with a woman like you will do to my reputation." "As a womanizer, you mean?" This cocky smirk appeared on my lips. He chuckled, lowering his head a little. "Yeah, pretty much. But what the hell- why not? I may still get what I want out of it in the end." "Me too," my eyes lowered onto him. His gaze also lowered gently.

"Fine, have it your way, sugar. Let's start with "friends" and see where it goes from there." "I can live with that." This made the prince laugh. Then, mildly to my surprise, he leaned forward towards my head. His eyes transfixed onto mine; his hand coming down to rest on the cushion in between us. "But you should know, I don't do the whole "friend" thing with women; or at least I haven't before. Don't forget- I have my own objectives in mind, princess." "So do I, your majesty- or should I say "Friederich"?" He laughed, giving his head a soft turn from side to side. "You're something else; you know that?" "So are you. We don't know each other well, and yet something keeps driving you back to my side. Now what that is, I hesitate to ask." "Oh, I think you know," his eye had this twinkle in it. I smiled. "We both want something we know the other can give us." "That's right. There're so many women in London, but I haven't come across any that have intrigued me as much as you have, Daphne. That's why I'm here, baby; that's what drew me to your side. And who knows?

It could turn out that you and I might be similarly occupied."