The King's Queen

Chapter 4

"One book... two books... red book... blue book."

I glanced up at Ashton, trying to conceal my smile as he stacked the books on my bookshelf with all the enthusiasm of someone dying to be doing something else.

"Are you really going to read all of these?" He frowned as he placed the last book on the top shelf.

"I have read all of them but if it counts for anything, I'm going to read them all again," I informed him.

He glared at the books, probably calculating how much time all of that would take, and then sighed. I swung my feet over the side of the sofa and walked over to admire his work. He'd arranged them perfectly with the numbering system I'd scribbled on sticky notes and put on the binding of the books. They were arranged by genre, in alphabetical order by title and by color.

My eyes lit up in awe at how well the newly installed bookshelf complemented the en-suite study in my room. It was so beautiful!

"'It's so beautiful', is what you're thinking right now, aren't you?"

I nodded excitedly at Ashton's perfect attempt at guessing my thoughts.

"Don't do that," he murmured, gently holding my head in place. "Wouldn't want you getting another headache now, would we?"

I smiled back and reached up to place a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, my prince."

"More like free manual laborer," he grumbled and went on to make a show of massaging his arms.

"I'm sure with your enhanced strength, unpacking a few books hardly hurt your arms."

He grinned, knowing that I could see right through him. "You got me."

His dark eyes admired the study, which was the last place in my room that I'd wanted to renovate. We were all done with our project, 'Operation: Move Ellie Into The Palace' which had been cutely thought up by Brooke who was beside herself with excitement that I would now have my own room here.

Normally, I'd stay in a guest room since I didn't usually spend more than a night at the palace. Sometimes I'd shared Ashton's so we could spend even more time together. I looked over at him as his lips slowly fell into a pout.

"You could just share my room, you know."

"I know, you've told me a million and one times. I've been keeping tally."

"But you refuse to listen to me," he sighed.

"Of course I refused," I teased. It was a pretty tempting offer, but Ashton and I weren't married yet. He was the crown prince which meant that we still had to do some things the traditional way.

"Can you at least come and lie down for a bit?" he asked, his expression hopeful. "Having your scent in my room helps me sleep better and trust me I need all the sleep I can get. Beau's slowly becoming more like Jackson."

"Productive and responsible in making sure you actually know how to run the empire right?"

"All I heard was a synonym for slave driver, but sure that works too," he chuckled. "It doesn't help that he's a parent with two toddlers. He's even more responsible. He really does get on Jun's nerves a lot."

"He can't help it," I laughed. "It's the dad in him. Speaking of Jun, is he back yet?"

"Not yet, but he should be here soon. Harlow got back this morning which is perfect because Raúl was driving me crazy. Still, it's great to see him find his soulmate." He pulled me closer to him. "It's the best feeling in the world."

"Says the guy who totally freaked out when he found out we were soulmates," I jabbed. "Don't think I've forgotten how you scared me, you arrogant jerk."