A Royally Inconvenient Marriage

by Pippa Grant

Character is formed in childhood. I was born at an advantage in a world that forgives little and remembers wrongs long after it has forgotten rights, merely because of the chance of to whom I was born.

“Forget the king,” Papaya says as she looks around the island. “I’m marrying a freaking billionaire when I grow up.” “Fuck that,” Joey says. “Be the billionaire. Don’t wait for a man to buy an island for you.” “Much better plan,” I agree.

“I hate that he made me who I am today.” Her voice is froggy again. If I thought she’d allow it, I would pull her into my lap in a heartbeat. “You made yourself.” She shakes her head. “I didn’t care enough to fight for myself until a boy who claimed he loved me showed me just how much lower my life could go, and how flippantly people toss around the word just to get what they want. The day I graduated high school with a full ride scholarship to a private school, I thought about him. The day I graduated college with three job offers, I thought about him. The day Joey and I opened Weightless, I thought about him.”