#Chapter 32: Are You Going To Marry Him?

I stared at Julian, disbelieving my ears. Did he really just ask me for a solo date? Yet everyone in the whole ballroom was looking at us. Julian still held the microphone up to his mouth. This was definitely happening. It wasn’t a dream. Which meant that Julian was up to something. “Why?” I asked, before I could think better of it. A few girls around me gasped. Only then did I realize my mistake and covered my mouth. Julian also looked shocked, his eyes going wide for a moment. But then, just as quickly, he burst out laughing. His good humor seemed to erase the surprise of the other onlookers. Everyone seemed to think I had been telling a joke. With the microphone lowered, he said to me, “I insist this request is genuine, Piper.” I didn’t believe him. Julian always played the angles. Asking me on a date had to be some kind of move for his benefit, but I couldn’t begin to figure out how. I’d only scratched the surface of the inner politics of the royal family. He