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They surrounded him to help him inside.
“I’m fine. I am fine,” the king repeated, but that didn’t stop their fussing and checking over him.
I quickly picked up Persephone so they would not trample her.
In the midst of it all, he turned back to me. “Miss Wyntor?”
Everyone’s eyes also switched back to me as if they just remembered I was here.
“Yes, sir.”
“The secret is to lean on your strengths when you can and others when you cannot. Or at least, that has worked for me.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of that. But I nodded anyway. “Yes, thank you, sir.”
Just like that, they all carefully whisked him away, leaving only me, Persephone, and Mr. Ambrose in the gardens.
“Miss, if you saw him out here, you should have called—”
“You are right. Forgive me. I was caught up listening to him,” I replied.
He frowned, looking down at me. “Please return to your rooms. You have a busy day ahead of you. We cannot afford for you to be tired. Would you like some tea brought up for you?”
“No, thank you, Mr. Ambrose,” I said, handing over Persephone. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, miss.” He nodded back to me.
The whole way up the stairs, I found myself thinking over my interaction with the king. It was odd. The first time I had met him, I saw a very sick, old, kind of hateful man. And yet tonight, I saw the father Gale often talked about. I wondered if he would still have talked to me like that had he known I was supposed to marry his son—if he’d known I would be the next queen of this nation.
I wanted to say yes. But I honestly didn’t know.
Entering my room, I kicked off my slippers and tossed my robe to the other side of the room before laying down onto the bed. I thought I had only closed my eyes for a brief second— no, half a second before I heard my name called.
“Miss. Miss?”
“Huh?” I opened my eyes, nearly blinded by the sun as it came into my eyes. “Ugh. What time is it?”
“Seven in the morning, miss. We need to start getting ready.”
I was still tired, but I jumped out of bed, anyway. Now I had a team of my own, surrounding my room—dozens of people bringing in clothes and shoes, a makeup artist, a new hairstylist. They were all around, making sure everything was perfect. I was ushered from my bed to my bath, to one chair, and then another.
It all took a few hours.
They finally settled on a soft-yellow, knee-length cocktail dress and nude heels. You would have thought they wouldn’t care as much since I would have to wear a cap and gown. Gelula held them to be careful, with a portable steamer in her bag for any touch-up or other assistance I may need between my room and the walk over to the other side of the palace courtyard. It was only a fifteen walk, and they even deliberated on whether or not they should transport us via a car.
Us, as in Sophia and me.
She stood in the hall dressed in a black lace, fit-and-flare dress with black heels, a royal brooch on her chest. A whole team surrounded her as well. When she looked at me, I curtsied, and she just nodded a good morning and looked at her assistant.
“One more time, miss,” Wolfgang said, opening a folder in front of my face. “We will be seated as the students are seated. So, there is nothing you will need to do but wait. Once everyone is seated, there is the national anthem, the greetings from the university's president to the students, then to the Duchess of Elmburgh and you. Again, you don’t have to do anything but nod slightly in thanks. From there, the introduction of the graduating class representative, followed by the student speaker address, then Duchess of Elmburgh shall do her address. When she comes back to her seat, you rise and walk forward to give your address. Finally, you walk back and sit for the rest of the time. That’s it. Simple.”
He looked back at me, his eyes wide, worry for me all over his freckled face. He clearly didn’t believe it was that simple, either, but he was trying to make me feel better. I glanced over all the people crammed into the hallway, all nervous too.
“Miss?”
“Thank you, Wolfgang.”
“Don’t worry. As you say in America, ‘You got it, dude.’”
