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“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
“Okay. I have calls to take. If you need me, I will be in the living room.”
“Okay.” She nodded. Letting go, I moved back to the door to leave when she called out to me again, “Gale.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“What are husbands for?” I winked, and she smiled, shaking her head before facing the mirror again.
Closing the bathroom door behind me, I gave her space because it would be the last time she truly had it. Then I entered the living room where Iskandar was already inside, waiting for me.
“They know,” he said to me. “The press is already outside. We did our best to keep it a secret that you came here last night. However, it seems someone in the hotel leaked it.”
“I knew they would find out if we came here,” I replied, taking a seat at the table, flipping open the morning brief. I could see the grim look on Iskandar’s face out of the corner of my eye.
Last night was the first time he did not want to follow orders. He repeated he could bring her to the palace secretly, and there was no reason in his mind for me to come here. However, he was wrong.
“I know you would have preferred if I had brought her back to the palace last night, Iskandar.”
“It would have been easier to contain the situation.”
“She is a woman, not a situation,” I replied, signing the bottom of the page before glancing back to him. “I came here to grovel. The only way groveling works is if she is in her comfort zone, or at the very least, in a place that she considers hers and can make a choice without pressure. If you had brought her to the palace and I had begged her there, she would have gotten further upset because she did not know where she could go or how to leave. Here, if she really wanted to, she could have thrown me out.”
“Could she?”
I saw his point—who was going to force the prince to leave?
“There could have been another way.”
“There always is. But this was what felt right,” I said back to him. “And this worked. So, this is what we deal with. There is no changing it now.”
He merely nodded, and I picked up the second file. I simply loved how it did not matter where I was; these bloody things still found me. However, this time, it was not just work. It was my statement to the public.
I did not even have time to unpack my suitcases. I spent most of my time rushing back and forth, searching for the right outfit. Only it didn’t seem to exist. I changed five times because I knew the photos taken of me this morning would be everywhere by nightfall. I did not exactly have all my best clothes with me. But then again, most of my clothes were designer, so that wasn’t the problem. Right? Or were designers bad? Ugh. Whatever. I was just trying to find something that didn’t make me seem like I was trying too hard but also didn’t make it look like I wasn’t trying at all. Eventually, I went with what my mother always told me to do—get caught trying because it was better to be judged for doing too much than not doing enough. So, I went all out—Valentino yellow pencil dress with a low back, Christian Louboutin beige Follies Strass pumps, and black Chanel clutch.
And with my hair. I loved my curls, big and fluffy, and I had been growing them for almost ten years, but this morning, I had no idea what to do with them. I put them up and then let them down. Then back up and then back down until I became fed up and just left it down.
This was me.
Me glammed up a bit.
But me.
There wasn’t much more I could do. Nothing was going to make me less nervous. I needed just to go. Grabbing my purse, I wheeled out one of the suitcases behind me. I heard the television, and for some reason, I could follow along a little before coming out to see the subtitles on the screen.
“Breaking News. After what pundits and officials called the perfect state dinner with Prime Minister Christoph Leon of Austria, Prince Galahad reportedly went to see what palace officials claim as his longtime on-again, off-again sweetheart, Odette Wyntor, heiress of Etheus LLC and Grammy-nominated singer. Sources are saying the Adelaar has done his best to keep this relationship a secret for over a year now, but with her arrival in Ersovia, Bellecoeur Palace has officially released this statement in the very early morning, which reads:
––––––––
Since childhood, Prince Galahad and every member of the royal family have been aware of the love and warmth the members of the public have given them, to which they will always be eternally honored and grateful. However, the royal family also knows with this love and warmth comes a great deal of interest in their private lives, whether they wish for it or not.
The royal family never wishes to infringe on the freedoms of the Ersovian people. One of those freedoms being the rights of the press to speak or write anything they wish, whether or not it is true or false. For this reason, it has been the policy and tradition of Bellecoeur Palace only to comment and provide statements on matters of genuine and factual importance. And so, we shall do so now.
Prince Galahad and his longtime girlfriend, Odette Rochelle Wyntor, are engaged. A formal announcement was to be made of their relationship last December; however, due to the tragic and untimely loss of Prince Arthur, the statement was withheld as the royal family and country mourned. And though still in mourning, Prince Galahad has decided it is no longer right or proper to keep his relationship from the public.
