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Chapter 6
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The palace looked huge from far away, but when parked three feet in front of it, the palace looked like the place only fancy giants would live. The columns were bigger than me. No, forget the columns, the windows were bigger than me. And as if the building itself wasn’t intimidating, the men and women—six maids, four butlers, eight guards, one dog in the arms of one princess, and a queen standing at the center—standing outside, waiting at the doors, was a lot to take in.
“Odette. Odette?”
“Hmm?” My head whipped back to Gale.
“This is part of a tradition. When a prince brings his future bride to the palace for the first time, she is met by the queen, her other children, and her staff. You are to give her flowers—”
“I didn’t bring flowers, Gale.” Panic shot through me.
“I did,” he said, and Iskandar lifted the bouquet of four different types of flowers. “Do you remember these?”
“Red roses for renowned beauty and grace, the white peony for prosperity and good fortune, the golden Stella de Oro daylily, which symbolizes the morning star—the sun—the symbol of new life, valor, and justice,” I said. Still, the last one he never gave to me. “A black tulip?”
It wasn’t really black. It was very dark purple, so much so it almost looked black.
“It is called The Queen of the Night tulip and symbolizes the monarchy's power, wisdom, and duty. These are the four flowers of Ersovia,” he said, giving me the bouquet. “I will lead you up the stairs to her. Do not look at anyone or anything else. You will curtsy, lifting the flowers to my mother, the queen. Do not lift your head until she takes them from you. Then you will walk up with her, turn back to the gates for a photo, and wave to the public.”
I just looked at him. “You tell me this now?”
He smiled. “You would overthink it, and I am trying to get you in the doors as quickly as possible.”
My jaw clenched at the goofy grin on his face.
“Careful, do not squeeze them. That is bad luck.”
“Gale!”
“Breathe. You will be fine.”
“And if I am not?”
He made a face and looked back to the front of the car. “What happened to the last woman who failed an introduction? Was she beheaded?”
“You are not funny!” I snapped at him.
“Do not worry, miss. She was not beheaded. She died from an arrow to the heart during a hunting accident, but that was over two hundred years ago,” Iskandar replied as if that clarification helped me in any way!
Gale snickered. I held on to the flowers gently. Thinking about my feet, I wondered how I would curtsy and how one was done here. Or how one was done at all. I looked back up at the older woman, who was dressed in a royal-purple, short jacket dress suit, with a brooch—similar to the one Gale had given me—on her chest. She had pearls around her neck that matched her earrings. Her dark-red hair was swept to one side over her shoulder, and she stood like the queen she was.
“Do I go now?” I asked.
“It must be done on the hour. We will wait another two minutes until noon,” Gale said. And again, he pulled my attention from the window to him.
“Oh, the hour? So, what if we got here after twelve?”
“We would wait until one,” he said seriously. “Tradition and protocol are important here.”
