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“As your mother, I am happy you feel this way for someone, and I want you to be happy no matter what.”
“But as my queen?” I hated when those two parts of her did not agree.
“I fear happiness does not come easily for people like us, and you will lose it in trying to hold on to her. She may not stay the same Odette you are thinking of. The crown adjusts for no one, and therefore, she must adjust to the crown. That can only happen when you chip away parts of yourself. Is she willing to do that?”
“The same could be said about me.” The crown was never meant to be mine, either. I had to fit into it too.
“You were raised here, and even when you did not like what you had to do, you did so anyway because you understood what we are. Odette does not have that same foundation, so she may have to change more.”
“That is a risk, but it is a certainty that I will lose happiness if I let go.”
She sighed. “And we have come full circle. She is here at your behest, and therefore, there is nothing more we can do about that. Now we need to confirm about her fortune—”
“Mother.” I groaned. After everything I had just said, she was onto the issue of money already?
“Do you think I enjoy speaking on it? It is vulgar and shameful that we are in this situation, waiting eagerly for someone else’s wealth like foxes. Yes, I am aware. I’d much rather pretend this was all for the sake of love, that the world was just going to leave you both to ride off into the sunset. However, we have been able to hedge slowly and keep the media at bay, but we need to get our affairs in order.”
I could not be angry. It was because of this situation that I’d gotten to be with Odette. “Do not worry. She is to get her inheritance the moment it is confirmed we are married. So, it would be on the wedding day.”
“Is there no way to get it sooner?”
I truly loathed this conversation even more now than I did in the beginning.
“If she knew how to do that, she would not have been open to marrying me in the beginning.” Well, in truth, she was not at all open when we first met. And in further truth, we could get the money now as she and I were married. But I did not want to give my mother a heart attack. Or give her reason to be upset with Odette.
“That is true,” she said softly, nodding, her gaze drifting off.
“Mother, please do not tell me there are more debts I do not already know of.” When I had seen the extent of the damage months ago, I could only sit in stunned silence.
“No, thankfully not.”
“Then why is your expression so grave?”
“Because we need to spend more in the coming months up to your wedding. We cannot rush it. We must adhere to the procedure for marriage, which means we will be adding to our debt in hopes of obtaining a fortune she does not currently have in her possession.”
I did not understand her worry. “Her sister has received her portion of the inheritance. Odette’s portion is there and waiting for her as well.”
When she met my eyes, I saw the pain in them. “Gale, forgive me if I no longer trust that things will go as planned. In the last few years, nothing has gone as we had planned, not your father, not your brother.”
“I apologize, Mother,” I said, taking her hands and squeezing. “You’re right, we can never be certain in this life, and I will check and double-check to make sure everything is in order.”
She nodded, her lips tight as she patted my hand. “Let us hope we have more good days coming from here on out. Now, we must also get the people behind her. The only way to do that is to get her out more in front of them.”
“She just arrived. Maybe—”
“This is not a time for you two to hide away. You must be public, blatant, pretend as if you do not hear or see anything negative or positive, for that matter. We exist as we have always existed, above it all. I will do my best to plan small events, for now, that will show her skills and talents.”
“Mother, she is not a horse for a pony show—”
“Was it not you who said we are the circus, and our duty is to entertain? Well, she has joined the circus. And that is that. I shall have a list of events you must both go to in time.”
This was the reason why the queen was the most powerful piece in chess. There was no stopping her.
“I beg your pardon, Your Majesty,” Adam Balduin, the secretary of the Adelaar, first for my brother and now for me, spoke as he entered the room. He was a short man in his late forties with dark hair, who wore small, circular-framed eyeglasses. “The prime minister wishes to see you both immediately.”
My mother sighed and let go of my hand, the annoyance clear across her face. “And as I tried to hope, so came the doomsayer.”
I snickered. That was a perfect nickname for the prime minister.
