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“All About the Queen”
It’s the king’s birthday, and yet all anyone seems to be able to talk about is the queen, with royalists and international news all beside themselves over the king and queen’s first royal trip. However, many have noted the queen seems to be seeking to overshadow the king, our Sovereign. While in Paris, you would have forgotten the king was there at all…
The queen seems to have made it clear, she is the center of the royal universe, and she will not play second fiddle.
Chapter 22
“Odette-mania,” Hadrian spoke beside me as he read from The Ersovian Times article. “All of France is in love with our queen. Upon first arriving, the king and queen were met with a crowd of nearly four hundred people at the airport and a parade of thousands. Everywhere they went, the people followed, cheering, weeping, grasping desperately at any chance to see the royal pair.”
“Are you seriously going to read that now?” I said to him as I adjusted the metals on my uniform, waiting for our horses to be brought out. But he ignored me, going on.
“From local stay-at-home moms to small business owners and even shoe-shiners—”
“There are still shoe-shiners?” I asked.
“To even the prime minister and his wife. All were beside themselves with excitement. First Lady Josseline Boulle saying of the queen, ‘It is refreshing to meet a woman who is kind, intelligent, and full of life. Queen Odette has a view of herself and the world at large. She cares deeply about people. You can see it, the people see it, and that is why they react to her.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“And of the king saying, ‘I had heard much of him before, but upon arriving, I noticed that he was like so much I had been told—much calmer, quieter, one moment you wonder if he is even listening only for him to surprise you and not only answer every question but also think beyond.”
That sounds like a whole lot of extra hot air, especially considering the fact that she had spent most of her time speaking to Odette. But then again, that statement was most likely prepared.
“Queen Odette even managed to impress the fashion gods of Paris with her elegant yet bold style, which invoked the essence of hope and joy.”
“Thank you,” I said to the stablemen as he brought my horse to me, and I ran my hand over Ladislas’s neck. He was my warhorse, even though I’d never ridden him into battle…and there would never be a war… Every king had a Friesian horse that no one else could ever dare to ride. Not even the queen. It was an important symbol of the king. In fact, it was so revered that there was a story, hundreds of years ago, of a Prince Constantine, who rode the king’s horse, as it was the fastest, to warn the king, his father, that the country was being invaded… The king had his legs broken before going to save the kingdom.
“Are you listening, Your Majesty?” Hadrian asked me as he got onto his horse as well, his being light brown in color.
“I stopped,” I said as I kicked my legs and grabbed the reins. “I’m doing my best not to listen to the papers on our personal lives, even if it is good coverage.”
“Another year older, another year wiser.” He chuckled as he gave his phone to his assistant. “How does it feel…this birthday compared to all the last? You’ve always loved big celebrations.”
“And this is the biggest one yet.” I chuckled, waiting as everyone else moved into position. “Ironically, now all I want is something small…quiet and warm.”
“Don’t change too much or be too humble, Your Majesty. It’s okay to bask in this.”
I closed my eyes and inhaled the crisp, cool air through my nose. When I opened my eyes again, I nodded for them to open the second gate.
We walked through the tunnel underpass to the front of the palace, where there were handpicked members of the royal guard, the royal army, and air forces, past and present going back to the last sixty years. They stood in their black and red uniforms, in the cold, under the gray sky before me.
“His Royal Majesty, King Galahad!” the captain announced as I led my horse to the center before them all.
I sat stiffly with my shoulders squared and head straight, stoic.
“First salute!” The first line stepped forward, brought their guns up, turned to the side, fired, then turned back and lifted their hands to their heads in order to salute me.
“Second salute!” The second line stepped forward to do the same.
It would go on like this for twenty-nine lines of twenty-nine people. Each line for every year of my life. The wind howled as the frosted air slapped across my face. But I did not shift, nor did I move; I barely blinked. As I watched, I remembered always sitting on a dark-brown horse behind my father, complaining about my butt being numb and face being cold. My father was born in January, so his birthday salute was always under cold and snow, too. I would always tell Arthur afterward, thank God he was born in July because if I had to this until his heirs were born, I wanted to never again do it in the winter again…and here I was, locked into this for the rest of my life in the winter.
I wanted to celebrate those moments, like Hadrian said. That was a good moment; it was my first in history. And yet, those moments always brought back so many memories for me. It almost felt like each one was always a reminder of my father, brother, or both.
When would I be able to look at these moments and think…of only myself? What would it have been like if I was always meant to be King? How Arthur would’ve felt right now? Would it be more emotional or exciting? Would it feel like breathing air finally?
I didn’t know.
I just had to do it now to make sure no one else got here unprepared again. Hadrian was already huffy about having to wear his royal uniform and come here… I think that’s why he spent so much time reading and talking. He was nervous and rather focused on something else. After all, he’d never had to do it in his life before. Technically, Eliza was the heir to the throne, next after me…until my child was born. But women did not sit for salute unless they were queen in right. Why? Tradition. Why was that tradition? I had no idea. But it did make me wonder about my future child… which made me wonder about Odette. Who was somewhere on the palace balcony behind me.
