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“I can’t believe it; he denied it for almost twenty years.” Eliza gasped and then laughed. “He really wanted to mess with you forever.”
He scoffed, shaking his head, which made everyone laugh slightly, followed by a somber moment of reflection for Arthur—for all the sides they knew and didn’t know about him. I was about to speak when the doors opened again with Mr. Parsworth, declaring, “His Royal Majesty, the King.”
We all rose to face the door, and I curtsied along with them.
“Parsworth, are you going to announce me all day?” Gale chuckled as he looked at him.
“Yes, sir, it is tradition,” Parsworth replied without hesitation. Because it was tradition to announce the king for the first month of his reign. It was part of the transition, helping everyone get used to it.
“Of course.” He shook his head and entered the room. “Forgive me, everyone, I did not mean to be so late.”
“A king is never late,” his grandmother said as she finally spoke. “You are always perfectly on time.”
“Thank you, Grandmama.” He smiled at her and then looked at me, and his smile turned to an evil grin. “Though I was at least expecting to beat you down, on account of how exhausted you were.”
My eyes widened, and I bit my lip in order to prevent my jaw from dropping off. This…oh…I was going to kill him later.
“Gale,” Elspeth cut in thankfully. “We must get going to the church. What took you so long?”
“Something very important,” he replied, outstretching his hand, and it was then I noticed Mr. Balduin who handed him a very thick padded file with a seal on top of it before stepping back. Gale, however, stepped forward past his mother toward Sophia, whose eyebrows furrowed in the same confusion as the rest of us.
“Sophia de Loutherbergh, bow and accept this decree.”
In a second, before my very eyes, he had turned from Gale to King Galahad. His voice, his demeanor, everything about him had shifted to one of the utmost seriousness. So much so that Sophia curtsied low almost immediately.
“By the power vested in me, King Galahad Fitzhugh Cornelius Edgar of the House of Monterey, I bestow upon you the title of Princess of Elmburgh, for your steadfast devotion to Prince Arthur and to this royal family. How will you carry this honor?”
There were tears in her eyes, and her pink lips quivered. Slowly she swallowed and lifted her head to say, “Per Deus, cordis et in gladio.”
“Arise then, princess,” he said, handing her his very first decree...and what looked to be a broach.
I glanced over to my mother because, well, because I wanted to see if I was the only one who felt she was in Narnia or something. She was as poised as ever, even though she didn’t understand the language or everything else.
Okay.
So it was just me.
“And now we may go see Arty. Let us hurry. Odette.” Gale smiled at them and glanced over to me, hand outstretched.
Walking forward, I took it. He didn’t say anything as we exited the room and were guided to the cars. I was in awe of him, completely mesmerized until the door shut and I exhaled a deep breath.
“Oh, God.” He gasped and then turned to me, squeezing my hand tightly. “How did I look?”
I stared at him. Didn’t he know? “Like a king. Gale, that was amazing.” How could it not have been?
He took a gentler breath, adjusting his tie. “I have no idea how to act in front of them right now. They all still know me as Prince Gale: the fun and troublesome one. The joker. I want to still be fun, but at the same time, I need them to trust I can do this. I need to do things that only a king can do. Not that I only did that for Sophia, to prove myself. I truly believe she deserved it—”
“Gale, breathe.” I squeezed his hand.
He stared at me for a moment and then took that breath. “I never thought you’d be telling me that.”
“Me neither,” I replied, lifting his hand and kissing it. “But it was needed. You did amazing. That was amazing. Whatever the reason. You were a king. You are a king. I got chills. I was even looking at my mother because I was so shocked seeing you like that, I didn’t know what to do.”
He relaxed but only slightly. “Do you think I can replicate it with the whole nation watching? Should I have waited to do it?” He really was thinking of a thousand and one things all the time now.
“No, your instinct was right. It was personal, and I doubt Sophia would want people to see her on the verge of crying so publicly. Also, it would feel like a stunt. Gale”—I leaned in—“you are doing everything right.”
“Do you know what it looks like if I do it wrong?” he questioned.
