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“What bet?”
“Who can look the best when we are old. I’ll start now. Whatever it takes, I refuse to be seen as some old geezer next to you.”
“Fine. Let’s do it. Deal. I’m not scared.”
“You should be with all the ice cream and junk food you’ve been eating.” Shit. The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them.
She turned to look at me, and it sent a chill down my spine.
“Kidding! Just kidding!”
She put her ice cream down onto the table and marched away.
“Don’t go alone!” I called after her, but then she remembered the ice cream, putting the rest in the freezer quickly before she woke up pissed there wasn’t any left.
My goal was not to let this pregnancy take any years off either of our lives.
The Morning Eagle
Tuesday, June 12th
“The Queen’s Advisor Is from India”
We have learned that a key influencer in the queen’s inner circle is a woman by the name of Ameeta Banerjee, who is a long-time teacher and lawyer.
Banerjee, who immigrated to this country years ago, has been known to prefer her traditional home-nation style of dress and has even, from an account of one of her students, expressed concern over why foreigners should be forced to integrate. Instead, she expressed that those of us born here become accustomed to their ways.
And as if that is not enough, the queen is apparently seeking to have Banerjee added as one of the king’s advisors.
It was Mr. Elling.
I was sure of it. I’d thought of doing what Hadrian said, adding my own people, new blood to the advisors, and apparently, they were not pleased with it. So they were gossiping. I was sure he knew the things about Odette wanting ice cream and getting milk baths because his wife worked in the palace staff rooms.
He must have truly believed Odette was somehow behind my decision because…maybe his wife had a big impact on his. Now he, aided by the press, was taking a woman who had lived here almost all of her life and making her into some radical foreigner hell-bent on forcing the country to change. And there was nothing I could do. In an ideal world, I would have said screw them; I would do what I wanted to do. But I couldn’t just act based on my feelings anymore. I had to think. I had to be smart about it.
So sadly, Dr. Banerjee would not join the team…at least not now. Maybe a few years down the line. For now, if they wanted more traditional, I would give them more traditional.
“Gentlemen.” I nodded to the team in front of me. “As you know, I’ve been looking to add some advisors to my team.”
They shifted uncomfortably.
“Sir, may I ask you ask why? Do you find us no longer able to do our jobs?”
“Of course not. I rely on you all. But it’s also important that I get more information from a more diverse group of minds.”
I nodded to Balduin, who opened the door, letting the two men and one female, all hand-picked by Dr. Banerjee, with family lines going back generations in Ersovia. They were all in their mid-thirties to late-thirties with different backgrounds in international and domestic law.
“The goal of you all is to help me understand this country…our people. I look forward to working with all of you,” I said, shifting back into my seat.
Baby steps.
I needed to take baby steps.
Chapter 31
“So parliament can just fire the prime minister here?” Odette asked as we all gathered in the living room to hopefully watch the downfall of this man.
“The prime minister is elected from his party; when his party believes he no longer fit to lead them, they hold what is called a vote of no confidence in order to remove him and elect a new leader,” I explained as I moved to sit beside her, picking up Achilles and putting him back onto the floor only for the blasted thing to jump right back up and curl up beside me. I stared at him, and he stared back at me.
