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“Must you be so damn stubborn?” I muttered, crumpling the paper. At this point, I wasn’t just doing this for the queen. I was doing this for him. For his sake! And still, he refused.
Chapter 35
“You can’t find him?” I asked.
Wolfgang shook his head. “No, ma’am. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be; you tried. Really, you did. Thank you,” I said, trying to look back at Wolfgang.
Maybe Gale was right. I couldn’t force Iskandar to do what he didn’t want to do or did not believe in. Even if it didn’t seem like it was what he wanted.
“Ma’am!” Harper, the genius woman who was now in charge of my hair, worked her magic.
Gelula had found her while we were in Paris, and I hired—nearly begged—her to come back to Ersovia with me. She wasn’t good with the language, yet she was catching on fast. She had lived in Paris her whole life, and she hadn’t gone to any beauty school, but she did work as an apprentice in a shop where Gelula had gone. She saw her working her magic on a mannequin and hired her, but she didn’t tell her it was me she was coming to work for until later. She was only twenty.
“Ma’am, I also wanted to do it for him, too.” He frowned and exhaled. “Maybe I was wrong for trying when I guess this is what he really wants.”
“You and me both,” I said.
Gelula came over, holding the royal crown I’d wear tonight.
“I guess all we can do is wait and see if he’ll come back. I’ve asked to give him more time before we process his retirement.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” he muttered, not looking at me.
“Wolfgang, you really shouldn’t blame yourself,” I replied, watching as they took out the crown named Zinnia. It was set in white diamonds with a zinnia-shaped flower in the center made of red rubies.
“Yes, I understand. I’ll leave you to finish—excuse me, ma’am,” he said as his phone rang. Answering quickly, he stopped, and his hand just hovered over the door. When he turned back to me, I knew it would be bad news. I had gotten very good at figuring out what calls meant good and what calls meant bad before he even had to tell me.
“What is it?” I asked, trying to prepare myself.
He glanced at Harper and Gelula.
“Will you both give us a minute?” I asked, and Harper was so entranced with my hair that Gelula had to tap her to stop.
Eyes wide, she stepped back and curtsied along with Gelula before stepping out. Turning to him, I let out a deep breath while I could.
“Go on.”
“Your sister—Mrs. Wynter-Washington is at the front gate of the palace.”
“What?” I got up so quickly I nearly fell back. He reached out to catch me, but I held my hand up. I was fine. I just needed to understand what he was saying. “Augusta. As in my sister…is here? In Ersovia.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Why?” I nearly screamed.
“She said she wishes to see you. And that she isn’t leaving until she does. Palace security doesn’t want to make a scene with this being the last night of King Arjun and Queen Dema’s trip here.”
I just sat there. I wasn’t sure what to do. I had done my best to cut off any communication with her. I didn’t want to see her again. Not after what she had said the last time we spoke. But…
“It will look bad if we don’t let her in, won’t it?”
“Very,” he answered honestly.
Even if she didn’t say anything to the press, I would look like the bad guy. Everyone was here for this formal dinner. Even the prime minister and other members of the government.
“What is going on?” Gale asked as he entered my sitting room vanity, looking between Wolfgang and me. He was dressed in his evening regalia and red sash tonight to match my dress. “Gelula and everyone else just stepped out into the hall but said you had excused them.”
