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“Fine. This is the first time I am going with someone.”
I didn’t understand. “Didn’t you just say you used to go with your mother?”
“Gale!” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I mean, this is the first time I’m going with someone on a romantic trip! I love the city; it’s like being on a movie set. But every time I go, it is either with my mother or alone. So I always end up watching other couples as they are feeding each other macarons, taking photos at the top of the Eiffel Tower, holding hands in museums, and being all-around sweet together.”
I bit my cheek from grinning, leaning back in the chair just to watch her. There were a lot of sides of her I liked…but this was my favorite, and I never knew when to expect it. Her sweet, cheesy heart pouring out. I was going to bask in it a little more.
“You never thought of bringing a boyfriend?” I asked casually.
“Of course, I thought of it. But then I worried about what would happen if we broke up. Then anytime I came to the city I’d remember him, and it would annoy me. So I told myself I’d wait until I was…”
“You were married?” I asked, fighting back the grin on my face.
“Until I was sure the person I was going with was the person that would be the one and only forever for me. I wasn’t sure it was going to be possible back then. But…mmm.”
“Mmm,” I said back, unable to hold it in anymore, placing my hand over my heart.
She rolled her eyes hard. “I said, don’t make a big deal of it!”
“Oh, a big deal has to be made,” I said, taking her hand. “We’ll have to do all of it! The macarons, the Eiffel Tower, the museum…we will be nauseatingly sweet.”
“We will only be there for three days, and we have a whole bunch of meetings with the French Prime Minister, the ambassador, and other dignitaries before we make it back for your birthday salute from the guard—”
“We are doing it all,” I said, pulling out my phone and dialing.
“Gale, we don’t have time!”
“All. Of. It.” Not only had she called me her one and only forever, but she had also admitted that she had been waiting basically all her life to have this moment with me.
She’d been a bit down lately. This was perfect. I didn’t care if we had to come back for my birthday and then leave for Valentine’s Day all over again. We were doing it.
“You are ridiculous,” she said, even though I could see her smiling clearly.
“As are you.” That’s how we ended up together.
The trip to Paris from Erelis was only an hour and forty minutes, just a short ride over in a jet. Because in my head, even with everything around, I always just saw us as Gale and Odette. I knew we were King and Queen. But getting on the plane…was shocking to me because it’s basically Air Force One…royal edition. I should have realized it when we got on the royal train because we stayed in three small sections of it most of the time. I had forgotten how big the train was. It was impossible to do that on the plane. It was massive. A reminder that we weren’t just two people but a whole enterprise. We couldn’t go with just a handful of people. We had to go with secretaries, bodyguards, assistants, a publicist, a hair and makeup stylist, a clothing manager, jewels and crown overseers…yes, because it was an official state trip. We would have to wear our royal regalia, and mine included crowns and other jewels. Those had to be protected like nuclear codes, four people to guard and account for all of them. We were a massive machine, so when we had to move, a short flight was a major event…and us arriving anywhere was also a major event.
“That’s a lot of people,” I whispered to myself as I looked out the airplane window at the crowd that had gathered in wait. We’d only just landed. Seeing them made me feel…a bit nauseous.
“I must be honest, even I am a bit surprised.” Gale looked out as well, his eyebrows narrowing. “In Ersovia, I could understand, but there has never been this much fuss over us in other nations before. At least not that I can remember. Is that a banner of you?”
“What? Where?” I checked to see where he was pointing. There were nine grown men all holding a large banner with my face that said, “Welcome Your Royal Majesty, Queen Odette.” Some were even kissing my face.
“Check and see if there is one of me.” Gale chuckled, twisting his head to see if there was.
“Gale! Why are they kissing my face?” I gasped. I was told this was only going to be the prime minister and his wife, a few people from the military as guards, as well as some kids to give us flowers. Nothing like the hundreds of people that were all screaming and cheering like BTS or Beyoncé had landed.
“Sir, Ma’am.”
At the sound of his voice, we both turned to see Balduin and Wolfgang standing before us. Both of them also a little bit…baffled.
“What is going on, Balduin? What is all of this?” Gale asked him.
“Apparently, you are very popular here, ma’am,” Balduin replied.
“What?” Why?
“How popular?” Gale mused.
