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“Your Majesty,” I said, standing up straight and nodding as he approached, taking position at my side. I didn’t have to call him that. I was the only member of the servant staff on a first-name basis with the king. All the same, I liked to show deference now and then, especially when he wasn’t in a good mood.
As he looked down at his daughter joking around with Oscar and Giselle, I could see that he most definitely wasnotin a good mood.
“This isn’t what I expected.”
“I have to ask, my friend, whatdidyou expect? Your daughter has been living in the States since she was a very young girl. Royal breeding isn’t exactly common over there.”
“I understand. All the same, part of me had hoped that she might remember something of where she came from.”
“She is only Edorian because of the DNA in her blood,” I reminded him. “Other than that, she’s all American. She was too young to remember anything about this place when she left it.”
Down below, Ava let out a wicked laugh at her latest stunt on the beleaguered pair. “This is going to require more work than I had anticipated. Those two are going to have to put in their time to make sure she is up to the standard of the naming ceremony and ball a month from now.”
“She’ll come around,” I said. “I know it.”
He sighed. “I hope you are right.”
“I know that I am, Alaric. Ava comes from a world all on her own, one where all of this,” I swept my hand toward the ballroom, “is totally alien to her. She’s used to doing things for herself, making her own decisions. Being prim and proper and docile isn’t in her nature.”
“Then how can we expect her to perform as a princess should?”
“By teaching her duty, service. For now maybe it’s a matter of confidence. Maybe she just needs a little taste of home.”
Part of me hoped that Alaric would see the wisdom of my words, that he’d step up to the occasion as a father ought to. No doubt that the coldness he’d offered his daughter wasn’t helping matters.
“Sounds like a task that you could handle,” he said instead. “Find a way to help her along. And keep me abreast of your progress.”
Without another word, he turned and left. Once I was alone, I returned my gaze to Ava, wondering just how I was going to turn this American free spirit into a princess.
Chapter 15
Ava
As poor company as my father had been that first night, sitting alone at that long dining room table was somehow even worse. I picked at the perfectly cooked game hen on my plate, occasionally glancing up at the empty chair on the other side of the table.
“Your father is managing kingdom affairs,” the staff member had told me. “He will be taking his meal in his office.”
Same excuse two nights in a row. I sighed, taking a few more bites out of obligation before pushing my chair away, the squeak echoing through the enormous space.
“The princess is done?” I wasn’t even up for a second before a member of the staff was beside me.
“The princess is done. Tell the king that I’ll catch him next time. Maybe.”
“No dessert?”
Food of any sort wasn’t appealing to me in the slightest.
“Is there tea?”
The staff member smiled, as if she were thrilled to have some way to serve me.
“Whatever kind you fancy, Princess.”
“Could I have a carafe of peppermint tea in my room? I think I’m going to relax up there for the evening.”
A polite nod followed. “Certainly.” Without another word, the staff member hurried off to the kitchen, leaving me alone.
I exited the dining room, immediately flanked by two guards as I did.
