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I ran my hand through my hair, trying to tap into my limited knowledge of dressmaking.
“Did she have you make it like this?”
“Nope. This is the king through and through.”
“That explains it.”
She sighed, dropping into a chair across the room. “I have no idea what I’m going to do.” Kinley, as if realizing how strange it was that I was there, cocked her head to the side. “Wait, what’s going on? Something tells me that you haven’t developed a sudden interest in dressmaking.”
I shook my head, a small smile forming on my lips as I prepared to tell her the reason for my drop-in.
“Nope. Alaric had mentioned the dress before, said that he had something wonderful in mind, both feminine and traditional.”
She laughed. “There’s nothing traditional about this dress. That is, unless he’s planning on having the ball at Barbie’s Malibu dream house.”
“I didn’t know precisely what he had in mind, so I wanted to come down and take a look at it. It’s… more than I’d anticipated. How does Ava feel about it?”
“She’s trying to be a good sport, but there’s no hiding the way her face falls whenever she lays eyes on this mess. I’m trying everything I can to make it more modern, something Ava might actuallylikewearing. That’s a concept that the king doesn’t seem to have considered.” Her eyes flashed with a trace of panic as she realized what she’d just said and to whom she’d said it.
“Don’t worry about it,” I replied. “I completely agree. The reason I came down here was to talk to you about the dress situation. I had an idea and wanted to see if you’d be on board.”
“Is that right?”
“This dress was created in the king’s vision. But the thing about that, is the king isn’t going to be the one wearing it.”
“He ought to be,” she said, reaching over and tugging at one of the lacy puffs. She chuckled, likely at the idea of King Alaric wearing such a thing. “Seriously, this is so hard for me. I’ve never made something for someone to wear that they’d almost certainly hate. I mean, how is the princess going to feel confident in this monstrosity?”
I nodded, agreeing with her. “I want to fix that, it’s why I’m here.”
She smiled, leaning in conspiratorially. “I’m listening…”
Chapter 37
Ava
The week had flown by. I’d spent it howI’dwanted to, exploring the streets of Lausanne and the countryside of Edoria, taking long walks through the garden and drives into the mountains. I hadn’t wasted a single minute of time attending etiquette lessons or at miserable, silent dinners with my father. In the evening I’d take a nice, long bath, talking with Hailey on the phone as she gave me the play-by-play of events at the food truck.
For the first time since arriving in Edoria, I was happy. At least, until I remembered that I was pregnant with the child of a man who I hadn’t spoken to since our fight. To my surprise, the idea of motherhood didn’t scare me. The more time I had to wrap my head around it, the more I found myself warming up to having a baby of my own, holding her and feeding her and taking care of her.
It was strange. Up to that point in my life, I’d been so wrapped up in my work. Motherhood, those rare times when I thought about it, was nothing more than some hazy idea in the distance. Hell, I wasn’t sure if I even wanted it. Now that it was real, that I was starting my second month of pregnancy, it became all that I could think about.
I needed to push all of those thoughts aside, however, because the night of the Harvest Ball had finally arrived.
It was late afternoon getting into early evening, the sun beginning to set. From my room in the palace, I could see that the landscape around the city was much in keeping with the fall theme of the night. The fall colors of the trees that lined the streets down below were brilliant oranges and reds—shades more intense than I’d seen anywhere before.
Car after car pulled in front of the palace, men and women in sharp tuxedos and gowns streaming out of luxury automobiles. Hundreds of guests were in the process of arriving—a procession that made my head swim, especially when I remembered that I was the freaking belle of the ball.
I hadn’t heard a word from either my father or Luc over the last couple of days. The king had been mostly in his office, and I’d only spotted Luc in passing. As determined as I was to see the ball through, I’d felt lonelier than ever before in the palace since arriving.
A soft knock sounded at the door, snapping me out of my trance.
“Yes?”
“It’s me!” Kinley’s chipper voice on the other side put a small smile on my face. She was the only friend I had there, after all.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Kinley strolled into the room with her now-familiar dress rack. The first thing I noticed was that she looked great. She had on a champagne-colored gown, her face done up with tasteful makeup and her brown hair long and flowing. One of the fun parts of the Harvest Ball was the tradition that palace staff were allowed to attend. For one night, the king hired outside help to take care of cooking and catering, giving the staff a chance to rub elbows with nobility and live like royals.
