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“I kind of think I do,” I teased, then glanced over at Prince Theodore, who was sitting nearby with his nose buried in a newspaper.
I swore I heard him grunt at Oliver’s comment.
“Is he always so quiet?” I asked.
“Moody is the term I prefer,” Oliver replied with a low voice, amusement dancing in his eyes. “That conversation would also be for another time.”
Prince Theodore looked up and observed us from the corner of his eye.
“All right,” I said as I wondered how two brothers could be so different. It was almost as if they were from entirely different parents.
Suddenly, a loud screeching sound came from outside the palace.
We rushed to see what it was. The sound only grew louder.
“Good heavens!” Queen Annabelle said on the front veranda, hand on her chest. “This is unacceptable! Someone please stop this madness!”
It was the most bizarre scene—a hundred vibrant peacocks, maybe more, roaming across the palace lawns. I stood there in shock as the colorful creatures strutted around the grounds, letting out ear-piercing screeches.
The queen’s face was scrunched up in horrified dismay. “Why are there peacocks roaming my gardens?” She turned to me, her face flushed with irritation. “Do you have an explanation?”
“Me?” I asked, placing a hand over my heart. “I had nothing to do with this.”
We watched as the bold birds started pecking away at her prized royal roses and tulips, eliciting more ear-piercing screeches that sounded more like the shrilly meows from angry feral cats.
“My word—make them stop this instant!” the queen commanded. “How could this have happened?”
Thankfully, Dante spoke up then. “Pardon me, Your Majesty, but I seem to recall from Miss DuPont that the original order was for one hundred white doves for the ceremony. It appears there was a mix-up and they sent peacocks instead.”
“A mix-up that I’m sure Grace was in charge of,” the queen huffed. “Am I correct in that assumption? How could you not catch that error?”
I blinked. “This order was placed before I?—”
“Fix it!” Queen Annabelle thundered. “And what is this one doing here? Why is he looking at me in such a manner? Get away from me, you wretched beast!”
The bold peacock strutted right up to the queen and fanned out his feathers, as if attempting to woo her.
“I think he likes you, Mother,” Oliver said, unable to contain an amused smirk at the entire fiasco unfolding before us.
I shot him a subtle but pleading look.
Now was not the time for humor!
Okay, sure, it was sort of funny that a peacock was hitting on the queen, but I didn’t like the fact that she was blaming me for this.
“Shoo! Go away!” Queen Annabelle said to the peacock, then turned to me. “I refuse to have my garden turned into a zoo! Grace, I demand you fix this.”
With that, she hurried back inside the palace, muttering something about incompetent help, which I assumed meant me.
I turned desperately to Oliver. “I have no idea how this happened.”
He gave me an encouraging smile and said, “You can handle it.”
That was all he had to say about this fiasco?
Why was he so relaxed?
I immediately went back to my room, then froze when I entered and saw the wedding files on the desk.
