Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
My jaw clenched at the goofy grin on his face.
“Careful, do not squeeze them. That is bad luck.”
“Gale!”
“Breathe. You will be fine.”
“And if I am not?”
He made a face and looked back to the front of the car. “What happened to the last woman who failed an introduction? Was she beheaded?”
“You are not funny!” I snapped at him.
“Do not worry, miss. She was not beheaded. She died from an arrow to the heart during a hunting accident, but that was over two hundred years ago,” Iskandar replied as if that clarification helped me in any way!
Gale snickered. I held on to the flowers gently. Thinking about my feet, I wondered how I would curtsy and how one was done here. Or how one was done at all. I looked back up at the older woman, who was dressed in a royal-purple, short jacket dress suit, with a brooch—similar to the one Gale had given me—on her chest. She had pearls around her neck that matched her earrings. Her dark-red hair was swept to one side over her shoulder, and she stood like the queen she was.
“Do I go now?” I asked.
“It must be done on the hour. We will wait another two minutes until noon,” Gale said. And again, he pulled my attention from the window to him.
“Oh, the hour? So, what if we got here after twelve?”
“We would wait until one,” he said seriously. “Tradition and protocol are important here.”
I looked at him. “Do you remember that night when I asked you to tell me the negatives to marrying you?”
“Yes, I do believe I told you that you would have to learn many palace rules. To which you said, ‘Ugh! That’s almost my life now,’” he said, his voice rising higher as he mocked me.
“First off, I do not sound like that. And second, you snuck the rules in with other stuff, just like a lawyer, to get me on the fine print,” I muttered.
He chuckled. “It is not my fault—”
“Sir. Ten seconds,” Iskandar interrupted, and I could not believe how easy it was to forget other people were near when Gale was around.
“Leave your purse. Iskandar, do not let it out of your sight. It is important,” he said quickly, and he reached over to grab it from me.
There was no time for me even to think. All of a sudden, the door opened, and the sunlight and fresh air came in. Gale stepped forward, outstretching his hand in front of him. And for the first time in my life, I was grateful for all the pageant practice I went through as a child, as well as my mother training me on how to get in and out of cars in heels.
Holding the flowers, I exited the vehicle. With Gale holding one hand, I heard people's voices and the clicks of cameras behind me. I wanted to look back but remembered what Gale had said, and instead, I looked at my feet, stepping up the polished stone stairs, walking forward. I realized I would have no idea if I were giving the flowers to the queen since my head was down. I had to trust that Gale was leading me to the right place. It was the longest and shortest walk of my life.
“Your Majesty,” Gale said to his mother, “I present, Odette Rochelle Wyntor of Sunrise, Washington.”
He let go of my hand, and I figured that was my cue, so I curtsied—or did what I thought was one—putting one leg in front of the other and bending down as low as I could, bowing my head down further, lifting the flowers up to her in front of me.
It wasn’t as quick as I thought it would be.
I waited there for a minute before I felt another hand on top of mine as the flowers were slowly taken.
“Welcome to Bellecoeur Palace, Odette Rochelle Wyntor.” Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper.
I wasn’t sure if that meant I could rise, so I stood still.
“You may rise.”
I looked up to the older woman as I stood up slowly. She gave me a small smile and a nod.
“Thank you.” Was I supposed to say thank you to the queen?
“Come,” she said, and I followed her up the stairs.
When we got in front of the door, we turned back to face where I had walked from, and I could see people were already at the gates. Not five or ten people, more like a hundred, maybe two. How? Everything just happened this morning. When I saw a photographer step forward, I tried to keep my face pleasant and free of all thoughts.
There was no counting of the snapping of photos. Just as quickly as he came forward, he moved to the side. The car Gale and I had arrived in was now long gone. The people behind the gate were all that was before us now.