“I don’t.” Sabrina looks crestfallen, her chin wobbling. “I don’t remember her.”
Ah shit. Me and my mouth.
“But she remembers you. And her love and strength will live on in your heart. Even if you can’t remember her, she’ll always be a part of you and with you,” I say softly. “But I think I should go find my father or the guard who brought me in. I’m not supposed to be in your palace, plus I have to do something with this.” I tap the ruined bust, still on the floor. I have no idea what can be done about it. I may love art, but I’m not an artist.Even so, I have to imagine this isn’t repairable. I broke the former, former king’s face. Jesus. It’s probably a priceless heirloom that I just destroyed.
“You can come with us,” Phaedra offers. “We’ll take you to see Mrs. Emily.”
“Mrs. Emily?” I question as I stand, straining to hold the stone head without dropping it again. Fucker has to weigh fifty pounds at least.
“She’s our housekeeper. She’ll help find your papa. She finds everything for us when we lose something.”
“Oh. Okay. Great.” Only not so much. “Or I could wait here as I was told to.”
“She’s meeting with Papa. You can meet him, too.” Phaedra is way too excited over that prospect. Me, again, not so much.
“The king?” Gulp. “No, certainly that’s not necessary.” I take a step back. “I’m sure the man who is getting my father can help me with this.” I hope.
Both girls shake their heads in earnest. “No, you have to come with us. That was very important to Papa. He’ll want to know it was broken immediately.” Phaedra tugs on my arm, compelling me to follow her, and I have no idea how to say no to princesses or what I’m even supposed to do right now.
My stomach plummets into my feet.
“What about the guard getting my father?”
“Mrs. Emily will take care of it.”
I’m going to owe the king a kidney or an ovary for what I just did. I have no savings. Everything I earn goes to my father’s facility and to pay my own bills. I suppose I can offer up a payment plan. Do royal families even accept such a thing? Regardless, I can’t pull my dad from his place. No matter what, that can’t happen.
Shit. I have no idea what I’ll do. The king must be furious that my father was here in the first place, and now this.
So while I’m dutifully following these princesses throughtheir palace, up winding staircases and across long floors, my mind is set in a tailspin of dread. Not to mention, if we’re being totally honest here, I think it’s already been established that the king isn’t known for being the nicest of people and especially doesn’t want strangers near his children.
I mean, yeah, he might have his reasons for being that way, but that doesn’t mean I want to meet him and instantly get on his bad side, which might be worse than a normal human’s bad side.
Suddenly, I’m before a large wooden door that the girls are knocking on. My hands tingle, and a cold sweat breaks out on the back of my neck. My fight-or-flight is kicking in, and it’s most assuredly telling me to run for my fucking life.
“Mrs. Emily!” Sabrina cries out.
I hear some sort of noise beyond the door, and when it opens, an older woman with short gray hair wearing a black blouse and black slacks is there, her kind smile filling the doorway. “Girls,” she exclaims in French. “Did you want to come in? Your father is just—oh.” Her eyes pop open wide when she catches sight of me, her gaze locking on my face before slowly trailing down to the broken bust held in my arms. “Well then. This is certainly a surprise.”
“Yes,” I start, also in French. I roll the head in my arms, revealing the defect. “I’m so very sorry.” I switch to English, hoping she’ll understand me because, though I think I’m fluent in French, I’m too nervous to make it work. “My father…he…um…well, he’s not well, and he…”
“Your father is the man we were informed broke into the palace?”
“Yes. I’m so terribly sorry. He didn’t mean any harm with that. I came to get him, and a guard brought me inside, and while I was waiting, I accidentally…knocked into this.” I extend my arms as best as I can against the weight of the head. “I seem to have…” Flummoxed, I look down. “Broken his nose.”
“Hmm.” She purses her thin lips over to the side. “Yes. I see,” she says in accented English.
“And then we found her.” Phaedra is oh so pleased with herself.
“Found her?”
I shift my stance, feeling more awkward and misplaced by the second. “Well, they saw the whole thing and were very sweet in helping me find someone I could speak with about…replacing this. Or getting it fixed. Or whatever is required.”
A lot of blinks, and then she reaches out and takes the heavy bust from my hands and adjusts its weight in her own. “Just give me a moment, if you would. Girls, why don’t you come in?”
The girls enter, and then the door shuts, and I’m left out here, which is yet another thing that feels awkward and out of sorts. Finally, several minutes later, the door opens, and Mrs. Emily is back. She indicates that I should follow her, and then I’m led into—“Oh, a library.”
“Oh no, dear. This is simply His Majesty’s study. The main library is on the opposite side of the palace. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
