He tipped his head toward her. "Good evening, Your Majesty. This way please."
Elise followed him to a foyer where Frederick waited. "Good evening." She dipped into a curtsy since she hadn't seen him yet that day. He'd been busy in his office for most of it, and she'd been meeting with the event planner and others to make decisions about the wedding. She'd also met with the protocol officer who spent a mind-numbing two hours with her, trying to help her understand everything she'd need to know to be queen.
It was enough to make Elise want to cry.
She didn't know Frederick well yet, but she did know him well enough to know she wanted to get to know him better. That had to be what would keep her going until she felt more comfortable in her new role.
Frederick extended his elbow toward her. "Good evening."
She slid her hand into the crook and followed him out the doors into the sunshine. Their regular SUV didn't wait for them. Instead a different SUV, this one with clear windows allowing others to see inside.
Frederick opened the passenger door for her then walked around to the drivers' side.
"They let you drive?" Elise didn't even try to hide the amusement in her voice.
"Not as often as they did before I became king, but sometimes. This SUV is essentially an armored vehicle, thick doors, bulletproof glass, the whole bit."
An unexpected churning sensation shuddered through Elise. "Is that really necessary? Do you have that many threats of that nature?"
He reached over and took her hand for a moment. "No, not really, but it only takes one unhappy person to get lucky. We wouldn't even necessarily have any signs beforehand. It's more precautionary than anything, but still a sensible precaution."
That helped her settle down, just a bit. "That makes sense." She knew enough people who had stalkers who didn't show their hand until the situation turned dangerous. "Will I get to drive anymore?"
"I don't know. I would imagine so, but we'll have to see how things play out once you're here full time officially."
"Hm." She didn't know how to feel about that.
Frederick released her hand and put the vehicle in gear, slowly pulling out from under the portico.
Two vehicles fell in around them so they weren't going to be driving the streets alone.
"Can you tell me more about this event. Clearly it's not anything like the one the other night."
"It's a new science center for children. There's a number of hands on experiences allowing children to explore differentaspects of the scientific community." He took a left turn out of the palace gate, following the lead vehicle.
"That sounds like fun." She couldn't keep the wistful tone out of her voice. "We had a science center that had an archelogy section and a paleontology section. I loved digging through them discovering artifacts or dinosaur bones. If I hadn't lucked into the role onSPACE, I think I would have considered going into one of those fields."
"You lucked into the role?" Frederick glanced over at her. "No. Wait. I do want to hear that story, but I wouldn't have suspected you'd have considered one of those fields."
Elise shrugged. "I don't know what I would have done, to be honest. Those are one set of options at least. I might have gone into education. Maybe an English teacher or maybe even theater, but I don't know that I would have pursued acting in any form if it weren't forSPACE."
They were stopped at a light so Frederick was able to look directly at her. "That's fascinating. I would have thought education was a possibility. I have a feeling I'm going to love learning all about these different sides of you."
She shifted in her seat to get a better look at him. "I suppose you always knew what direction your life was headed."
"From the time I was old enough to understand, I knew I would be king after my father passed. I don't know that I really understood what that meant until after I got my promotion, so to speak. I had some warning, at least. Papa was sick for a few months and knew he was terminal. I hadn't truly started my monarch training yet, but I did have a few months at least. The plan had been for me to study at university then come home and start working with my father, but that didn't happen." They accelerated after the light changed.
As she watched the rest of the vehicles around them, Elise saw a little girl with her mouth wide open. She smiled andwaved. The little girl waved back and clearly told her mum who she'd seen. The mum immediately slowed and whipped her head to the side to try to see who was in the next vehicle over.
Elise waved, but worried about the distraction. Fortunately, they quickly passed the other vehicle.
"That's one reason we often travel in vehicles with blacked out windows," Frederick explained. "They may suspect or even know that it's us, but they can't see anyone so it's not as much of a distraction."
It made sense, but would never have occurred to Elise.
The drive didn't last much longer, and they pulled up to the front of a brightly colored building. "I'll get your door," Frederick told her as he put the SUV into park.
"Thank you," she murmured but he was already out of the vehicle. A moment later he opened her door. "Thank you," she said again, louder this time, as she took his hand.
