"I follow human decency.Putin is a monster who needs to be stopped, and if this marriage alliance helps do that, then I'll play my part."She paused."Even if that part involves learning seventeen different ways to curtsy."
She said it with the kind of conviction that made me realize I'd completely misjudged her motivations.This wasn't about money or status or escaping her old life.She genuinely believed she was doing something important.
"That's very noble of you."
"Noble?"She snorted."There's nothing noble about it.I have no idea how to be royal, I've never been outside of Oregon before yesterday, and I'm about to marry someone based entirely on political necessity.But sometimes you do things because they're right, not because they're easy.Also because your alternative is watching your parents get arrested."
The way she said it, without self-pity or false heroics, just stating facts, made something shift in my perception of her.This wasn't some gold-digger looking to upgrade her lifestyle.This was someone who'd been thrust into an impossible situation and was trying to make the best of it while cracking jokes about curtsying.
"What scares you most about it?"I asked.
She was quiet for a long moment, focusing intently on Celeste's coat."Disappointing people.I mean, I'm not exactly princess material.I don't know the first thing about diplomacy or any of it.What if I mess this up?What if I embarrass Valdoria or damage the alliance somehow?"She paused."What if I accidentally start a war because I used the wrong fork?"
"You don't give yourself enough credit."
"How would you know?"
"Well, you've been here for exactly twenty minutes, and Celeste is already in love with you.That's not nothing."
She looked down at the mare, who was indeed standing with the relaxed posture of a horse completely at ease."She's just being polite."
"Horses don't do polite.They either like you or they don't, and they're excellent judges of character.Better than most humans, honestly.They're not distracted by job titles or designer clothes."
Betty smiled at that, the first genuinely happy expression I'd seen from her."My grandmother always said animals could sense good people."
"Your adoptive grandmother?"
"Yeah.Grandma Rose.She had this ancient cat that hated everyone except family members.She said Whiskers was better than any security system.He once bit the mailman so hard the guy had to get stitches."
"Sounds like a wise woman.And a formidable cat."
"She was."Betty's expression grew wistful."She died when I was sixteen, but she always told me that if animals trusted you, you were probably doing something right in life."
I watched her continue grooming Celeste with gentle, confident strokes, and realized that this conversation was nothing like what I'd expected.I'd come here to evaluate whether she could handle royal life, but instead I was learning about her character in ways that had nothing to do with politics.And I was enjoying myself, which hadn't been part of the plan at all.
"What about you?"she asked suddenly."Do you have family?"
The question caught me off guard.People rarely asked about my personal life.They were usually too intimidated by my title to treat me like a normal person.Of course, she didn't know about the title.She thought I was just Peter, the friendly horse guy.
"My mother," I said."No siblings."
"Are you close?"
I considered how to answer that.Close wasn't exactly the word I'd use to describe my relationship with Queen Isabelle.Strategically aligned, perhaps.Mutually exasperated.Capable of having civil dinners as long as we avoided certain topics, like my future, my responsibilities, my love life, or basically anything that mattered.
"It's complicated," I settled on.
"Complicated how?"
"She has very strong ideas about duty and responsibility.Sometimes that conflicts with personal preferences.Most of the time, actually."
Betty nodded like she understood completely."The greater good versus individual happiness?"
"Something like that."
"That sucks."
Her blunt assessment made me smile."It does, sometimes."
