"Smile," he murmured near my ear."You're the new princess.They're excited to meet you."
"They're excited to assess whether I'm going to be a disaster."
"Same thing.Just smile and nod.I'll do most of the talking."
We proceeded down the receiving line, and I deployed every scrap of princess training Madame Delacroix had drilled into me.Gracious nod here.Appropriate smile there.Trying not to look like I was going to vomit from nerves.
The head housekeeper, a silver-haired woman named Signora Benedetti, welcomed us with formal warmth and introduced a small army of staff members whose names I immediately forgot.A man named Roberto appeared to be some kind of household manager, and he rattled off information about schedules and meal times and room assignments with the air of someone who had memorized an encyclopedia and was eager to share.
By the time we entered the palace itself, I was running on fumes and determination.
The interior was just as overwhelming as the exterior.Marble floors.Crystal chandeliers.Ceilings painted with classical scenes that probably belonged in museums.Everything beautiful, everything expensive, everything designed to make visitors feel like they were walking through a work of art rather than a home.
"The Blue Room complex has been prepared for Your Highness," Roberto explained as we walked."It consists of a bedroom, sitting room, private study, and dressing room, with an en-suite bathroom.The rooms have been recently redecorated in anticipation of your arrival."
We stopped outside a set of double doors that looked like they belonged in a palace.Which, technically, they did.
"I'll leave you to settle in," Archie said."Dinner is at seven-thirty, just the two of us.I thought we could have a quiet evening to talk."
"Talk about what?"
"Whatever you want.Strategy for meeting my mother.Your questions about how things work here.Your ongoing anger at me."He offered a slight smile."I'm flexible."
"And what should I wear for this talking dinner?"
"Something comfortable.We're eating in my private dining room, not the state rooms."
"You have a private dining room?"
"Perks of being born into this."He paused."Roberto can answer any questions you have about the layout or the household routines.Petra will continue as your lady's maid, of course, but Carmela Benedetti will assist her with anything specific to the Solmarian palace.She's the head housekeeper's niece.Good.Patient.She won't judge you for not knowing things."
"Unlike some people."
"I never judged you for not knowing things."
"You judged me for plenty of other things."
"I judged you for things that turned out to be entirely my own projections and insecurities, and I've apologized for that.Repeatedly."
"And I've accepted your apology.Reluctantly."
"I'll take reluctantly."
He started to walk away, then turned back."Betty?"
"Yeah?"
"For what it's worth, I'm glad you're here."
"Even though I'm going to be hostile and suspicious for the foreseeable future?"
"Even though.This place could use someone who's not afraid to be angry when anger is warranted."
He smiled when he said it, and for just a second, I saw Peter again.The man who'd made me laugh in the stables.The man who'd looked at me like I was a person instead of a problem.
The man I'd been starting to fall for before everything went sideways.
After he disappeared around the corner, I stood outside my new rooms with Roberto, trying to process everything that had just happened.The flight.The conversation.The confusing mixture of fury and attraction that I couldn't seem to shake no matter how hard I tried.
