He turned back as the press corps rumbled a laugh. “I’m standing here today more grateful to be back in my own country than I can express. Not because I was treated badly, and not because I fell ill. I recovered as fast as could reasonably be expected with my injuries, and was returned as soon as my benefactors realized who I was—as I’m sure my parents have told you.” Several nods and he pushed on. “But to be so far away from my country, to not be able to return, makes a man appreciate what he has. Appreciate the hardworking men and women who make up our communities, appreciate the compassion we show our neighbors, our dedication to good schools, strong military, and a thriving business environment. I’m lucky to be alive, many would say. And I’d be one of them.” More laughter. “But I’m yet luckier to be able to represent Garronia once more. To walk these streets and see these people, and know that I’ve come home.”
He gestured to the crowd. “Any questions?”
The press corps surged forward, pelting him with a barrage. How long had he been unaware of his surroundings? Where had he been flying that night—and why fly at all into a storm? What had gone wrong with his plane? Where had he crashed, specifically? What injuries had he sustained? What was his timeline for returning to duty? What were the doctors’ reports on him?
He handled all of them with an ease he hadn’t expected, grateful that his short term memory at least remained rigorously intact. It surprised him how simple it was to recall the information he needed, to say it in exactly the right way. He’d been briefed well, but it was more than that. It was a realization growing within him, almost too big to fully grasp.
A new question refocused him. “There were some reports that you were seen in the city streets with an unknown woman last night. Care to comment on that?”
Beside him, King Jasen tensed and Ari could almost feel the concern from his mother as the queen beamed at him. Francesca had been seen, and as much as he wanted to claim her, this was not the time. The briefing was being held in Garronois but no matter what the language, he knew any attention he paid Francesca now would only cause her harm.
He had to do things carefully, and he had to do them well. It wasn’t solely his future at stake here.
“I don’t think it would come as any surprise that I would find a beautiful woman to squire me around,” he said with a rakish grin. “Though before you ask, we are not married.” The laughter sounded in the room again, the moment successfully handled. “And the street festivals of our capital city were one of the things I missed the most. I couldn’t resist walking the streets and hearing the music, for all that it, once again, wasn’t on the script. If any of you were out last night, I think you’ll agree that our city shone with celebration. It was truly the moment that I felt like I was home.”
His mother had stood during his little speech and the corps turned to her expectantly. “With Ari’s return, I am in the very happy position of being able to announce the return to our original plans all the way from last summer, as well,” she said, beaming with such delight that everyone straightened. “The question of Accession will be handled in due time, but with all that we have to celebrate, we will begin making plans for a new national holiday in Garronia, in tandem with our business and tourism department to ensure it brings the greatest value to our fair country.” She gazed at Ari with unaffected tears in her eyes, though her smile never faltered. “We’ll call it National Homecoming Day.”
17
Fran staggered under the weight of yet another dress that Lauren pulled off the rack, rocking back a step.
“Don’t drop anything!” Lauren ordered. “I swear to God, if I’d known being a queen meant you had immediate access to clothes from the country’s top designers, I would’ve rethought my career choices.”
“You think Dimitri wouldn’t move heaven and earth to get you clothing if that’s what you really wanted?” Nicki teased. “He’d install your own line of seamstresses by nightfall.”
An earlier version of Lauren would have shot back a witty comeback, but as Fran watched, this Lauren simply smiled, her eyes fixed on a faraway point as her fingers flicked past hanger after hanger of gowns. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” she said, and Fran’s heart shimmied again, threatening a repeat of the waterworks from earlier this morning.
That had been easy enough to explain away. She was tired, overwrought, and had just helped navigate a prince back to solid ground when no one truly knew how Ari would react to her. She’d managed to get through that unscathed, and while local media mentioned a mysterious woman at the festival last night, they also reported that Ari had brushed off the insinuation that she’d been anything other than casual arm candy. Which was exactly what he should have insinuated…
And yet.
“Are you really sure the queen wants us all dolled up again?” Nicki asked plaintively. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I willrockthese stilettos, but it seems like we were kind of a nuisance the last time around.”
“You’re definitely not a nuisance, and this ball isn’t like that one,” Emmaline said. Fran wheeled around with the last of Lauren’s picks, and regarded the youngest of their group while she staggered her way to the bed. They’d all gathered in Emmaline’s room because it was the biggest suite—large enough to hold the trunk sale’s worth of ball gowns the queen had sent up for them. But Emmaline didn’t need a new fancy dress. She’d been delivered a dozen of them during the first week of her engagement to Kristos, and she didn’t even have the ring yet.
The ring.Fran’s brows went up. Would Kristos propose officially at this upcoming ball—with a royal diamond? She dropped the gowns on the bed, a flurry of satin and tulle, and focused on Emmaline, keeping her voice casual. “How is it different?” she asked, picking up a cool green confection.
“You can’t go with that one, you did green last time.” Lauren took the offending garment out of Fran’s hands and trooped back to the rack as Emmaline selected another gown and held it out to Nicki.
“This one is more a celebration, not for any specific reasons. There will be family and friends invited, a few local notables, but the point isn’t the Accessionorthe age-old question of who the prince will marry,” Emmaline said. “It’s a Homecoming Ball, the way the queen describes it. She’s test running the idea in advance of a larger function tied to the official state holiday she wants to be declared.”
“Right,” Nicki said, holding a dress up to her athletic form. “I’d totally look like a coconut cupcake in this.” She handed the dress back to Emmaline, then continued. “So why are we having to dress up like Toddlers in Tiaras if it’s not an official state visit or a matchmaking gig?”
Lauren’s laugh was both feminine and derisive, in the way no one but Lauren could pull off. “Maybe because the queen isn’t simply test driving the holiday, she’s test driving potential brides for Ari?” she asked. “If we’re supposed to get this fancy you know that she’s inviting other women. It would be totally weird otherwise. And of those other women, how much you want to bet we’ll see a return showing of the crew from Kristos’s pre-engagement bash?”
“But I’m sure Edeena Saleri is coming to this new event, and I’ve not met her before,” Fran said. “I would have remembered her, I’m pretty sure.”
“Oh, the family was represented, but not Edeena,” Emmaline said. “Daughters number two and three were there, and the father.”
“Really?” Fran tilted her head, trying to remember. “Do you remember their names?”
“Caroline and Marguerite, though Marguerite usually goes by Meg. Their dad’s name was…” Emmaline raised her gaze to the ceiling. “I don’t know. Silas…I think Silas Saleri.”
“Silas Saleri,” Fran said. She couldn’t place the man, and she should, she thought. But she honestly hadn’t been paying that much attention during the ball. It was so much more fun to watch Emmaline and Kristos resist the pull of falling in love…and witness the varying responses to that fact, from ignorance to irritation. Had Silas been among the older guard of men scowling at Kristos? They all blended together after a while.
“This one!” Lauren announced, pulling a gown out of the pile and thrusting it at Fran. “You have to try this on.”
Fran took it dutifully enough, but she frowned at Lauren. “It’s green,” she said. “I thought you said you didn’t want me to wear green again.”
