Chapter Text
I slipped into my role as Princess of Genovia smoothly; I had, after all, been training for it my entire life. Grandmere had prepared me for this and I was as ready as I could be at my young age. While I didn’t have the maturity that I would no doubt gain in later years, I did have knowledge of the entire system at my fingertips. Grandmere’s assistant had agreed to stay on until I could find my own. In truth, the woman had wanted to continue on in her role as royal assistant until she herself passed, no doubt, but I was ready to pension her off in the first two hours. Everyone has a limit.
After the first day, the months I’d spent in America seemed like a dream from someone else’s life, the life I imagined I’d have had if the Universe had been very, very kind. If my pillowcases were damp in the mornings, no one was ill-trained enough to mention it when they were laundered that day. I’m sure they assumed that I was merely grieving my grandmother.
My father and I saw little of one another except during afternoon sessions of Parliament; we didn’t even dine together. I was still angry with him, and I was determined to punish him for what I saw as the great injustice that he’d done to me.
By the end of my first week in Genovia, the routine was set, and my days were exhausting. I played hostess to the dignitaries that were visiting the palace and did charitable works on the mornings that I had nothing else planned. In the afternoons, I sat in on Parliament and attended to issues of State when it was in session or, if it was not, played hostess again or did more charity work. In the evenings, if I were lucky enough, I could dine alone, but often I was forced to sit through endless formal dinners with visiting politicians and their spouses.
I deliberately did not check my email. I did not want the sympathy of my friends in New York, nor did I have the answers to their inevitable questions. I knew that Lily, at least, would understand exactly what Grandmere’s death meant, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the courage to face her reaction to it. Later, I promised myself.
It was, then, with some surprise that I was sitting on a rare morning with Grandmere’s assistant, Tatiana, having tea and going over my (surprisingly light) schedule for the day, when Lars came into the room. He usually stood outside the door during these times, allowing me a modicum of privacy while I lounged in my dressing gown and sipped tea with the woman who managed my (usually) formidable schedule.
“Princess, you have unannounced guests for the next week,” he said, as though it were his job, and not Tatiana’s to do these things. “The housekeeper has taken the liberty of putting them in the family wing.”
Tatiana and I both raised eyebrows at this. To put guests in the family wing was practically unheard of. Unless Rene was visiting (and if he was, boy was he ever getting a piece of my mind!) there was no one else I could think of who would deserve the ‘honor’ of being put in the same wing as myself and my father.
“Proper precautions were made,” Lars said, as though that explained everything. “Your guests are freshening up and will meet you in the Green Salon in twenty minutes.” He paused, looked me over for a moment and then the smallest hint of a smile crept across his stoic face. “I would – dress casually, Your Highness, but with an eye to impress.”
Tatiana shooed him from the room then and rang for a maid to take away the tea. We speculated as to who the guests could be as we sifted through my wardrobe. It was such a warm day that I overran the older woman’s protests and finally selected a pretty, casual sundress instead of a suit.
“Lars said casual,” I reminded her.
“That,” the woman said, scandalized and pointing at the dress, “is not casual, it is an outrage. Our guests will be insulted and flee the palace at once!”
“Madam Tatiana, these guests are on familiar enough terms with the Renaldo family to be housed in the family wing,” I reminded her. “Surely a degree of informality is acceptable. Now if I may excuse myself, I don’t wish to be late.” I didn’t give the woman a chance to protest – I’ve learned that is the best way to handle her – and I left the room. She was surely shocked down to her bones, muttering under her breath about the honor of the House of Renaldo as I left. I stifled my laughter as Lars dropped into step behind me.
“So who is it?” I asked.
“I’m not to tell you, Princess,” he said, a smile twitching on his lips.
“Don’t I pay you to tell me these things?” I asked him, a little insulted that he was keeping someone else’s secrets.
“But it’s much more entertaining this way,” he admitted, the smile finally breaking free.
The Green Salon was bathed in sunlight, and when I entered, it was full of people. A quick headcount told me that there were seven in the room, all engrossed with the view of the rose gardens from the magnificent floor-to-ceiling windows the far wall offered. Then I started taking in details. Like that one of them was short – really short – and kind of pudgy, with dark hair, leaning into the tall, lanky man next to her. Both were dressed in jeans and tennis shoes, something I was almost certain the palace had never seen before. Beside them was another pair, this one of a man with a sweater tucked into his pants (I’m not even joking) and a petite, sweetly curvaceous figure with beautiful hair holding hands. The third was a tall, long-legged blonde sucking face with – Rene. Of course – it had to be Rene. I wasn’t even surprised. I almost laughed out loud at that, but standing off to the side, as my heart started to swell with love for all of them, that they’d come, even though I’d told them not to, they’d still come – there was someone else.
He was apart from the others. His hands were in his pockets and he was leaning casually against the window frame. He hadn’t looked up as I’d entered, but he did now, and he just stood there, staring at me. He didn’t smile, and I couldn’t make my lungs work, let alone my lips, because it was him and he was here and suddenly everything was wonderful and awful and perfect and miserable all at once and there he was!
Michael.
Suddenly Lily looked over at her brother and saw that he wasn’t looking out at the roses anymore, and she turned and saw me standing there. She screamed my name and ran at me, barreling into me and if there had been any breath in my lungs she’d have knocked it out of me, but there wasn’t – there wasn’t. Because there he was. And he was still staring at me.
And even though Lily was asking me a million questions I couldn’t answer her because I still couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t even look at her because all I could do was stare at him.
Michael.