Six #2
I stepped into the space. It was smaller than the staterooms in the public area.
Velvet sofas and chairs faced a huge fireplace on one side.
Rich tapestries hung on two of the walls, making it feel slightly cozier.
Enormous paintings, a mix of old royalty and Greek mythology, covered most of the walls.
The same perfect white flowers on a table by windows covered in sheer drapes.
Lennox stayed in the doorway, watching me take in the room.
“His Highness will be with you shortly.”
I didn’t even bother acknowledging him, as he was already shutting the doors, leaving me alone in the room.
Too itchy to sit, I wandered around, examining the paintings and objects in the room.
I brushed at my dress nervously. I never wore dresses or heels if I could help it.
I was a jeans-and-riding-boots kind of girl.
I figured this occasion more than called for it, but I felt uncomfortable.
The dress I was wearing was one my mother was insistent on.
It was the most conservative thing I owned, a pretty pastel pink, which I hated.
It also was from when I was heavier. Even though a tailor took it in, it still felt unpleasant and stiff.
My matching pink heels were even worse. I was like a walking bubblegum ball.
Reaching the windows, I looked through, seeing half the gardens and a view of the city.
The late-afternoon sun glinted off the old and new buildings in the city.
Tall towers, steeples, and famous landmarks all could be seen from here.
People moving up and down the four-lane street leading away and to the palace, going on with their lives, while I stood there and watched them from inside.
It felt odd. I was more one of them than someone who’d be standing here. In the palace… about to be introduced to the queen and king.
“Don’t vomit, Spencer,” I ordered myself.
“Please don’t. The rug is an antique and would be very difficult to clean.
” A woman’s eloquent voice came from behind me, and I lurched around, my hip knocking the table.
In horror, I watched in slow motion as the vase with flowers tipped over, crashing onto the table, water and pieces of the vase spilling everywhere.
“Oh, holy shite!” I cried, grabbing for the wreckage. Bits of the pretty vase cut my hands, the water sweeping between my fingers. My efforts were only making it worse, getting my dress soaked in the process.
“Please.” She came closer. “Leave it. I will have someone clean it up.”
My face burned as I clumsily set down the broken pieces, bile and mortification fighting in my stomach. This can’t be happening. I squeezed my lids together before taking a deep breath and spinning around.
“You must be Spencer, the girl my son has talked about excessively for the last few days?”
“Yes.” I swallowed, bending my legs into a curtsy. “Your Majesty.”
I just broke what was probably a family heirloom, cursed, and looked like I peed on myself all in a matter of seconds in front of the Queen of Great Victoria.
Way to go, Spencer. Way to not be awkward…
Queen Catherine, in all her gorgeous and flawless splendor, stood there watching me, not a gleam of what she might be thinking or feeling near the surface.
Dressed in a deep blue knee-length silk dress and tan heels, she was tall and lean, with the most delicate swan neck and dainty wrists.
Her long, silky brown hair was coiled into a low bun.
She possessed a wide mouth, green eyes, and high cheekbones, and she oozed elegance like it was a perfume she put on.
She looked nowhere near her forty-three years.
It was like the king ordered her straight out of a magazine.
As a daughter of a duke and duchess, she was raised to be a queen.
I wanted to believe her and King Alexander had fallen in love, but I knew too much about the real world behind the scenes to be such a hopeless romantic.
There were stories that he had loved someone else, many rumors about affairs they both had, but it was all just that.
Hearsay. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the truth.
Whatever personal relationship they had, they were a great team. A front that had grown stronger in their reign. And made freaking perfect babies.
“I apologize, Your Grace.” I dipped my head again, cursing silently at the water mark right at my crotch. Fucking perfect.
Her head stayed perfectly still, her eyes gliding to the mess on the table, the sound of dripping water flooding more embarrassment into my cheeks.
“That was a present from the queen of Norway, over a hundred years ago.”
Oh. God. Of course, it was.
“Always thought it was hideous.” She nodded at it, twirling back for the sofas, no emotion in her declaration.
“Please, come sit, Spencer.” She gracefully perched herself on the furniture.
“I was hoping to have a few moments alone with you before Theo was finished with his business.” She patted the spot next to her. “To get to know you.”
I was in hell, right? I think I woke up in a cold sweat to this nightmare a couple nights ago.
Wobbling on my heels, I strode to the sofa, trying to sit down elegantly, the dress crushing my legs together and cutting into my stomach.
Forcing a small grin on my face through the discomfort, I folded my hands on my lap, feeling like a child being drilled by my mother in proper etiquette.
Deciding the safest thing to do was keep my mouth shut until she asked me something, I pressed my lips loosely together.
She took a few seconds to look me over; she was good at hiding what thoughts she had about my appearance.
“Spencer, do you mind me being direct?”
Oh. Feck. “No, of course not, Your Grace.” I gulped, trying to keep my lungs breathing.
“You are a slight surprise. Until a week ago, when Theodore returned, I had heard nothing of you. Though he tells me you had been dating in secret for seven months.”
“It wasn’t really in secret, but we didn’t want the paparazzi to find out about us. We weren’t ready for that.”
“Yes. I can understand that. I am quite surprised he kept you from us as well.”
As long as I dated Theo, he barely talked to his parents. They didn’t seem that close, but it still stung. My parents had known about him.
“I’m sure he did not want to mention me until he knew we were serious.” I cupped my hands together on my lap.
She nodded. “Since he has returned, he has spoken of nothing but you. He tells me how smart and funny you are. Different than the rest of the girls at school.”
And there was that word again. Like Charlotte, I doubted the Queen meant it in a good way either, but she was a lot better at hiding her meaning.
“He seems quite smitten with you.”
“And I feel the same about him.” My nerves were starting to ease a bit, my response to feeling threatened lashing up my spine, straightening my back. You can get through this, Spencer. Theo is worth this.
“I would hope so.” She tipped her head just a hair. “I want you perfectly aware of what comes with dating the Prince of Great Victoria. What will happen once we announce you are an item. Not just the pressure from the outside world, but what is expected of you here as well.”
Panic pumped at my heart, rattling inside my ears, but I forced myself to nod.
“Dating a prince is not like dating an ordinary boy at school. Believe me, I understand this more than anyone, but I always knew what was expected of me. I spent years watching and preparing for it. You have not.” I couldn’t tell if she was trying to scare me or honestly warning me.
“I know. Theo and I have talked about it. I’m not a complete stranger to the world.”
“Almost,” she replied evenly.
I swallowed back the irritation flowering in my stomach.
I was very much aware my family was the last layer, the fringe on the noble rug, but if you insulted my family, I was ready to throw down.
Probably not very “royal,” but I could pick on our standing and my family, but anyone else? Oh, hell no.
Theo. Think of Theo. Just get through this for him.
“I want to be honest with you, Spencer. My son seems to suddenly be living in a cloud and will not listen to reason. I want one of you to have feet on the ground.”
“What are you saying, Your Highness? You want us to break up?”