Chapter 4
Staring out the window of his office, Frederick wondered how this meeting would go.
He hadn't slept much. The information his aide had provided the night before wouldn't let his mind settle.
The news this morning meant he likely wouldn't sleep much the next time he tried.
In the distance, he could see a few autos driving along the streets.
Residents and guests were not yet wandering around the pier, shopping or eating at an outdoor table like they would in a few hours.
He knew they likely thought life in the palace was glamorous and easy.
That was true to a certain extent - at least at times.
State dinners were glamorous. He never had to clean bathrooms, would never have to worry about his auto breaking down, or planning and preparing meals for his family.
With the privilege came responsibilities as well.
He wasn't solely responsible for the wellbeing of his country and his people - that was shared with both Parliament and the Council - but he felt the weight as though it rested on his shoulders alone.
It also came with expectations that were so unrealistic and ludicrous that most people would have a hard time believing.
Those who married into the royal family often chafed under the restrictions placed on them.
Some were requirements codified into law or other guiding documents.
Some were traditional requirements that were sometimes enforced more harshly than the legal ones.
That was the focus of his frustration at the moment.
"Sir?" His aide interrupted thoughts.
"Yes?" Frederick didn't turn around.
"Ms. Stephens is here."
"Send her in." He continued looking out the window, even after the door whispered closed. Blowing out a breath, Frederick pivoted to see a nervous Elise across the office.
She tucked one foot behind the other and dipped into a curtsy. "Good morning." Her nose wrinkled. "I think. Is it morning? I'm really not sure."
Frederick couldn't stop the half smile that crossed his face. "It is morning, but still very early." He motioned to a chair near where he stood. "Please. Have a seat."
"Is everything okay?" Elise sounded worried as she hurried across the office.
He waited until she took a seat. "There are some things that will be in the media this morning that you need to be aware of before they become public."
As she settled back, he could see her face and shoulders relax. "I can handle the tabloids. They don't faze me anymore. Do you know how many times I've found out I bought a house at Lake Como?" A grin crossed her face.
A grin he was probably going to be responsible for spoiling.
"There are pictures of us arriving at the airport. They were taken from a great distance with a very long lens. They're grainy but unmistakably us."
"And there's rumors that we're an item?" She shrugged. "I've dated people I've never met, at least if you believe the grocery store checkout aisles. I'm sure you have as well."
Frederick nodded. "I have, but things are a little different this time.
You stayed here after we arrived. That means they'll take the rumors to another level.
Once you make it to the set, you can be fairly isolated.
They'll take good care of making sure the press stays away from you.
You'll have to arrive and depart your hotel under cover, and you won't be able to do anything in public. "
"Give it a week or so and it will all die down. Someone else will do something to knock mild speculation off the front page. It'll be a footnote on our WIKIPEDIA pages, if that." She leaned forward a bit and smiled. "It's not a big deal at all, but I appreciate your concern."
Frederick had planned to tell her the rest of the news that would occupy the Southern Santierian press for days, but decided he didn't want to burden her with the additional weight now resting on his shoulders.
It wasn't her problem to solve. "I wanted to be certain you were aware that I didn't have anything to do with the story and neither did my team.
" He stood and held out a hand to support her as she stood.
Elise placed her hand in his and stood up. She didn't let go as she looked straight into his dark eyes. "I would never have thought you did, but I appreciate that you took the time ensure I was aware before I left for the set."
He tipped his head toward her. "It was my pleasure." He didn't want to let go of her hand, but knew it was time. "I hope the rest of your time in Southern Santiero is pleasant and that filming goes smoothly."
Her hand fell to her side. "Thank you. I'm sure it will be fantastic. Plus it's much nicer here than it is at home in Eastern Novigradia this time of year. You actually have sunshine for hours a day."
Frederick clasped his hands behind his back. "It is a benefit of living much closer to the equator. Day length doesn't fluxuate nearly as much from season to season as it does in parts of the world further north."
"But you also don't get to see the Northern Lights," she countered. "There's something to be said for both types of climate."
By then they'd reached the door. Frederick reached for the carved handle and tugged it open. "Someone will show you back to your room so you can finish getting ready for the day. They will take you to the garrison where a car will be waiting."
Her blond ponytail swung as she turned. "Thank you for your hospitality. I hope I'll see you again soon."
And then she was gone.
Frederick released the door and pushed it shut then returned to his vantage point overlooking the city below. He didn't actually hear the side door open but still knew that George had entered.
"You didn't tell her, sir?" Very few would question him or a decision without some sort of apology. George was one of them.
"No. It's not her problem. It's mine. The potential connection between the two stories hasn't been made yet, and I'm not going to be the one to help them do it." He sighed and turned around. "There is no reason she should be involved at all."
"There is a reason for her to be involved, sir. At least one the press will find."
Frederick shook his head. "No. This is my problem, not hers." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm the one who has to get married by the end of the month."
It had been three weeks and the local media had long since moved on to something besides her alleged sordid affair with the king.
At least that's what Elise had been told. She wasn't keeping track herself, but her make-up artist kept up with it for her without realizing it.
"There's something else going on with the royal family," Celina went on. "I haven't been able to get a read on what exactly it is. I'll dig into it later and see what I can find out."
"You don't need to do that," Elise told her. "I just wanted to know if they'd moved on from me and the king." She flipped to the next page of her magazine. "Anything else doesn't really concern me."
Topics of conversation moved on to a wide variety of other things. By the time she made it back to her hotel late that evening, all Elise wanted to do was sleep.
Restlessness she couldn't explain kept her from doing just that. Finally giving up, she used the remote to turn the television on. A late-night gossip panel type show was on.
"King Frederick doesn't seem to be any closer to finding his queen," the man on the left said.
"No, he does not." The woman on location agreed with him.
Finding his queen? The mere thought gave her a stab of an emotion she couldn't quite define. Jealousy? That couldn't be right.
"We haven't heard anything definitive," the woman went on.
"Reportedly a number of eligible women from around the country have been meeting with King Frederick.
The inside source says he's met with multiple women a day at times, though never at the same time.
It's unknown if he's met with any of them more than once. "
A number of women? Multiple women a day? Was he that desperate to get married? It didn't make sense. He'd given her no indication this search for a queen was on his mind when they'd spent time together a few weeks earlier.
Would he have actually kissed her like that if he knew he'd be getting married soon?
Even before the question finished floating through her mind, Elise knew the answer.
No. He wouldn't have kissed her - or even agreed to share the bed for sleeping - if he knew he'd be searching for a wife soon.
So this was a new development since then.
"Is there any indication when the king will make a decision?" The man asked the question with a straight face.
"Not that we've been told. There are whispers that he needs to be married by the end of the month. No one knows exactly why or what that will look like, but if he doesn't find a woman to be his bride, it won't matter."
"What are those gathered outside the palace saying?"
"Mixed, but the biggest concern is whether or not a marriage arranged so hastily is in the best interests of the country or the king."
"Is there any word on when the wedding will take place?"
Elise clicked the power button on the remote.
It wasn't something she needed to focus on.
She didn't know anything about internal Southern Santierian politics or the marriage customs for the monarch.
A web search would probably give her the information she needed but doing one would mean she cared more than she wanted to admit.
Her blankets had replaced the ones from the hotel. After explaining her preference to the housekeeper, the staff had removed the hotel bedding and used hers. Pulling them back up to her chin, she once again tried to sleep. She tried an old trick someone had told her many years earlier.
Starting at the beginning of the alphabet, list as many words as she could think of starting with that letter.
Acrobat. Anteater. Aluminum. Art. Anathema. Alligator. Artichoke. Architect. Alabama.
Elise made it through about twenty-five of the letter A followed by about the same number of B and C.
When she reached D, she rolled onto her back and growled toward the ceiling. She rarely made it past B.
After pushing herself into a seated position against the headboard, Elise picked up her ereader off the side table and opened it to the next chapter of Saving the Secret Prince by American Kristin Canary. She read the page three times and still couldn't make heads or tails of the words.
Reading wasn't going to let her mind settle until she could sleep. After another three attempts, she gave up.
Time to try something else.
Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Elise padded into the living area of her suite.
Picking up the Pilates bar, she let the straps dangle until she could slip her feet into the loops.
Holding the bar, she did twenty bicep curls, followed by twenty overhead presses, then twenty front raises.
They felt too easy, but she didn't want to change out the resistance bands to make it more challenging.
After another round of the three exercises, her muscles started to feel a bit more worn out. Would it burn enough energy to let her settle down?
She added some push ups and held a plank as long as she could. When she finished, she finally felt like she'd worn herself out enough.
This time Elise started with the letter D and went forward from there. Since she rarely made it that far in the alphabet, it took more concentration to see how many she could think of for each letter. By the time she reached F, she felt herself drifting.
As always, her alarm woke her far too soon.
This time when she sat in the make-up chair, Celina chattered away while Elise just tried to keep her eyes open.
"The thing is, if he's not married in the next week, the throne will go to his brother."
It took everything in Elise for to stay still while Celina leaned in close to work on her eyelids. She spoke, but moved her lips as little as she could and still make her words audible. "What are you talking about?"
"King Frederick. I'm not sure why this wasn't on their to do list sooner, but he has to get married by next week or he loses his place as monarch." Celina moved away.
Elise opened her eyes. "Is that why there's been so many women visiting him at the palace?"
Celina gave her a puzzled look. "I thought you didn't keep up with the goings on around here."
Struggling to keep her face impassive, Elise shrugged. "I couldn't sleep last night and there was some gossip show on talking about how there's been a bunch of women going to see Frederick. That's about all I heard before I turned it off."
"It seems that for the last century or more, the monarchs have all been married by the time they inherited the throne so it wasn't an issue. I guess that's why no one realized this was going to be a problem." She picked up another brush.
Closing her eyes again, Elise let the information roll around in her head. There seemed to be something just out of reach.
A solution? How could she have a solution that Frederick and his team wouldn't have already thought of?
He had to get married. If Celina and the show the night before were right, Frederick only had a week before he'd have to get married or step down.
Neither option would appeal to him, but one was far more acceptable than the other.
As Celina told Elise she was finished, it came to her.
She could marry Frederick.