Later
“We’re just going to have to run with it,” I proclaimed.
It was Wednesday, and I was in my study, sitting in the seating area by the fireplace, having a meeting with Mira, Jorda and Barret about the New Year’s Ball.
Before she was exiled, Tatra had come up with the uninspired theme of Shooting Stars, much of the décor had already been confirmed, and as such, ordered.
Perhaps not incidentally, Queen Calisa’s theme for the Midnight Masque had been “Soaring,” and those weren’t identical, but they were similar, so it almost seemed like a copycat situation.
Alas, at this juncture, I couldn’t throw it out.
Not only because we were operating on time constraints, but also because the castle’s finance department shared the budget for the Ball, it was astronomical, and most of it had already been committed or outright spent on deposits with vendors.
I couldn’t make significant changes now, partially because I didn’t want the finance department to think I was a spendthrift like Tatra and Arnaud, but also because I’d already pushed a budget change with the staff salaries.
I didn’t need to come to them with another one so soon.
Thus, we were going to have to work the shooting stars thing.
Blech.
“Anyway,” I mumbled, examining my tablet, “I like this moon and clouds installation that guests have to walk through, with all the lights in the clouds and against the background denoting stars. I think we can work with that.”
I wasn’t going to give Tatra credit for what was definitely a kickass design, since it was probably some talented party planner who came up with it. Though, whoever they were had been erased from any of the documentation so Tatra could assume the credit.
The ways she could be a bitch seemed to have no end.
“I do have some, um…suggestions for, uh…changes in the catering that we have, erm…plenty of time to implement,” Barret said haltingly.
I turned my attention to her.
She appeared terrified.
Therefore, I smiled at her. “Let’s see them.”
She tapped her tablet, I heard the bing on mine, and I pulled up the new doc.
I scanned it.
And my smile was wider when I aimed it again to her. “This is excellent.”
Barret returned my smile tentatively as pink tinged her cheeks. “It would be the same cost, but more creative.”
“I love it,” I replied. “Let’s go for it.”
Barret’s eyes brightened with excitement and her smile became a beam.
“All the designers I reached out to are keen to accept the commission to design your gown and confirmed they’d make the time to craft it,” Jorda butted in. “A couple of them already sent sketches. I’m pinging those to you.”
Again, my tablet sounded and I pulled up the designs.
One was not me.
The other very much was.
I was a little concerned it was too close to the engagement party dress I wore, considering this new gown looked like it was made of slim, silver spikes, but it was totally my aesthetic.
The designer was Simma Zetfight, a demon Edgian designer who had a budding couture house in the city of Freefall, which was known as the most artsy and cultural city in Sky’s Edge. It was where all the runway shows happened. And it had the best art museum in all the Four Realms (according to me).
I already had quite a bit of her ready-to-wear in my closet (or now, both closets).
Thus, I made a decision.
“Let’s reach out to Simma.”
“You need an aide.”
This was Mira’s declaration.
I disagreed, but I wasn’t going to disagree with her in front of Jorda and Barret, especially since both Jorda’s and Barret’s expressions said they agreed with Mira.
“Let’s discuss that after the meeting, if you have an extra couple of minutes,” I said to Mira.
“I have a couple of things to go over with you after the meeting too,” she replied.
Since she’d been watching me like a hawk during this entire appointment, like she was waiting for me to slip up, I bet she did.
“Right then, since I know we all have busy days, let’s finish up,” I decreed.
“I’d like Barret to go over the guest list, because she’s done this a million times, and she knows who should be on it.
Can you two finalize it by the end of the week so Tanyn can look at it too?
” I asked Jorda and Mira. “We need to get the invitations out.”
They nodded their assent. We discussed the last bits and bobs on the agenda while we finished the coffee and nibbled at the fruit and pastries sitting on the table between us.
The meeting done, Jorda and Barret left.
And Mira remained.
I’d wanted to finagle some kind of casual discussion with Barret about what she’d said about serving the “real king,” but apparently, now was not going to be that time.
So be it.
She was blushing and still hesitant to share her ideas.
It was probably too early.
And now to the matter at hand…
“About that aide,” I began when the door closed behind the other two females.
“You’ll need to start scheduling appearances,” Mira stated.
“You’re already working with designers, and it would be beneficial for you to have a being in between you and them to communicate in case you don’t like a design, or don’t wish to work with them.
That kind of thing should never come direct from your lips, or your fingertips on a device. ”
“Mira—”
“Berg Castle only hosts the New Year’s Ball as their annual big to-do, but it’s an event where the planning starts practically the day after the last ball was held.”
I could imagine.
“You’ll also have your own engagement party to plan, and you don’t have a reigning queen to help you plan it,” she continued.
“Not to mention, the wedding. You need to patronize charities. You need to fundraise for them. You need to establish your brand and communicate your mission. Obviously, I see this centering around the arts. But in the short-term, there’s not only the Ball, there’s the refurbishment of the citadel, and you and the king need to be seen.
Sky’s Edgians need to be under the impression you’re here, and you’re here to stay. ”
I sat quietly and listened to all her words.
And I noted among them there was an abundance of the word “need.”
When she was finished, I didn’t add my own tasks, which included the fact I’d put in notice. It had been grudgingly accepted, along with my boss agreeing it was the right course to promote Lua.
However, for the next month, I was still going to be doing that job along with training Lua to do it.
Only when Mira spoke no more, did I say, “I understand all of this, Mira. But as of now, I’m living with His Majesty.
As of now, you know there are other matters that take precedence, so all the royals and future queens will be staying with us too.
The king has made the decision not to communicate what’s happening until we actually know what’s happening.
However, there’s a good possibility beings will find out I’m here, or we’re all here, and if that comes about, that will have to be handled. ”
She inclined her head but said nothing.
I kept going.
“But as for me, this is too soon for them to be forced to digest another big change. Tanyn is king, but he’s been that for only a short time.
Now, he’s courting me, officially. Me moving in, having a royal aide, scheduling appearances, patronizing charities and establishing a brand…
” I shook my head. “It makes a statement. A statement that will be made, but it’s far too soon to make it now. ”
“With due respect,” she replied, “you’re already leaning on Jorda for some of these things, and she has a busy job.”
This was true.
“May I suggest you hire within,” Mira said.
“You mean, find someone already working castle admin and appropriate them?”
“Perhaps,” she allowed. “Or a member of the castle’s servant wing.
It’s my understanding it’s established they’re overstaffed.
There may be those among them who have higher aspirations.
Someone might appreciate the opportunity.
You can train them, and I can’t speak for Jorda, but I doubt she’d mind assisting.
I won’t either. Internally, and quietly, we can post the job through both arms of the castle’s organization.
See what shakes out. This would mean we wouldn’t be hiring anyone new.
It would simply mean someone has new duties. ”
“This is a great idea,” I said.
She seemed shocked at my words.
I ignored her shock.
She could watch me all she wanted, waiting for me to make some misstep.
She’d learn.
“I’ll discuss it with Tanyn and sit with you and Jorda to devise a job description,” I went on. “Does that work for you?”
“I’ll have br forward Jorda’s job description to you. We can start with something already drafted.”
“Great.”
“Okay then, I need to know if you’ve seen this.”
She turned to her tablet, tapped it, then handed it to me.
I expected her to show me some pic of me where I had my mouth open too far or where I looked grumpy and then give me a lecture about how to comport myself when cambeings were around.
It was not that.
It was a pic of Gayle and Cormac.
She was standing in the door of a UtiliSport, about to climb in, but she’d stopped and twisted to look up at Cormac, who was, no other way to put it, crowding her in that door like he was her personal shield.
He was so close, and so big, you could barely see anything of Gayle except her shining, glorious hair and her profile.
He had his hand on the top of the door and his head tipped down to look at her.
Their faces were very close.
She appeared attentive, he appeared intent.
They looked like an item.
Because they were, even if they weren’t.
The caption screamed Another One Down, and the pic had been posted earlier this morning.
“She arrived in the craft right before him at the engagement party,” Mira told me. “And that was taken outside her home this morning. As you can see, beings are putting it together.”
“They’re not being very discreet,” I mumbled.
“They’re not. Were you aware they intended to make some kind of statement?”