Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
“If you can hear, you can speak. You will also take etiquette courses. From your upbringing and behavior, I assume you had them as a child?”
“Yes, including what my mother taught me for pageants.”
She did not look impressed at all. “Nevertheless, you will still be tested. Of course, the more you already know, the less we have to worry about. Your duty is simple, Odette—be an asset to the crown. Should you do this, not only will I be fair, I will be biased in your favor.”
Mr. Ambrose opened the door behind the queen, allowing six women in, who in truth looked almost identical. They were all slim and around my age, with their black, or blonde hair pulled back, dressed in a dark-blue dress and one-inch, black heels. They all curtsied to the queen in unison.
“There are things I must see to. I enjoyed our lunch. Now I will leave you in Ambrose’s capable hands,” she said, rising from her seat, and the women and Ambrose bowed their heads to her. She looked at me, and I realized I was still sitting, so I got up. “Live up to what you promised, Odette. We are all depending on it.”
That was all she said as she moved around the couch and toward the door where her assistant waited. When she was gone, I took a deep breath, my shoulders only relaxing slightly. Jesus, that was not comfortable at all.
“We will start with your assistant,” Ambrose spoke up because there was no resting today. “We can skip the secretaries—the Adelaar has chosen Wolfgang for you—and move on to your guard and then to your tutors. I have narrowed each group into six candidates for you to choose from.”
Wait. “All of these women are just candidates for the assistant role? There are other groups outside?”
He looked at me strangely. “Yes, of course. Would it not be confusing and uncomfortable to have them all in here at once?”
By that math, it meant he had over a dozen more people waiting outside for me to choose from.
“Shall we begin? You may wish to sit now, Miss Wyntor. This will take some time,” he stated, and slowly, I sank back down onto the couch.
He walked over to my side and faced the women all standing next to me.
“One by one, they shall all introduce themselves—name, place of birth, age, marital status, education, experience, and why they wish to serve you and how they will do so.”
“This is normal for every royal? Or potential royal?” I was going to get my own entourage.
“Yes.”
“All right then.” I nodded and signaled for the first woman to step forward, and it hit me for the fifth time that I was in a whole new world here. Meanwhile, in my old world, I still had not called my mother.
She was going to be pissed.
Chapter 8
“Today, we witness a historic moment. The future Queen of Ersovia will be a woman of African American descent. She will be the first African American queen to rule a European nation. Today, we have seen change by the hand of the monarchy—”
I flipped the channel.
“We are to be ruled by foreigners now—”
I flipped again.
“This is a day the world will never forget, the first black woman—”
Once more, I flipped.
“I hate to say it, my fellow citizens, but mark your calendars. Today is the day the monarchy died—”
“It is hard to understand what the crown is trying to tell us with this recent and sudden engagement. Some are saying it is far too sudden, and obviously, they must be hiding something. A pregnancy, perhaps? And before you say, ‘No, that is impossible,’ remember the prince we are dealing with. Prince Galahad has always been a playboy, and rumors of his escapades have been covered up by the palace for years—”
“The biggest question is what do the king and queen think of this American socialite—”
“Immediately, what came to mind was that she is no Grace Kelly—”
“This is a massive statement by the crown in choosing Odette Wyntor. They have stood for the equality and inclusion of all Ersovians. Proving there is strength in diversity. She is educated, beautiful, and let us be all completely honest, rich, and the rumors of the crown’s financial situation say they might be in desperate need of that hard, green, American cash—”
“I told all of you that the day Prince Arthur passed away was the day the monarchy died and not to be fooled by Prince Galahad because he would never be able to live up to his brother. But everyone was fawning over this prince. Look at how handsome he is, look how hard he is working, he’s matured, you all said! You were wrong! I told you, he will let down you, that he would fail, and now look what he brings to the palace—”