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)
“No. Well, yes, but I’m glad you are,” I said because, honestly, I was. “It is better than when you first came and said nothing to me at all about what was going on. Instead, you kept just saying, ‘I’m fine’ until you exploded.”
“I did not.”
I gave her a look, and her face bunched up in response.
“Fine, I might have exploded a little.”
“Like a tiny nuclear bomb.”
“It was not that bad.”
“Had me trembling in fear.”
“You are so dramatic.”
I chuckled and nodded. But I was seriously glad we were getting to see each other day by day. “You share your complaints with me, and I shall share mine with you. God knows I’d like to explode too.”
“What happened?” Her whole expression was now serious.
I did not want to say, but I did not what her to think I was hiding it, either. Truthfully, I knew I really couldn’t hide it anyway. “Well, this morning, I embarrassed myself in front of the Solar Energy Coalition by mixing up a photovoltaic cell and a photoelectron chemical cell.”
“A what and what?”
“Thank you!” I exclaimed. “My thoughts exactly. It is not as if I am an engineering student, but I still wished to understand, so I studied the basic terms of what they would be showing me. A simple slip of the tongue, and they were all chuckling as if I did not even finish primary school. And I thought that was going to be the worst of the day, only to be invited to dinner at the prime minister's—no, not invited, entrapped.”
“Entrapped?”
I sighed, looking into her eyes. “Sabina was there.”
Just like that, her smile dropped. “Oh.”
“Yes, oh, so I’m sure we can both look forward to whatever headline will come in the morning.”
“I’m doing my best not to look, but it’s hard when...”
“The whole palace knows and is pretending it’s not?”
She nodded. “What happened with Sabina?”
“Nothing happened with Sabina,” I whispered back. “I ate dinner, restrained myself from causing a national crisis by punching the prime minister, and when I left, I told Sabina to stop.”
“To stop?”
“Getting in the way, appearing in our faces, basking in the press’s attention.”
“I do not know if she will give up that easily. If she was bold enough to tell me she was going to be your mistress—”
“Oh God, how I hate that word. No, I hate this conversation,” I replied quickly. “Do not worry about her.”
“So, you can worry about her alone?”
“I won’t worry about her at all. Rather, I shall worry if my toes will hold up against you.”
Her eyes widened, and she backed away from me as if I had the plague. “Sorry!”
I laughed.
“Gale!”
Grabbing her hand, I spun her back into my arms and held her tightly. Instead of dancing, however, I moved us to the edge.
“This is my favorite garden in the palace,” I whispered into her ear. “They were given to my father by the Japanese emperor for his coronation. In the emperor’s letter to my father, he wrote, ‘may your reign see their full blossoming thrice over.’ My father would often bring me here to watch them. I was annoyed because they took so long to grow, so I stopped coming with him, and then one day, I was walking through the eastern garden and looked over. All I saw was a sea of pink petals. They were everywhere. And my father was standing with my mother, grinning and laughing with her because he’d seen the first full bloom after thirty years. It was wondrous, so wondrous, in fact, that I made sure no matter what happened, I’d always be home in time to see them bloom.”
She leaned back against me, rocking with me slightly. “That’s sweet. But I have to admit that it’s so strange to me.”
“What?”
“Coronation gifts from Japanese emperors. That type of stuff was only ever in history books, and now it’s in front of me.”
“Yeah, we are living history.”
“Have you thought about what they will give you?” she whispered.
I held on to her tighter, taking in the scent of her, and the cherry blossoms before shaking my head.
“You do not ever want to think of being king, do you?” she asked.
“Being king means my father is gone, and my brother is gone. Being king means something went wrong. The spare is supposed to be a spare. The heir is supposed to be the next king. I did not even want to think of the day Arthur would be king. It was hard enough for me when he was the Adelaar. But I did my best to obey, to not get jealous or resent him. Instead, I completely and utterly looked away. I left all the work for him and my father. Any time they would ask me, I would joke and tease and make my escape. I didn’t want to think about it. And now...”