A butler entered and bowed. “Pardon me, Your Highness. There’s some confusion about the suit for one of the gentlemen.”
“Which one?”
“Erik, miss.”
“The translator?” Mom asked.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I’m coming,” I said, following him out the door.
“Don’t you want to take off the gown?” Neena asked.
“It’ll give me a chance to practice walking in it.”
And it did. It was incredibly heavy, and a little hard to navigate down the stairs. I’d need sturdier heels.
As I approached Erik’s room, I could hear him imploring someone to reconsider. “I am not an Elite. It would be inappropriate.”
I pushed the door open wider, finding him in a suit with chalk lines down the sides and pins in the hem.
“Your Highness,” the tailor said, immediately dropping into a bow.
Erik, however, stared and stared, unable to look away from the dress.
“We’re having a problem coming to terms with his suit, miss.” The tailor motioned to the chalked-up suit.
Erik regained his composure. “I don’t want to confuse anyone by wearing a suit that matches what the Elite are wearing.”
“But you will be walking in the procession, and there will be scores of pictures,” the tailor insisted. “Uniformity is best.”
Erik looked at me, his eyes pleading.
I pressed my fingers to my lips, considering. “Could you give us a moment, please?”
The tailor bowed again and exited, and I crossed to stand in front of Erik.
“It does look rather sharp,” I said with a grin.
“It does,” he admitted. “I’m just not sure it’s proper.”
“What? To look nice for a day?”
“I’m not an Elite. It’s . . . confusing to have me standing with them, looking like them, when I can’t . . . I’m not . . .”
I put a hand on his chest. “The tailor is right. You will want to blend in. A different color of suit wouldn’t help your case here.”
He sighed. “But I’m—”
“What if your tie was a slightly different color?” I offered quickly.
“Is that my only option?”
“Yes. Besides, think of how much your mother will love this.”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s so unfair. You win.”
I clapped my hands. “See? That wasn’t so hard.”
“Of course it was easy for you. You were the one giving the command.”
“I didn’t mean to command you, not really.”
He smirked. “Of course you did. You’re made for it.”
I couldn’t tell if that was a critique or a compliment. “What do you think?” I asked, holding out my arms. “I mean, you have to try to imagine it without all the pins.”
He paused. “You look breathtaking, Eadlyn. I couldn’t even remember what I was so worked up about when you first walked in.”
I fought the blush. “I’ve been wondering if it was too much.”
“It’s perfect. I can see it’s a little different from your usual style, but then again, your typical look isn’t meant to be coronation-day ready.”
I turned around and looked in the mirror. That one sentence made the whole thing so much better.
“Thank you. I think I’ve been overanalyzing it.”
He stood beside me. It was comical, these beautiful clothes, some of the best we’d ever wear, marked in chalk and held by pins. We looked like dolls. “That seems to be a talent of yours.”
I grimaced but nodded. He was right.
“I realize I’m in no position to tell you what to do,” he said, “but you seem to handle things much better when you think about them less. Get out of your head. Trust your gut. Trust your heart.”
“I’m terrified of my heart.” I didn’t mean to say those words out loud, but there was something about him that made this room, and this moment, the only place I could ever admit to the truth.
He leaned down by my ear and whispered, “There’s nothing there to fear.” He cleared his throat, then turned back to face our reflections. “Maybe what you need is a little luck. You see this ring?” he asked, holding out his pinkie.
I did. I’d noticed it a dozen times. Why would someone who dulled himself down and refused to put on a suit wear a piece of jewelry?
“This was my great-great-grandmother’s wedding ring. The weaving design is a traditional Swendish thing. You see it everywhere in Swendway.” He slipped off the ring and held it between two fingers. “This has survived everything from wars to famine, even my family’s move to Illéa. I’m supposed to give it to the girl I marry. Mom’s orders.”
I smiled, charmed by his excitement. I wondered if there was someone back home hoping to wear it someday.
“But it seems to have a lot of good luck,” he continued. “I think you could use some right now.”
He held out the ring to me, but I shook my head. “I can’t take that! It’s an heirloom.”
“Yes, but it’s a very fortunate heirloom. It’s guided several people to their soul mates. And it’s only temporary. Until you get to the end of the Selection, or Henri and I leave. Whichever happens first.”
Hesitantly, I slid the ring onto my finger, noting how smooth it was.
“Thank you, Erik.”
I looked into his blue eyes. It only took one charged second to hear the heart that I’d had so little faith in. It was taking in that piercing stare and the warm scent of his skin . . . and it was shouting.
Without considering the repercussions or the complications, without knowing if he felt anything similar to what I did, I leaned into him. And I was thrilled to find he wasn’t pulling away. We were so close I could feel his breath across my lips.
“Have we made a decision?” the tailor asked, springing back in.
I jerked away from Erik. “Yes. Please finish the suit for us, sir.”
Without looking back, I hurried into the hallway. My heart was racing as I found an empty guest room and darted inside, slamming the door behind me.
I had felt it growing, this feeling that had been hiding beneath the surface for some time now. I’d seen him, this person who never intended to be seen, and my faulty, silly, useless heart kept whispering his name. I clutched my chest, feeling my heart racing. “You treacherous, treacherous thing. What have you done?”
I’d wondered how it was possible to magically find a soul mate in a random group of boys.
But now I couldn’t question it.
CHAPTER 20
THE NEXT FEW DAYS PASSED in a whirlwind of preparation for the coronation. I did my absolute best to stay in my office and take meals in my room, but even so, I couldn’t avoid Erik completely.
We had to go by the church and practice the procession, in which he was forced to participate in order to even out the number of people walking
behind me. And he had to stick by Henri as we walked the Elite through the Great Room, explaining how best to circulate at a formal party. And I had to approve the final fitting of their suits, which I managed to do without making eye contact but which still was much, much harder than I’d have thought.
The coronation would be one of the most important moments of my life, and still, all I could think about was how it might have felt to kiss him.
I was running late. I never ran late.
But my hair wouldn’t curl the right way, and a seam popped under my arm, and though I’d picked out sensible heels earlier in the week, once I tried them on with the dress, I hated them.
Eloise took deep breaths as she got my hair right, practicing with a mock crown to check that everything would look as beautiful as possible when the actual moment arrived. Neena was busy making sure people were dressed and ready, so it was Hale who dashed in at the last moment with a needle and thread to make sure everything with the dress was fixed.
“Thank you,” I breathed.
He tied off the last stitch. “Any time.” He looked at his watch. “Though I really wish you’d have asked earlier.”
“It didn’t pop until I put it on!”
He smiled. “I gave everything a once-over, and it looks like that was the only weak spot. Better we caught it now than in the middle of the day.”
I nodded. “I need things to be perfect today. Just once I’d like to come across as put together but not so put together that I hate everything and everyone around me.”
Hale laughed. “Well then, if it happens to pop again, roll with it.”
Eloise went to fetch something from the bathroom, and I took my chance. “How’s Ean?” I asked in a whisper.
“Good. Stunned,” he answered, almost giddy. “We both want to help you in whatever way we can. You’re making our futures possible, so we owe you one.”
“Just help me get through today, and that will be plenty.”
“Something every day,” he reminded me.
I hopped off the pedestal and hugged him. “You’ve been incredibly worthy.”
“That’s good to know,” he replied, returning my embrace. “Okay, I’m getting my suit jacket and heading downstairs. Let me know if you need me today.”