I snorted, trying to hold back a laugh only to have everyone look at me, confused.
Mr. Ambrose looked at me, upset. “Did you catch a cold, miss?”
I shook my head. “I’m fine. Thank you.”
He didn’t look convinced. But he let it go and focused on Sophia.
I shot a glance at Wolfgang and whispered, “We’ve updated the saying to ‘you’ve got this,’” I explained, and he didn’t get a chance to say anything else as we began to walk.
The fifteen minutes disappeared in a flash. And as we walked, all I saw was a sea of black graduation caps—no, not a sea, a whole damn ocean.
“How many people are here?” I asked Wolfgang.
“This year, there are 2,200 undergraduate and graduate degrees to confer,” he whispered back softly.
Oh.
You’ve got this, Odette.
Chapter 23
––––––––
“And the votes are 154 to 153. The People’s Party has the decision,” the chamber head replied over the rest of parliament. It took all my energy not to curse as Ivan Hermenegild stood to cheers and applause from his party members.
Lucky bastard.
“He is still very popular,” I muttered.
“I’m not so sure, sir,” Balduin whispered beside me. “Twelve of his party members voted with Alliance. And look at those higher in the stands.”
I did and saw that even though they were part of his party and had voted in his favor, they weren’t cheering and celebrating with the rest of them.
“They do not look pleased having won,” I whispered back.
“From what I heard, the prime minister had to visit each and every one of them in the dead of night yesterday to whip up the votes. A few months ago, he would have crushed the Alliance Party, and today, he nearly lost. It must be quite a shock to him.”