I gave the matter a moment or two of thought.
“Well, I’m the princess, right?”
“You technically need to be officially named first, but yes.”
“And this is my style, right?”
“Regrettably, yes.”
“Then… doesn’t that logically make this look regal?”
He opened his mouth to speak, instead closing it and shaking his head.
“I’m not much for drinking during the day, but every word out of your mouth is making that bar over there look more and more appealing.”
I laughed, happy to have gotten a rise out of him.
“The fact of the matter is that your father isn’t going to care for this look one bit.”
“Well, I can explain it to him in person. When are we meeting, anyway?”
“That remains to be seen. First priority is to take you to the palace and settle you in. Once that’s done, I’ll be meeting with your father and seeing what he’d like to do for his next steps.”
I was trying to be lighthearted about it all, but I’d have been lying if I were to say that I was feeling easy and breezy about meeting my father. The formality of it all didn’t help my nerves.
“Are you alright?” he asked, leaning forward a bit.
“You care?”
He cocked his head to the side, slightly confused. “Of course, I do, you’re the princess.”
I wanted to ask him if that was the only reason but pushed that question out of my head.
“I guess I’m just a little nervous,” I admitted.
Luc sat back, glancing aside and nodding slowly, as if he understood.
“Yes. This is going to be quite a day for you.”
“What’s he like?” I asked. “My father—is he fun, smart, serious, friendly… what?”
Once more, he opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, thinking better of it.
“He… is the king. You’ll be meeting him soon enough; you’ll have your chance to come to your own conclusions then.”
“Comeon,” I pleaded. “You have to give me something; I’m not asking you to gossip about him or anything like that. But, like, is he funny? Sarcastic? Kind? Overly serious?”
“He loves Edoria,” he said. “He’d do anything for her.”
I scoffed, rolling my eyes at his stock phrase, realizing it was all I was likely to get from him. Luc was too composed, too professional, for anything other than that. In one sense, it was admirable. In another, it was annoying. I wanted to find out as much as I could about my father before meeting him.
But Luc was right; I’d be meeting him soon enough.
“The eastern side of the city is the more rural region,” he said. “While new farms have been built to accommodate Edoria’s growth over the last few decades, many of these estates have been in existence since the early years of the last millennium.”
I watched out of the window, taking in the sights of the rolling fields of wheat, and gorgeous cottages of gray brick dotting the landscape. As we continued into the city, we drove through the main streets of the villages that made up the outer reaches of Lausanne. Each one of them was adorable and picturesque, with little packed marketplaces and ancient buildings, every town bustling with activity.
The urban areas grew denser as we drove, the royal palace becoming more visible until we were finally passing through the stone walls that I’d seen from the air. We reached a checkpoint, soldiers clad in crisp white uniforms trimmed in red, red and white Edorian flags rolling in the breeze above.