As beautiful as the view was, I had to step back from it, if only to give myself a moment to think, to process it all. I sat on the edge of the bed, the mattress plush, the covers impossibly soft. Despite getting some sleep on the plane, I was tired, worn out by everything that had just happened. After all, it was merely a day ago I’d been slinging crab cake sandwiches in the back of a food truck, and now I was a princess in a far-off kingdom.
I laid back, my eyes going to the gorgeous chandelier that hung from the curved, stone celling. As I laid there, my thoughts drifted to the meeting ahead with my father. I had no idea how to even begin preparing for that. I’d lived my life for so long without a dad that there almost didn’t even seem space for him. How else was a little girl supposed to deal with not having a father in her life than by simply cutting that part out of her mind?
Knock-knock-knock.
Someone at the door to my bedroom snapped me out of my thoughts.
I rolled off the bed and cautiously made my way toward the door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Kinley. May I come in?” The voice on the other side was a woman’s, her voice carrying the same not-quite-French not-quite-German accent in which Luc and the rest of the citizens of Edoria seemed to speak. She sounded young.
All the same, I had no idea who Kinley was.
“Uh, sure.”
On the other side of the door was a petite young woman, her age appearing around the same as me, with long, chestnut-brown hair and a set of big eyes of the same color. Her face was small and adorable, with a little mouth and button nose that seemed extra small offsetting the exaggerated size of her eyes. She was dressed in a simple but stylish outfit of a long black dress trimmed with white, the same sort of outfit I’d seen on the rest of the female members of the staff.
The moment she saw me, her mouth formed into a small “O,” her eyes widening.
“It’s you!”
She looked me up and down, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The expression only lasted a moment, however, before she shook her head, regaining her composure.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “It is extremely unbecoming for me to be so… what is it you Americans say?Star-struck? It’s just that… you’re the princess!”
“Something like that,” I replied. “But most people just call me Ava.”
She smiled once more, attempting to regain her composure.
“Yes, introductions are a good place to start.” She took the sides of her dress into her hands, curtseying politely. “My name is Kinley Brown. I am the on-site tailor and the personal assistant to the household manager.”
“Household manager?” I asked.
“Jonas Barnes,” she answered. “The man in charge of day-to-day affairs here at the palace. You’ll meet him in time, do not worry about that.” She took another deep breath, and I could sense that Kinley was a little bit overwhelmed by the situation.
“It’s ok. I’m nervous too,” I said, smiling.
Kinley’s eyes flashed once more.
“Sorry, it’s just that your arrival is all that anyone here at the palace has been talking about for quite some time. The king informed the staff that you might be coming, and we were sworn to secrecy as the last thing His Majesty wanted was for the entire kingdom to be buzzing with the news in case you didn’t come. And the rest of us only found out that you had arrived a little while ago. It’s a great honor to be the first member of the staff to meet you. Aside from Luc, that is.”
Kinley was cute. There was something disarming about her, something that made me feel comfortable putting my guard down a bit.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Kinley. So, I’m guessing I’ll need to be dressed a certain way to meet the king?”
Kinley nearly slapped herself in the forehead. “Where’s my head? That’s what I’m here for! Look!” She prepared to step forward, catching herself mid stride. “Oh! I nearly barged into the princess’s royal chambers! Where is my head?”
I laughed, unable to believe that the bedroom where I was staying was considered royal chambers.
“Uh, I think this is just where I’m crashing for the time being.”
“Crashing?” she asked.
“Staying. It’s temporary,” I said. “At least, I assume so. Anyway, come on in.”
Kinley smiled and nodded as I stepped aside. Once she was in the room, she darted over toward one of the interior doors.