Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 104842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
“Yes,” she called back. “Of course I brought rocks with me.”
“Oh, I like her,” Zev said with a smirk.
“Everybody likes her,” I muttered.
“Don’t be jealous,” Zev scolded. He grabbed the suitcase I’d tried to awkwardly lift, and pulled up the handle. “And why were you trying to carry this? Did you miss that it has wheels?”
Duro had been carrying it, so I automatically copied him, which I could not admit to Zev. “No,” I grumbled at him.
He nodded like I was an idiot.
Each member of my guard grabbed something else, and I got her laptop bag and her makeup one.
It was nice that they didn’t wait for the servants, knowing I wasn’t about calling servants for every little thing anyway. My guards were getting used to doing things because I did them. I never asked anyone to do something I wouldn’t do myself.
Just then, before we started up the stairs, Merikh called out to me.
“Merikh,” I greeted her with a smile.
“My consort,” she said, looking uncomfortable. “Iliria would speak to you about the flowers for the wedding if she may.”
Iliria was in charge of the servants in the palace, of all the cleaning and straightening, what table went where and when the pictures in the grand salon were rotated, which of the king’s treasures were placed in the grand hall, and the myriad of housekeeping tasks that kept the palace gleaming at all times. Just the constant mopping of the marble and the dusting of the statues were both Sisyphean and Herculean undertakings in my opinion.
“Of course,” I said, as everyone put down the suitcases.
“You guys can go ahead,” I prodded Eris.
The look she shot me, like I was crazy, made me groan.
“Oh yes,” Zev said sarcastically. “Of course we will leave you here, in the atrium, with people constantly arriving. That makes every bit of sense.”
Ignoring him so I remained in a good mood, I turned to Iliria, who had a lovely face and looked about thirty-five, like me, but was probably a thousand years old.
“How may I be of service?” I said, smiling at her.
She cleared her throat. “My consort, when you spoke that the throne room would be filled with flowers…” She glanced at Merikh.
“Did you mean that when the doors open,” Merikh asked, “flowers would fall out?”
“I was wondering about that as well,” Eris apprised me. “I mean, how are you expecting people to navigate their way through that?”
I looked at Zev, who seemed as interested in the answer as everyone else.
“No, it doesn’t mean—” I turned back to Iliria. “Best to go see my wedding coordinator, Ode, who is with the queen right now in the throne room.”
She looked worried and started wringing her hands.
“I will accompany you,” Brenna offered, glancing at Merikh, who gave her a slight tip of her head and then left to return to her post.
“My gratitude,” Iliria rushed out before she and Brenna left us to follow after the queen and Ode.
I turned back to the others then. “You all realize that filling the throne room with flowers means big arrangements up at the top of the dais and then some by the door. It’s not literally everywhere. Not to mention, filling the throne room would take far longer than we have.”
Zev nodded. “This is what we all assumed, but some of your human desires are strange.”
I crossed my arms. “Like?”
“Stuffed animals. I understand pillows, but not pillows made to look like animals like bears and especially like dogs. Why not simply acquire a dog if one wants to hug one?”
Three guards now and Zev, all waiting.
“It’s because they’re cute.”
Zev’s brows furrowed. “Are not real dogs just as cute?”
“I’ll think about it some more,” I said, turning toward the stairs.
All of them caught up to me easily.
Duro had quarters in Varic’s wing that had been kept for him. It was a big room, as all the others were, with an enormous bathroom, a reading nook, an oversized king bed because he was a big man, and a window that opened out onto the city. Ode was telling me how gorgeous it was when she and Duro came into Varic’s and my quarters.
“Okay,” she said, nodding. “Very glass, steel, and marble in here. It’s giving off museum vibes, huh?”
“Imagine if you will that it used to be emptier in here without the rugs, the kitchen, the table and chairs, and the couches on the other side.”
She squinted at me. “That’s terrifying.”
“Yeah.”
Taking a deep breath, she rushed over to the kitchen.
“Good afternoon,” Dae-Jung said, bowing and then straightening up and smiling at her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Reed.”
She offered him her hand, which he took quickly. “Please, call me Ode. You’re Dae-Jung, aren’t you?”
“I am. How did you know?”
“Oh, Jason told me all about everyone.”
“He did?”
She nodded, then turned toward the room. “You’re Kamari, you’re Eris, and you’re Sibel. Brenna is missing, and you’re Zev. You all protect Jason, which I can’t thank you enough for, and you, Dae-Jung, you make sure to take care of his insides by feeding him.”