Choosing Love

Chapter Sixteen

Mal sighed as she left one of the multitude of meetings Natalie had her attend. Thankfully it was the last one of the day and it was a good thing too because Mal felt like she was at the end of her rope. Lately it felt more and more as if her handler was trying to drive her insane rather than help her become a Lady of the Court. Something that apparent was going to happen at Cotillion now instead of a private ceremony.

Whoever decided to make this a public thing should be shot, Mal thought. Hmm, maybe not shot but definitely slapped. Was it Wonderbreath? Was this revenge on dad kidnapping him as a baby? No wait, he's all brawn and no brains. If it wasn't for the fact that he sounds like a sweetheart from the few stories Macaria's told me, one might think he'd get along well with Gaston.

Oh yeah, that had been a fun discovery, finding out that her becoming a Lady of the Court was going to be in public rather than in private like Mal had thought. Ben had told her about that at one of their rare date nights—so rare they were practically endangered. Thankfully Mal had no qualms about spending time with Ben in his office so it wasn't as if they never got to see each other.

Just almost never.

"Ben, what do you mean I'll become a Lady of the Court at Cotillion? I thought it was just going to be a small thing. You, me, Fairy Godmother and my mom when she gets off the Isle?" Mal asked, looking at Ben with slight trepidation in her voice. Trepidation that she hoped wasn't audible. She was already working so hard to not embarrass Ben and she already knew she'd likely mess up once the cameras and lights were focused firmly on her.

It was bad enough that they were insisting on having Cotillion be on a yacht. A. Yacht! Oh sure, that'll be fun-so not only would the pressure to not embarrass Ben make it near impossible for Mal to enjoy herself but then there was the added bonus of making sure not to accidentally fall off the side and die! It wasn't like almost drowning at nine left her with a fear of water or anything!

...oh wait, it did! The only reason why said fear didn't rear its head on their date to the Enchanted Lake all those months ago was the fact that she'd been more worried about Ben than anything else. And then she had almost drowned again!

Thinking about it, she really needed to learn how to swim.

"I know you're granted a title by right since your father is the Lord of the Dead," Ben stated as he looked up from his pile of paperwork, pulling Mal out of her thoughts that had started to spiral, "but I also know that there are some who don't want to use that title for you and it was pointed out to me at the latest council meeting that some might use the fact that it was done in private to cast aspersions on whether it was done at all."

"And by some you mean Leah's allies."

"I do in fact mean Leah's allies," Ben nodded. "She didn't have many of them but she did have them and they were surprisingly loyal to her."

So much so that Chi-Fu was petitioning him for Leah to be laid to rest with official royal honors. Never mind the fact that there was no body for them to recover. Mal hadn't said but Ben was no idiot. Akiho had told him about how Mal had mentioned to him that she and her friends had made an alliance with the hyenas of the Isle. Hyenas wouldn't leave a body for them to recover. They'd be lucky if they recovered bones.

Aurora, however, had stated that a full state funeral wasn't needed, especially with Cotillion as close as it was. Auroria would handle Leah's funeral.

"Ben, it doesn't matter if I have a title or not or if anyone uses it," Mal said, pulling Ben out of his thoughts. "I'm titled through my parents and that should be enough. Besides, I don't exactly act like a Lady does."