Maid For You 4

Chapter 50

The "afterparty", if one could call such a formal event that, consisted of a feast celebrating the new king, and was followed by everyone milling about and socializing, and trying their best to get a word in with King Nikolas. Of course, no one had no interest in talking with me, and seeing as I didn't speak Russian, I made no real effort to talk to anyone new either.

"I want to say hello to Nikolas," I said, mostly to myself but partly to Coleman, as the two of us were standing around together. "But there are so many people trying to talk to him."

"Well I, personally, am not dying to get a word in," Coleman said. His eyes scanned the room. "But then again, I'm not exactly dying to talk to all these Nikotan officials."

We both looked at Princess Calista several feet away, who looked radiant in a chiffon lilac dress and was in conversation with a Nikotan couple in Russian.

"What are they saying?" I asked Coleman.

Coleman narrowed his eyes. "Basically, they're saying how her Russian is so good, and how they are very impressed with her accent." He paused a moment. "She thanked them, and she's asking who they are, essentially." He turned his head to me. "Riveting stuff."

"Do you think I could ever learn Russian like that?" I asked.

"I mean, you could learn it, sure," Coleman said. "You're not too old to learn a language! Of course, it wouldn't be like Cali's. Mine isn't even as good as hers—though, my Russian is still quite good, of course."

I thought about my three years of Spanish in high school, and how I'd essentially forgotten everything anyways. After three years and I wasn't anywhere near fluent, and wasn't Russian a harder language anyways? They didn't even use the same characters as English.

"Her French could use some work, though," Coleman continued. "She has a fairly limited vocabulary."

"I don't even speak a second language," I noted.

"Of course not. You're American."

I grimaced.

"There, there," he said, patting my back. "It's alright, Cassie. The American public education system has failed you. That's all. Now, shall we start trying to make our way over to the new king himself?"

We started heading over to where Nikolas was surrounded by well-wishers, and as we waited our turn to speak with him, Coleman pointed out the outfits people wore that he thought looked ridiculous (many of his opinions I completely agreed with), translated amusing tidbits of information, and told me that at his coronation, there would be dancing. I told him how perhaps he'd be an old man by the time he became king, so he determined that after he was crowned king, he would just take a nap in that case.

Finally, Coleman and I were able to approach Nikolas, standing tall and looking regal in his dress blues with gold embroidery and shoulder pads.

"Hello, Cassie," Nikolas said, and his stern look lightened a little bit.

"Hello yourself," Coleman said.

"Congratulations," I told Nikolas, wishing I could give him a hug or something, but knowing that that wouldn't be appropriate in this setting. "I know you'll be a great king."

"Thank you. I appreciate that. And thank you for coming. I am..." he swallowed. "I am glad you are here."

"Of course," I said. "I wouldn't have missed it."

There was a beat.

"It was a really neat to see in person," I said. "You looked very regal walking down the aisle."

A small smile rose on his face. "I'm glad to hear it. Regal was the idea I was hoping to convey."

"The long cape helped," I said, a smile forming on my own face.

"It usually does," Nikolas noted. "Unfortunately, I can't very well traipse around the castle like that every day."

"I guess not," I said.

Another beat, and from the corner of my eye, I saw the next couple of people waiting to approach.

"It is good to see you." Nikolas looked deeply into my eyes.

"It's good to see you, too," I echoed, suddenly feeling my throat tighten for some reason.

He put his hand on the side of my forearm. "You look beautiful, Cassie."

I found myself blinking away the mist in my eyes, and before I could formulate a proper thank you, he'd taken his hand off my arm and was greeting the next guests. Instead of Nikolas's hand, I felt Coleman's hand on my back.

"Let's head back to our rooms, shall we?" Coleman's low voice said quietly in my ear as he led me away.

"Okay," I said, nodding. There was no real point in sticking around in this social circle party thing with a whole crowd of people who would probably prefer I wasn't there in the first place.

We first approached Calista, and Coleman lightly touched his sister's arm to draw her attention from the conversation she was engrossed in, this time talking with another group of people.

"We're heading out, Cali," he said.

"Okay," she said. "I'll join you soon."

Coleman and I headed towards the doors, and just before walking back, I turned my head to look at King Nikolas once more. I felt a jolt in my heart when I caught his eyes on me as well, though he was too far away to discern what they were saying. We held eye contact for a couple of seconds before I turned and left the room.

"Personally, I'm excited to go home tomorrow," Coleman said, stretching himself out on my couch, as he had decided to make himself at home in my room. Apparently, the night was too early for him to turn in. "But I'll admit, it was a very grand ceremony."

"It was," I said, sitting down on the sofa across from him. I looked down at my dress—a long, deep purple silk dress. "And I'm still stuck in my dress since you," I looked up at him. "Insisted on following me in here. Because you were bored."

"Well don't let me stop you from changing," he said, grinning lewdly.

I glared at him, and chucked a throw pillow at him.

"Hey, now!" he said.

I stood up and started towards my wardrobe.

"I'm kidding," he continued. "I can leave so you can change, alright?"

I pulled out a pair of pajamas from my drawer. "I'll change in the bathroom," I sighed. Because honestly, I didn't really feel like being alone with my thoughts at the moment, either. Moments later, I came out of the bathroom wearing soft sink pajamas with little sheep printed all over the tops and bottoms. I saw Coleman standing by the dark window, his eyes unfocused and his face still.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.