A Royal Internship | Complete

Chapter Forty

I sat back down after making the coffee and perusing the file room. There was barely a second to breathe before the whole office stood from their chairs at once. I scrambled out of my seat, following suit and straining to see why everyone was suddenly on their feet. Is this some kind of ritual I'm not aware of?

When everyone started bowing and curtseying, I had some idea that one of four people must have entered the room and, as Clarence was not currently standing beside me, that meant I had to curtsey no matter what, so I did.

When I raised my head, I came face to face with the large brown eyes I kept finding myself getting lost in.

"Prince Alexandre." I remembered to use his proper title in public. "What a pleasure to see you here."

He picked up my hand and laid a gentle kiss on the back of it, sending little streaks of lightning up my arm as the warmth spread through me.

"Please come with me," he said, linking my arm through his.

Not like I have a choice now, is it? Not that I wanted a choice. I stepped out from behind my table and followed where he led, aware of all the eyes following me as we walked.

"Miss Burnette?" Clarence commanded the space with his voice and Abigail materialized out of her office in a flurry, curtseying as soon as she came into view.

"Your Highness," she said as she came out of her curtsey. "What can we do for you this afternoon?"

"I'm going to be taking Miss Levin for a public engagement at the request of my mother. I trust it will be no trouble."

Her eyes darted to me and it was clear she felt it was trouble, but the look left her face faster than I could blink.

"Of course, it's no trouble at all." She smiled and we turned around and left. As we walked towards the door, a wave of curtseys and bows followed us and my heels clicked on the hard tile, reverberating around the room. When the door closed behind us, the hush that had fallen over the room was replaced by a low hum as we walked away up the stairs towards the main part of the castle.

"So," I said to Clarence as we stepped through the door that separated the work quarters from the family ones. "What is this public engagement I am to attend? And why was I given zero seconds to prepare?"

He smiled. "You were given an hour to prepare, actually. That's what now is for."

I looked at him, watching for any sign he might be pulling my leg. "So I have an hour now to get ready for an engagement? What exactly is the engagement?"

"Well..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "It seems my mother has been in contact with some members of the press for some type of get to know us feature."

I was supposed to prepare for that in an hour?

"Don't worry." He put his hand on my arm. "The written portion is being completed by the public relations department."

I pulled my eyebrows together. Then why was I up here and not down there working on it?

He laughed and shook his head, putting his hands on my shoulders. "Can you just let me explain first?"

I pulled my lips together and nodded. "Yes, I guess I can. Go ahead."

"All we have to do is walk through certain parts of the grounds and town looking pretty and in love so they can get some so-called candid video and photographs of us to go with the piece. It's to air in a couple weeks on the occasion of my parents' anniversary in addition to a piece on them. I think Mother wants to have us ride the coattails of their good press. She's been trying to convince them to do it for weeks, and I guess today she finally succeeded."

My head was swirling. "Your mother wants a piece about us included in her anniversary special?" I couldn't believe Queen Adele actually wanted me around.

"Yes." He smiled and pulled me down a hallway I recognized immediately. "Now let's go talk about what's going to happen."

* * *

An hour later, we were standing under the grand staircase staring at the doors leading to the grounds.

"Are you ready?" he asked me, reaching to put my hand in his.

"Yes." I smoothed my dress with my free hand and stuffed a piece of hair back into the pile on the back of my head. "I think I am."

"All right, let's go." Clarence nodded to the guards on either side of the door. They promptly turned the knobs and the ornate glass doors opened in unison.

I pulled my shoulders back and tried to think of smiling as I followed behind Clarence and out into the gardens. The warmth of the sun on my face turned my false smile real as I looked around at all of the perfectly tended flowers. There was something sweet about how they smelled, but I didn't recognize it.

"What kind of flowers are these?" I asked Clarence, pointing to the patch of yellow flowers to our left.

"You don't know what a tulip is?" He laughed and shook his head. "We're really going to need to teach you things. Who cares about history? You need to learn your flowers."

I couldn't help but laugh with him as he pointed out other flowers in the garden, guiding me through the pathways with gentle touches of his hand on my lower back. After a while we stopped talking about flowers and just walked.

"And this is a statue of the first king to reside in this palace." Clarence broke the silence and pointed to the grand white statue in the middle of a bubbling fountain. Light mist of water cooled my exposed skin as we stood near it.

"He looks very grand." I smiled and instinctively leaned into Clarence a little. I looked up at him, "Are you going to have a statue like that one day?"

His face flashed between anguish and joy before returning to his stoic norm. "I don't think so. My dad doesn't have one."

"But this guy does." I pointed with my thumb towards the towering figure of King Jean-Pierre riding a horse. "So maybe if you're as cool as him they'll make you a statue one day."

He kissed the top of my head. "I'm glad you think I'm worthy of a statue, but how about we see if I'm any good at this King thing first, okay?"

We both laughed, but there was a tension. I must have struck a nerve with that one. But with cameras following us everywhere, is it really safe to ask him about it?

I pulled myself up on my toes and whispered into his ears, "I hope you'll do your best. That's all you can hope for."

He smiled. "I guess so. Shall we take a look at the lake?"

"There's a lake?" I asked. I'm not sure why I'm surprised. This is a palace.

"Yes, there's a lake." He offered his hand and I took it, following him along the pathways towards the sound of running water. I was starting to get the distinct feeling he was more trustworthy than he let on.