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I glared across the table at Rick. How washeinvited?
“Oh, was there a changing of the guard to sign my life away into your hands?”
Hubert chuckled. I wasn’t joking, though.
“No. I was there to ensure matters were closed. I insisted she invite you as well, but… she didn’t.” Rick’s voice quieted and he looked down. “The bill was handed off. Parliament will sign off this afternoon, Lex.”
Astrid was bursting. “Really?”
Rick nodded. “It has been done. You could watch Parliament working. I am sure there is a channel here to do so. We have that in Lundhavn.”
“It is not so common here,” my uncle explained. “We are not as open.”
“Well, it will be done. It was a good conversation.”
Rick smiled.
I did not return it, nodding. “Good.”
“You are not so exuberant today as you were upon your engagement banquet,” Hubert said. “Are you feeling well?”
“Just nervous,” I lied. “Wedding jitters. I must try on my dress. I am worried.”
Lunch continued. Astrid and Hubert yammered on. I would occasionally catch Rick looking at me. It killed me. He was still hopeful. Why? He never mentioned trying to save the thing with the press. He never pleaded with me to stay. He always just told me he wished me well. Yet, I could not get over how much he hurt me.
It was the first time I had loved anyone and the first time anyone had ever hurt me quite as intimately. I’d never thought about being with anyone before Rick. He’d made me think such dreadful things all the time. And then, he’d shattered it. He made me feel stupid. He betrayed me.
It was one more desertion. My mother and father left me so young. I wanted the person I married to stick around for good—to be honestly invested. At the start, I told myself I was hardened against loss. Now, I knew better. I yearned to trust my husband. With Rick, there was no trust. I had nothing with him. I wished he would have been honest, but could he even be honest? I wasn’t sure.
We navigated down to the salon where my dress was waiting. My sisters crowded me, excitedly. I had long awaited my duchesse satin beauty with its long, gorgeous train and its sweetheart neckline. I wanted so badly for it to be perfect. If there was one thing I could have, it would be to look beautiful on my wedding day in front of millions. The dressers took me behind the screen to do the unveiling.
Sadly, something was wrong.
My ivory gown was replaced by a sad white disaster. The sweetheart neckline was now closer to a square that came up to just below my collarbone. It looked matronly. I began to cry. The dress was all wrong.
“What happened to it?” I asked.
“There were changes made at your request,” the designer said.
I cried, standing in front of the mirror now. All three of my sisters gathered around me. Astrid held me up as I broke down.
“It still looks beautiful,” Odette said.
“I look like a bloody nun,” I cried. “It’s ruined! She ruined it.”
“Did these changes come from our grandmother?” Astrid asked.
“They came from the palace,” the designer said. “We were told to raise and alter the neckline and use the white satin instead of the ivory originally ordered.”
I shook in anger. She’d kept me in the dark this whole time. Normal royal brides would have had three or four fittings. She swore this was fine, but as I compared notes with Marie, I knew it wasn’t. I suspected something was up then, but this was next level. I was beside myself.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Astrid said.
Before I could tell her not to go, she ducked out. I worried if she tangled with Celeste, it would blow up in our faces. At the same time, I knew it couldn’t get worse than this. Standing in a dress fit for a sixty-year-old religious virgin, I felt hideous and ridiculous. Anymore I didn’t care. If I emerged in this number, I’d be the laughingstock of Europe. If Neandia was already known as conservative and weird, it was about to get much worse.
Part Three
Partners in Crime
