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Minny and Eirene filled in beside me, each taking one of my hands. It wasn’t only Fitz that I would miss. Many of us had become close in this short time. I’d made friends and I likely wouldn’t see any of them ever again. The thought nearly broke me in my already weakened state.
“Yes, Your Highness” Blair answered the scripted question like it was her first time hearing it and no one else existed. I stared at the ground as my leg bounced silently beneath my dress. I just wanted it over with. He would either pick Eirene, because she was easily the most intelligent and influential, or Minny, because she was a ray of sunshine captured in a model’s body.
It wouldn’t be me. I had his word on that. The best I could do was keep my head down and wait for the inevitable end.
“Michaela,” Fitz said my name and my head popped up, eyes wide.
Was he going to humiliate me on live TV? Did he need his people to know that I’d been caught with his cousin? He hadn’t allowed me a chance to explain last night, but this was cruel. With this many cameras focused on me, I couldn’t admit I’d spied on the queen or that she’d smuggled a rare bird into Nolcovia against the law. My heart hammered in my chest, but I didn’t move.
“Please step forward.”
I glanced at Minny, looking for help, but through her teary eyes, she urged me to follow through. She thought I’d won the spot, but there was no way. Still, I couldn’t exactly ignore him either. Feeling trapped, I took the first steps toward him. Any hope that he would spare me the humiliation I knew I deserved faded as I watched his face harden with all the irritation he’d shown me last night.
Not even Chantal had been served this kind of spite.
After a walk that felt like it spanned the length of two football fields, I curtsied at his feet, careful to stay low until his touch captured my fingers and pulled me back to standing. His dark eyes watched me, evaluating and weighing my worth. More than his anger, I felt his pain, even emotional agony. This decision hadn’t come easily. For some reason, that made me feel a little better. I couldn’t be cast off without some regret.
“I’m still mad at you,” he whispered.
“I understand.” I made no excuses. I could only hope that he was trying to preserve our friendship somehow, even if I couldn’t stay.
“But,” that word from his lips was like a match on a box, sparking hope to life in my heart, “I’m not ready to lose you either.”
Was he saying what I thought he was? He wasn’t sending me home yet?
His fingers brought my hand higher. “Michaela, will you take this charm as a symbol that your heart is true, your intentions are pure,” he stalled, a little overcome by a rush of emotion. Clearing his throat, he began again, “And you are willing to serve the people of Nolcovia as their future queen?”
“Yes,” I whispered, “Your Highness.”
He didn’t let go of my hand. Cameras pulled in on every side. They’d never paid me any attention in the past. I felt like the center act in a freakshow. Since when did I matter? But Fitz’s thumb rubbed over my knuckles and my mind flashed back to that perfect moment when I was wrapped in his arms, against his lips, with the fire roaring in the background like our blossoming connection.
Yes, he was still mad at me.
But I wasn’t leaving.
And more importantly, I didn’t want to.
Michaela
“Milady?” A gentle nudge pushed my shoulder. “Milady, please wake up.”
I cracked one eyelid open but kept the other one closed tight for balance. Maybe if I didn’t open both I could go back to sleep.
“What is it, Dahlia?”
“Your phone. Your mother is calling.” She held up my buzzing phone. “It’s been going for about twenty minutes.”
Well, that ruined the whole go back to sleep plan.
I took the phone from Dahlia and answered the call. “Mom?”
“Oh, so you are alive. Majorie wasn’t sure. She fed me this crazy story about going out of the country to see Fitz, of all people, and I said, no way would my Michaela traipse off to another country without so much as mentioning it to her mother.” She let the heavy silence land. “Right?”
“I was going to call.”
“Michaela! I saw you on the news!” Oh boy, we’d swerved right past freaking out and were headed straight for going postal. “Are you that desperate to find a man?”
That wasn’t great for my self-esteem. “No, that’s not it, Mom.”
