to you to rehearse, which it shall be. So, you will have until Friday to practice.”
“Your Grace.” Sophia’s soft voice captivated the whole room. “Is it not customary for the Adelaar to give the commencement speech for Royal University?”
“The Adelaar is scheduled to be at Trinity Row on the day of the graduation, ma’am,” Ambrose answered instead. “Should the Adelaar not be able to do the speech, it is customary for the Adelina to give the speech in his steed. And currently...”
“There is no current Adelina,” Sophia whispered, glaring at the men behind the queen. “I see. I am the past. She is the future.”
“Let us only worry about the present, Sophia,” the queen replied. “That is all you can do.”
“Your Grace, you must forgive me, but I am not up for such crowds—”
“Then you will take the week to rest to gather the strength, for I know you have it.” The queen’s voice was now stern as she rose from her chair. Sophia and I stood as well. However, she did not look to us, but Ambrose. “I shall leave the details in your capable hands, gentlemen, thank you.”
I curtsied as the queen walked to the door. She nodded at me only once before leaving. It was only then that Ambrose stepped forward, giving both Sophia and me a folder.
“A copy has been given to your tutor as well. Should you have any questions, you should speak to him directly.”
“Okay.”
“Miss Odette.”
“Yes?”
“This speech is of the highest importance,” he replied strictly. “Please treat it as such.”
Was I not treating everything else as such? It seemed he still lacked faith in me. “Understood.”
He glanced over to Sophia, who was already moving to the door. I didn’t want this tension anymore.
“Sophia, may I have a moment?”
She froze, her back to me.
“Thank you, Mr. Ambrose.” I nodded at him, and everyone began to take their leave. I waited until it was both of us, alone, surrounded by ornate furniture. Taking a deep breath, I stepped close to her. “Sophia—”
“They are doing this so the press will stop reporting that there is some sort of malice between us.”
“I, more than anyone, know the press is lying—”
“No,” she snapped, turning around to look at me, glaring furiously. “I hate you.”
I was stunned. All the polite words I was working on saying vanished from my mind. And fight mode immediately activated. Pulling my face together, I did my best to stay calm. “It’s a little strange hating someone you don’t know, don’t you think?”
“I don’t want to know you.”
“I am trying very hard to be nice right now.”
“I don’t care,” she snapped back. “I do not care about how nice you are. I do not care about how hard you are trying or how viciously you are attacked. I do not care. You know why? Because nothing you are going through can ever come close to what I am going through. In a day, I lost everything. My life, past, present, future, shattered all over this whole nation! And you want me to feel sorry for you? To help you? To welcome you? Your existence is slowly erasing mine. All my dreams, all my hopes, all Arthur’s dreams, and hopes, are dead. And everyone is running around trying to make sure you can handle it. Just because he is dead, just because I am no longer going to be queen doesn’t mean we just fade into the night. So, don’t bother being nice. I won’t care. I won’t help. Too many people are already doing that. I’m going to do what no one else seems to care to do anymore, which is keep what is left of Arthur’s dreams alive.”
With that, she spun around to leave when I cut in.
“It was Arthur who caused me to be here,” I said, and she froze, so I went on. “I didn’t get to know him, but I wish I did. He seemed to be an amazing human being. And I am grateful to him. I get that you are hurting. But I have to also ask, does keeping Arthur’s dreams alive mean that everyone else has to hurt with you? Is that what you think he would want?”
She stood there for only a second before walking out, not bothering to look at me.
And what else could I say?
Even with everything she said, I didn’t hate her.
I couldn’t imagine what it was like to work to be queen one day, and the next to be moved aside and seen