Royal Ruse - Emma Lea Page 0,42
do it with confidence.”
“Ha,” she barked, but smiled up at me. “You’re the one telling me to be confident? Who are you and what have you done to my best friend?”
I smiled and let her go. Best friend. Yeah, she was my best friend. I needed to remember that.
“Okay,” she said with an exhale. “I can do this.”
“Of course you can,” I said without looking at her. “You can do anything.”
The double doors opened and a deep voice spoke, “Lord Lucas Andino, Markissios of Kourouka and his fiancée, Francesca Davenport of Boston.”
I stepped forward and bowed. Frankie wobbled into a curtsey beside me and I bit down on my lip to stop myself from smiling. This was not the time to embarrass myself by laughing, although I was glad Frankie was here with me for this first meeting. She was enough of a distraction to keep me from becoming too anxious.
When I rose, the king was looking at me with an unreadable gaze. He was blond, not what I was expecting, and the woman beside him, the queen I surmised, had red hair and a sparkle in her eyes I recognized. Frankie quite often wore that same expression and I knew she and the queen would become fast friends.
“Lord Andino and Ms. Davenport,” the king said. “It is good to finally meet you. May I introduce my wife, Queen Meredith.”
The queen nodded in my direction and I bowed once more while Frankie valiantly tried to curtsey again.
“Please,” the queen said. “Let’s not stand on formalities. Neither Jamie nor I require you to bow and curtsey to us.”
The king looked at his wife with a raised eyebrow and she shrugged. “What? It’s the truth.”
The king sighed and smiled. “My wife is right. We don’t prescribe to the traditions, at least not within the walls of the palace and definitely not with the members of the royal court.”
“Of course,” I replied, my voice rough with nerves.
“Thank God,” Frankie murmured under her breath beside me.
“This is the rest of the court,” the king went on, nodding toward four other people standing nearby. “This is Lord Dorian Stamos, Ducas of Paralia, Lady Sophia Dellis, Archontissa of Kalon, Lord Evan Anastas, Komis of Alethio, and Lady Elena Manolis, Varoni of Lethe.”
There were too many names and titles to remember them all at once. I would get to know them during the time I was here, but I felt the anxiety press in on me at not being able to keep everyone’s names and titles straight.
“Um…may I ask a question?” Frankie said, pulling me out of my spiral but in turn creating an entirely additional worry. One did not simply ask the king and queen a question without first being addressed.
I turned to her and shook my head, but it was too late. The queen answered, “Of course. What do you want to know?”
“I thought the king’s name was Christophe,” Frankie said. “But you called him Jamie.”
The queen grinned and looked at her husband. “It’s a long story,” she said. “And one I would love to tell you. Ladies? Shall we leave the men to it and go gossip over tea and cake?”
I swallowed as Frankie left with the queen and her companions, leaving me with the king and his.
“I think we all need a drink and something to eat,” the king said after the women had departed. “Let’s go into what my wife affectionately calls the ‘man cave.’”
I swallowed again and followed the king, the ducas, and the komis through a pair of wooden doors on the opposite side of the chamber from where I entered. A security team accompanied us, and servants waited inside the adjoining room. The table was filled with food and although I’d recently eaten, my stomach growled quietly at the sight and smells.
The king took his seat at the head of the table and we arranged ourselves around the sides. The servants poured wine before the king dismissed them with a wave.
“As my wife mentioned, and your fiancée pointed out, the queen calls me Jamie, as does the rest of the court,” the king said and the two other men nodded in agreement. “When I was smuggled out of the country, I took refuge in Merveille. The King of Merveille shielded me and I lived there under an assumed identity—Jamie Kosta. I was part of the princess’, now queen’s, security team, as was Meredith. That’s how we met.” He smiled. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, Lord Andino.