CHAPTER TEN

The Interview

“Time to get up. rise and shine!” A bright light, which could only have been the sun pouring in, thanks to the curtains being opened, hit my eyes. I blinked carefully.

“Jenny?”

“Of course, it’s me. Who did you think it was? The press have gotten wind of your date with that rich fella, and they want the scoop. Your mother has told me to drag you out of bed and get you down to the sitting room. Leo is already there, and I must say he looks smart for the photo.”

“Photo?” I mumbled as I dragged myself out of bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as I did.

“Yes, a photo. They want one with you and Leo. There’s no time to go and see Xavi, but she did give me this dress for you to wear and instructed me to tell you to put your hair in a ponytail. I think she called it damage limitation.”

Jenny thrust the dress into my hand. I was glad to see it was understated and plain.

“How are you?” I asked as I pulled the dress over my head. Her arm was still in a sling, but she wasn’t letting that stop her from being her usual bossy self.

“Never better. Now get a move on.”

Suddenly I became aware that Agatha wasn’t here to help me. A feeling of dread descended. “Where’s Agatha?”

“Don’t worry. They wouldn’t let her go without saying goodbye to you. She was told she wasn’t needed this morning that’s all.”

Phew. I was so relieved, I almost didn’t catch Jenny’s eyes go wide.

“What’s this?”

I looked to where she was pointing. My glass slipper lay where I had left it on the floor next to my bed. I’d forgotten to hide it.

“It’s the slipper from the ball,” I replied as nonchalantly as possible.

I knew what she was thinking. The slipper by the bomb blast had been melted beyond recognition. No one had connected it to me. Not before now, at least.

“Where is the other one?” her eyes gazed at the floor, searching for my slipper’s wayward partner. I loved Jenny with all my heart and had done so since I was a small child. In all the years of knowing her, I’d not lied to her once. It was a habit I was about to break in the biggest possible way.

“Thanks for finding it. I’ve been looking for it. The other is in my wardrobe.” I took the glass slipper from her and smiled. I could see her searching my eyes for the truth. Either she believed me or didn’t want to dispute it because she handed the shoe over to me without any more questions. I felt that, in that moment, something had broken between us.

I was surprised to find only one photographer in the sitting room. My mother was there as was Leo. Jenny had been right. He was looking very smart in a tailored suit. There was also a woman with a microphone, no doubt to interview us, and Louis with his box of tricks.

He sidled over to me and spent a few minutes “freshening me up” for the camera before the interviewer came over and introduced herself.

“Hello, Your Highness,” she had a nasal voice, but a genuine smile. She shook my hand warmly. “I’m Sadie from Silverwood News. We want to run a feature on each of your dates. As you know, we aren’t permitted to actually come on your dates, but her majesty has asked us to mock them up after you’ve had them. I hear you two love birds had a lovely picnic yesterday afternoon?”

“I wouldn’t say we are lo...”

“We did, Sadie,” cut in Leo. “The food was magnificent, the weather glorious and the company ravishing.”

“And was there any ravishing going on?” Sadie appeared visibly more excited as she asked the question.

“A gentleman or a lady never kisses and tells.” Leo laughed. I turned red. Now the whole Kingdom would think we had started some kind of torrid love affair, but we were keeping it to ourselves. “Shall we go outside?” Leo held his hand out towards the door. Sadie ushered her cameraman to follow, and the four of us left the palace. I noticed the cameraman got a good shot of the building work that was now going on to repair the palace wall. It had been quiet yesterday, but now the peace was interrupted by the sounds of hammers and drills and other machinery, not to mention the sheer number of people working there.

In the exact place we’d eaten yesterday, another picnic blanket had been laid out. This time, instead of the massive spread from the day before was a cooler. Inside was a punnet of strawberries and a carton of cream. There were two bowls and two spoons next to the cooler. I filled both bowls and passed one to Leo.

“Just act naturally,” said Sadie. “I’ll ask you some questions, and Martin here will take some pictures. Ok?”

“Go ahead,” I replied nervously. At least, the strawberries were delicious.

“Leo Halifax is one of Silverwood’s own eligible bachelors. Would you say you were attracted to him right from the start?”

I looked over at Leo. I could see he was as interested in the answer as Sadie was.

“He was one of the five men I picked to sit with me at dinner, yes.” It was no more or less than the truth.

“I hear that you are now down to four men. Is that correct?”

“As you know Sadie, the ball didn’t end very well. One of my potential suitors decided to go home. No one was brought in to replace him, but that is ok. I’ve got four wonderful young men to choose from. I hope to pick a match that will be good for our kingdom.”

“You are a lucky girl dating such handsome young men.” Sadie glanced over at Leo and grinned. If only she knew how much I’d rather be anywhere else but here right now.

“Or maybe they are the lucky ones to be able to date me.” It sounded pretentious, but I was sick to death of being called lucky.

“Of course. Who wouldn’t want to date the hottest young princess in the kingdom? I know Leo is here, but just between you and me and our thousands of viewers, do you have a favorite picked out yet?”

I tried to act demure. “I couldn’t possibly give away anything at this early stage, Sadie, but I can tell you that my date with Leo was wonderful, and I’m looking forward to the next one.”

Sadie turned back to the camera. “You heard it here first folks. Now stay tuned for a rundown of the princess’s finalists. We’re the only station in town that has access to the palace, and we’ll keep you updated as things progress. For now, this is Sadie Black, signing off.”

She turned to me

“Thank you, Your Highness. We’ll be back in a couple of days to find out how your next date went.”

She gave me a wink and then stood up, taking a strawberry and her cameraman with her.

Leo popped the next to the last strawberry in his mouth before passing the punnet to me. “I’m glad that’s over.”

“Me too,” I agreed, watching the juice from the strawberry stain his lips. They were definitely kissable, that was for sure. I thought back to what Elise had said earlier. I’d only know if I’d fallen in love with someone if I kissed them. Could I kiss him? His lips looked so sweet to me right now, and yet there was something inside of me saying no. I knew I wasn’t in love with him. Maybe it would change in time, maybe it wouldn’t, but kissing him on my first date would not be fair to the others. Nor would it be fair to him. Instead, I leaned forward and wiped his lips with a napkin. It was as intimate as I could deal with and for a second, when he gazed at me with those amber eyes, I did feel the beginnings of a flutter.

“Let’s pack this stuff away.” I picked up the empty carton and spoons while Leo folded the blanket.

As I was looking at him, something flashed in my eyes again. When I tried to see where it had come from, it had already gone.