Tati smiled and squeezed my hand. I nodded back to her and we started moving to the couch.
“Oh, your highness!” carried across the set as Tati sat down.
I turned to see Annelise and Gunter hurrying rather indecorously towards us. Annelise reached us first and, as she tried to lower herself into the lowest curtsey her pencil skirt would allow, Gunter hung back looking rather put out.
I inclined my head in greeting as Tati got up. I noticed her smile for Annelise was a little forced, but I doubted the chat show host would have noticed.
“Thank you both so much for coming onto the show. It is absolutely wonderful to have you,” Annelise said.
“Thank you for having us. Gunter, pleasure to meet you.” Tati’s smile for him was slightly warmer and he took that as an invitation to nudge Annelise out of the way to take Tati’s proffered hand. He kissed it briefly and stepped back to bow.
“Our people have been trying to get you on for months, my lady,” he gushed and I could see his awe was sincere. “It’s truly an honour to have you now.”
Tati gave him another smile as she sat back down. “We’re happy we could be here.”
She tucked one foot behind her other ankle and I momentarily wished she wasn’t Lady Tatiana, but my Tati. Considering she’d only been wearing the mask for a few short months, she wore it well and I was once again struck by how grateful I was that she chose to wear it for me.
I undid my jacket button and sat beside her, keeping a Palace-appropriate amount of space between us. Annelise and Gunter hurried to sit down and someone brought us our drinks; Champagne for Annelise and Gunter, whiskey for me and a beer for my betrothed. I had questioned the sense of having the crown prince and his fiancée drinking on live television at nine in the morning, but Alaina and the team had thought it might lend a bit of a lighter mood to me in particular.
And as Alaina had said, “Any time we can show you’re not quite as…dour as your usual presentation will only bolster public opinion.”
I was already feeling hot under the lights so it was a relief when the director called, “And we’re go in three…two…” The ‘one…go,’ was silent.
“Good morning, Gallyr!” Annelise and Gunter cried happily as they clinked their glasses together.
“We have a very exciting surprise for you all this morning,” Annelise said.
“We’ve been following them for months,” Gunter added.
“We’ve been sneaking peaks into their fairy tale.”
“We’ve been wondering who would come out on top.”
“And now we have a piece of the fairy tale in our studios this morning.”
“In their first live appearance.”
“Welcome His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince of Gallyr, and his fiancée Lady Tatiana Penrose!”
That was the cue for the camera to cut to us, so I tried to look less like I’d rather be anywhere else in the world. Tati seemed to be managing fine, although she was in the middle of taking a sip of beer and ended up spluttering a little as she looked at the camera sheepishly.
As she put her glass down, she wiped her nose and laughed. “Sorry about that. Hi,” she said into the camera in near-perfect Gallyrian.
“Hello, Gallyr,” I said with a short nod.
Annelise popped her hands in her lap and looked at us happily. “The question on all Gallyrians’ minds–”
“One of the many questions,” Gunter interjected and Annelise nodded eagerly in agreement.
“One question on everyone’s minds must be when did you know Lady Tatiana was the one, your highness”
I took another deep breath and tried to remember I was meant to be proving to the world this was a marriage of love, not just obligation or convenience.
“That question is difficult to answer, Annelise,” I replied. “There are many moments I remember fondly. However, I would have to say the one definitive moment where I began to wonder was when she told me off for unnecessarily insulting her.”
Annelise and Gunter tried valiantly to hold back the full extent of their excitement of this revelation and I felt Tati shift beside me.
“And,” she started as she rearranged again, “which time was this?”
I looked at her to find her grinning and I huffed a small laugh as I turned back to Annelise and Gunter with their, “Tell us more,” and “You insulted her more than once?”
I licked my lip and nodded, feeling the mask slipping but assuming that would help sell it. “Our romance started as many do, with a lot more fighting than loving.”
“Lady Tatiana, this is true?” Gunter asked, leaning forward.
Tati nodded. “Very true. I thought he was a total stick in the mud when I first met him. He was so stuffy and broody. And rude!” she added quickly. “I remember you being terribly rude.” She laughed and I couldn’t help but smile.
“I am strong enough to admit I…let my emotions get the better of me and I did not always behave well.”
“And the particular time you mentioned earlier?” Annelise pressed. “When you insulted her?”
I nodded. “Lady Tatiana was engaged in a dance lesson in preparation for her presentation ball with Prince Dominic. I may have told Duke Genovich it would be a wonder if Lady Tatiana managed not kill Lord Frisson.”
“Who I have still not met. Just while we’re on it,” Tati said, her hand finding mine.
“Your Highness, you really suggested Lady Tatiana might kill Lord frisson?”
“Inadvertently, of course,” I amended, suddenly beginning to doubt my ability to successfully speak from the heart.
“Everyone knows how clumsy I am,” Tati added.
“Your Highness,” Gunter started, “you are known as the Soldier Prince, the dour and even almost sour royal. It is quite pleasing to see even a shadow of a smile on your face today.”
I nodded. “I am a private person by nature. However, there are certain times in a man’s life where he is unable to keep his emotions to himself.”
“Sometimes that results in a smile and other times insulting the woman you love?” Gunter asked cheekily.
“Unfortunately, yes,” I replied.
Annelise looked at Tati. “Lady Tatiana, how do you feel about his highness’s privacy. Does that leave you out of certain aspects of his life? Do you feel like it may be a problem later in the marriage? Is he fully capable of showing you his love?”
Tati squeezed my hand and I wasn’t sure if it was a warning to me or to herself.
“There are always going to be parts of his life where I’m on the outside. Just as there are parts of mine where he’ll be on the outside. Like it would be near-impossible for him to catch up with eighteen years of my life in Australia, it will be almost impossible for me to comprehend his life in Gallyr before my arrival. But I’ll also never really be involved with his military career and I doubt I’ll bore him every night with the excruciating details of my university studies. Loving each other doesn’t mean becoming each other, but rather sharing who we are and what we have with each other. As we grow and change, so too will our relationship, and we’ll do it together, supporting each other.”
Annelise looked slightly disappointed there wasn’t more to the answer, but perked up with her next question. “And the rumours then that your engagement is nothing more than a machination of the Royal Matchmaking Service?”
Tati took a deep breath. “That depends very heavily on what you define the Service as. If you’re the vast majority who subscribe to it being where members of the peerage are introduced with the unspoken knowledge that they’re being set up, for all intents and purposes, then no. Our relationship has nothing to do with it.”
“Can we ask then, why is it the two of you have only been witnessed out once together–?” Gunter began, but Annelise interrupted.
“Whereas his highness and Miss Schuller were seen together plenty?”
Tati and I looked to each other and I
felt the unspoken decision pass between us. I nodded to her and she took the reins.
“I suppose that would be because the Service had put Miss Schuller in Dmitri’s path, Annelise. If you would really like to know, then I’ll be totally honest with you. Put simply, I was interested in Dmitri from the moment I first saw him. I’d grown up with pictures of the whole royal family, but seeing him in person was something else.”
“You and everyone else, my lady,” Gunter interjected with a knowing smile and Tati returned it.
“I know, right? But I was in a new country, learning what felt like a million new things and the last thing I needed was to be falling for a guy. Especially when that guy was a prince. Of course, I couldn’t help falling for him anyway. But by the time I was anywhere close to admitting that to myself, I knew he was to announce his engagement soon and I knew it wasn’t going to be me.
“So we did this weird back and forth where I told myself we could have those few months – the late-night talks in the library, the dances, the private tour of the Winter Festival – and I’d be okay when he announced his engagement to someone else because I wasn’t what the country needed. I kept him far enough away that we never really had a chance to – let alone think to – actually date before crunch time.
“When Dmitri first proposed–”
“First?” Gunter interrupted.
Tati smiled. “I think he technically proposed…three times?” She looked at me.
I inclined my head. “I think so, yes.”
“The first time, I wasn’t ready. I was barely admitting to myself I could love him, I was expecting to have to let him go, and that didn’t even take into account how firmly I believed I wasn’t worthy to be Gallyr’s next Crown Princess.”
A heavy silence fell through the studio and I felt a swell of pride seeing the way everyone was looking at her. Undoubtedly there would be plenty of people watching who believed the whole thing was a stunt geared to keep public opinion positive. But I didn’t think anyone there had even considered it.
“You didn’t think you were worthy?” Gunter whispered reverently and even Annelise leant forward as though to better hear.
Tati shrugged self-consciously. “That sounds super cliched, doesn’t it? But think about it from my perspective. Who am I to Gallyr? A foreigner, a klutz, little more than a commoner wearing a noble title. I didn’t want to disappoint the people of Gallyr.” She looked at me with such a look of soft tenderness it took me off guard. “And I knew how important each and every one of them is to the Crown Prince.”
“Which only made me more certain you were the only choice,” I told her.
I turned to Annelise and Gunter. Gunter looked almost as though he had a tear forming in his eyes and Annelise looked like she was caught between sceptical and believing.
“Have you set a date yet?” Gunter asked, holding his glass very close to his face.
“Not yet,” Tati answered. “But we’re working with all the relevant people to choose one.”
“And your Australian friends will apparently be bridesmaids?” Annelise asked.
“Jennifer and Bianca?” Gunter added.
“Jenn and Bea?” Tati nodded slowly. “Well, we haven’t made any decisions yet on any of that either…”
“How did they react to the news?”
“Um…” Tati looked at me and smirked. “The news they liked, the way they found out not so much.’
“How did they find out?”
“We told them,” I said.
“But given the time difference,” Tati added, “it was a good few hours before they found out and it was all over the news already.”
“Even being the first to be sent a picture of Lady Tatiana wearing the ring did not save me an impressive dressing down,” I finished because it was one hundred percent true.
“Do you have plans to see them soon, my lady?” Gunter asked.
Tati shrugged. “As soon as I’m able. They start university soon, so it might be a while.”
“About your time in Gallyr…” Annelise started.
Talk then shifted to Tati’s appearance at the Franciscan Children’s Home event and other things, and then it was back to the palace for yet more interviews.
Chapter Eleven
“Is it too much to ask for one night alone?” I growled.
“I’m afraid so, sir. At least for now.”
I looked at Samson and he gave me an apologetic grimace.
“I asked for the schedule to be cleared.”
“You did, sir. Your father…uncleared it.”
I ran my hand through my still-wet hair, unfazed by my state of undress. Samson had endured meetings with me in nothing but a towel on many occasions. Many would say that was a sign I worked too hard. Just then, I wouldn’t disagree.
I huffed. “Well. Can you move the–”
“Already done, sir. I’ve moved what I can to tomorrow tentatively, and the rest can be booked again as necessary.”
“To what does he want us to go?” I asked.
After what felt like three days straight of interviews (probably because it had been), I’d been looking forward to a more casual night with just Tati and I. Samson and Felicia had cleared both our schedules for the night so I could surprise her. At least, I’d thought they had. It wasn’t Samson’s fault if my father had made a decision to the contrary.
“The Pirates of Penzance, sir.”
I took a deep breath. “Of course we are.”
“It is his majesty’s favourite, sir.”
I nodded. “It is.”
“He thought…” He petered off uncertainly.
“He thought what, Samson?” I snapped, then berated myself for taking my annoyance out on him. “Apologies. What did his majesty think?”
“He quite likes this less…” Samson cleared his throat before continuing, “grumpy version of you in the public, sir. He thought it would gratify the people to see you join him at the theatre.”
I nodded, understanding where this was going. “And at a comedy, no less.” I started for the door.
“Uh, sir…?”
I stopped and, while I was annoyed enough that I would totally storm off to talk to my father in my towel, even in summer it would have been looked upon as indecorous.
“For the love of…” I muttered and went to my dressing room to change.
“Need a hand, sir?” Samson called.
“Not for this, Samson. Thank you.”
“Sir…?”
“Yes, Samson?” I answered as I pulled on the suit I’d been wearing earlier.
“He did say that he was not going to let you out of it…”
My hands dropped, still holding my jacket. “How definite?” I called.
“Well, sir. I told him you had plans to surprise Lady Tatiana, sir.”
I knew this wasn’t going to go the way I wanted because Samson had a tendency to overuse ‘sir’ when he was apologetic, nervous, or about to heavily disappoint me.
“His majesty’s exact words were, ‘They have a lifetime to go on dates. We have far less to assure a nation the crown is secure.’ So I’m afraid…”
If my father had essentially told Samson that he was concerned about the security of the crown, then he was more concerned than even I’d realised. With all the unrest in the South and with Bronkala, I knew Father had been considering how to ‘rebrand’ the crown in the people’s favour. Many late nights – and countless bottles of whiskey – had gone into the discussions. Or, let’s be honest, arguments.
If it would satisfy my father, I could put off some alone time with Tati for another few nights.
I sighed. “No. I know.”
Samson poked his head into the dressing room hesitantly. “I am very sorry, sir.”
I shook my head at him. “Don’t be. If even I am unable to disobey the king, you certainly cannot. No. Thank you, anyway.” I sighed again. “Where’s my tuxedo?”
“It is just getting a final press now, sir. It should be here soon.”
I threw my jacket back onto the chair. “Fine. Have I got time to see Lady Tatiana?”
Samson grimaced. “Probably not, sir. I believe she’s already getting dressed.”
I growled, then composed myself because none of this was Samson’s fault. “Fine. Can you please make sure we have our own transportation to the theatre? I would like a moment alone with my fiancée.” I huffed. “Well, almost alone.”
“Certainly, sir. Let me deal with that and we’ll get you dressed.”
I looked at him and nodded more curtly than I should have. But it was gratifying to remember that Samson knew me far too well to be insulted by my bad mood. Heaven knew the poor man had endured it plenty.
I picked up my phone and hit Tati’s number. She answered quickly.
“You’re calling,” she said and I heard the smile in her voice. “Why are you calling?”
I felt myself relax somewhat. “To apologise.”
“What for? What did you do now?”
I huffed. “The theatre was not the surprise I was intending. That was Father’s doing.”
I heard her sigh. “Oh well. It’s been less than a week since you first proposed. You could say we’ve been actually together less than that. At least we get…some time to ourselves.”
I knew she was referring to the time we managed to spend together at night. She’d spent a bit of it talking to friends and family the last couple of nights, but the rest had just been us. Although, after the days we’d had, we had very little energy for much more than falling asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.
“Soon,” I promised her. “I’ll find a way.”
“You have the council tomorrow, don’t you?”
I swore. “Apologies. Yes. So not tomorrow.”
“Hey,” she said, her tone bright and that lifted my mood somewhat. “At least the majority of the interviews are done. So it’s sort of business as usual.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“We managed to find time before.”
“I suppose.”
“Well we apparently managed to fall in love, so we must have spent some time together.” I could hear the smile in her voice again.
Royally Unprepared: Prince of Pout (Part 1) (Royal Misadventures Book 5) Page 8