Lady in Training (I'm No Princess Book 2)

by Elizabeth Stevens

  “How are your dresses?” he asked, looking between us as he fell into step with us.

  “Lia’s going to turn many a head,” I told him.

  “Oh really?” Nico’s eyebrow rose as he looked at my sister, who flushed and looked down. “And what you about you, my lady?”

  “Anya doesn’t look too bad herself,” Lia answered for me and I grinned.

  “I’ll pass.”

  Nico held a hand out to indicate we precede him into the dining room. And it seemed everyone else was already there. Nico excused himself to go and talk to his little sisters and Lia went straight over to Mum and Dad, which left me inadvertently standing right I front of Dmitri again.

  Who was looking at me like he simultaneously felt the need to chastise me for something I’d done wrong and had forgotten I was a person who existed and whose existence now surprised him greatly.

  “Dmitri,” I said to him slowly.

  “My lady,” he answered and was even more stiff than earlier.

  Which made me even more awkward than usual. “You’re all ready for tonight then?”

  He looked surprised for a moment and I didn’t blame him. Balls had presumably been a part of his life forever. In what way would he be not ready?

  “I mean, you know, your…tuxedo’s pressed? Your date’s going to make it? You’re not coming down with a cold?” Why was I still talking?

  He looked me over with that stony expression I sure hadn’t missed during my stay at Genovich. I was pretty sure I was waiting for some scathing quip about how I was unsuited for society engagements and I had a million things to learn, or that the whole speaking my mind thing was inadvisable. However what he actually came out with surprised me.

  “Miss Schuller is not what I would call a date. I am merely escorting her, as Dominic is escorting you.”

  Oh. My. I bit back every sassy retort my mind could think of and licked my lip just so I had extra time to think about my response. Or at least make sure nothing unnecessarily stupid came out. “Oh. I apologise for my mistake.”

  Dmitri’s eyes slid behind me for a moment. “No matter.” He paused and it looked like something was paining him. “You are still adjusting. Excuse me.”

  This last part was basically one single string of letters and then he was gone, leaving me pondering what the hell was up with him.

  Chapter Eleven

  I’d been revelling in the fact that people had very little interest in me at all. At least in comparison to my previous experiences with balls. I hadn’t needed to be announced. I hadn’t needed to descend the stairs while everyone watched me. I’d just slid in with Nico, Lia and Kostin and we’d found a drink and stuck to ourselves relatively painlessly.

  The boys danced with us occasionally, we found Lina and Faith to talk to, and I just generally did my best to stay out of everyone’s way. It went well for most of the night.

  That was until I bumped into the Marquise de Ronique with this ridiculously tall, slim, beautiful, regal young woman who made me go completely unnecessary from panic and fear as much as how stunning she looked. She had dark brown hair with these amazing golden highlights that seemed to match the flecks in her hazel eyes. Her dress was this deep red, close-fitting silk creation that somehow managed to accentuate every one of her ample womanly features while still looking incredibly appropriate for the situation. I felt like a seven-year-old playing Disney dress ups in comparison.

  “Lady Tatiana. How are you?” the marquise asked me and I tried to get it together.

  I nodded. “Uh, good thank you. How are you?”

  The marquise inclined her head decorously. “Well, thank you. Have you met Miss Amanda Schuller?”

  This was Amanda Schuller? This was the woman the court was talking about being in the running to marry Dmitri? I had to admit I wasn’t surprised. She was everything the future queen was supposed to look like. And I’m not sure why I was so bothered by that or why I suddenly felt so damned inadequate or unimpressive.

  “Miss Schuller, it’s a pleasure,” I said with this odd little bob as I tried to remember what sort of greeting I was supposed to give a ‘miss’.

  “Likewise, Lady Tatiana. The marquise has told me so much about you.”

  Oh, that wasn’t going to be good. I cleared my throat. “Oh, good.”

  “We were just discussing our next trip to Holberg,” the marquise said.

  This again? “Wonderful. That’s…wonderful.”

  I seriously couldn’t think of a decent thing to say to these women. What the hell was it about Amanda Schuller that had me so in knots?

  “I was just telling Amanda that it would be lovely to go up at the beginning of the season, before it gets too busy. But we will have to see what…life has planned for her.”

  “Life…has plans for you?” I asked like an idiot.

  “Amanda will be having a very busy year next year,” the marquise said with a self-satisfied smirk.

  Amanda was over there with her own fairly self-satisfied smirk and I swear she was two seconds away from flipping her hair off her shoulder and she looked down on me. I had the distinct impression that Amanda was the queen bee in this little clique somehow. Perhaps the marquise was living vicariously through her. I wouldn’t have been surprised if there were rumours that Dmitri was going to announce his engagement to Amanda.

  “It’s just so very hard to make plans when they need to be kept quiet you understand,” Amanda said.

  I nodded, having no idea about that at all. “Of course.”

  “When would you say was a good time for a wedding, Lady Tatiana?” the marquise asked.

  I blinked. “Um, I’m sure I wouldn’t know.”

  “Of course she doesn’t, Vivianne,” Amanda said as she looked me over like little more than trash under her nose. “She is still a child.”

  “I was telling Amanda that the end of spring would be lovely, before it gets too hot. But…” The marquise looked around as though someone might overhear us conspiring or something and I actually found myself leaning towards her. “That won’t leave a lot of time for planning, you understand.”

  I was one hundred percent sure I did understand. “No. Sure. What a shame.”

  “Do you think the end of summer would have the same effect?” the marquise asked.

  “The end of summer would be a wonderful time for a wedding,” Amanda said wistfully as though they hadn’t already had this exact conversation a thousand times.

  “I imagine the flowers would be just wonderful at the end of summer. And the designers would have such an array of inspiration. What do you think Lady Tatiana?”

  Amanda clicked her tongue. “Leave her alone, Vivianne. She cannot be expected to understand anything in our world.” Another sweep of my body like I was worthless. “She’s so…common. It’s all about upbringing, you know.”

  “Of course, dear. My apologies, Lady Tatiana. We will let you get back to…whatever it is you were doing.”

  The two women turned almost in sync and swanned off, leaving me feeling like a flop and a sham. I was starting to miss Arnell. In fact, I saw him across the room and had the mad urge to go and say hi to him just because his brand of mean was at least somehow manageable. There was something easier about being torn down by a man who legitimately just didn’t respect you rather than two women who were obviously just mean for the sake of being mean.

  I felt a hand on the small of my back and turned to find Nico’s nose very close to mine.

  “Sorry. I tried to come and save you as quickly as I could. But I got stuck talking to some military people,” he said, looking me over with concern.

  I smiled. “Thanks. I’m not sure it could have been worse?”

  He grinned at me and I thought again how dashingly handsome he looked. “You sound unsure.”

  “I am. I’d seriously hate to think it could get worse. Because that was… By single-sex private school standards, that was nothing. But
compared to what I’d been led to believe the peerage was supposed to behave like, that was brutal.”

  “I’m sorry, Anya.”

  I shook my head. “It’s all good. I just wasn’t prepared for it.”

  “Some people believe they don’t need to be polite.”

  “I thought it was passive-aggressive?”

  Nico huffed a rough chuckle. “That it is. Some people ditch the passive and just go for the aggressive. Amanda Schuller is one of them and the marquise is a terrible role model.”

  “They’ve known each other a while?”

  Nico nodded. “As far as I know, they met at Holberg and the marquise took Amanda under her wing. The Schullers were thrilled and basically left Amanda’s care to her after that.”

  “No wonder she’s such a bitch.”

  Nico coughed to hide his laugh, but he nodded. “Shall we dance, Anya?” he asked, his eyes scanning the room as he held his hand out to me.

  “We shall,” I giggled as I took his hand and let him swirl me into the dancers.

  My dance technique was still debatable, so after I’d collided with him about three times we decided to call a drink break. We downed two glasses of bubbles in far too quick succession, then Nico was distracted by Lina and I excused myself to go to the little girls’ room.

  I slipped out the door and took a deep breath, exhaling a breathy laugh.

  Even just the hallway was less stuffy and the temperature drop was incredible.

  A throat cleared and I turned, my skirts swishing around my legs in a way that felt very majestic, and found Dmitri behind me.

  “Of course,” popped out of my mouth and his eyebrows drew together.

  “Of course?” he repeated.

  I sighed. “I just mean that of course I’d run into you. Because I seem to do that. A lot.”

  He nodded once, his gaze calculating. “I see.”

  “You have to have noticed it happens.” It was suddenly very important to me that he acknowledge the fact this seemed to happen more than one would expect plausible.

  He looked me over carefully. “I…run into a lot of people.”

  I sighed, getting more exasperated by the minute and the I’ve-lost-track-of-how-many glasses of bubbles Nico had insisted on us downing – not that I’d argued – wasn’t helping me keep a handle on my mouth. “I don’t know what your problem is, Dmitri. But I don’t need to be insulted by the likes of you tonight.” I took a couple of steps forward to emphasize my annoyance with him. “I am doing a fine job tonight. Sort of. And just because you and Miss Schuller are all snooty and up yourselves doesn’t mean I have to feel bad about myself.”

  Dmitri took a couple of steps towards me as well. “I assure you that Miss Schuller and I have very little in common.”

  “Well she seems to think otherwise.”

  I knew I shouldn’t be letting what she’d said get me fired up at Dmitri. But I couldn’t help it. I was trying, dammit, and I was sick of this weird push-pull feeling I had every time I saw the crown prince, or heard his name, or thought about him, or closed my eyes. So I didn’t even attempt to reign in my temper.

  “I am sure she can think what she likes.”

  I scoffed. “Oh she does. And she thinks she’s marrying you at the end of next summer.”

  He rolled his eyes, his mouth opening to say something. Then I noticed his eyes darted up again. Mine followed suit and I saw I’d positioned myself under a sprig of mistletoe and he was pretty damned close to me. Time seemed to stop for a moment and I did not allow myself to come over any shade of unnecessary.

  We both looked back at each other for the space of a ridiculously tense heartbeat, then we simultaneously took a step backwards. It would have been comical had my heart not been pounding, had my mind been wondering what it would feel like to kiss him, or had he not been looking at me like maybe – for the space of a single breath – he’d wondered the same thing about me.

  I cleared my throat and gathered up my skirts to make the cleanest getaway as possible. I curtsied. “I should get back, your highness.”

  He bowed. “Of course, my lady.”

  And I was out of there as quickly as possible, not forgetting that I’d run into him on a hunt for the loo. So I didn’t go back in, but went as fast as my stupid heels would let me through the hallways.

  “Tatiana!”

  Ugh. Now I’d been distracted and remembered I’d needed to pee, I really needed to pee. But not stopping for the crown prince was probably considered one of those passive-aggressive minus the passive behaviours.

  “Your highness?” I asked as I turned around abruptly and we collided yet again.

  Dmitri’s hand went to my elbow as my hand went to his chest. He was still taller than me in my heels, but everything was plenty close enough. My heart rate picked up again and I took a deep breath before I looked up into his eyes.

  “Are you all right?” he asked me.

  I blinked in confusion. “All right?”

  “Are you going to bed? I just thought it wise to check you are feeling well–”

  “Oh!” I chuckled. “Um. No. Toilet break. You seem to always run into me on a toilet break.”

  My hand slid off his chest and his hand fell from my elbow to catch my fingers before my hand completely dropped by my side.

  “Tati…” he started softly and I wasn’t sure what it was about the look on his face that I was responding to.

  “Dmitri?”

  He cleared his throat and I was sure I wasn’t imagining the slight squeeze he gave my hand before he let go. “I will wait for you and escort you back inside.”

  “Another of your social obligations?” I teased, not sure if it was friendly or not.

  He shook his head slightly. “Nie. It would be my pleasure.”

  I nodded. “Okay then. I’ll, uh, be back in a second.”

  I curtsied and curried off to do what needed doing – unable to really see anything from behind my mountains of skirt.

  When I returned, I found Dmitri almost exactly where I left him. His hand went to the small of my back as he guided me back into the ballroom and I didn’t know why his hand there should send a tingle up my spine when Nico’s didn’t.

  I refused to dwell on it. Instead I gave him another curtsey. “Thank you.”

  “May I… May I dance with you?” he asked awkwardly.

  Most parts of me screamed no, screamed run for the hills, run so far away that no one will ever find us. But I didn’t listen to any of them. I said yes and let myself unquestioningly enjoy the shiver that ran up my spine as he held me.

  Chapter Twelve

  Christmas morning in the palace was like any other normal Christmas on steroids. And I loved it.

  Faith knocked on my door at like seven and dragged me down to the family sitting room still in our pyjamas where we met everyone else still in their pyjamas. Which was good because I’d completely forgotten about the whole early morning pyjama start when I’d fallen into bed mere hours before and looked much like I did when I got back from week long school camp.

  Dad was looking suitably ruffled, his hair sticking up, his eyes still glassy and he was still yawning despite the half empty coffee in his hands.

  Lia looked like she’d set an alarm specifically to make herself presentable before Lina dragged her downstairs and she did look lovely and serene with her cup of tea.

  Mum looked like me – tracksuit pants, hoody and ugg boots – just with about five times more class.

  Rex and Hilde were in dressing gowns. Rex was grinning and hugging everyone. And Hilde looked like any other mum on Christmas morning as she talked to my mum by the fireplace.

  Faith and Lina, like their parents, were in dressing gowns and slippers, their hair plaited and far too awake for my coping levels.

  Kostin wore what I liked to think of as traditional pyjamas, the button up kind with stripes made of things like flannel when you bought them
at Target but it looked like Kostin’s were made of silk.

  It was just as I realised that Dmitri and Nico weren’t in the room that they entered the room, Dmitri looking about as grumpy as I’d ever seen him and Nico looking tired but smiling.

  Nico wore pyjama pants like Kostin, but a more generic jumper and he’d gone barefoot.

  Dmitri was in his tracksuit pants and a dressing gown that was just flapping about for any old person to cop a view of those abs and he too was barefoot. He was also snapping in Gallyrian at his little brother.

  I thought it had something to do with Dmitri being pissed off that Nico had woken him and not let him get changed. Nico seemed amused that Dmitri was alone.

  Nico slapped Dmitri on the back as he headed for their mother and Dmitri looked up and I smiled at him in greeting. He nodded back, then ran his hand through his hair as though he was totally oblivious that it meant his dressing gown opened wider and just afforded anyone watching – i.e. me – a much nicer view of his body.

  “Merry Christmas, Tatiana,” he said.

  “Merry Christmas, Dmitri,” I replied.

  “Yes. Merry Christmas, Dmitri,” Mum said and I felt an arm go around my shoulders.

  Dmitri looked between us for a moment, then nodded again and strode over to his mother.

  “That, Anya, is a very attractive piece of man,” Mum said to me as she turned us and we watched as the very fine piece of man hugged his mother.

  “Looking to be the future queen of Gallyr?” I asked her.

  She snorted. “No. But I wondered if someone related to me might be…” she sang and I rolled my eyes.

  “He’s very nice to look at, but trust me we fight so often there’s no room for love.”

  “And that’s why his eyes find you first every time you’re in a room together?”

  “Can we please not play this game?” I asked her with a sigh as we watched Faith and Lina bound around the room.

  “What game is that?” She was totally pretending she didn’t know.

  “The one where you think I have a crush and then you try to convince me he feels the same.”