A Christmas Prince

vi. growing fonder

The next morning, in Emily's study room, Arya was making marks on Emily's paper. Her red pen edited many of the errors the princess had made. Skimming over the pages, Arya made sure she didn't miss a single error before giving Emily back her paper.

Across the table, Emily sighed exhaustedly seeing Arya's red marks.

"All of this?" Emily said exasperated.

"Yes!"

"When should I give you the final copy by?"

"By the end of Christmas Eve!"

"Are you serious?" Emily groaned, "Arya why—"

Immediately the study room door opened, revealing Mrs. Averill. Commotion was heard in the halls of the palace with staff rushing to get errands done. To Emily that was unusual since the Christmas Eve ball was not for another two days and the hall seemed to be all ready.

"Arya?" Mrs. Averill questioned, "who's Arya, Your Royal Highness?"

"Why Martha of course!" Emily said brightly, "it's her middle name!"

Arya on the other hand was close to having an anxiety attack. Her heart beat had skyrocketed faster than Mrs. Averill saying her real name.

"Huh," Mrs. Averill scoffed thinking about the familiarity of the name from earlier.

"What's going on out there?" Emily asked Mrs. Averill.

"The staff is making sure the press room is ready."

"The press room?" Arya questioned?

"His Royal Highness is having a press conference?"

"My brother?" Emily's mouth went wide with shock.

"Yes, Prince Richard woke up today early, announcing he was going to have a press conference and—"

Arya lips slowly spread into a thoughtful smile.

Thank you Miss Anderson, I will see through it immediately.

The prince's words replayed in her mind.

He was going to do it. Finally, face the press.

"Can we attend the conference?" Emily asked.

"I'm afraid we can only watch from the sidelines as Prince Richard addresses the press."

"What time does it start?" Arya asked?

"In an hour, the press should be here in 30 minutes," Mrs. Averill said, "now the reason for my visit, Miss Anderson, do you have Princess Emily's latest report?"

"I do." Arya said taking a folder out of her bag to hand to Mrs. Averill.

"Delightful, Her Majesty will meet with you if she has any questions regarding Princess Emily's progress."

Arya nodded in agreement and Mrs. Averill left the room.

"Can we cut our lessons short today?"

"You'd be doing me a favor!" Emily smiled triumphantly.

"Oh god, my press pass—I don't know where—and what if someone recognizes me—"

"Arya calm down! I have it all under control!" Emily reassured Arya, "just make sure you're in the back of the room, like the staff is."

Arya nodded and gathered her materials to take Emily back to her room, while she got herself ready for the press conference.

An hour later, she was running late. The press conference had started five minutes ago and for the first time since the morning, the palace was quiet. She was running through the halls trying to make it to the press room. She had her small notebook and pen, along with the tape recorder.