A Royal Internship | Complete

Chapter Twenty-Two

Once Janet had finished politely informing me of all of my mistakes the day before and handing a list to Semret, she turned her attention fully to Clarence and let Semret show me my schedule and explain my new role to me.

"Is that to your satisfaction?" Semret asked, folding her hands in her lap after demonstrating a bunch of technical features on my phone.

I couldn't even focus on the phone, and stuttered a few times before I managed to get out my question. "This is a packed schedule. Is it all really necessary?""

"Yes, I'm terribly sorry about that. The prince's schedule was made weeks ago, so we didn't know about you or your role yet. We've rescheduled as much as we could, but unfortunately it's just going to be a very busy couple weeks for you two."

I nodded, still unsure how I was supposed to fake being a future princess every waking minute, twelve hours a day, for the next fourteen days.

"You don't have to start your actual internship for a few days, though, so we'll have some time to get you set up before the really busy time begins. And after the first couple weeks, I'm sure you'll settle in." She smiled again. "We've had to get creative to make sure everything could fit in your schedule, but I worked with Janet to make sure you'll be at all the most important events."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks." I tried to smile at Semret, but I couldn't help but notice Janet looking away from Clarence and pulling her eyebrows together as she stared towards me.

"I can try to get you out of a few things," Janet said, looking at me like I was a small child, clearly trying to gauge my reaction to the idea.

That wouldn't be so bad, would it? I took a deep breath, steadied myself, and stood up. "No, thank you, Janet. I'm sure the schedule Semret prepared will be fine." I walked over to the door before turning back to face them both. "I mean, it's only crazy for a couple weeks, right? I'm sure I can handle a couple weeks."

The looks on their faces told me I was wrong, and I could feel the fear closing in on me. It's okay. Just get through one day at a time.

To my surprise, Semret was the one who spoke up. "I'm sorry, Miss Levin, but it's going to be much more than that. The whole summer is quite busy for you both as time with Prince Alexandre is so limited..." She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before continuing. "I'll be here for you every step of the way and we'll make sure to adjust your schedule as necessary, but I'm sure we can adapt."

The girl has guts, I'll give her that. Probably the kind of person you want hanging around when you're working in a palace. I put on a polite smile again and said, "Yes, thank you. Well, I'll be going then."

The fear was pushing up from my belly and threatening to come out as tears, so I didn't wait for their response or their respectful curtseys. Instead, I just turned and pulled open yet another door with an ornate brass handle. I briefly caught a glance of Clarence looking up from his work when I stepped through the door, but I didn't hear what he said to me. All I could think was I have to get out of here.

Halfway down the hallway, I remembered I had no idea where I was going. I stopped walking and looked around, frantically searching for any clues. There was a strange statue of some kind of bird eating what I hoped was a rodent and a painting of some fruit and an ornate sconce on the wall, but none of that helped me. I'd have to swallow my pride and go back in there. I took a deep breath and turned back towards the room.

I breathed a sigh of relief when Semret came through the door and into the hallway, calling my name. I pulled my shoulders back and waited for her to catch up to me.