A Royal Internship | Complete

Chapter Twenty-Three

"I'll leave you here," Semret curtseyed and backed out the door. Janet sat in the corner with a notebook, quietly working on something as we waited for the tutor to arrive, I guess.

I followed Clarence to a table in the center of the room that was set for dinner. It looked so out of place with all of its shimmering furnishings but no table cloth or napkin.

I wonder if those are the parts I got right when I arrived, I thought to myself, running my hand along the ornately carved chair back.

"Janet," Clarence's voice commanded the room in a way I didn't recognize, so I looked over to see him standing extremely proper behind his chair. I followed suit and stood behind mine.

Janet put down her book and walked across the room, her shoes clicking against the hard surface in a rhythmic allegro, "Your Highness," she curtseyed before stepping around me and pulling my chair out. Clarence pulled his out, though I knew that wouldn't happen at an actual formal event.

I walked around the left side of my chair and stood in front of my chair, sitting elegantly on the center of the chair as Janet pushed it under me.

"Very well done, Genevieve," Janet smiled, walking around to the front of the table to give the rest of the instruction.

As Janet showed me which cups and plates and cutlery to use for which part of the meal, Clarence demonstrated proper procedure and made sure I was choosing the right piece. We had to run through the process of eating dinner three times before I got it, by which time I was practically starving from thinking about food.

"Do you think I can actually have something to eat?" I asked Clarence, staring longingly at my empty plates.

"Well, this is a palace, and you are almost a princess," he winked. "I think I can find you something to eat."

What did he mean I was almost a princess? Oh, I'm supposedly his girlfriend. Two steps from a princess is more like it. I was about to thank him when he added, "Wait, didn't we eat lunch like an hour ago?"

I fiddled with the napkin in my lap, "Yes, but I was nervous."

"You were nervous?" The way he stares at me makes me feel like he wants to understand.

"I was nervous about lunch with the queen, so I didn't eat much."

His eyes grew a little wider and it seemed like he understood.

"Janet," Clarence's voice filled the room in a deep timbre again. "Please fetch Genevieve's ladies maid." He looked at me, perhaps searching for a name.

"Marinette," I offered Janet. "Please fetch Marinette."

"Yes," Clarence nodded, "And could you ask her to bring Miss Levin a suitable tea for while we work."

By way of answer, Janet curtseyed and left the room, leaving Clarence and I standing two feet away from each other in an otherwise empty room that could easily fit fifty people or more.

"While she handles that," Clarence stepped away and pressed a small button on the wall. Music came coursing through the room and Clarence held his hand towards me. "Let's learn to dance."

I could feel my muscles tighten up at the very thought of having to learn a choreographed dance. "I'm not sure that's the best idea," I winced. "I was in dance for a few years and I'm really not good at this." I shook my head, hoping that would add to the effect.

"Well, then we better get started because in less than ten hours there will be hundreds of guests and photographers watching us and my parents dance a formal Montelivian dance. Alone."