Seven Levels Below

XXVI

Mitch, upon arriving at Kirstie's room, realized that it was far too early to be awake and Scott was clearly insane for waking him up. So he grabbed a bunch of blankets and flopped himself down on the couch, curling up in the darkness and being childishly proud of himself for managing to not wake Kirstie up.

Several hours later when it was actually physically possible for him to not go back to sleep on whatever surface was closest to him, the room had been lit and filled with the gentle murmur of two voices.

Kirstie was seated in front of a vanity in the corner with Nicole leaning over her. Mitch couldn't see the details of it as he stretched, but he assumed Nicole was doing some light makeup for the day so later, closer to the reception, Nicole could put the party makeup on top. Nicole was the only person other than Mitch and Kirstie that had been clued in (albeit vaguely) to what the dress looked like so she could plan Kirstie's hair and makeup accordingly.

There was a TV near the couch Mitch was sprawled on, and it was quietly broadcasting coverage of the ceremony. It currently showed a whole bunch of important-looking people climbing the steps outside a massive cathedral. Scott and the rest of the royal family were nowhere to be seen, so Mitch assumed he had slept through Scott's oath that must have already taken place on the steps, and it was nearly 11:00 already.

God, it was going to be a long day. He was glad he slept through the speech on the palace steps that Rick gave that morning, and the procession to the cathedral didn't exactly sound entertaining anyway. With the oath done though, it still left the actual crowning ceremony, Scott's speech from the steps of the cathedral, the parade back to the palace, (honestly, Mitch was gonna find something else to do rather than watch this all day), the closed Senate meeting where Rick would sign everything over to Scott, the late lunch around 1, (yes, because this is all going to happen before lunch), then an actual Senate meeting until dinner, when there would be a formal, boring dinner with a bunch of important leaders, blah blah blah, and then finally, Kirstie's big reveal at 7. Aka, the giant reception party.

Poor Scott, honestly. Mitch shuddered thinking about having to actually work and be presentable in front of the entire country all day. Let alone dealing with the rogue king and queen and hoping they didn't cause any issues.

That didn't seem like it was going to be a problem though, as the camera switched to show the people taking their seats inside the cathedral.

The king and queen stood to the left side of the fancy church-y dude—Mitch couldn't remember what the guy was called—with the rest of the royal family standing to the right. The king and queen stood stiffly, and probably uncomfortably in those outfits, with the most beefed up, absolutely jacked, more shredded than shredded cheese guard standing just behind them and to the side. He was out of the way of the ceremony, and appearing to be added protection for the monarchs as their reign came to a close, but Mitch knew better.

The guy—Kevin had called him Austin—was there to ensure they didn't try anything. "Anything", including: stalling the ceremonies, attempting to remotely assassinate Mitch or Kirstie, (because apparently it was political enough to be referred to as an assassination attempt now), stop Scott from taking the throne, or basically any various style of calling for a civil war, etc.

Speaking of Kevin, he, Matt, and a whole bunch of other guards in deep red formal uniforms, stood behind the rest of the royal family and around the interior of the cathedral as the crowd was hushed and the priest (Mitch figured "priest" had to be close enough, at least) began speaking.

Kirstie's head appeared at Mitch's side as some fancy organ music started echoing through the TV, and he heard the door click behind him as he heard Nicole leave.