Ascending

Chapter Eight

Marcus' knuckles rap against my parlor door. "Are you decent?" He shouts. "I have my status report!"

Of course, he has to ask if I'm clothed. The last time he brought me an update I was only in a robe. Scandalous, I know.

"Come in!" I call back, slightly flustered.

Kennedy zips the back of my dress up as I push on uncle Barney's ring and fasten Brooke's necklace.

"The cameras are set up, the caterers are ready and they're all here." Marcus rattles off looking at me through the mirror.

I falter in picking up the golden diadem I'll be wearing. I swallow the lump forming in the back of my throat. "All of them?"

"All sixty-one," Marcus nods.

I set the diadem back down and twist my fingers together. "Thanks, Marc, you were a lifesaver today."

"It was no problem," he shrugs. "It gave me something to do today."

I highly doubt Marcus enjoyed going between the ballroom and my chambers all day. But I appreciate his lie none the less.

"Go have fun," I smile. "Just try and not make Julie cry this time."

"It was one time!" He bellows. I can tell he's sick of us teasing him about it. Tough luck.

"You slapped the controller out of her hands!"

"She was making us lose!"

"She was seven!"

Marcus sticks his tongue out at me. Real mature. "Don't you have a ball to get to?"

"Touche." I laugh. I shake my head slightly as he leaves.

I pick the diadem back up and begin turning it over in my hands as I pace the room. "I should have made them lower the number."

I get to the end of my room and spin on my heel. "I can't sift through sixty-one men in four hours!"

I can feel my stomach tightening. "That's fifteen men per hour. I have to talk to four men every fifteen minutes!"

My face is beginning to heat up and my skin tingles. My breath starts coming in fast puffs and my thoughts are spinning out of control.

"I can't do this!" I scream. I turn and face Kennedy, my dress swishes from my sudden movement.

What I'd one of them figured out my secret. Do people have a radar for that? It's too dangerous.

My breath is ragged. "Call it off. Send them home. I'm not doing this!"

My eyes are boring holes in Kennedy's mask. I wait for them to move, to send the men home. But they just slowly shake their head. "You know you can't do that Princess."

"Yes I can," I say, sounding like a child. Kennedy just shakes their head again.

"You'll never hear the end of it from your parents."

"Kennedy!" I plead.

Kennedy doesn't answer. They walk towards me. Not slowly, but not in the quick jaunt that is the constant. Kennedy takes the diadem out of my hands and flips it so it's right side up. They sweep aside the hairs on my forehead and push the diadem onto my head.

"You are Emmalyne Faust," Kennedy says placing a gloved hand on either side of my shoulders. "You are the most powerful woman in the world. Why are you letting a silly group of boys scare you?"

If only you knew, Kennedy.

I make a futile attempt of shrugging. "I don't want to get married."

"It's not that bad," Kennedy says.