Bridging the Gap

Chapter 10

Ben sat at his desk, the stress of the week rolling over him like waves on the shore. It was hard to believe he had only been king for two days—how was it Wednesday already?

"Okay Ben, just breathe," he said as he organized some papers that were strewn on his desk. He had just cleaned and organized it yesterday—how did it already get messy? "I just have to make it through this morning where I finally have no meetings and then I have a meeting with Mal, Evie and Tiana before meeting with Fairy Godmother to make sure my studies remain on track to graduate on time. Then I have the council meeting and then hopefully I'll be able to grab dinner before drowning in paperwork. Oh and then I have the meeting tomorrow with Cinderella. I should have time to relax on Friday—just have make it through the week."

Oh gods why did I think it would be a good idea to stay in school and be king? Granted without Tourney it wouldn't be too bad. Except for the fact that I won't have anything to use to blow off steam.

His thoughts were interrupted by the low growl of his stomach and Ben cursed his decision to skip breakfast. Three early meetings had prevented it and Ben found himself counting down the minutes until lunch.

"Your grace," Jane's voice came from the other side of the door, breaking Ben out of his thoughts. Ben chuckled and shook his head. He would never get used to that title, especially when it was used by his classmates and friends.

"Come in Jane," he told her and Jane walked into the office. "You know you don't have to call me that. How can I help you?"

"Well, your mother reminded me that Cotillion is six months away and so we needed to start planning it," Jane told him as she walked toward the desk and Ben bit back a groan as it wouldn't do for a king to groan in annoyance. How did he forget about Cotillion? "I assume you want Audrey heading the planning committee?"

"Actually can you share point with Audrey?" Ben asked, gathering up some of the papers that had spilled onto his desk and forming them into a new pile near the top left corner of his desk. "I know Audrey's great at theming and all the 'fun stuff' as she calls it but when it comes to the budget, she always goes over. I'd like to avoid that this time, especially with Cotillion being so close to the coronation."

"You want me to partner with Audrey?" Jane asked, the disbelief slipping through. "But I've never done something like this before."

"It's six months away," Ben told her and gave her a small smile. "Plenty of time."

Jane sighed and nodded, looking down at her notes. "Well at least Mal will be able to help. A friendly face would certainly be nice."

"What?" Ben asked, his head shooting up from the paperwork he had been looking at. Why would Mal be involved in Cotillion planning? If she wanted to be, Ben would support it but that didn't seem like a thing Mal would want.

"Well Cotillion will be where we bring Mal into the court," Jane stated, looking up at Ben as she rifled through the paperwork she held in her hands. "She'll have to start planning things like Cotillion."

"We never did that for Audrey," Ben told her, looking a little confused. Jane shook her head.

"Audrey was already a member of a royal family when she was dating you last year," Jane told him, setting some of the papers on his desk. "Therefore, she was already a member of the court."

Ben frowned as he pulled the papers closer to him. "Let me talk to Mal about this. I don't want to put more stress on her."

"Completely understand. Oh, Dean wanted to talk to you at some point. Something about giving Mal back her mother?"