With All That Grace

e i g h t e e n | The Crown

e i g h t e e n | The Crown

It was the day.

It was finally the day.

And we had T-minus ten minutes till showdown.

I took in Bernice who stood facing me, looking pretty tired. But then again, she would be. She'd spent all day receiving guests that had been arriving to the palace.

I had managed to catch a glimpse through my bedroom window as well as the kitchen balcony at all the cars coming in and going. That was enough for me to feel a nervous energy creep in, multiplying exponentially when I thought too long about the amount of people that would be at the event. Today, royals and leaders all over Europe were attending the formal introduction of the new princess of Bellewynn.

So yeah, I wasn't freaking out, but it was kind of a lot.

That's why I was doing my best not to think too much on that and just focus on all the things I needed to remember.

"...once you're there, you will be given your crown. It will all go very fast." Bernice was running through everything once again. "You need to stand still as you are declared the princess..."

It was all textbook by now. We'd run by things a total of sixteen times for the past three days, leading up to that moment right then. But that day especially, she'd repeated it all about nine times.

I understood she just wanted this to go well.

She absently fixed the fall of my dress as she kept going on, and the movement snagged most of my attention. Keeping a distracted ear on her speech, I thought about the dress.

Oh boy, the dress.

Silver with sequins at the bodice that tapered down towards the bottom. It fit quite close, but it also had a sheer cape around the neck that went around my shoulders and fell to the floor. It walked a thin line between ostentatious and just downright stunning, and I had to admit—for the formal introduction of a princess?—yeah, it definitely seemed to fit the occasion.

Bernice clearly knew her dresses.

"...then of course, are the dances. The first is King Albert. I know we were still thinking on it, but he's been feeling better so it should be alright. Then are the Barringtons—among which are Prince Alexander and Prince Torrance, of course." Ah, yes. Torrance. He was supposed to be there too. How lovely. "You may be finished whenever you like—it's never minded, not on these events. Should you be done, you can be seated next to the King and people will eventually start to leave. I will be there if you need me for anything, but I'll be a little far back. Maybe..."

She was winding down. It was nearly five anyway. We—me, Bernice, the insane amount of security at my back—all stood in front of the door on the ground floor that had also been closed that time Alexander had showed me around, the one he'd said was reserved for official gatherings. When Bernice and I had arrived here ten minutes ago, I wondered if the room was even big enough. But then again, it had to be to fit everyone who'd arrived at the palace that day.

The whole thing was to take no more than an hour or so, so I felt for Bernice and all the effort that was going into making sure everything went according to plan.

The muted hum of voices I could hear coming from inside suddenly had me on edge to get this show on the road. I glanced at the locket Bernice held out in front of her in her hand. Clearly, no simple wristwatch for her. Watching as the hands ticked further and further till it was only a few seconds away, I looked to her to give her something she obviously needed.