CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 7

“Ingrid, may I speak with you for a moment?” Steven asked.

“Of course,” she replied, walking into his office instead of down the hall and to the other side of the palace toward Elin’s office.

“There’s been a change,” he announced before she had a chance to sit down.

“A change with what?”

“Her Royal Highness will be maintaining her current private secretary.”

Ingrid took a moment to think through what he’d said since he’d worded it so strangely.

“I’m to remain on with–”

“Oh, my apologies,” he interrupted her. “It’s been quite the day around here already. I meant Princess Lillian; Katrin will continue on as her secretary.”

“So, I will be working with the Queen after all?” she asked, still confused.

“No, the King has seen fit to make you private secretary to Princess Mari upon her return from military service shortly. She doesn’t have a secretary yet, so no one will be displaced.”

“What about The Princess Royal?” she asked of Elin.

“She will have Markus, as we discussed. There’s no change there.”

“But I’m senior to Katrin,” she reminded him.

“Yes, but it seems that Princess Lillian threw quite the fit and begged her sister, who then went to the King, and he made the final decision.”

“The Princess Royal went to the King and asked for this?”

“She did,” Steven said with a nod. “I trust there won’t be a problem. From where I sit, the youngest Princess is the far better option for you anyway. And when Markus retires, if the Queen feels as if you’d be the proper option for her at that time, she may promote you to her service again.”

◆◆◆

Ingrid was very confused. As she proceeded down the hall and back on her way toward Elin’s office, she wondered what the hell had happened. First, she’d been told Markus was senior, and that had been the only thing that mattered. Now, she’d just been told that, despite her seniority to Katrin, she’d be placed with the lowest ranking royal in the household while Katrin would remain where she was with the soon-to-be next in line to the throne once Elin took over from her father.

“Ma’am?”

“Oh, no,” Elin’s voice came from behind the door Ingrid was opening.

“What?”

Ingrid walked in and noticed Elin standing, looking into a floor-length mirror in front of the wall.

“Are you okay?” Ingrid asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. I was just trying on my dress for the gala. They dropped it off for me, and I thought I could just put the thing on for myself since I’ve never liked having dressers dress me, but I was zipping it up when you knocked and scared me, and now the zipper is stuck,” Elin replied.

Ingrid smiled at her softly, walked over to her, and stood behind her, looking over Elin’s shoulder at the Princess’s reflection. The dress that had been chosen for her was indigo, which was a common color for royals to wear, given that it matched the color of the Norwegian flag and they often had to wear their official sashes, medals, and other regalia. What they wore couldn’t clash with any of that. Elin, as the current second in line for the throne, had to wear a white sash with indigo and red ribbons. She also had a medal from her two years of military service, which all royals wore these days. Elin would never become first in line like her twin, but Christian would wear his Royal Air Force uniform with a red sash indicating royalty with the same ribbons. He had more military accoutrement as well as a Scandinavian Cross medal that indicated he was next in line for the throne. Soon, he’d have to remove that from his uniform.

Elin’s dress made her blue eyes look darker somehow, and Ingrid recalled how those eyes had looked at the hot springs when they’d relaxed there together and she’d called the Princess by her first name. Ingrid smiled at her, nodded politely, and took a step forward, examining the zipper that was stuck at Elin’s lower back.

“Shall I help, Ma’am?” Ingrid asked.

“Please,” Elin said.

Ingrid got the zipper unstuck with ease and zipped it up slowly to avoid another snag. Then, she stood back quickly and admired the Princess again.

“There,” she said.

“Thank you,” Elin replied, looking in the mirror, but at Ingrid.

“You look beautiful, Ma’am,” Ingrid said, giving her a shy smile.

Elin’s eyes went wide. Had Ingrid spoken out of turn?

“Apologies, Ma’am. I–”

“No, you don’t have to–” Elin stopped and turned around. “I mean, you can say… if you want to…” She shook her head rapidly back and forth. “Just… it’s fine.”

“You have a lunch meeting with the Prime Minister and his secretary. They should be here any minute. The King wanted me to tell you that your mother has retired to Skaugum Estate, so he will be dining with you and the Prime Minister without her today,” Ingrid revealed.

“Is she all right?” Elin asked.

“I believe, she wanted to begin the arrangements for them to eventually move there permanently. It’s been vacant for some time now.”

Elin nodded and said, “I should get changed, then. I don’t think I should have my first lunch with the Prime Minister as the woman who would be Queen in a ball gown.”

“Shall I have the dressers return, Ma’am?”

“Can you just unzip it for me?” Elin asked. “I can hang it back up all on my own.” She smirked at Ingrid.

And just like that, Ingrid had forgotten why she’d been so upset and annoyed with the Princess before she’d walked into the room. She unzipped the dress, took a step back, and quickly looked away.

“I’ll meet you outside, Ma’am. We can walk down together. I have the talking points the King wanted to make sure you address.”

“Of course, there are talking points,” Elin muttered, sliding one sleeve of the dress off and then the other.

Ingrid could see Elin’s bare shoulders now and knew it was time for her to go.

“Ma’am,” she said, dismissing herself.

◆◆◆

“Hi. I’m home, and I brought dinner. I hope you didn’t eat because you wasted your money. This food is my food, and it’s free,” Sarah Anne bellowed when she walked through the door.

“I ate hours ago. It’s after eleven,” Ingrid told her sister.

“Well, I’m a chef. I have to be there to cook the food for the paying customers. You get the leftovers for free, so either wait until I get home to eat, or have them tomorrow,” she replied, dropping the bag onto their coffee table and then dropping herself onto their sofa.

Sarah Anne was technically Ingrid’s half-sister. She was three years younger than her and was the product of her mother’s marriage to Sarah Anne’s father after her divorce from Ingrid’s own father. Despite only being half-siblings and being a couple of years apart, the two got along so well, they’d decided to move in together when Sarah Anne got her first chef job at a restaurant close to Ingrid’s two-bedroom apartment. They’d taken their one and only vacation together to St. Rais years ago and had been incredibly close their whole lives.

“How was work?” Ingrid asked.

“Two people sent back their food. One claimed my chicken was dry. The other claimed the sauce was too sweet. The chicken was not dry, and the sauce was perfect,” Sarah Anne argued.

“I’m sure you’re right.”

“Well, I brought you the chicken and the sauce in that bag there, so you can tell me,” she replied.

Ingrid had long ago gotten used to being her little sister’s guinea pig. Sarah Anne had always wanted to be a chef, and even though they’d hardly had any money growing up, their mother always made sure they had some extra food in order to let her sister experiment with culinary creations of her own. Some were good. Others were not so good, but Sarah Anne had put herself through culinary school and had worked her way up in a kitchen. Now, she was in charge, and even though she complained a lot, she loved her job.

“I’ll have it for lunch tomorrow.”

“I’m sure the royal chefs can cook you up something better.”

“They don’t cook for me; you know that,” Ingrid said, chuckling at her sister. “Sometimes, they give me whatever’s left over.”

“We are beneath them,” Sarah Anne huffed, closing her eyes and resting her head against the sofa. “So, how was work for you?”

“Well, I found out that I won’t be working for Elin anymore.”

“What?” Sarah Anne opened her eyes and turned her head. “You lost your job?”

“Not exactly. They’re moving secretaries around, and I’ll be working with Mari when she returns from military service.”

“But why?”

“Long story. I’m not really happy about it. I’ve only spent a matter of minutes with Mari over the years. I’m sure she’s a nice person and will be fine to work with, but–”

“You have your own princess,” her sister interrupted.

“I wouldn’t put it like that,” Ingrid said.

“I would. You love working with Elin.”

“She’s my employer, Sarah; it’s not like that.” Ingrid sighed.

“She may technically be your boss, but you seem to genuinely like working for the woman. Besides, how many bosses take their employees on holiday and get them a private visit to the hot springs in St. Rais? I still can’t believe you went without me.”

“I didn’t go without you; I didn’t know I was going until we were on the plane,” she argued.

“Still,” Sarah Anne replied. “I’m sorry they switched Princesses on you.”

“Yeah, me too. I’ve worked with Elin for three years now. I really thought she liked working with me.”

“What do you mean? I thought you said they were just switching things up.”

“I can’t tell you everything, but she spoke with her father about it and asked that I work with Mari instead of her.”

“Did you talk to her about it?” Sarah Anne asked.

“It’s not the kind of job you can just do that with.”

“You’ve always said she was open; she wasn’t like them. She even let you call her Elin to her face in St. Rais.”

“That was different. Besides, I don’t know that I want to know why she did it.”

“Why not?”

“Because she might tell me she didn’t like my performance or something, and I don’t know that I want to know that. Maybe that’s wrong, but right now, I don’t want to know if I disappointed her in some way. I’d rather just work with Mari and move on.”

“That doesn’t sound like you. You’re always talking about wanting to do better at work.”

Ingrid smiled at her sister and said, “I’m tired. Can we talk about this tomorrow? I think I’m ready for bed and a good book.”

“Sure. I’ll take a shower and do the same. Monday, when the restaurant is closed, do you want to grab dinner somewhere I’m not the chef and maybe go see a movie or something? I could use a night out, and I work too much to actually have a date.”

“So, I get stuck with you?” Ingrid joked as she stood.

“I’ll let you pay,” Sarah Anne joked.

“Oh, even better.”

Ingrid disappeared into her bedroom, changed for sleep, and heard the shower start in their shared bathroom. Then, she heard Sarah Anne’s music blast, which she was now used to hearing whenever the woman showered. Sarah’s terrible singing voice practically attacked Ingrid through the walls, so she put on her headphones and played her own, much calmer music while she grabbed a book on her table to read. Her mind couldn’t focus on the words, though. She kept thinking about Elin in that dress, Elin in the hot springs, and then Elin telling her father that she didn’t want to work with Ingrid anymore.