Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
“It’s a beautiful thing,” she said. “Something I wish had existed when I was younger.”
“Me, too,” Sebastian said. “We’re going to start holding classes here. Gardening classes, ice sculpture carving, ice skating out on the rink, and then more boring ones like international diplomacy and global relations.”
“Who needs that?” Tracy joked.
“I’m still petitioning to get Sebastian to teach work out classes,” I said. “The townsfolk deserve to see the king in all his beautiful, muscley glory.”
“Never gonna happen,” he said.
“Never say never.”
“The taxpayer dollars aren’t going to go to frivolous trips and ballgowns anymore,” Sebastian said. “All of the classes will be free, first come, first served. The castle should be a part of the community, not a glass tower.”
Tracy pulled in a deep breath. She was clearly as proud of Sebastian as I was.
She turned to me, winking. “I told you so,” she said.
She had believed in him, when I thought I was the only person who did. We had seen behind his cold exterior to the true Sebastian deep inside.
“I’m going to go mingle,” Tracy said, looking back and forth between the two of us. “But I’m just letting you know right now: whenever a proposal happens, I better be the first to know.”
I smiled wide. “You’ll be the first to know,” I said. “Promise.”
Over the course of the next hour, the party blossomed as more and more people showed up. Sebastian had known that fully opening the castle to the public would attract a lot of visitors, but it was staggering to see the amount of people who showed up, dressed to the nines and ready to usher in a new era of Frostmonte.
There were people taking pictures left and right. I ran into dozens of people who I’d known as kids, who were now grown, some of them with their own children. It felt like slipping into another world, seeing Frostmonte Castle so open, so warm, so bustling.
It really was like a curse had been lifted. Frostmonte was alive again. For the first time in… as long as we’d been alive, at least.
Sebastian had only officially been king for just over twenty-four hours, but early this morning, he had put in place revisions to the royal decrees that would allow him to marry anyone he liked. He’d brought a copy of the decree to me in bed this morning, dropping it down next to a plate of fresh sliced tangerines, toast, and a warm mocha latte.
I couldn’t exactly say I was used to the royal lifestyle yet. But I sure as hell wasn’t complaining.
“Sir?” I heard Genoveve say from behind us. When we turned, she was there, a hesitant smile on her face. “Look who came to see you.”
“Princess Emma,” Sebastian said, a smile passing over his face. “I wasn’t sure… I didn’t know if you’d want to come—”
“Are you kidding me?” Princess Emma said in her beautiful accent. She looked even more relaxed than I’d ever seen her, like she felt better knowing she wasn’t going to marry Sebastian. “I wanted to be here. I cancelled meetings to be here.”
“It means a lot to me,” Sebastian said, reaching out and clasping her hand. “I’m so sorry, Emma, for the way things—”
“I’m happy, Sebastian,” she said. “Really happy.”
“Good,” he said.
“And I love the band you have here,” she said, gesturing to the quintet. “They’re playing all of the classics.”
“I specifically requested that they play a Metallica song, but I don’t think it’s going to go over well,” I said.
Emma laughed. “Maybe I’ll try to request a punk song.”
A caterer walked past with a tray full of mini tarts, and each of us grabbed a couple, clearing the plate immediately.
“I love good eaters,” the caterer said. “I’ll bring over another round.”
“This all must have been so expensive,” Princess Emma said. “You are doing well with money, right, Sebastian?”
She had a concerned look on her face. It was the kind of question only a super wealthy person could ask another super wealthy person. Anyone else would have been far too afraid to ask Sebastian how his money situation was, but Emma was simply genuinely interested.
“I’m doing okay,” he assured her. “This party was lavish, but it doesn’t even begin to compare to the expense of all of my mother’s private jet bills from last year.”
Emma and Sebastian launched into a lengthy conversation about the aspects of royal life they didn’t care for, and I just silently listened. I was enjoying myself more than I ever thought I could in the castle. Slowly, the champagne started to hit me, and I realized how good it felt to be in here, how different it felt to see the castle like this.
I loved it, now that it was Sebastian’s instead of Queen Charlotte’s.
“Oh God,” Sebastian said minutes later. “It’s time.”
“Time?” I asked from my champagne-buzzed pleasant haze.