I made eye contact and smiled at people as I passed, but I didn’t stop to talk to anyone until I found Kile. He was standing with Henri again, sipping iced tea and watching a game of badminton. Henri bowed right away.
“Hello today, Your Highness,” he said, his accent making the words sound brighter.
“Hello, Henri. Kile.”
“Hi, Eadlyn.”
I might have been imagining there was something different about Kile’s voice, but for maybe the first time ever, I wanted to hear him speak. I shook my head, focusing.
“Kile, could you please go talk to your sister?”
The contentment in his eyes quickly turned to frustration. “Why? What’d she do this time?”
“She’s taken yet another one of my tiaras.”
“Don’t you have, like, a thousand of those?”
I huffed. “That’s hardly the point. It’s mine, and she shouldn’t be wearing it. When she walks around like that, she gives the impression that she’s royal when she’s not. It’s inappropriate. Could you please talk to her about her behavior?”
“When did I become the person who did all these favors for you?”
My eyes darted over to Henri and Erik, who didn’t know about the arrangement behind our kiss. They didn’t seem to catch on.
“Please?” I asked in a hushed voice.
His eyes softened, and I saw a little of the person he showed me in his room, someone sweet and engaging. “Fine. But Josie just likes attention. I don’t think she’s doing it to be mean.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m going. Be right back.”
He stomped off as Erik conveyed what was happening to Henri.
Henri cleared his throat before speaking, his words ending on strange pitches. “How are you today, Your Highness?”
I wasn’t completely sure if I should try to go through Erik or not. . . . I went with Henri. “Very good. You?”
“Good, good,” he replied cheerfully. “I to enjoy . . . umm.” He turned and conveyed the rest of his comment to Erik.
“He thinks the party is great, and he likes the company.”
I wasn’t sure if he meant Kile or me, but either way, it was nice of him to say.
“So when did you move over from Swendway?”
Henri was nodding his head as if to confirm he was from Swendway but not actually answering the question. Erik whispered over to him quickly, and Henri gave him a lengthy reply that was translated for me.
“Henri emigrated to Illéa last year when he was seventeen. He comes from a family of cooks, which is what he does back home. They make food from their homeland and generally interact with others who also came from Swendway and only speak Finnish. He has a younger sister who is working very hard on her English, but it’s a difficult language.”
“Wow. That was a lot to keep up with,” I said to Erik.
He waved his hand. “I try.”
I could guess how hard Erik’s work was, but I appreciated his modesty. I turned to Henri. “We’ll have to spend some time together soon. Where we can talk easier.”
Erik passed that on to Henri, who nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes!”
I giggled. “Until then.”
The lawn was full of the Selected. General Leger had Miss Lucy on his arm as he spoke with a handful of boys by a fountain, and Dad was making his rounds, occasionally clapping someone on the back and saying hello before whisking off again. Mom was sitting in a chair under a parasol, and I wasn’t sure if it was charming or unsettling that several of the Selected were buzzing around her.
It was a delightful party. People were playing games, there was lots of food, and a string quartet was performing under a canopy. The cameras zoomed around capturing it all, and I hoped this would be enough to calm the people. I had no idea whether Dad was closer to having a plan for how to soothe the country permanently.
In the meantime, I had to find a way to eliminate at least one person after today, and have a good enough reason to make it seem believable.
Kile sneaked up on me. “Here you go.” He held my tiara in his hands.
“I can’t believe she gave it up.”
“It took some convincing, but I reminded her that if she made a scene at this event, Mom probably wouldn’t let her come to another one. That was enough to get her to take it off. So here.”
“I can’t take it,” I said, keeping my hands together.
“But you just asked for it,” he complained.
“I don’t want it on her, but I also can’t carry it around. I have things to do.”
He shifted his weight, clearly vexed. It was kind of nice to be on this side of the irritating.
“So, what, I have to hold on to it for the rest of the day?”
“Not the whole day. Just until we go inside, and then I can take it.”
Kile shook his head. “You’re really unbelievable.”
“Hush. Go enjoy the party. But first, wait, we have to take off this tie.”
He looked down as I started tugging. “What’s wrong with my tie?”
“Everything,” I said. “Everything in the universe is wrong with this tie. I bet we could find world peace if we burned it.”
I got it unknotted and wrapped it up in my hand.
“That’s so much better.” I placed the wadded fabric in his palm, grabbed the tiara from his other hand, and placed it on his head. “That really works with your hair.”
He smirked, his eyes staring into mine with amusement. “So, since you don’t want your tiara now, maybe I could give it back to you tonight. I could come by your room, if you like.” Kile bit his lip, and all I could think about was how soft they were.
I swallowed, understanding the unspoken question. “That would be fine,” I answered, fighting a blush. “Maybe around nine?”
“Nine.” Kile nodded and backed away.
So he was just being discreet on the Report! I furrowed my brow in thought. Or maybe he was simply planning to pass his time kissing me. Or maybe he’d been deeply in love with me since he was seven and was only now finding the courage to stop teasing me and say so. Or maybe—
Ean walked up and laced his arm through mine.
“Oh!” I gasped.
“You look upset. Whatever that little boy said to upset you, don’t give it another thought.”
“Sir Ean,” I greeted, impressed with how calm he was around me. “How can I help you?”
“By taking a walk with me, of course. I still haven’t gotten a chance to speak with you just the two of us.”