No Chance, No Way

Halfway through the night, I had mastered the smile and nod. I could not even begin to tell you how many dukes, princes, princesses, and royal descendants I met. Who knew there could be so many?

"Hey Jack," I whispered quietly at one point in the night, "how much longer will this last?"

He looked at me amusedly and answered, "Until you have met everyone here."

My jaw dropped. Well, fuck my life. People were still arriving. I groaned quietly and noticed Jacques stifling a chuckle. I glared at him and royally stomped off, making my way through the crowd to try and find Sadie again.

I was interrupted by a gloved hand that pulled me off of my chosen path and onto a different one.

"Allo, I am Eva, from Russia. I thought you might use some help," the gorgeous girl crooned in her noticeable Russian accent. She shot a smile sideways at me and I noticed the dark makeup highlighting her otherwise pale face.

I allowed Eva to lead me through the main ballroom with our arms linked together. Glancing back, I noticed the crowded partygoers smiling, laughing, dancing, and generally having a great time. I saw Jacques speak into his ear piece and soon after, two royal guards were stationed at the door that led to the large outdoor balcony, which is where Eva led me.

"I remember my coronation as if it were yesterday," she said, smiling down at me. I offered a slight smile back and looked down at her feet—she was wearing heels that were at least six inches high. How tall was she normally?

We continued walking until we reached a bench at the edge of the balcony that overlooked the entire backyard of the palace. Eva released my arm as she perched herself on the edge of the bench, smoothing out her dress as she did so.

"We wait here, my friends will join us soon after drinks," she informed me. "I like your choice in dress, it fits nice."

I offered a genuine smile and 'thank you,' before turning around to admire the handiwork of the servants. Sadie had done a great job decorating for tonight, I realized, as I admired the white Christmas lights that were entwined with the railings surrounding the balcony. The fountain lights had been turned on and illuminated the statues spouting water beautifully. The regent wasn't kidding when he said the view from the master balcony was beautiful. The light spilling out from the floor-to-ceiling windows of the ballroom cast a yellow-orange glow, making the night seem that much more magical.

On a separate note, I wonder what this place's electrical bill is like...

Before long, two other girls approached the bench with drinks in their hands and large smiles plastered on their faces.

"Shalom," one of the girls said to me, extending her right hand. "I'm Atara."

"Hi!," I exclaimed, immediately expressing how excited I was to hear something familiar. Sam's family was of Israeli descent, and every time I walked through his front door, his grandmother would greet me the proper Hebrew way. "I'm sorry, my best friend from back home spoke Hebrew. I might have gotten a little too excited at that."

The girls laughed collectively. I shrugged my shoulders sheepishly and eventually extended my own arm. "It's nice to meet you."

"My pleasure."

The third girl took it upon herself to initiate further conversation. "I'm Malaya," she said.

"Emilie," I smiled at her. The girl who introduced herself as Malaya was gorgeous, in a girl-next-door, unfairly kind, and slightly intimidating sort of way. As I looked at them all, I noticed they were all especially refined young women, each in their own way. And here I was with a different set of earrings in each piercing of my ears and a gown I hoped would show off my grungy side. What was I thinking?!

"So, Emilie, you mentioned back home… New York, right? Do you miss it?"

Atara, who seemed genuinely interested, leaned against the railing and waited for a response. She had short dark red wavy hair that framed her face. She wore a light blue gown with silver jewelry and accessories, but the one that stood out the most to me was the Star of David necklace she was wearing. Back home, Sam would draw the star over and over again on his notebook, adding its design to other symbols in hopes of making it into a tattoo he would eventually get. After all, he would say, the religious 'no tattoo' rule was more of a 'guideline' and a lot of people didn't follow it.

I smiled slightly. "Yeah, I really do. I mean, the city is fast-paced and everything, so I should be used to being constantly on the move. But being whisked into this is something entirely different, you know?"

From the looks on the girls faces, it was clear that they didn't know. Of course not, they were born into royalty. I was thrown into it.

"We understand," Malaya offered. "It must've been hard. How was meeting your grandfather, the King, for the first time?"

How did everyone know so much about my situation? At a loss for words, I just shrugged.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet the King last night as was planned, because he was tired. In all honesty, I think he put off meeting me because he didn't want to. So, like any other butthurt teenager would have done, I called my mommy to complain. She assured me he was just tired; after all, he was getting old.

"That is all," asked Eva, surprised. "Just a shrug?"

"She hasn't met him yet, Eva," Atara conjectured.

We waited together as the party went on all around us. The girls seemed at ease with each other, as if they had been friends for ages, and they made me feel more comfortable in their company than I had all night. It wasn't long before they asked for my phone number and made plans to hang out with me later on.

"Do you know yet who is going to be training you?" Malaya asked while programming her number into my phone.

"I don't– training for what?" I stammered out, confused.

"Royal training," Eva 'explained.' I still had no idea what they meant.

"Don't worry, I'll train you," Atara said, smiling at me.

"Wait, I was going to offer," Malaya frowned, handing the phone over to Atara to program in her number. "That's why I mentioned it."

"Ladies," Eva interjected, taking the phone from Atara who had barely managed to finish saving her number. "I will do it so you two do not fight over it."

At that statement, both Malaya and Atara looked at Eva with shocked expressions on their faces.

"Wow, selfless Eva," Atara joked. "But I don't think she could learn much from you. No offense."

"You know, saying 'no offense' does not make what you said any less offensive. I can teach her many things."

"Emilie! Oh, there you are. You only have three more family representatives to meet and I've been searching for you everywhere," Sadie said, strolling up to us with her phone in one hand and a notebook in the other. "If you'll excuse us ladies, enjoy the rest of your night."

Eva handed my phone back to me just as Sadie pulled me away from the group. I turned around slightly and managed a meager wave back at them, and all of them smiled before resuming conversation amongst themselves.

"I thought you said there were 50 families here, there is no way I have met everyone in the time span of a few hours," I said, struggling to keep up with Sadie. My feet were hurting from standing for so long in heels that I was definitely not accustomed to.

"Emilie, it's 11 pm. It's been five hours. And the custom is that if you meet just one representative of every royal family in attendance, then it is enough for the party to officially end."

"How does a party ever officially end?" I asked aloud, more to myself than anything.

"When you leave."

I furrowed my brows in confusion and followed Sadie around like an obedient little princess for the rest of the night.