Oh no.
“Are you thinking of Gale? Even though you were just with him.”
“I’m going to go get ready for bed,” I said, quickly hopping off the bed and running to the bathroom.
“You can run from me but not the thoughts in your head!” she called out. Once again, my mother knew exactly where to strike.
No more thinking, Odette. Just go to sleep. Tomorrow, when this night isn’t at the forefront of your mind, everything will look so much clearer.
Yep.
By tomorrow, he’d no longer be on my mind.
He was the first thing on my mind when I woke up, and it was not my fault. It was his!
“Aren’t they beautiful?” my mother gushed as she held the white peonies in my face.
Once again, he had sent a massive bouquet, even after the conversation we had last night. And my mother, who was no longer in mom mode but part of the prince’s support team, decided to wake me up just to stick them in my face.
I glanced over to my phone. It wasn’t even 7 a.m. yet. Why was she up, let alone waking me up? And who delivers before 8 a.m. in this city?
I was annoyed.
“Mom, please get these out of my—”
“He sent another letter, too. What does it say?”
I kicked my feet under the sheets like a six-year-old. “Mom! I’m tired. It’s six fifty in the morning. The letter will still be here later!”
“Fine, sleep your beautiful life away.” She huffed, but instead of taking the flowers with her, she set them down at my bedside. “I mean, it must be so hard being you and getting flowers before the sun comes up from a handsome man.”
“Yes, it is. Goodbye,” I grumbled, tossing the sheets up above my head only for her to smack my thigh! “Ouch!”
“You deserve it. Anyway, I’m going to get ready for a lady’s breakfast party, so I will see you later.”
I made a face and muttered under my breath, “Oh, it must be so hard going to a rich breakfast—”
“What was that?”
“Enjoy yourself!” I lied, grinning.
“Um-hum,” was all she said in reply before closing the door behind her.
I took the sheet off my face and turned onto my side, trying to go back to sleep. But all I saw were the flowers. Just there...in my face. Flipping onto the other side, I tried again, closing my eyes and snuggling into my pillow. Still, no luck. I knew the flowers were there. I knew I had a letter there. And it was keeping me up just knowing.
I will just read it and then go back to sleep—no big deal. I shifted back over and stared at them for a moment longer before sitting up and taking the letter from the top.
NOVEMBER 2
Dear Odette,
First, remain calm. I have learned my lesson from yesterday. I only sent a hundred this time. Also, these flowers are not cut yet and are still in the soil. So, they will only die if you let them.
The white peony is one of the four flowers of Ersovia. It symbolizes prosperity and good fortune. I recall you telling me you get stage fright at shows, and that you have one today. I truly wish I could be there. My sister would be beside herself with jealousy. In fact, she might even cry out in anger and frustration, then stomp her feet before calling me the worst brother ever. I do not know what it is about your music that affects her so deeply, but it does, and I hope one day, I will understand, too. For now, when you are on stage, just remember that your music is so impactful that somewhere a princess, who could invite any musician to come to see her, is having a temper tantrum because she is not there to listen to it.
Everyone in that crowd has things they are afraid of, by the way—even me. I have a horrible fear of heights that I keep a secret from everyone. When I was eight, I climbed up a tree on a dare and then was too petrified to come back down. Everyone in the palace saw me shaking and hugging the branch. I was so embarrassed. I am still embarrassed about that, actually, so you must keep this secret to yourself.
Until we meet again,
GM.
“You have hijacked my morning,” I whispered, looking down at the full page he had taken up. So much for not thinking about him. How was I going to get the image of him as a boy stuck in a tree out of my mind? Or his sister—a princess—throwing a fit? What could I even say? I sat there, rereading and rereading, then smiling before getting mad at myself for smiling. What happened to my new day?
He really didn’t have to do this for me. Yes, I enjoyed it, but part of me felt like he was using moves. Did I like it? Yes. But still. All of this felt like a step-by-step play for me to fall for him.
Reaching over, I grabbed my cell and prepared to text him back but saw the time.
Well, if he can wake me, I can do the same to him, I thought, opening a message.
Your flowers woke me up. Backspace. Backspace. Backspace. That sounded rude. My mom’s comment about getting flowers in the morning was right. It wasn’t the worst thing. It wasn’t even a bad thing. The last thing I wanted to do was insult him over it. But I also didn’t know how else to send a message to him. And then it came to me.
All I needed now were flowers.
If he could send them, so could I.
It was after four in the afternoon before I woke up. My body was aching and heavy. Jet lag always hit harder the second day than it did the first, and it completely knocked me out last night...and all of this morning. I figured Iskandar must have left me to sleep, which was why my clothes weren’t already laid out by Wolfgang. However, now that I was dressed and downstairs, I could clearly see he hadn’t let me sleep in. He hadn’t woken up, either.
There he was lying still, upright, and almost like a dead man on the couch. Immediately, I did what any rational person would do, and I got out my phone, bent over the couch, and took a photo....no one would believe this otherwise. Iskandar the Rock had overslept. He was sleeping, in fact! It was amazing. It was the sign of the end times.
Slam.
The front door behind me opened and closed.
“Sorry!” Wolfgang said when I turned back to him.
However, I was more confused about the giant basket of white and yellow flowers in his hands.
“What are you carrying?”
“Flowers?” he replied.
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I can see that, but why do you have them?”
“They look to be delivered, sir.” Iskandar’s voice was right at my ear
“Jesus Christ!” I jumped away from the now very awake man, sitting up as if he came from the grave right behind me. “You are awake?”
He nodded and got up off the couch, bowing. “Forgive me. I overslept.”
“Yes, I noticed that, too. Wolfgang, you should slap him on the back of the head for payback after what he did last night.” I grinned, really wanting to see that.
“Who sent flowers? Are they for Ms. Wyntor?” Iskandar ignored me to ask Wolfgang. “Competition for the prince?”
I cracked my jaw, annoyed at that, and how he said it as if he were hoping so. Did he forget his duty in his nap? He was supposed to be on my side, not cheering on someone trying to—
“No, the flowers are for him.”
My head went back to Wolfgang. “Him, who?”
“Him, you.”
“Are we writing a Doctor Seuss book? What do you mean him, you? What kind of explanation is that?” I snickered.