Switched (19 page)

Meanwhile, I had the pleasure of camping out in my sweats all day. Whenever Elora saw me, she glared at my apparel intensely, but she was always too busy making demands to somebody else to complain about me.

Everything that I managed to overhear only made my coming-out festivities sound even more terrifying. The most horrific thing I heard as she zipped by: “We’ll need seating for at least 500.” Five hundred people were going to be at a party where I would be the center of attention? Splendid.

The only upside of the day was that I got to spend the entire thing with Finn. That became less enjoyable because Finn refused to talk about anything that wasn’t related to my performance at the party. 

We spent two hours going over the names and pictures of the more prominent guests that would be attending. Two whole hours spent pouring over a yearbook-type thing trying to memorize the faces, names, and notable facts of about a hundred people. 

Then there was the hour and a half spent at the dinner table. Apparently, I did not know how to eat properly. There were certain ways to hold the fork, tilt the bowl, lift the glass, and even place the napkin. Up until that time, I had never mastered any of those skills, and from what I gathered about the way Finn regarded me, I still hadn’t.

Eventually, I gave up. Pushing my plate back, I laid my head down and pressed my cheek against the cold wood of the table.

“Oh my god, has he killed you?” Willa asked, sounding appalled.

I lifted my head to see her standing at the end of the dining room table, hands on her fashionable hips. She wore too much jewelry, her necklaces and bracelets overly adorned and jangly, but that was part of being a troll. They all seemed to have a fondness for trinkets, something I had somehow missed, other than my obsession with my thumb ring.

“He bored me to death, too,” Willa smiled at me, and I couldn’t believe I felt relieved to see her. No way would she try to bore me with the names of the past 300 monarchs.

“And yet, you look as alive as ever,” Finn said dryly, leaning back in his chair across from me. “Perhaps I didn’t try hard enough with you.”

“Is that some kind of burn,
stork
?” Willa pulled back her lip in some kind of snide grimace, but she didn’t completely pull it off.

“If you’re feeling a burn, I suggest you defer to your former sexual partners,” Finn gave her a small smile, and I gaped at him. I’d never heard him speak like that to anyone before.

“Funny,” Willa tried to keep a straight face, but I was under the impression she was amused. “Anyway, I’m here to rescue the Princess.”

“Really?” I asked a little too brightly. “Rescue me how?”

“Fun stuff.” She shrugged in a cute way, and I looked to Finn to see if I could leave.

“Go.” He waved vaguely at me. “You’ve worked hard and you need a break.”

I didn’t think I’d ever be happy to get away from Finn, but I nearly scampered after Willa. She looped her arm through mine, leading me away from the dining room and towards my room. I instantly felt bad about leaving Finn, but I couldn’t take another lecture on silverware.

Willa chatted with me the whole way to my room, in one endless stream of commentary about how dreadful these first few weeks were. She’d been certain that Finn would stab her with a fork during dining service, or vice versa.

“This is the worst part,” she said solemnly as we walked into my bedroom. “The whole boot camp before the ball.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’s
horrid
.”

“Yeah, I’m not enjoying it,” I admitted tiredly.

“But I made it through, so you’ll definitely make it through.” She walked into my bathroom, and when I didn’t follow, she looked back at me. “Are you coming?”

“To the bathroom with you?”

“To practice hairstyles.” She gave me a
duh
look, and reluctantly, I walked in after her. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

“Hairstyles?” I asked, and Willa ushered me over to the stool in front of the vanity.

“Yeah, for the ball.” She sifted through the hair products on the counter and stopped, meeting my eyes in the mirror. “Unless your mother is going to help you with it.”

“Not that I know of,” I shook my head.

“She’s definitely not the nurturing type,” Willa agreed, somewhat sadly. Picking a bottle of something and a brush, she turned to me. “Do you want your hair up or down?”

“I don’t know.” I thought back to when I’d first met Willa, and Finn had told me to wear it down. “Down. I guess.”

“Good choice.” She smiled and pulled out my hair tie, painfully taking my hair down. “So, did Frederique come today?”

“Uh, yeah, a few hours ago,” I said between gritted teeth as she raked a comb through my hair.

“Excellent,” Willa said. “When you have your fitting, you should take a picture and send it to me. I’d love to see what it looks like.”

“Yeah, sure thing.”

“I know how ridiculous and confusing everything is at first.” Willa teased and primped at my hair, all the while chatting happily. “And Finn knows pretty much everything, but he can be a little… cold, at times. And I’m sure the Queen isn’t much better.”

“Not really,” I admitted. But cold wouldn’t be how I described Finn. Sometimes he was standoffish, but other times, when he looked at me just so, he was anything but cold.

“I’m just letting you know that I wanna help you.” She stopped pulling at my hair long enough so she could meet my eyes in the mirror again. “And not like that backstabbing bitch Aurora Kroner, or because my father told me to, although he did. Or even like Finn because it’s his job. I just know what it’s like to be you. And if I can help, I want to.”

She gave me a crooked smile, and I saw a sincerity in it that startled me. Underneath her vapid pretense, she was actually a kind person. So few people here had seemed to genuinely care about anything.

Immediately after that moment, Willa launched into a lengthy discussion about gowns. She could name every gown she’d seen since coming to Förening three years ago, and she only liked one or two of them.

So my training with Willa didn’t turn out to be that much more interesting than with Finn. She had a lot more gossip, about who dated who and who was engaged and all that. But since I didn’t know who any of the people were, it wasn’t that interesting.

Willa was thus far single, and it didn’t sit well with her. She kept saying that her father needed to arrange something, and mentioned a few guys she’d had her eyes on that slipped by. She spoke very fondly of Tove Kroner, but I didn’t entirely understand why. Although, she did point out that by missing out on him, she’d also missed out on a monster of a mother-in-law.

Still, by the end of the day, I had a hairstyle picked out, a makeup “plan” in order, and I felt like I knew a little bit more about the Trylle royalty. She made it all sound a lot like high school, which would’ve been comforting, except I didn’t do that well at high school.

16. Further Instruction

They had taken an interest in me, and I knew I should feel flattered, but I’d wished they just left me alone. Elora and Aurora Kroner stood on the opposite side of the table as me. A seating chart stretched across the giant oak table, and they both leaned over it, staring with intense scrutiny.

I had a feeling Elora had just dragged me with her because misery loves company. Aurora, I couldn’t really see her interest in me, except that she hoped to understand me and cause my demise. That was the best I could figure from the too big way she smiled at me.

Finn had snuck into my room early in the morning, and my initial excitement faded when I saw how frantically he picked out my clothes. He instructed me to get ready with lightening speed and that I had to be on my best behavior, all day. I hated the way he treated me like I was five, and it was my first day of kindergarten.

But sitting here, watching them analyze every minute detail of a flippin’ seating chart, I really felt like a five-year-old. One that had gotten in trouble and had to sit in a very agonizing timeout. I tried to look studious and interested in all of this, but I didn’t know any of these people.

They had met in the War Room in the South wing of the house. The walls were plastered with maps. Red and green patches speckled all of them, revealing other tribes of trolls. I’d been trying to study them while Elora and Aurora talked, but Elora had snapped my attention back every time it wandered.

“If we put the Chancellor here, then Markis Laurent will have to move from this table entirely.” Aurora tapped the paper.

“I don’t see another way around it.” Elora smiled as sweetly as she could manage, and Aurora matched it perfectly.

“He’s travelling a great distance to be here for this,” Aurora batted her eyes at Elora.

“He’ll still be near enough where he can hear the christening,” Elora said, and turned her attention to me. “Are you ready for the christening ceremony?”

“Um, yeah,” I said. Finn had mentioned it to me, but I hadn’t been paying that much attention. I couldn’t say that to Elora, though, so I just smiled and tried to look confident.

“A Princess doesn’t say ‘um.’” Elora narrowed her eyes at me, and Aurora did a poor job of trying to mask a snicker.

“Sorry,” I sighed.

Elora looked like she wanted to chastise me further, but Aurora watched us both like a hawk. Elora pursed her lips, biting her tongue so she wouldn’t show any sign of weakness to Aurora.

I didn’t understand what Aurora was doing here or what Elora had to fear from her. She was the Queen, and as far as I could tell, Aurora’s only ability seemed to be making backhanded compliments and veiled threats.

She looked radiant, wearing a long burgundy gown that made me feel incredibly underdressed in a simple skirt. Aurora’s beauty nearly overshadowed Elora’s, and that was really saying something, but I don’t think that kind of thing mattered to Elora. I couldn’t figure out why she let Aurora get under her skin like that.

“Perhaps you should continue your training elsewhere,” Elora suggested, glaring at me.

“Yes. Excellent idea.” I jumped to my feet so quickly, I almost knocked the chair over behind me. Aurora’s amused expression changed to downright disgust, and Elora rolled her eyes. “Sorry. I’m very excited about all of this.”

“Contain yourself, Princess.”

 Using restraint, I left the room as calmly as I could. I wanted to rush out, feeling much like a kid on the last day of school. I wasn’t sure that I knew my way back, and I had no idea where Finn was, but as soon as I thought it was safe, I picked up my pace, nearly jogging away.

 I’d made it a little ways down the hall, past several closed doors, when somebody stopped me.

“Princess!” A voice said from one of the few open doors I’d come across.

I stopped, tentatively peering inside the room. It appeared to be more of a den, with a lush red rug in the center and leather chairs sat around. One wall was made of glass, but the shades had been pulled shut over most of it, leaving the room in shadows.

A heavy mahogany bar sat in the corner, and a man leaned in front of it, holding a highball in his hand. I squinted, trying to get a better look of him. His hair looked disheveled, and he dressed nice but casual.

“Don’t you recognize me, Princess?” He had a smile in his voice, so I thought he might be teasing.

“It’s just hard to see,” I said, stepping more into the room.

“Garrett Strom. Willa’s father,” he told me, and I could see the grin widening on his face.

“Oh, right. It’s good to see you.” I smiled back, feeling more at ease. I’d only met him at dinner the other night, but I liked him. “Can I help you with something?”

“Nope. I’m just waiting for your mother, but I’m assuming it’ll be a long day, so I got a jumpstart.” Garrett motioned to the drink in his hand.

“Nice.”

“Do you want something to drink?” Garrett offered. “I’m sure you need one with Elora putting you through your paces.”

I chewed my lip, thinking. I’d never drank before, other than a glass of wine with dinner, but after the last few days, I definitely could use one. But Elora would kill me if she found out, and Finn would be more than disappointed in me.

“No, I’m good,” I shook my head. “Thanks, though.”

“Don’t thank me. It’s your liquor,” he pointed out. “You do look worn out. Why don’t you take a load off?”

“Alright.” I shrugged and sat down in one of the chairs. The leather may have looked distressed, but the chair had the hard buoyancy of being brand new. I moved around, trying to get comfortable, before eventually giving up.

“What is she having you do?” Garrett asked, sitting down across from me.

“I don’t know. She’s making a seating chart.” I leaned my head against the back of the chair. “I don’t even know why she wanted me there, except to point out what I was doing wrong.”

“She just wants you to feel included in all of this,” Garrett said between sips of his drink.

“Well, I’d rather not be included,” I muttered. “Between her and Aurora giving me icy glares and judging everything I say and do.”

“Don’t let her get to you,” Garrett advised.

“Which one?”

“Both,” he laughed. It was a warm sound, and I looked apologetically at him.

“Sorry. I don’t mean to dump on you.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he shook his head. “I know how hard this can be, and I’m sure Elora isn’t making it any easier on you.”

“She expects me to know everything and be perfect already, and I haven’t been here that long.”

“You’re strong-willed. You get that from her, you know,” Garrett smiled. “And as strange as it sounds, all this she’s doing – it’s to protect you.”

It was the first time anyone had drawn any kind of comparison between Elora and me, and it warmed me in a weird way. I realized that he was one of very few people I’d met that called her “Elora” instead of “Queen,” and I wondered exactly how well he knew her.

 “Thanks,” I said, unsure of what else to say.

“I heard Willa visited you last night.” His eyes settled on me. My vision had adjusted to the darkness of the room, and I could see the soft way he looked at me.