Royal Performer - Chapter 7

Princess Alexandria Alessi’s life has turned upside down in the blink of an eye. Only a few days ago, she was enjoying a clandestine summer shopping with her best friend at the local mall. Coming home, she was alarmed to discover her mom was there, and her secret of being transgender was suddenly no longer secret! Within a few short hours, her life became like a movie as she discovered that her long-lost father was the Crown Prince of Osané, a small, secluded island nation. Alexandria was immediately thrust into the spotlight in a whirlwind weekend that led to a Monday press conference to announce her royal lineage. Royal Performer is the second Tiffany Shar's 'Suddenly Royal' series.

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Chapter 7: Deals

THE NEXT MORNING, the alarm I had sneakily set for 4:55 a.m. woke me up instead of Anna’s annoying presence. I refused to be woken up by her again!

Apparently, that was an unexpected move, as when I came out of the bathroom in my robe a while later, she looked perplexed. “Did you not sleep last night?”

I shook my head, “I did; however, I set an alarm so I wouldn’t have to be woken up by you. I told you yesterday I am not a morning person.”

She had the good grace to look slightly pensive then, “Your Highness, I’m sorry if we got off on the wrong foot…”

“I’m sorry for that too, but to be fair, you started it by threatening to hit me. By the way, I told my mom about that threat - I would stay out of her way when she comes in a few weeks.”

She looked surprised by that, “Surely she understands discipline.”

“She does, which is why she has never spanked me or hit me. We don’t live in the past anymore in our house. Now, what am I supposed to wear today?” I said, moving on.

She dropped her mouth momentarily before showing me the day’s dress. It was almost a casual blue sleeveless dress with a dot print of darker, tiny blue flowers. It came to just above my knees and was reasonably full flair at the bottom of the skirt. It seemed a bit ‘old’ to me, and one touch of the fabric proved it was also probably way too expensive. ‘I would have killed to have been dressed in this openly a week ago…’ I thought, ‘It would be nice to have some other options, though. Ellie would be laughing her head off at me…’ I didn’t feel like battling Anna’s choice that morning, so I smiled and let her get on with the rest of getting me ready.

Fortunately, the rest of the time preparing me for my day went quickly and without any incidents with Anna. My hair was at least a more casual down style for the day. I only wore a simple pendant necklace and a golden tennis bracelet with what I feared probably were real, natural diamonds. A purse that matched was thrust at me before joining Grandmother for breakfast.

Whereas she had taken her time, and it had been a pretty relaxed meal the day before, that day, she seemed in a hurry to go on about her day. She departed before I was done, and only Madame Lavigne and the staff were there to keep me company. “So, more tests today?” I asked her.

“And possibly tomorrow since you couldn’t take the others last night.”

I groaned, “How did I do on the first ones?”

“I’ll tell you when you finish all of them,” she smiled at me.

Right then, I got chilled, my arms and legs bare. “Umm…” Madame gave me a stern look. “Sorry, may I be excused to grab a sweater or something to wear over my arms? I’m going to be freezing while taking these tests today.”

“Why not put on something a bit more comfortable while you’re at it?” She suggested.

I laughed, “Because all my clothes were burned in the house fire… They gave me a pair of yoga pants to get home from the hospital, but I haven’t seen them since.”

“Why don’t I come to see what you have to work with?” She suggested.

Thinking it was embarrassing to have a teacher figure go to your room with you, I blushed but nodded. “Okay.”

She followed me back to my room, which she’d been in only briefly before. I opened the closet, and she said, “My goodness! This is quite the closet!”

“Apparently, Her Majesty’s is even bigger, she said?” I shook my head. She gently thumbed through racks as I dug through hidden drawer panels.

There were jewels galore, fine underwear, even a whole drawer of jeweled hair ties… But I’d just about given up on anything warmer when I finally found some shawls hanging beside the final drawer. “Guess this is it,” I said, finding a white one that would be okay with the blue dress.

“For now… How about we extend the tests to a third day after this morning. We’ll go play tourist and find you some casual clothes? I can understand anytime you’re going to be out and about needing to be dressed properly, but in your own chambers, you should be able to be more comfortable. Plus, your grandmother asked me to include some ballet in your training. For that, we’ll need to get you some tights and a leotard.”

I blushed and was excited about participating in a childhood dream there.

“Deal!” I said.
 

THAT MORNING, I felt like my head had been through a blender as she thrust science tests of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics at me one after another. I had some foundations for those subjects in middle school, but as a freshman, I only took biology. That meant that, within that test, I wasn’t hopeless. Still, my brain hurt when I thought of the ordering of creatures, homeostasis, Krebs cycles, cell structures, and genetics. Some of the concepts had only been given an overview in our freshmen classes because there was an AP class we were supposed to take later in the sequence.

Chemistry was mainly a dud. While I knew about the periodic table and could probably make good guesses on some limited questions, the test moved on to something called stoichiometry, which was foreign to me. Physics was the same, so the computer said I was done with those by eleven thirty. Even with the shawl I’d found, my bare arms and legs had left me shivering in the cold from not moving.

“You really are behind in those schools over there, aren’t you?” She said as I saw the physics test proclaim it was done, looking at how quickly I finished.

“Giving me my results already?”

“Not really, but I think you have to know that if the tests finish that quickly, you’re not doing well?”

I nodded, “In my course plan, I’m scheduled to take Chemistry this coming year and Physics the next.”

She shook her head, “Seems like they might address things over the long haul, but by this age, you would already have had far more in-depth studies in the schools you would attend in Europe.”

“I guess… but our schools also are meant for everyone to attend – not just the wealthy, talented, or smart kids.”

“There is truth to that, I suppose.” She said, “Well, Anna came in and said lunch would be ready when you were, so let’s go have lunch, and then we’ll go explore the town?”

“You let them know your plan, right?”

She nodded, “Giuseppe and a team will be with us.”

I sighed, “Of course he will…”

“It’ll be fun even with that!” She told me, “You’ll see!”

With that, we closed the laptop lids we had both stared at and walked to the dining room.

Two salads were presented to us, and though I grimaced a bit at that being lunch, I gobbled it up pretty quickly. I was still hungry, but speaking out about whatever dietary plan was being shoved at me wouldn’t be a good start to the afternoon. ‘I’m finally getting out of here after being in a new country and only seeing the castle so far!’

I found a purse to hold my phone and wallet back in my room. When I met Madame Lavigne in the sitting room, Giuseppe was already talking to her.

“Hi Giuseppe,” I told him.

“Good afternoon, Your Highness,” he said formally.

I sighed. The intensely focused security guard wasn’t ever informal back home, but he had at least shown some cracks! “So, are we ready?” I asked.

“Yes, but before we go, I want to make sure we talk about your safety. I don’t think we’ll see any major issues, but if people recognize you, do you want us to get you out of there?”

“Or…?”

“Or you can let them approach you for pictures or autographs if they want?”

I shook my head, “I’m not that special.”

“You’re the Princess and future Queen of Osané; you are special,” he smiled at me. “Not to mention living every little girl’s fantasy of suddenly discovering you’re a real princess!”

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” I muttered.

“Your Highness, muttering is not ladylike,” Madame reminded me.

“Sorry…” I said contritely, “I’d be safe?”

“Of course.”

“Then I guess do you have pens or something?”

He smiled, “I’ll make sure someone has something. I figured we would start by walking through the main line of local shops, and if you don’t find what you want there, we’ll go to a local mall?”

I nodded, “Umm… I may need some more money depending on how pricey things are?”

Geneva chose that moment to walk through and handed me a silver-looking credit card. As she gave it to me, I was surprised it wasn’t plastic, “What is this?”

“This is a special credit card for you to use. If you’re going to go over fifty thousand Euros in a day, please clear it with us, but it will eventually let you spend more than that.”

I found myself practically hyperventilating as I stared at the card.

“I can’t spend that much money!”

She laughed, “You’ll find the right dress someday and discover that won’t go as far as you think.”

I shook my head, “I don’t think so…”

“Have fun,” she said and turned to leave.

“Shall we?” Madame asked me, seeing the stunned look had not gone away.

“I guess I don’t have to worry about spending money, so sure…”

I expected our departure to be a reverse of when we had arrived. Instead, Giuseppe led us to an elevator that went down three floors below the ground floor. “I thought it was the dungeons only down below?”

He laughed, “That’s the two levels above us, actually. This is an added service level. Forty years ago, your grandfather had a company install a tunnel underneath the castle that leads to a service entrance outside the walls. It was expensive, but it helps run the place without delivery trucks messing up the view for tourists every day.”

“That’s really smart,” I admitted.

We walked through an area clearly meant for receiving, and several people were going through deliveries. They looked at me and smiled, so I gave them a polite wave and followed Giuseppe to where the tunnel properly began. It was wide enough that you could easily drive a large semi-truck inside. Right beside the entrance, we found a couple of golf carts waiting. “Hop on, ladies,” he said, pointing to a second row of seats where Madame and I sat next to each other.

He pressed the pedal and had us quickly shoot through the tunnel. I noted it was significantly longer than I expected. “This goes all the way beyond the wall?” Madame asked him.

“And a bit further. It ends in an old warehouse in the village that was converted to receive shipments for the castle. This is how we usually leave when we don’t want all of the pomp of Her Majesty’s departure.”

I watched a concrete tunnel pass by me that reminded me of something from a picture of a missile silo or something. When we eventually reached the end, I had that thought reinforced by a massive steel door that looked like it was from Cheyenne Mountain!

“What’s with the door?” Madame Lavigne asked for me as we climbed off the cart.

“In the hysteria of the Cold War, it was decided that this network of tunnels could also serve as a bomb shelter,” Giuseppe answered.

“I always thought Osané would be a heck of a waste of a bomb,” a man, a bit older than my mom, joked next to us.

I giggled, “It would certainly not make much sense as a target?” I tried to regain my composure as I felt a withering stare from Madame.

“Exactly,” the unnamed man said. “I am Alain Richard,” he said to me. “Pardon my inappropriate humor, Your Highness.”

I smiled, “It’s a pleasure to meet you. What do you do here?”

“I’m the logistics chief for the estate. I handle all the orders, deliveries, and purchasing for the estate.”

“Thank you for your hard work; you must do a great job,” I said with a smile.

“You flatter me, but I appreciate it,” he told me. “You have the requested security detail and vehicles at the dock, Monsieur Rossini,” he told him.

“Merci beaucoup,” Giuseppe replied to him. “Come along, please, ladies,” he told us.

We were led through a busy warehouse with several forklifts operating to unload a semi-truck. Giuseppe led our way past them, and soon, we were in the open beside three SUVs. ‘Of course, we have a full escort,’ I groaned internally.