Maggie nodded to her. “Very good, ma’am.”

Oh. So not staff.

Imani led her through a grand gallery, through an old, massive library and down a hallway until she reached a door.

It opened to a small apartment, and they walked into a sitting room. The grand window overlooked the grounds to the north, a lush lawn and tended garden, overflowing with roses of all color. Beyond that, far below the high cliffs and beyond, the sea churned a deep blue.

A woman in her early forties, perhaps with auburn hair and deep-green eyes, wearing an apron, had set up shop in the room, covering the flooring and one of the blue velvet chairs with a drape. She curtsied. “Your highness. Ma’am.”

Your highness?

She looked at Imani.

“My mother is Princess Gemma,” she said with a smile.

“Princess Gemma, married to Crown Prince John?”

“That’s the one. And this is her stylist, Eloise.”

“Please sit, ma’am.” Eloise gestured to the chair and RJ had nothing but to sit.

How…?

“Oh, you have wonderful hair. What shall we do with it?” Eloise held out a hand mirror to her.

“Um. Nothing fancy —”

“Nope. It’ll be fancy. She’s getting married in…” Imani glanced at the clock. “Four hours!”

“Shush!” Eloise stepped back. “Well then, we must to work.”

Three hours later, RJ didn’t recognize herself. Eloise had washed, conditioned, waxed and coiffed her dark hair into a bouffant chignon. From her face, her hair fell away in a soft wave, gathered up behind her head where more curls and waves folded over each other into a gentle perfect next of glamour.

“Now all we need is a tiara.”

RJ had spent the time getting to know Imani, who told her a story of tragedy that could break anyone’s heart.

“My mother and father fell in love in high school, married, had me, and then my mother just dropped dead from an aneurysm. My dad died of a broken heart, although he really just fell asleep at the wheel in a one car accident. My grandfather died, then and my grandmother was too broken to take me, so Gemma took me in. She was sort of a rescuer of all things, including, I think Prince John.”

“I read about his wife, Holland’s tragic death, years ago.”

“Yes, terrible. And she was expecting. He came over to Hearts Bend for personal reasons but met Gemma there and fell in love. It took a little doing, but she finally agreed to marry him. And then they adopted me.”

“Your mom sounds amazing.”

“She is. But more, God is. He did this. We had nothing. Death. Destruction. Humiliation. Now we have new clothes, new titles. We are royalty.” Imani had picked out makeup, too, and after Eloise finished her hair, she went to work on her face. RJ stopped her at the false lashes, but agreed to the gold eye shadow, the red lips the mascara.