“And so beautiful. Queen Elpis has a skilled hand with celebration décor. It seemed tasteful but still dazzling,” Tril continued, grasping both my hands and walking backwards, pulling me toward the chamber where Mars’s bed was. “I studied how she did that and I think it was the lanterns. She’s a dab hand with placing those decorative lanterns. The light they radiate through those little holes. That’s décor in and of itself.”

“Tril—”

She stopped abruptly and shook my hands.

I shut my mouth when I saw the tears in her eyes.

“She had a special place for me,” she whispered.

“I’m sorry?” I whispered back.

“Queen Elpis. She knows…” I watched her swallow before she went on, “She knows what we mean to each other and an officiant at the wedding found me when I arrived and took me to a special place, one close to you and your king, so I could see everything.”

“Oh my goodness,” I kept whispering.

I very much had to thank Elpis for that extraordinary kindness.

“You couldn’t see me. You had other things on your mind. And you were… Oh, Silence!” Tril pulled me into her arms and held me close. “You were so beautiful. So dignified. So regal.” She caught my upper arms and gave them a firm squeeze, pulling away and grinning teary-eyed at me. “And your king. If he hasn’t already taken the plunge, my love, he’s teetering on the precipice. He’s utterly smitten with you.”

To my shock, I could not argue that.

Her smile got wider as her eyes got brighter with tears.

“Just days. You’ve known him but days and he’s roaring to the heavens at claiming you as his queen. I swear, my love, I’ve never seen anything so romantic in my entire life.”

“That was rather lovely,” I murmured.

“Lovely!” she hooted. “Darling girl, I think I saw about five Firenz girls faint, and a dozen more looked about ready to do so when he did that.”

“Truly?” I asked.

She laughed aloud, tucked my hand in her elbow and moved me toward my new dressing room.

“Truly,” she confirmed when she’d ceased laughing. “I cannot tell you,” she drew the sheer black curtain aside, “how much I love this for so many reasons. Most specifically how very little your father has to do with any of it.”

One could say that Estrilda was not fond of my father. Then again, she’d been my lady’s maid for seven years and my friend since practically the first day we met. The way my father was with me, for a friend, that would happen.

However.

“Tril,” I chided.

She pushed me to the daybed and waved a hand in the air. “Please, I’m maidservant to a queen. I can talk about Lord Johan as I like now.”