Page 43 of Royal Caleva: Luis

As the door closed behind him, Eve felt as though the lights dimmed and half the oxygen left the room. She would have been worried except everyone else looked like they felt the same way.

As the students chattered about meeting the king, the minister came to stand beside Eve and the two vets. “I am very encouraged that the king is taking an interest in this project,” she said. “Your group’s presence seems to have put it on the fast track.”

Eve got the impression that the minister was mentally rearranging her schedule in order to attend the planning meetings now that the king had given the future vet school his personal attention. She hoped the minister wasn’t disappointed when she found out the real reason behind this delegation’s visit. Although Luis was waving the temptation of founding a school in front of Grace’s nose, so maybe it would happen.

Clara appeared and rejoined the group. “If you would like to enjoy some more food, please go ahead. We’ll be showing you to your rooms soon.”

That seemed to be the signal for the minister to exit. The students revisited the catering tables before plunking down to eat and talk.

“I’ve never stayed in a castle before,” Joe Murphy, one of the vets, said.

“Not to mention never meeting a king before,” his colleague Ezra Keenan agreed.

Eve glanced around the antique-filled room. “It’s pretty overwhelming, but it’s only two nights here, and then we get to stay with normal human beings in normal surroundings.”

Eve didn’t share the fact that they were being scattered among Calevan households to give Luis, Raul, and Grace a chance to spend time together without being seen. She and Grace would be staying at a house Luis owned, and he would join them in the evenings. Exhilaration and nerves shimmied through Eve at the thought of seeing Luis again.

At the same time, she worried about the effect on Grace. Her daughter had a good, sensible head on her shoulders, but it was hard to withstand the barrage of enticements a king could conjure up. Hell, Eve was having a hard time resisting them, and they were only tangentially aimed at her.

She and Grace had talked about some of the implications of going public with her royal blood, but of course, neither of them had actual experience of what it would be like. All they could do was make intelligent guesses. Eve had encouraged Grace to talk with Prince Raul about his daily life. Assuming the prince embraced his half sister.

A few minutes later, the door opened again to admit three people dressed in the deep green that seemed to signify palace staff.

Clara stood. “You are now welcome to accompany your guides to your rooms.”

A young woman stepped forward and called out two student names. When her charges joined her, she said, “Please follow me,” and led them out of the room.

“I will escort you,” Clara said to Eve and Grace. “We will wait just a little longer before we go.”

Eve and Grace exchanged questioning looks, but Eve didn’t ask why. This whole trip had been so carefully orchestrated that she assumed there was a good reason.

“I hope you are enjoying your visit so far,” Clara said. “Tomorrow morning, you will have a tour that includes the lily fields and the research facility working on preserving our local fauna, in particular, the Calevan dragons. In the afternoon, you are scheduled to meet with various officials from the Ministry of Agriculture to begin discussions about the veterinary school. When that is done, you will be free to wander the streets of San Ignacio. If you would like a guide, text me, and I will arrange for one.”

“That would be great,” Grace said.

“We may go to your suite now,” Clara said after everyone else had been escorted out.

She led them through so many corridors that Eve was thoroughly lost by the time they came to a halt in front of a carved oak door. Clara pulled two key cards out of her pocket and pressed one against the black pad on the door. The lock clicked, and she swung the door open, waving them through in front of her.

They entered a wood-paneled sitting room with three tall windows, furnished with rose velvet sofas and comfortable-looking armchairs upholstered in a floral fabric. Flames danced in a fireplace surrounded by burgundy-and-cream-painted tiles. A Persian rug lay on the polished wood planks of the floor, and a giant vase of vaho hibiscus stood on the desk between the windows, the fragrance wafting into Eve’s nostrils.

Clara gestured to a basket sitting on the coffee table in front of the sofa. “You’ll find tapas and dulces there and a bar in that cabinet, but you can ask the palace kitchen for anything else you would like. Your phones should have the intercom numbers programmed in them already. Just tap the castle icon.”

She strolled to a doorway beside the fireplace. “One bedroom is in here. I believe we put Grace’s luggage in this one, but feel free to swap.” She crossed to the opposite side of the room to indicate a door near the window. “The other bedroom is here.” She approached the desk. “You’ll find paper copies of your schedules here, but they are also on your phones, of course.”

Clara tapped the papers before she continued. “A palace staff member will be here to take you to dinner at seven. You do not need to dress up. You will be eating with each other in an informal dining room. We thought you might wish to relax after your long journey.” She paused. “May I help you with anything else?”

Eve and Grace looked at each other and shook their heads.

Clara gave them a wide smile. “We are happy to have you here in Caleva.” And then she was gone, the door closing behind her with a solid thump.

Grace spun around, taking in the elegance of the room. “Oh my God, this is amazing!” She dashed through the door into her bedroom. “Mom, you have to come see this bed!”

Eve followed her to find a canopy bed hung with billows of rose damask with flowers woven into the fabric. The two tall windows were layered with the same damask as well as swaths of floral-printed silk. “It’s quite…spectacular,” Eve said.

Grace laughed. “It’s ridiculous, but I kind of love it. Let’s see what your room looks like.”

“Whoa! This is even crazier,” Grace said, stopping in the doorway.

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