Chapter 75 You're The King

The palace wedding machine lurched into gear, starting early the next morning. Squadrons of smartly dressed and impeccably cheerful staff members descended upon her in shifts, all of them insisting that everyone—by which, they meant Aaliyah needed to pitch in to get her ready for the role they’d decided she must take.

But Aaliyah refused to play along.

No matter how brightly her attendants told her that she needed to turn up at this time or in this place, she didn’t. Instead, she and her aunt took Troy for long walks when it was sunny, out on the rambling palace grounds, which she was sure had to be bigger than her favorite park in San Francisco. When the weather was less cooperative, they raced up and down the grand marble halls, as if the palace was no more than a playground.

And in many ways, it was better than any playground they had ever been to before. The palace not only had hallways stuffed full of antiquities, but many of them also featured suits of armor and sharp weapons th