The weeks that followed the announcement had been full of news reports on the engagement. Which meant that her mother had learned of the engagement indirectly through the papers. She had called Alicia to complain that she had to learn of her own daughter's engagement through Mrs. Whats-Her-Name next door because Alicia hadn't bothered to call with the news.

Alicia was sitting on her bed listening to her mother ramble about how awful she was as a daughter for not letting her mother be involved. For a woman who hadn't talked to her daughter in nearly a year after a blow-out fight over career choices, she sure was demanding. Always did want more noble connections than she had.

In the middle of some rant about socially acceptable attire, Ailine snatched the phone out of Alicia's hand and hung it up before Alicia had the chance to stop her.

"What are you doing?" Alicia turned to face her friend, snatching her phone back from Ailine's hand.

"I'm hanging up on your mother because she's called seven times a week since this news dropped and we are supposed to be cleaning this room and getting you all moved out today. Which I'm very sad about, by the way. So pay attention to me, your sad friend."

"Sorry." Alicia sighed and looked at the pile of clothes she was folding and putting into her suitcase. "I know she's a lot but she's still my mom. We clash, but she's not mean or anything. I don't want to be mean back for no reason."

"Well, today your reason is you answered her questions already and I believe your Prince's limousine is arriving to collect you and your belongings in mere hours. You do not have time to talk."

"Except to you?"

"Obviously you can talk to me. I'm helping you pack. Talking to you is my payment."

Alicia sighed and looked down at the ring she had barely taken off since she received it. "It's just weird to be moving. I know it makes sense and I was going to have to move eventually but..."

"You thought you had more time?" Ailine was piling Alicia's makeup into a small bag on her dresser, so her back was turned, but Alicia could tell she was forcing a smile onto her face.

"Yes, exactly! I mean, we aren't getting married for what? Seven months or something? I thought I'd fly a little more under the radar, I guess. But they're right. I can't keep living here with no security and I can't put you through that."

"We could have had security here!" Ailine countered.

Alicia stood up and took the few steps to reach her window, sliding the curtains aside. She didn't say anything, instead choosing to sweep her arm across the window to encourage Ailine to look at the clamouring bunch of reporters hiding in her bushes.

"We don't exactly have a gate, either. I think we're starting to really annoy our neighbours. You like our neighbours."

"I like that they leave me alone and never talk to me."

"Yes, and wouldn't it be awful if they move away and the new neighbours bring you a casserole and a cake or something?"

Ailine visibly shuddered and placed Alicia's make up bag into one of the suitcases open on the floor. "Can I steal your bed while you are gone?"

Alicia turned to face her friend. "What's with the sudden change of topic?"

"Want a sudden change of topic? How are you doing with all this media stuff?"

"Subtle." Alicia slid her hair back into a ponytail using the elastic she always kept around her wrist. "I was really hoping it would calm down and give me more time before we had to do the whole 'moving in' thing, but I'll have my own space so I guess it's okay. I don't know, they keep trying to find things about my past so they can turn it into some kind of story."

"Fortunately, you are one of the most boring people ever, right?" Ailine quoted Alicia's own words from earlier back at her. "You had a boring average childhood and haven't even gotten a speeding ticket. What are they going to find?"

Alicia buried her face in her hands. "I know, but I'm still scared I might have forgotten something super embarrassing from when I was like six or whatever and they'll find it and then I'll be known as that girl who fell down a well. Forever."

"Major scandalous news, Alicia. Maybe you also have a picture with cake on your face from your first birthday. No one is going to care about that kind of thing. They all just want to know you. You could try letting them know some things so they back off the rest," she suggested.

"Did you learn that in public relations school?"

"No, my parents."

"Of course. I guess I can talk to the queen and king about it. I'm going to have to talk to them about things at some point, right?"

"Them?" Ailine stopped what she was doing to stare at Alicia. "Are you still calling your future inlaws 'them' for real?"

"Not to their face!" Alicia protested. Either her words or her face were so funny that Ailine started laughing and couldn't stop herself from wheezing for air.

"Oh, not to their face. That makes it a little better," she said between fits of laughter, holding herself up on the dresser so she didn't fall to the floor from laughter.

Alicia didn't think this was a funny situation at all and sat there staring at her friend. She's lost her mind.

When Ailine finally calmed down, she sat down beside Alicia on the floor and resumed stuffing clothes into suitcases. "Okay, so you should speak to 'them' about this, yes. At least tell Alejandro, yeah? He seems like he genuinely wants to help you."

Alicia smiled in spite of herself, earning her a gentle bump from Ailine's shoulder.

"Yes, he does. We've been hanging out a lot and really getting to know each other and everything I learn makes me like him more." Alicia's fingers twirled the ring around her finger again, feeling the small gems press into her fingertips as she did so. "But there's so much going on and I feel like this is a useless worry."

Ailine looked at Alicia as though waiting for her to say more, but Alicia didn't feel like spilling all of her secrets.

"You know," Ailine said finally, pushing herself up onto the bed. "I've met Alejandro now for at least twenty whole minutes and I have seen all the pictures in the paper of your official outings. And I have to say that boy's got it bad. I reckon you could convince him to leave the country if you wanted to."

"Don't say something that outrageous!" Alicia interrupted.

Ailine laughed. "See? This is what I mean. You don't even think about manipulating him or getting what you want. You are always thinking of others. And so is he. And sometimes that's an amazing quality — it's one of the things I like best about you — but if you aren't careful, it can lead to you both giving up things you don't need to."

Maybe she's right, Alicia had to admit. But how does that change anything? We still have a country to hold together.

"Maybe it's time for you to lean into the trust part of this," Ailine continued. "Maybe it's time for the two of you to be honest about your feelings and thoughts and wants and needs. You are both the kind of people who will bend over backwards to make each other happy. You love each other."

The way she said it, so matter-of-fact, took Alicia by surprise. "I've never said that before."

"You didn't have to. And neither does he. Everyone in the whole country, maybe even the world, knows it. But you can't keep sitting around like a string bean! You're smart and funny and amazing and you don't let anyone see it."

"I let him see," Alicia said quietly, turning her eyes down to her hands folded in her lap.

"And you should let everyone else, too. Be his partner, Alicia. Tell him what you need and work together to make both of you the best you can be. One day it'll just be the two of you running a whole country."

Alicia couldn't think of anything to say. Ailine is right, of course, but what do I do with that information?

The two women sat in silence, packing the remaining clothes into the suitcase and sliding the zipper shut before Ailine spoke again. "Plus, I'm expecting you to make this work because you'll be a great queen and also I want to be best friends with a queen. The parties are excellent."

"Well, maybe they'll be less excellent when Sofia isn't running them," Alicia countered.

"Nah, I'm sure the palace staff have the whole thing handled."

Alicia looked around the fully packed empty room and then back to her friend. "I'm going to miss you," she admitted. "I'm going to miss you a lot!"

"You know if you ever need your hair done, I'm only a call away. I'll bump someone to fit you in."

The two friends threw their arms around each other. This could be goodbye for a while, and everything was changing, but Alicia was resolved to make the most of it. She could be the queen one day, and that meant she needed to figure out her relationship with the prince and the country. Something she had failed to consider before that moment. The weight of it sat heavy on her shoulders as she descended the stairs to her front door and waited for her escort to the palace.

Queen Alicia. She swirled the thought around in her head. Has a funny ring to it.