by E. D. Baker
It was dark outside the window when Annie finally climbed the ladder, counting each mattress as she passed it. “Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two … There are twenty-two mattresses here, and I bet Queen Lenore didn’t give me even one decent pillow. For someone who acts like she thinks she’s better than everyone, Liam’s mother is a lousy hostess.”
Annie was surprised when she reached the top, however. The highest mattress was filled with down and covered with a blanket as soft and warm as kitten fur. There were three pillows on the bed, each one stuffed with down that poofed out around her head when she tested it. The pillows and blanket all smelled like lavender, a scent she’d always found relaxing.
Yawning, Annie snuggled under the covers and closed her eyes. She was exhausted and expected to fall asleep right away and so was surprised to find herself still awake a few minutes later. She changed her position, hoping that would make a difference, then stared into the dark as the last flickering candle went out. She moved her legs from one side of the bed to the other. She rolled over and tried sleeping on her other side. She plumped up her pillows, wadded them into balls, and pounded them with her fist. No matter how she positioned herself, she couldn’t get comfortable.
Annie willed herself to relax, forcing every part of her to go limp, starting with her eyebrows. She tried to think about something pleasant, but wound up thinking about Liam. She thought about all the angry, hurtful things she’d like to say to him for lying to her about being a guard, getting tenser with each passing second. When she realized what she was doing, she had to force herself to relax all over again. She thought about how much Liam had helped her and how, aside from lying about his identity, he had shown that he had more integrity than most of the men she’d met. Lying there in the dark, she decided that Liam had earned the right to be heard; whatever he had to say, it had better be good.
She rolled over again and flung her arms wide. Maybe she’d never go to sleep again. Maybe she’d forgotten how.
Annie was lying on her back with her legs dangling over the side of the mattresses when the music began. The lute music was soft and soothing, as was the voice that sang the lullaby. It was a tune that had never failed to put her to sleep when she was a baby. Now, in the middle of the night when she was trying to sleep, she found it irritating. She sat up and listened. It sounded as if the music was coming from right outside her door.
Annie flopped back on the bed and pulled the ends of a pillow up around her ears. When that didn’t work, she turned on her side and pulled the pillow over her head, leaving just enough space to breathe. She could still hear the music.
The first tune ended and the unseen musician began another. “No!” Annie shouted, yanking the pillow off the bed and pitching it at the curtain. “Stop playing! People are trying to sleep around here!”
The music stopped abruptly. For a moment, Annie thought she heard the murmur of voices. When all she could hear was silence, she lay back down, hoping that maybe now she could finally go to sleep. Yet even as tired as she was, Annie still found it impossible to get comfortable. She rolled over again, but this time she was too close to the edge and nearly fell off. Feeling nothing but air under half her body, she rolled back and lay still, clinging to the mattress.
Annie was lying on her back, her eyes wide open, when the first rays of sunlight grayed the darkness of night. She knew that if she sat up, she could reach out and touch the ceiling, but that would mean moving limbs that felt like dead weights. Annie dozed then, coming fully awake when her door creaked open.
“Is that you, Meg?” Annie called, not sure if she’d slept for even a moment.
“It’s me, Your Highness,” Meg replied. “Queen Lenore wants you to come to break your fast with her if you’re awake.”
“I’m awake, all right,” Annie said, sounding grim. “Just like I’ve been all night.”
Although she expected to return to the Great Hall, Annie followed Meg to a much smaller chamber. A round table had been set up at one end of the room. Queen Lenore was there, with her two sons flanking her on either side. An older man was seated across from the queen. His leg was propped on a cushion and he wore a soft slipper on his foot.
“Come here, girl,” said Queen Lenore, gesturing to her with an imperious wave of her hand.
Liam frowned at his mother and said, “Her name is Princess Annabelle.”
“Humph,” said the queen. “So how did you sleep, my dear?” she asked Annie. “Tell the truth now. I’ll know if you’re lying.”
“I slept very poorly,” said the old man. “If anyone is interested.”
Annie yawned and wiped her eyes, which refused to stop tearing. “I didn’t sleep at all,” she replied. “I couldn’t get comfortable on your mattress tower.”
“I don’t believe you. Someone told you to say that,” said the queen, glaring at Liam.
“Don’t look at me,” Liam replied. “I haven’t spoken to Annie since you sent her off to that room. Tell me,” he said, turning to Annie, “is the tower of mattresses still as tall?”
“I counted twenty-two,” said Annie. “I could touch the ceiling when I sat up. Why did I have to sleep on all those mattresses anyway?”
“My mother has a theory,” Liam began. “She thinks that a real princess would be so sensitive that she couldn’t sleep if there was so much as a pea under her mattress. She tests every girl who claims to be a princess.”
The queen looked as if she was thinking about something else entirely, so Annie asked Liam, “Why would she doubt them?”
“She doesn’t think any princess is really a princess. It’s because she doesn’t think any girl is good enough for Clarence. Plus, she likes to torment whomever she can.”
Annie stifled another yawn. “But I don’t understand—wouldn’t a mattress squash a pea? Then it would be flat and no one would feel it.”
Liam chuckled and said in a loud whisper, “I doubt Mother thought of that. She doesn’t have much of an imagination.”
Queen Lenore shot Liam a disgusted look. Holding her nose even higher in the air, she gestured to a guard, saying, “You, come here.” After speaking to the queen for a moment, the guard hurried from the room.
“I’m going to watch the troops drill today,” said the old man. “I can’t ride a horse anymore, but I can keep my leg up if I go in one of the carriages. Liam, why don’t you join me? Your brother has never been interested in anything military.”
“I’d like to, but I have to escort the princess home.”
“Very good, my boy. Very good. I taught you to be chivalrous and I’m pleased to see that you learned your lessons well.”
Everyone looked up as the guard reentered the room along with Meg and a young man carrying a lute.
“Did you sleep outside the door of the Princess Chamber as I commanded you to last night?” Queen Lenore asked Meg.
Meg bobbed up and down in a quick curtsey. “Yes, Your Highness. After I took the princess’s supper to her, no one went in and no one came out.”
“Did you hear her snore or make any other sound that would indicate she was asleep?”
“No, Your Highness. All I heard was a lovely lullaby.” Meg smiled at the young man with the lute.
“Have you seen Liam’s carvings?” the old man asked Annie. “He whittled a unicorn for me when he was just a boy. Here it is. I had a pocket made especially for it. It’s six inches tall, but it looks so real, doesn’t it? He carved those statues in the Great Hall, too. Although the wooden soldiers are larger than life, the weapons’ proportions are the same as the real ones.”
“They’re very impressive,” said Annie. She was so tired that she had to fight to stay awake.
“As for you,” the queen said, turning to the lute player. “Did you play the lullabies as I ordered you to?”
“Yes,” said the young man. “I played until the princess told me to stop.”
Queen Lenore scowled.
“I told you she was a princess,” said Liam.
“Be that as it may, I still don’t understand why you brought her here,” said Clarence.
“Because I thought it was about time you met and that you learned about Princess Annabelle’s quest. It has been my privilege to accompany her as she locates princes to kiss her sister.”
“What’s this?” said the old man. “Why does her sister need a kiss?”
“Father, I’m sorry no one ever introduced you and Annabelle. The lovely young lady standing before you is Princess Annabelle of Treecrest, the younger daughter of King Halbert and Queen Karolina, who are at present asleep in their castle. They will remain asleep until the day their older daughter, Princess Gwendolyn, receives a kiss from the prince who happens to be her true love. Whoever wakes the princess will win her hand in marriage, placing him in line to rule Treecrest at the side of his queen one day.”
“Are you saying that if Clarence kisses this girl, she’ll marry him and he’ll be the next ruler of Treecrest?” asked the queen.
“If he wakes her, yes.”
Queen Lenore looked indignant. “Of course she’d wake if Clarence kissed her. He’s the most eligible prince in all the known kingdoms.”
“And Princess Gwendolyn is known to be the most beautiful princess. Even now princes are thronging to the castle, eager to win her hand.”
“They are?” the queen said, aghast.
“I should go, Mother,” Clarence said, getting to his feet.
The queen held up her hand as if to stop him. “But all our preparations...”
“What preparations?” asked the king.
“Those preparations have been very expensive,” said Clarence. “A prolonged campaign would be even more costly. However, if I were to win the princess’s hand in front of all those princes...”
“No one could deny your right to rule!” exclaimed the queen. “Brilliant, my dear boy.”
“What preparations?” the king asked again. “What have you been up to, Lenore?”
“I think it’s time for us to go, Annie,” said Liam. “I’ll have the cook pack some food to take with us.”
“As much as I hate going anywhere with you, we might as well ride together if we’re going to the same place,” Clarence told Liam.
“Great!” Liam muttered under his breath.
“Pardon me?” his brother said, raising one eyebrow.
“That’s great!” Liam said more loudly. Clarence looked satisfied and went off to collect his things.
Annie covered her mouth as she yawned again, wishing that she had the time to take a nice long nap.
CHAPTER 15
ANNIE WAITED IN THE GREAT HALL while Liam and Clarence prepared for the trip ahead. She stood to the side, out of the way and unnoticed, only half watching the whirl of activity. Exhausted, she would have fallen asleep standing up if her mind weren’t thrumming with unasked questions, most of which would have to wait until she and Liam were alone.
Annie didn’t like the thought of traveling with Clarence. She had a lot of questions for Liam, and had no desire to discuss any of them in front of Clarence. In addition, she and Liam had established their own routines and recognized each other’s moods; anyone traveling with them was bound to change things. And from what she had seen of Clarence, he was as self-centered as most of the princes she’d met, unlike Liam. For a moment she wondered how two brothers could be so different, and if it had anything to do with magic the way it had in her own family. Liam was handsome, but not overwhelmingly so, while Clarence looked too good to be real, like an artist’s idealized portrait of what a handsome man should be.
She was musing about what it might have been like to grow up in Liam’s family when Clarence entered the Hall. When he didn’t seem to see her, she shrank back against the wall, not wanting to have to talk to him without Liam around. A moment later his mother appeared and strode directly to Clarence. Mother and son spoke briefly, then the queen tucked what looked like a piece of parchment under the flap of Clarence’s saddlebag, kissed him on the cheek, and left.
Liam arrived shortly after and spotted Annie right away. Smiling, he waved and hurried over to talk to her. “Everything is ready,” he said, showing her his stuffed saddlebag.
“Good,” said Annie. “I should have returned to Treecrest days ago. How long will the trip take us?”
“Almost two days,” said Liam.
“That long? I suppose it’s just as well. I need to talk to you about a lot of things.”
“I know,” said Liam, his smile fading. “I apologize in advance for most of what you’re going to say.”
“There you are,” said Clarence, motioning to the servant carrying his saddlebag. “How many servants are you taking?”
“None,” said Liam. “And neither are you. An entourage would hold us back and we don’t have time for that.”
“That’s preposterous!” spluttered Clarence. “Every prince needs an entourage when he travels.”
“Let him take one, Liam,” said Annie. “We’ll go now and he can follow with his servants. It shouldn’t take more than a day or two extra before he joins us. By that time all the princes who are already there will have kissed Gwennie. Since they’ve all hurried to reach her side, one of them is bound to be her true love.”
“Never mind,” said Clarence, taking his saddlebag from his servant. “I suppose I can rough it if you can.”
“Too bad,” Liam said, and winked at Annie.
They were out in the courtyard when Liam saw that she was struggling to keep her eyes open. “You’re riding with me,” he said, boosting her onto the back of the stallion he was to ride. “The last thing we need is for you to go to sleep and get hurt when you fall off your horse.” After settling on the saddle behind Annie, he reached around her to grip the reins.
“This is nice,” she murmured, snuggling into his arms.
“What did you say?” Liam asked, but Annie was already asleep.
She dozed as she rode tucked against Liam’s chest and didn’t wake while they clattered across the drawbridge and down the main road. They were passing through a village when she woke, still tired, but not nearly as much as she had been. They traveled straight through for most of the day, stopping to stretch their legs only once when Clarence’s complaints grew too loud. By mid afternoon he was dawdling, so they rode ahead after telling him that they were going to make sure the way was safe. Annie was relieved when they could no longer see Clarence behind them and she and Liam were finally alone.
“Before we talk about anything else,” said Annie, “I need to know why you lied to me. Why did you pretend to be a guard?”
“Because I wanted to protect you,” said Liam. “Would you have let me come with you if you’d known I hadn’t told the truth when I got the job in your parents’ castle? I’m not in the habit of lying. I never would have if I hadn’t thought you needed me.”
“But why did you lie in the first place? Why get a job in my parents’ castle at all? Normally I’d think it was so you could be close to Gwennie. Our last steward came to work there for that very reason. My father had him banished from the kingdom when he learned that the man had been following Gwennie around and spying on her. But you weren’t like that. I never saw you pay her any special attention.”
“I wasn’t there because of your sister, or at least not the way you think. I had overheard something I wasn’t supposed to hear and—”
“Wait for me!” Clarence shouted from behind them.
His horse’s breathing was labored when he rode up, making Annie wonder just how far back he’d been before he decided to join them.
“I don’t suppose there’s an inn up ahead,” said Clarence. “Somewhere clean where we can spend the night. I want a bath and a good hot meal.”
“There aren’t any inns on this stretch of road,” said Liam.
Clarence scowled. “You made us come this way just to torment me, didn’t you? Mother always said I shouldn’t trust you.”
“Did she now?” Li
am replied. “And I thought you and Mother were the ones I couldn’t trust. I heard how you were trying to embroil our family in the most under-handed, deceitful—”
“Mother was right,” Clarence said, his lip curled in a sneer. “You don’t care anything about Dorinocco. We’ve been planning strategy because we want to make our kingdom the greatest power in all the land, but you’re too interested in ‘doing the right thing’ to do what needs to be done. You’ll see—when I become king of Treecrest, profit from linder tree fabric will fill Dorinocco’s coffers. You and Father will get to play soldier, but only because of me.”
“What you call planning strategy most people call sneaking around and plotting behind the king’s back. Father won’t be happy when he learns the full extent of what you and Mother have done.”
Clarence’s eyes narrowed as he leaned forward in his saddle. “And I suppose you plan to tell him... if you haven’t already.”
“I don’t need to. Father already suspects that you’re up to something. It won’t be long before he’s uncovered it all.”
“By then I’ll be married to the princess Gwendolyn and it won’t matter.”
“We’ll see,” said Liam. “You’re not the only prince going to Treecrest who thinks he’ll win her hand. I know you and Mother don’t doubt that you’ll wake her, but I don’t think you’re good enough to be her true love. Being handsome isn’t everything.”
Clarence scowled at his brother. “You always were a sniveling little—”
“I don’t agree,” Liam said, shaking his head. “I’m taller than you by a good four inches and I haven’t sniveled since I was a baby. You, on the other hand, have been whiny your whole life.”