“And so it is,” he replied, “which is why it’s secret and its entrance is guarded so closely. No-one can run a kingdom alone and always make the right decisions. No one man can always see and judge correctly. And yet often people insist on audiences with the king alone. At such times, I can place my most trusted advisors in this room. They can observe what is happening and afterwards give me their advice.
“My grandfather used to put guards in here whenever he met with a certain powerful but treacherous earl. The earl always insisted on meeting with the king alone and one day he became enraged during one of their meetings. He overpowered my grandfather and began to smother him. The king was unable to call for help but his captain of the guard was watching from this room. He leapt out and fought the earl, killing him and saving the king.”
“Fortunately I have never needed to post guards in this room until now. The head of each delegation will meet with me here to discuss potential treaty terms. To include guards at such a meeting would be an insult to the delegation. Yet with an unknown enemy working against me, I cannot risk being unprotected. I will post several guards in this room and I would like you to be in here as well. After each meeting you will tell me your impression of the delegation.”
“Me, your majesty?” I squeaked.
“You,” he said with a smile. “I have already told you that I trust your instincts. You should trust them, too.”
As we left the secret room I pondered his words. His confidence only made me doubt myself. I had always trusted my instincts about people before, but the fate of a kingdom had never been riding on them. And not just a kingdom but the lives of people I had come to love. It all seemed too much.
Chapter 18
The princesses were engaged in their lessons when the delegation from Northhelm arrived. Since I was not needed to accompany them, I wasn’t invited down to the wharf to greet the royal party. Instead I wondered around the palace, unable to settle.
Finally I decided to visit the Blue Arrow. It hadn’t been a full week since my last visit but I needed to get my mind off my fears. Hopefully my cousin would already be there.
I changed into one of my new riding habits and took a moment to admire myself in the mirror. The gown was a deep, unaccented green and the simple lines showed off my figure while conveying a sense of understated wealth. I knew that the gown belonged to my role and not to the real me but I couldn’t help being glad my cousin would see me looking so fine. I would show him that my family were not uneducated savages beside his shining magnificence.
Starfire seemed to have accepted the idea of morning rides and proved more settled than on our previous excursion. I was glad because the palace yard was more than ordinarily busy. Lily, Sophie and I might not have been invited to meet the princess’ ship but it looked like at least half the court was going. They were accompanied by a large squad of guards looking smart in their dress uniforms.
I edged Starfire around the milling guards and had nearly reached the outer gate when a hand grabbed her bridle and a sharp voice commanded, “Stop!”
To my surprise I saw that the hand belonged to Max.
“What are you doing?” I asked, baffled by his behaviour and stung by the peremptory tone of his voice.
He acted as if he hadn’t heard me.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded imperiously.
I had never seen him behave in such a manner, not even with the most humble of his servants. All the pressures and uncertainties of the last few days had been building inside me and now something snapped.
“Release Starfire at once!” I demanded angrily.
Frowning into the face of the prince, I realised that his anger matched mine.
“Where are you going?” he insisted forcefully, once again ignoring my words.
“Into the city to visit my aunt!” I declared hotly. “Not that it’s any business of yours! Your sisters are safely with their governess and my mornings are my own time. As for the horse, you yourself gave me permission to ride Starfire.”
I glared down at him, unable to understand his sudden anger.
“Where are your guards?” he demanded, his voice rougher than I had ever heard it before.
“Guards!?” I gasped in shock. “I’m not a prisoner, your highness.” I wrenched Starfire out of his grip and turned her head towards the gate. He lunged forward and grabbed her again, preventing my escape.
“Of course you’re not a prisoner,” he snapped, irritated. Some of my tension transferred through to my mount and Starfire began to sidle and throw up her head. Max was distracted for a moment, tightening his hold on the horse.
I realised this was our first real fight. It was nothing like our debates all those evenings in the library. Our time at the Winter Palace now felt distant, as if years had passed instead of weeks.
“You heard what your aunt said,” Max continued once he had Starfire back under control. “She said we shouldn’t be wandering around the city without guards. Don’t tell me you’ve been going down to visit her alone while I wasn’t here!”
“I knew I shouldn’t have gone away.” This last comment was muttered under his breath and I wasn’t sure I’d heard it correctly.
Some of my anger faded when I realised he was only concerned about my safety. I still felt irritated at his controlling behaviour, though.
“I do remember what she said, Max,” I replied. “She said that you shouldn’t be wandering around the city without guards. She didn’t say anything about me.”
“But what if those men find you,” said Max, his voice sounding a little desperate. “What if they decide to make an example out of you?”
“They won’t,” I said. “They know who I am at the inn – the servants wouldn’t let anything happen to me. And I defy anyone to catch me when I’m up on Starfire.” I patted the mare’s neck. “If anyone tried to accost me in the street she would get me safely home. I trust her.”
Max didn’t say anything this time but he maintained his grip on Starfire.
“Really, Max,” I said, my voice softening. “This is me we’re talking about. I’m sure I’m more afraid of me getting attacked than you are.”
“I doubt that,” he muttered under his breath.
“I wouldn’t go if I wasn’t sure I was safe,” I finished.
Max finally let go and stepped back.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “you’re right. You can do what you like with your free time. I guess I forget sometimes that you’re not really part of the family.”
His words startled me and before I could think of an appropriate response he had slapped Starfire on her rump, spurring her towards the gate.
I twisted in my seat to wave goodbye. He was standing watching me go but he didn’t wave back.
For the first time I barely noticed the sights and sounds of the city. I guided Starfire through the streets but I did it automatically without really seeing what was in front of me. My mind was too busy processing what had just happened. Why had Max acted so strangely and what had he meant by the odd things he had said?
By the time I turned in to the Blue Arrow I’d concluded that Max viewed me as another sister. I had always appreciated the protective affection he showed towards his actual sisters and I tried to be glad that he’d extended it to include me. After all, sister was the closest relationship I could hope to have with him. It was much closer than a woodcutter’s daughter had any right to expect with a prince.
At least, I thought grimly, it’s a great deal more than he seems to feel for Lady Marissa.
“Alyssa?” the polite enquiry broke through my reverie. I focused on the young man in front of me. He wasn’t dressed like one of the grooms and I didn’t recognise him. He was good-looking but in a friendly, next-door-neighbour sort of way.
He was looking at me appreciatively and in some surprise and when I nodded acknowledgement of my identity he helped me to dismount. A groom came running to take Starfire and I gave the young man a clos
er scrutiny.
He was significantly taller than me, but slim rather than athletic. He had blonde hair and green eyes that looked vaguely familiar. He seemed to find my confused examination amusing and stood silently waiting for me to finish.
“Harrison?” I gasped, suddenly realising why his green eyes seemed so familiar. They were the exact colour of my own.
“Yes, little cousin,” he said with a grin, “it’s me. And it’s lovely to finally meet you.”
He held out his hand to shake mine but I pulled him into a tight embrace instead. He stiffened for a moment and then hugged me back enthusiastically.
“Somehow you’re nothing like I imagined,” I said when I finally emerged from his arms and we started towards the inn.
“Really?” he asked with a laugh. “What did you imagine? I must say you’re just as intimidating as I imagined you.”
“Me, intimidating?” It was my turn to laugh. “I guess I imagined you would be stunningly handsome and incredibly proper.”
“Thanks for the compliment!” he said wryly.
“No, no!” I protested. “I think you’re much better than I imagined. Much more approachable, anyway, which is better in my opinion.”
“Well, thanks. I think,” he said. “Although I can’t imagine how you got that impression. I thought I was generally acknowledged to be the unsatisfactory runt of the family.”
“Runt of the family?” I gasped in astonishment. “More like a paragon of virtue!”
“A paragon of virtue?” he asked, confused. We had passed through the tap room now and into a private sitting room that belonged to Harrison and his mother. “How can you say so when you spent most of your life with your brothers?”
“My brothers?” I asked, crinkling my forehead in amazement.
“Yes, you know, the four tall, strong, handsome, intelligent, talented boys who share your blood. The ones I could never live up to.”
I stared at him for a minute and then collapsed into an armchair, laughing so hard that tears leaked out of my eyes. Harrison joined in after a moment but it seemed more out of sympathy than real amusement.
“Those four boys do not exist,” I said firmly, once I could speak again. “I do have four brothers but they’re perfectly ordinary, I assure you. And they’ve always felt inferior to their good-looking, courteous, considerate, charming cousin.”
Understanding sparked in Harrison’s eyes and he gave a bark of real laughter. When my aunt came into the room half an hour later we were happily ensconced on the sofa, busily comparing our actual childhoods with the glowing letter portraits painted by our mothers.
“Really, Mother!” said Harrison. “If you begged me to show you the tiniest bit of consideration once, you must have begged me a thousand times. How could you write such whoppers to your sister?”
“Well,” said Aunt Corilyn, looking between us in dismay, “she had four sons, and all so well-behaved!”
“Well-behaved?” I gasped. “Surely, you know your own sister. Did you really believe her sons could be so very well-behaved?”
“Well,” repeated Aunt Corilyn with a sly smile, “I guess I might have realised a thing or two. But then it seemed to me that Harrison could do with some good role models. What with his father being gone and all.”
Harrison pulled a cushion from behind his back and threw it at her. “And here I was quaking in my boots at the thought of meeting one of my beautiful, talented cousins. Not that your beauty was exaggerated, Alyssa.”
I laughed and waved his flattery away. “Believe me,” I said, “I get enough empty compliments at court. I don’t suppose you’ve had a young noble called Rivers in your inn?”
“Rivers!” exclaimed my aunt. “We have to lock all the pretty serving girls away whenever he comes in. Otherwise we have them mooning and sighing and unfit for work for a week.”
“And let that be a lesson to you, cousin,” said Harrison with a grin. “There’s no reason to get a big head from Rivers’ compliments.”
“Oh, it’s not just Rivers,” I said airily, “there’s also Felix and Nate and Max.”
“Max?” My cousin looked at me sharply. “You mean Prince Maximillian?”
I nodded and looked away, embarrassed by my name dropping. “Well, I guess the prince doesn’t exactly pay me compliments,” I admitted. “But the rest of them are positively outrageous. It’s a relief to escape down here occasionally. So don’t you start it up!”
Harrison smiled and solemnly promised not to pay me any fulsome compliments.
I allowed myself to be talked into staying for lunch and the time went so quickly that I suddenly realised I was overdue back at the palace.
“Oh no!” I cried. “The girls will be waiting for me and it’s the worst possible day for them to get up to any mischief!”
Harrison called for a groom to fetch Starfire and then asked if he could accompany me back to the palace. “Just to see that you arrive safely,” he assured me.
I agreed to his escort, thinking in the back of my mind that it would please Max.
As it turned out this hope was completely unfounded.
When we arrived at the palace we found the yard blocked by the Northhelm delegation and the many Arcadian welcomers. I said a quick goodbye to Harrison and scanned the delegation for Princess Marie.
I finally found her just as she was entering the palace, deep in conversation with Queen Eleanor. All I got was a glimpse of bright gold curls. Max, however, was in full view. He was standing at the top of the stairs, about to enter the palace, and he was glaring at me across the courtyard.
I sighed and turned Starfire for the stables. The grooms were busy in the confusion of the royal arrival and I had to lead Starfire right up to her stall before someone came to take her. By the time I entered the palace, Max was gone. I climbed the stairs to the princesses’ tower wondering whether he was still angry with me after all or whether something was wrong with Princess Marie.
“Where have you been?” demanded Lily as soon as I appeared in the doorway of their playroom.
“We tried to get a look at Princess Marie through the window but it wasn’t at the right angle,” said Sophie. “And we didn’t dare leave the suite without you. Father would have killed us if he’d seen us.”
Both girls looked at me reproachfully and I felt even more guilty.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I was visiting my aunt and I met my cousin for the first time. I just lost track of time.”
“Your cousin?” asked Sophie curiously. “What was she like?”
“It’s a he actually,” I said with a smile. “And he was very nice. Maybe I’ll get the chance to introduce you to him someday.”
“We don’t have any cousins,” said Lily. “At least no real cousins.”
“We have some step-cousins,” Sophie explained. “But we never see Mother’s step-sisters so we don’t know them.”
“I never met any cousins until today, either,” I said.
This confession seemed to soften the girls and I was able to win my way back to favour by offering to let them pick out my dress for the royal reception that night. There was one sticky moment when I was forced to admit that all I had seen of Princess Marie was the back of her head but luckily Korrine and Annice arrived at just that moment and diverted the twins’ attention.
The seamstress had come in person to deliver the dresses that the twins would wear to the reception. Since the queen had agreed that just this once the girls might wear full length dresses, Korrine had made two new gowns for them. The dresses were made of soft cream silk and were identical except for the colour of the ribbons used to accent the dresses. Lily had chosen pale blue and Sophie pale gold.
The two girls were speechless at the effect they created, standing side by side in their new dresses and I began to compose some new stories about the evils of vanity. I figured it would be a good idea to have a few in reserve.
The last reception had been for the royal family so we’d enter
ed through the main doors of the throne room. This time the reception was for Princess Marie so she would be the one to make the grand entrance. The royal family gathered in a small antechamber that opened onto the back of the dais instead.
We were the last to arrive and the girls ran over to their parents, eager to be admired in their new dresses. Max took the opportunity to pull me aside.
“Who was that?” he demanded quietly, looking grim.
“Who was what?” I asked, genuinely confused.
“Riding with you before,” he clarified, in a low growl.
“What is wrong with you,” I whisper-yelled. “That was my cousin, Harrison. I thought you said you didn’t want me riding alone?”
“Your cousin?” He looked surprised. “I didn’t know you had a cousin in Arcadie.”
“Well, I do,” I snapped.
“Fond of you is he, this cousin of yours?” asked Max, watching me closely.
“I only just met him today,” I said, “but he was very nice. He didn’t seem to want me riding alone either.”
“I’ll bet he didn’t,” said Max, turning away.
I stared after him in frustration. What a hypocrite! I thought. He can play the role of protective older brother but my actual cousin can’t do the same thing. I wondered if he suspected Harrison of trying to take advantage of my connection with the royal family. That was rich considering how my aunt had rescued us that day at the Blue Arrow. I think my family has shown their loyalty, I thought, grinding my teeth.
I was about to start after Max to give him a piece of my mind, when the door opened and the herald announced the royal family of Arcadia. I was forced to paste a smile on my face and follow them into the throne room.
The king and queen took their seats and their children stood behind them, Max to the left of the king and the twins to the right of the queen. I stood at the bottom of the dais, on the twins’ other side. The court curtseyed and bowed and then rose just in time for the great doors to be thrown open. Another herald announced the various members of the Northhelm delegation and about twenty people filed into the room. They proceeded down the red carpet and bowed or curtseyed before the dais. They then took their places to the side with the Arcadian court.
The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea (The Four Kingdoms Book 1) Page 17