I couldn’t take my eyes off the boy. “Isn’t that dangerous?”
“We’re taking precautions, Princess. The rope will keep him safe. I’ve got a strong hold on it.”
“But he’s just a boy!” I argued.
The man chuckled. “That’s Tiny. He’s little, but he ain’t a boy. Hasn’t been one for forty years.”
Tiny called down from above, “Hey, you’re no spring chicken, either.”
Laughter bubbled up from Gill’s chest. He tried to fight it, but couldn’t contain his mirth. In the end, neither could I. “I’m sorry,” I apologized, embarrassed.
“No worries, Princess,” yelled Tiny. “We’ll have this tower put back together in no time.”
We left the men to their work and walked toward the shore. I kicked off my shoes when we hit the sand. “Look who it is, Princess Raya!” Gill announced.
I looked up to see Tross soaring above us on the salty sea breeze.
“Tross!”
He took one look at me and dove.
“Easy,” Gill warned.
He was coming in fast, but Tross slowed down at the last minute and landed right in front of me. I thought he was going to knock me down, but it was me who tackled him. Tears of joy flooded my eyes as I held my feathered friend for the first time in what seemed like forever. Gill watched from a few feet away, respectfully giving us space.
I gave Tross kisses and ran my hands over his feathers. He was as affected as I was, making a soft cooing sound I’d never heard before. Tears pricked my eyes at the sound and feel of him. He hadn’t left me, after all. He came back.
“He missed you.” Gill squeezed my shoulder. “I have to get back to the ship or Cap will have me swabbing the deck by myself. Not that I haven’t done it before, I just don’t want to do it again.”
“Thank you, Gill. For taking care of him. For everything.” I couldn’t say anything else. My throat was clogged with tears.
“It was my pleasure, Princess.”
“You can call me Raya,” I told him.
He gave a slight bow. “Okay then, Raya.”
“Why are you leaving again so soon?” I blurted.
“We have to go pick up the party from Aelawyn.”
Aelawyn? “The King? Matthew?”
“Nah, King Matthew rarely leaves the kingdom. Actually, I’m not sure if he ever has. He’s sending some family to act on his behalf. Not sure who, though. We’ll be back for the Ball. King Yurak insisted that Cap and his crew attend.” The way his smile fell away told me how he felt about it. Probably the same way I did; that he wouldn’t fit in among all the others, no matter what he did.
“Will you save me a dance, Gill?”
His eyes widened and a blush spread up his neck and into his cheeks. “Of course I will, Prin— Raya.” Just then, Cap yelled for him to hurry along.
“You’d better go,” I gestured for him to run. And he did, flashing an apologetic smile over his shoulder before jogging away.
Tross and I sat on the beach for hours. He chattered wildly, paced in the sand, rubbed my face with his, and gave me more kisses to make up for lost time. “I missed you so much,” I told him for the hundredth time. “I’m staying here now. I won’t be at our lighthouse anymore, but there’s a tower, just up there.” I pointed in the direction so he would know where to look. His eyes followed my finger attentively. “I’ll be living there soon.”
He paced, tilting his head from left to right. Intuiting his question, I ventured, “Where am I living now?”
He gave me a kiss, letting me know I’d guessed correctly.
“I’m staying in the castle. With Trevor.” Tross let out a squawk and flapped his wings wildly at the sound of the Prince’s name. “You miss him too, huh?”
This was probably going to get me in trouble and was almost surely a bad idea, but in that moment, I didn’t care. I’d missed Tross so much. The Ball was still a few weeks away, and I didn’t want to wait that long to see him again. After showing him the direction of the tower, he would know where to find me. He was smart. He would fly that way and find it, but if he went there before the Ball and found it empty, he would be distraught.
I couldn’t abandon him. I hugged him tight. “Do you want to see where I’m living right now?”
He squawked.
“Okay, but you have to be a very good boy and do exactly as I say,” I admonished.
Tross kissed my lips in response.
“Let’s go see the castle.” I grabbed my shoes and ran across the sand, past the ships at Port, up the wide road to the castle grounds. Tross flew overhead, never letting me out of his sight. Thankfully, the guards stationed around the castle didn’t question me when we met at the grass far beneath my window.
“Stay here on the ground. I’m going to go up to my room and open the window. I’ll yell for you and you can fly up to me. Okay?”
He shifted his weight from side to side.
“I promise I’ll just be a minute.”
Tross stepped up and raised his beak in the air. I kissed him and promised again that I’d only be a minute. I ran to the castle faster than I ever had, up the grand staircase, followed by the spiraling staircase that led to my room, and threw open the window and yelled his name. He took to the air and landed on my sill, jumping down to the stone floor.
He chirped as he looked all around the room. I ran to close my door, but met resistance. “Ray?” At the sound of Trevor’s voice, Tross went crazy. He flapped his wings, excitedly shrieking and fighting to get past me out the door. He wanted to see Trevor. Trevor’s eyes widened, but instead of being angry, a smile stretched across his face. “You found him!” He eased into the room, closing the door behind him. “Calm down, buddy. I’m glad to see you, too.”
Tross tucked his wings back in and stuck his beak out for Trevor to kiss, enthusiastically stamping his webbed feet on the stone.
I closed the door and locked it, hoping no one else had heard the commotion. Trevor didn’t seem to mind. He was just happy to see Tross and gave him all the kisses he demanded, all the while stroking his head and telling him what a good boy he was for having found us.
“Did you find him at the shore?” Trevor finally asked.
“He’s been with Gill this whole time!” I answered happily. “After you went to your room, I took a walk to the docks and found Gill. They’d just returned from Aelawyn. Cap gave him leave for an hour, so I showed him the tower so he would know where to find me after the Ball. I wanted him to show Tross how to find me, but Tross showed up just as Gill went back to the ship. I hope it doesn’t cause any problems, but I wanted Tross to know where I was in case he needed me in the meantime.”
“You know I don’t care if he’s here with you. If he makes you happy, he can stay as long as he likes.”
“I’m not so sure the King would appreciate an albatross living in his wife’s room.” I settled on the floor across from Trevor. Tross moved back and forth between us, getting kisses, hugs, and having his feathers stroked.
“You’re going to love the tower they’re fixing up for us, Tross,” I cooed at him.
Trevor’s smile fell away. “You saw the work that’s been done?”
“It already looks amazing!” I gushed. “They’ll be finished in no time, from the looks of it.”
Trevor nodded. “Good. I’m glad progress is being made.”
“Me too. And thank you for having it repaired. It means a lot to me.”
“I’d do anything for you, Ray.”
“I know. And I’d do the same for you.”
Trevor blurted, “I’ve talked to all but one of the families of the sailors this week.”
My mouth dropped open. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve gone with you.”
“It was something I needed to do on my own.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” I offered, picking one of Tross’s feathers out of my hair.
“It was hard,” he answered simply.
I
couldn’t begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for him to look into the eyes of mothers who lost sons, and wives who lost husbands, and try to form some sort of an apology when no words could ever replace what they lost. He’d told me he would offer them some sort of payment, and I’m sure he followed through on his word. However, Trevor knew there was no amount of coin he could give the survivors that would assuage his conscience.
I just hoped that speaking with the families, extending his condolences, and helping them as much as he could was enough to help him start the healing process. Since arriving in Galder, I wasn’t sure if he’d had time to process anything. He’d been shuffled from one meeting to another at the insistence of his father, trained diligently with the guard, and checked on me frequently; all of which left little time for him to ponder his situation. Maybe that was why he had such a terrible nightmare that first night. To my knowledge, he hadn’t had another, but if he did, I wouldn’t be able to help him. I wouldn’t know if he cried out, because now our rooms were so far apart.
“There was actually a reason I was coming to see you,” he drawled. “Father wants you to dine with us this evening.”
There was nothing I could do. I couldn’t say no. He didn’t request my presence very often, so I wondered why he did today. “Of course.”
“Dinner will be served in an hour. I hope that gives you enough time,” he suggested cheekily, glancing at the top of my head.
Did I look that bad? I picked another feather from my hair. That essentially answered the question for me. Trevor stood and looked at Tross. “Want to come see my room, buddy?”
Tross chirped and followed Trevor out my door, but the two paused outside. “A new lady’s maid is coming to assist you.”
Normally, I would’ve protested. I could get ready myself. But given that I only had an hour, I could use the extra hands.
As Trevor closed the door, a sudden gust of wind blew in and swirled around the room. The vase of flowers fell over and rolled onto the ground before I could stop it. Shards of glass, leaves, stems, and petals in every color littered the floor. I dropped to my knees to clean it up. That was how my new lady’s maid found me.
Evelyn was sixty-three years old. I knew this, because it was the first thing she said to me. “Never in my sixty-three years have I seen a royal on their knees cleaning the floor,” she clucked, pulling me away from the mess. “First, you bathe, and then I’ll dress you and arrange your hair.”
Three men followed with buckets of water for the wash basin that another two carried. When they filed out of the room, I did as she asked and scrubbed myself and my hair while she cleaned up the mess made by the glass and flowers. That would be another perk to living in the tower alone. There wouldn’t be another person in the room while I bathed. As much as I knew it was customary, I still hadn’t gotten used to it.
I toweled off and stepped out of the tub, pulling my robe on.
“I know your hair is styled in the way of your people, but the length of it is ridiculous here. It’s hot, downright balmy in the summer.”
“I like my hair,” I retorted. I wasn’t cutting it, and neither was she.
Her eyes narrowed. “Bet you’ll be changing your tune in a few weeks’ time. Mark my words, you’ll be begging me to clip it. It’s early summer now…” She prattled on about how hot it got here in the summer, how the sand could melt a man’s boots, and how it would scald fair skin like mine.
I wasn’t sure I liked Evelyn, but if there was one thing I’d learned in life so far, it was that I could endure most anything. I could certainly put up with her until the Ball, which was less than a fortnight away now.
My fingers trailed down the silk of a bright red gown hanging in the wardrobe.
“Oh, no, no, no. That color will not look good on you,” Evelyn insisted. “Your pale skin would be completely overwhelmed by such a bold color. I’m not even sure why they made a dress in that color for you. What were they thinking? A green or blue hue would look better.”
Most of the other dresses were green or blue, in variations from pastel to the darkest shades, but the red called to me. Maybe I was feeling bold, or maybe Evelyn just rubbed me the wrong way. I’d never worked in a castle, and had never been someone else’s servant. But I couldn’t imagine ever scolding someone for picking up their own mess, and I couldn’t imagine making someone feel as if they were too ugly to put something on their body. So I plucked the red dress from the wardrobe and turned around with a smile. “It’s my favorite color,” I lied.
She clucked her tongue. “It’s you who has to wear it, not me,” she countered, shrugging her shoulders. With the last of the glass and flowers tucked safely in the bottom of the bucket, she stood and pushed back strands of gray hair that had escaped her tight bun. She would never fix my hair that way. I didn’t care if the sun set me on fire.
I stepped into the dress, and though she didn’t want me to wear it, Evelyn helped me lace the back of the gown. Our second battle came when it was time to fix my hair. She refused to braid it in the style I was used to, even when I told her she could put pearl-tipped hairpins in it. Instead, she twisted sections into an intricate pile at the base of my head. I had to admit it was pretty. Maybe letting her win this small battle would ensure she and I wouldn’t see a full-scale war in the weeks to come.
She pinched my cheeks before I managed to pull away from her, and laughed when I pointed a finger and warned her not to do that ever again. “My cheeks are fine, and so is my skin. I think the red looks quite fetching,” I goaded.
I could almost hear her teeth grind together as I left the room wearing the bright red dress she hated and a saucy smile.
Chapter twenty-five
TREVOR
I jogged up the steps to get Raya. Hopefully, she’d had time to get ready. I knew she wouldn’t be thrilled with Evelyn, but my father insisted on her since learning about the Hannah incident.
Father hadn’t been satisfied with scolding me after I found Raya either. Instead, he had requested my presence in his study, wherein he warned me about being too close with Raya, and lectured me for an hour about how our friendship looked to those not only in our castle and kingdom, but to those outside it. Our people expect certain things from their rulers. They expect us to lead by example, he intoned. And I wasn’t setting a very good example. Neither was Raya, in his opinion. He promised to speak with her about the expectations he had of her from this point forward.
I begged him not to lecture Raya about it and promised I would do better; for our people and for her. I didn’t want anything I did to reflect on her in a negative light. Thinking back, it seemed all I’d done since we arrived in Galder was make a mess of things when it came to her.
And yet, I made her a promise as well. I promised to stand beside her during this transition, just as she vowed to stand beside me. I wanted to make sure she was okay, that she was happy and not alone.
It shocked me when she asked to move into the tower near the cliffs. Maybe alone was what Raya preferred, after all. Father calmed down when I told him about her request to move out, and agreed not to broach the subject with her. To show there were no ill feelings, he invited us to join him for dinner.
The door to Raya’s chamber opened suddenly, and a mass of red silk poured out of it. I came to a full stop, my heart squeezing at the sight of her. Her cheeks were a little pink, probably from being out in the sun most of the day.
The skirt of her dress was enormous, but the fabric tapered at her waist, accentuating every one of her feminine curves. The sight of her made my mouth dry in an instant. Her hair was pinned up in a series of twirls and twists, each more intricate than the one next to it. She was a vision.
She came to a complete stop upon seeing me, but finally let out a pent-up breath. “I wasn’t expecting you to come get me.”
I grinned and gallantly offered my arm. “I thought you might like an escort, and it’s the proper thing for a Prince to do when he’s invited someon
e to dinner.”
“So we’re proper now?”
I glanced over our clothing, but didn’t make eye contact again. “It seems that way.”
“What are you not telling me?”
“My father is waiting for us,” I diverted. “We should hurry.”
She pursed her full lips and took my arm. “We can’t keep the King waiting, can we?”
“He wouldn’t be happy if we did.” Especially given this morning’s events…
“Is he ever happy?” she wondered aloud.
“He hasn’t been happy in a very long time, and lately everything I do seems to be wrong,” I confided.
“I’m sure I’ve contributed to that as well. I can feel the tension between you two.”
Taking advantage of our time together, I began, “The tension between me and my father isn’t your fault. It started several years ago, and I’m not sure there’s a way to end it. As a boy and young man, I tried to do everything I could to make him proud, like any other son tries to impress his father. But when he lost my mother, he changed. He was sad all the time. I didn’t want to add to that sadness or give him a reason to be frustrated, so I did as he asked and never questioned him.
“When Ella’s mother wrote, begging him for help, it gave him a purpose. He got to help the woman he once loved by helping her daughter, and by betrothing the two of us, our kingdoms would be tied together. In a way, he felt like he was saving her; like he finally had a piece of her, even if it wasn’t the part he wanted in the beginning. Then Tierney attacked Aelawyn, and everything he’d been working toward collapsed. They slaughtered Ella’s mother, and it seemed like all was lost until we heard rumors that Tierney soldiers had taken a young woman from the castle.
“When I first pursued Ella, it was because he wanted us together. He wanted to see that her mother’s dying wish was honored. I was young and wasn’t thrilled with the idea of getting married so soon, but for him I would have. Then, I got to know her and fell for her. Hard.” I winced at the memory. “So hard, that I put a sword to my father’s neck and threatened to run him through if he hurt her.”
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