This part of the town had obviously been unplanned, the streets narrower and a little crooked. At one point, a passing carriage made me squeeze close to Arthur, and I took the chance to speak to him in an undertone.
“Do you know the earl?”
He looked down at me, and I shrugged. “I’m just trying to be prepared. If there’s some sort of bad blood between you, I think I should know.”
His eyes slid away from me. “I assure you that there is not the least bad blood between me and the Earl of Marblemount. In fact, I’ve never met the man.”
I narrowed my eyes, but I could hardly call him a liar. Whatever was going on, he clearly didn’t want to talk about it. A rider coming fast in the opposite direction made us break apart, as I lunged to pull Rapunzel out of the way. She had been distracted watching a woman with an enormous basket of laundry and didn’t register the oncoming horse.
By the time I had explained the laundry process utilized by those who didn’t have enchanted wash rooms, we had reached the gates of the earl’s manor. I half expected Arthur to announce himself, but he said nothing, and I was left to step forward and ask if we might speak to the steward.
When the guard only stared at me in silence, I began to feel nervous. Had I transgressed some local rule of which I wasn’t aware? Although my family were originally woodcutters, Mortimer had transformed my parents into wealthy merchants long before my birth. And while I hadn’t personally spent much time among the nobility, enough of my sisters had married into it that I thought I knew the basic social rules.
“P…Princess!” the man sputtered at last.
I blinked and glanced at Rapunzel before looking back at the man. Did he recognize her? But his eyes were still trained on me, his expression confused.
I looked at Arthur next, but he looked just as bemused as I felt.
“Ah, I’m sorry, I just want to speak to the steward?”
“Princess,” he said again. “Where have you been?”
“Are…are you talking to me?” I asked after another pause. “Because I’m not a princess.” Perhaps I had never woken up after all, and I had simply been having a strangely realistic dream until now.
“It’s true, then?” He shook his head disapprovingly. “I told the cook I didn’t believe a word of it, but now I’ll have to pay her two coppers.”
My mind was still spinning, but Arthur stepped forward, a knowing look on his face. “Excuse me, sir. Are you saying that you’ve seen this young lady before?”
This time it was the guard who looked at us as if we were crazy. “Seen her before? It must have been nigh on three months that Princess Anneliese stayed here.”
The suspicion had entered my head as soon as Arthur spoke, but the guard’s words turned it into a heavy stone in my gut. Anneliese, a princess? She really had gone a step too far this time, and who knew what the consequences would be?
A groom leading a stallion approached the gates and began to pass through before stopping and giving us a second hard look. “Oh ho,” he said. “The lost princess has returned.”
“I’m not a princess,” I said.
“Ha!” Unlike the guard, the groom looked pleased. “That’ll be three silvers for me, then. You had all the gardeners convinced. The earl will want to know, though, and he won’t be pleased.”
“I think there’s been some sort of misunderstanding,” said Arthur smoothly. “My companion here is not only not a princess, but she has never been to this house before in her life.”
“Never been to this house before in her life?” The groom guffawed. “That’s a loud one. You won’t find any takers for that one, we’ve all got eyes in our heads.”
“Have you?” asked Arthur, his voice turning cool, and his manner subtly changing.
Both the guard and the groom looked uncomfortable, responding to the aura of command that had settled over Arthur. After a quick glance between them, the groom scrutinized me a little more closely.
“You know, now that you mention it, those eyes…”
“Indeed,” said Arthur. “We would like to speak to the steward now, if you please.”
But the guard shook his head, his eyes lingering on my purple ones with an expression of discomfort that I recognized. “This is a matter for His Lordship.”
The groom nodded. “And so the steward would tell you, if he were here, which he ain’t.”
He hid it better than the two servants, but Arthur looked nearly as uncomfortable as they did at this news. Rapunzel, on the other hand, was apparently trying to make up for past mistakes by doing and saying nothing, and I was glad for it given the increasingly complex situation.
With reluctance, we allowed the guard to lead us toward the house. The groom led his horse toward a large building to one side of the manor, and by the time we reached the house itself, a number of curious looking servants had gathered.
I sighed. News always traveled fast in such situations.
A low murmur followed us as we were led into the house and on into a large, bright reception room. I tried to ignore the looks—some welcoming, some resentful, but all curious. Rapunzel stuck closely behind me, as if trying to lose herself in my shadow.
The footman who had taken over at the door deposited us in the room and then retreated.
“I don’t like this one bit,” was all I had time to say, before the door was flung open again.
A pretty girl about my own age, dressed in a long elegant gown, rushed into the room. “One of the maids told me—” She cut off abruptly as she saw us all standing there and swept into a deep curtsey. “Your Highness.”
“Oh. No. I’m not a princess,” I said, as she rose out of her curtsey.
“No, Liesa,” she said, looking down her nose at me. “I figured that out some months ago. I was talking to Prince Arthur.”
My eyes flew to the prince who was smiling at the girl with a great deal less than his usual charm. My eyes narrowed. Uh huh. So that was it. Not the earl, then, but his daughter. Arthur must have been hoping to make it in and out of the manor without running into her.
I would have laughed at his subtle but obvious discomfort if I hadn’t been in such a sticky situation myself. I looked at the girl again, taking in her hair, which fell in perfect black curls, and her pink and white complexion. Her curtsey had been elegant, and her clothes declared her a daughter of the house. So, what exactly did His Royal Highness find so objectionable?
Twenty minutes later, I had a good guess. The girl, who turned out to be Lady Narelle, ignored both Rapunzel and me with studied care, devoting all her attention to the prince. She pouted, complaining that she hadn’t seen him in an age, and that he had been neglecting Astoria most shamefully, and she took every opportunity to brush up against him, or press her hand to his arm.
“What’s she doing?” Rapunzel sidled over to me to whisper at one point, and I struggled to keep a straight face as I tried to think of an answer.
“I think she’s hoping to attract him,” I eventually whispered back.
Rapunzel scrunched up her nose. “How odd. It doesn’t seem to be working.”
I had to suppress a giggle and tried not to think too closely about why I was so pleased to see Arthur so clearly dismayed by the noble girl’s pursuit of him.
It was certainly comical to see the way he inched back and she pressed forward. By the time the earl appeared, they had made it most of the way around the room, and I had been treated to a skillful display of Arthur’s diplomacy skills. Somehow, he managed to avoid every leading opportunity to compliment her or answer any of her questions about what had brought him to Marblehill.
Every now and then her eyes would flick to me, and I got the feeling she was attempting to wound me with her cold treatment. Whether that was because she saw Rapunzel and me as competition for Arthur, or because of Anneliese, I wasn’t sure.
When the earl finally appeared, we all breathed a sigh of relief. But his first words dispelled any such emotion.
�
�How dare you return after taking such advantage of my hospitality?”
Chapter 10
Arthur immediately stepped in front of me, partially shielding me from the earl’s sight. I stepped around him, grateful for his protective instinct, but determined to face the consequences of my twin’s actions on behalf of my family.
Before I could speak, however, Lady Narelle swept forward as well.
“Papa, don’t you recognize Prince Arthur?”
The earl frowned at his daughter and then across at the prince. After a moment’s study, he gave Arthur a reluctant half bow. “Your Highness, this is a most unexpected surprise.”
“Indeed,” said Arthur, his natural charm returning to the fore. “You must allow me to apologize for intruding on you in such a way. I can assure you I had no intention of disturbing your peace. But it turns out there’s been some sort of misunderstanding.”
“I’ve just been saying how naughty of him it is,” said Narelle, with a flirtatious pout. “Coming to Marblehill and not coming to stay with us. I’ve told him we’ll send our servants to fetch his things from wherever he left them.”
A weary look passed over the earl’s face as he looked at his daughter. “But, of course, darling.” He turned to Arthur. “Your Highness is always welcome in our home. Astoria stands with Farthendale and always welcomes a member of its royal family in our midst.”
“You are too generous,” said Arthur with a quick half bow of his own. “But I am merely traveling through the town and must soon be on my way. I would not dream of trespassing on your hospitality in such a situation.”
His eyes flicked over toward me, now standing beside him, and the earl’s eyes followed. For a second, his face hardened, but then his gaze focused on my eyes, and his expression changed to one of confusion.
“I could not make sense of my servants’ stories, but I see that you are not her after all. I suppose you must be some sort of relative of our erstwhile guest? The princess Anneliese?”
I gave him a shallow curtsey and kept my penitent face downcast. “I’m afraid I am, Your Lordship. Anneliese is my twin, but—as I think you have guessed—she is not a princess.”
“Your twin.” He surveyed me again, and I risked looking up into his face. “I suppose I can then presume that she was not locked away from birth in a tower by a wicked fairy?”
A small gasp behind me was the first sign of life from Rapunzel. A tide of fury welled inside me. So, Anneliese had heard the stories in Talbot and decided to impersonate the mysterious princess. What madness had possessed her?
“She kept us greatly entertained,” said the earl, his voice dry, “with stories of her escape. And with her amazement at everyday items which she claimed never to have encountered before.”
I could only imagine with what delight Anneliese would have played the role. And for months, the guard had said! It was altogether too much.
Lady Narelle examined me at last, her eyes narrowed. “So, you’re not Liesa. Just her twin. Hummph.” She flounced over to a seat near one of the windows, trying to hide her obvious curiosity about the situation.
“So, you have come in search of her, then, I assume.” The earl seemed much more astute than his servants. Or perhaps less focused on whether or not he had won a bet. “And what is her real rank if it is not princess? Your accent is Astorian, as was hers.” His eyes returned to Arthur as he asked me the question, and I could see him trying to guess what role the prince played in the situation.
“I’m afraid she has no rank at all, Your Lordship. But our parents are merchants in Torina, and I would be happy to provide you with their direction so you might send them an accounting of Anneliese’s expenses while she was your guest. They would welcome the opportunity to reimburse you for any financial loss you may have suffered as a result of her deception.”
The earl’s forehead crinkled as he regarded me. “So, she was not a pauper trying to trick her way into a good home and an easy life at my expense. The story grows harder to fathom.”
Raised voices from outside penetrated the room, and he broke off to stare at the door.
“Don’t you act all high and mighty with me, Will!” The strident voice could be clearly heard through the closed wood. “Or I’ll put you over my knee and paddle you as I did when you were a wee lad. I don’t care whose footman you are. The earl’s a fair man, and he knows what I’m due. I’ll speak to that young lady whether you will it or not.”
An indecipherable murmur followed—presumably from the maligned Will, and then her loud tones again.
“And no, I won’t wait. Or just you watch, and she’ll slip from our fingers again.”
The door burst open, and a matronly woman wearing the clothes of a shopkeeper burst into the room, two red-faced footmen attempting to restrain her. When she saw the earl, she faltered and dropped into a curtsey.
“I didn’t mean to disturb you, Your Lordship. But you know what I’m due, and I know you’ll wish to see justice done.”
The earl sighed. “I wish you had let me defray the debt when I first offered, madam. I do not desire to see my people unfairly out of pocket.”
She eyed him approvingly. “Aye, that we know. Which is why none of us would hear of you doing so. It wasn’t you who cheated us out of house and home. Why—you were cheated yourself, the worst of the lot.”
I stifled a groan. It seemed that the missing “princess” had left behind a mountain of debts. When I found Anneliese and rescued her from whatever danger Mortimer had thrust her into, I would wring her neck myself. I stepped forward.
“You!” she cried before I could speak and would have grabbed me by the arm if Arthur hadn’t physically restrained her.
“I am not Anneliese, madam,” I said, meeting her eyes. “But I am her sister. And I assure you that I shall willingly defray any debts she may have left. With interest and my apologies.”
“Well, then.” The woman calmed, scrutinizing me closely with suspicious eyes. After a moment, she nodded. “You’ve a ready enough tongue and manners much less high and mighty than your sister. But be warned, I won’t let up on my claim until the gold is in my hand.”
“And rightly so,” I said with an inclination of my head. “My parents are wealthy merchants in Torina and would be horrified to think any family debts remained undischarged. If the earl would be willing to provide the small service of gathering my sister’s accounts, I shall provide him with a note for my parents’ bank.”
“Certainly, I shall be happy to do so,” said the earl.
The woman still seemed hesitant, but she clearly trusted the earl and could hardly demand I hand over large quantities of gold on the spot. Somewhat deflated, she allowed the two footmen to herd her back out into the corridor, while a third apologetically closed the door behind her.
Silence settled in the room for a moment, and then the earl turned back to me. “As you see, your sister left in a ramshackle and deceptive manner. It was this which made us doubt her claims of royalty.” He frowned. “Truth be told, it surprised me, however. I would not have thought it of her. Narelle may not wish to acknowledge it now, but Liesa was a good friend to her during her stay, providing much needed companionship.” He glanced toward his daughter, who ignored him most pointedly, staring out the window. “I must be getting old, for I thought I was a better judge of character.”
I exchanged a worried look with Arthur before addressing the earl. “Am I to understand that Anneliese turned up on your door claiming to be the princess from the tower? And that she was invited to stay here for some months?”
The earl nodded. “Narelle was delighted to have a friend, and we even started enquiries on her behalf as to her identity. She claimed to know nothing beyond her name and rank. We had heard rumors of the tale, of course, but I have never heard of a kingdom missing a princess.”
“Nor I,” I muttered, resisting the urge to look at Rapunzel.
“Given the developments, it is perhaps not surprising that I failed to u
nearth any information.” The man sighed. “I suppose the princess in the tower is indeed only a tale, as we used to believe it.”
This time I did risk a brief glance at Rapunzel. Her mouth trembled slightly, and her eyes looked suspiciously glassy. But now wasn’t the time to comfort her.
“I’m afraid my sister loves mischief,” I said. “And I can easily imagine her delighting in the trick. She would see it as a challenge, never thinking how it might hurt you.” I directed my words to the girl in the window. “But her heart is big, and if she acted the friend to you, then I am sure she meant it.”
I looked back at the earl. “Which is what has me concerned. Not only are our parents wealthy, but one of our sisters is queen in Briadell, another is a princess in Anura, a third is a Guthwardian duchess, and the oldest is married to Prince Arthur’s cousin.”
Lady Narelle leaped to her feet, spinning back toward us. “You and Liesa are from that family!”
I could see in her eyes that she was one of the many girls across the kingdoms who had dreamed of marrying royalty after they heard the tales of my sisters. I would have to apologize to Arthur later. Perhaps Lady Narelle and others like her were the real reason he had fled his home and now wandered alone.
But for now, I ignored her, continuing my point to the earl. “If her desire was to play among the nobility, she could have done so without the need for deception. If her desire was for wealth and an easy life, again she could have had such things for the asking. She stayed with you because it amused her, and I am sure she eventually meant to confess the truth, trusting in her real royal connections to soften the blow.”
I stepped forward, my voice earnest. “You said you are a good judge of character, and that you were surprised by her disappearance. The sister I know would not have abandoned her debts—either those of gold or friendship. Did it not occur to you that there could have been foul play in her disappearance?”
An Inconvenient Princess: A Retelling of Rapunzel Page 8
