“What were you thinking about?” He looked quizzically at me.
“Nothing, just childhood memories,” I shook my head.
“Not good ones from the looks of it.”
I did not like the way his gaze bore into me. I had the nagging feeling he saw past the façade or at least was attempting to. I playfully smiled in an effort to ease the seriousness of the moment. “We can’t all be a part of the royal House of Roth and have our every waking memory filled with wealth and extravagance.” My intentions were not malicious. I spoke in lightly teasing tones.
Still a shadow crossed over his face at my words. “I am no different than the next person. My life has its high and low points just like everyone else.”
“Yes, Your Highness, I am sure. You live just as the rest of us lowly non-royals do.”
The shadow was gone just as quickly as it appeared. He leaned over the table and took my hands in his. “Call me Zander, My Lady.”
I quickly snatched my hands back. “Fine, Zander. Then call me Skyler.”
He grabbed my hands again. This time he tightened his grip. It was not bruising, but he held my hands within his firm enough so I could not so easily escape a second time. He was back to peering into my eyes straining to see past the mask. “Alright, Skyler, please tell me what a Lady of the House of Alastair could possibly have experienced in life to even have the word lowly in her vocabulary and to carry such dark shadows beneath her beautiful green gaze.”
I squared my shoulders and stared right back at him. “Alastair is a House of lesser nobility in a provincial town. We live more like the common people than the nobility. While the High Noble Houses gorge themselves on excess and frivolity, we along with the common people must work ourselves, in many cases to the death, just to provide the most basic of needs for our families. And even then, we are faced with sometimes going without or making hard decisions just to be able to eat.”
The Prince had the decency to look away in quiet acknowledgement. “The reformation treaty signed by the House of Roth and the Common People after the civil revolt was supposed to change all of that,” he said limply. The excuse was lame even to him.
I knew I should probably change the subject before I said something offensive or worse treasonous, but I have never been one not to voice my opinion. “Sure it eradicated the strict caste system of old times, but the problem of the kingdom’s resources and wealth being concentrated in the hands of a few was never really solved. The oppressive conditions the lesser nobles and common people were living in only marginally improved. “
To my surprise the Prince nodded in agreement with me from across the table. “If you had the power to make a real difference, what changes would you make?”
“Seriously? You want to know?” I asked in astonishment.
He squeezed my hand reassuringly. “Yes, I want to hear what you have to say.”
“Well for starters I would redistribute the resources in the kingdom. I am not naïve enough to think that the High Nobles will relinquish their high society stations and extravagances. However, with enough push from the Royal Family, the High Nobles could be persuaded to relinquish control over the shipping industry. It turns them a decent amount of profit but it is not Anthame’s most lucrative industry. As long as they retain control of the mining industry, our export of coal and precious stones to neighboring lands will more than keep their pockets lined. Control of the shipping industry could be turned over to the lesser nobles and common people to create a thriving merchant class. The rich would stay rich but the poor could have a real chance to improve their quality of life.” I stopped short when I realized the Prince was staring at me with a peculiar look on his face. The emotions behind the look I could not exactly pinpoint. “Did I say something wrong?” I asked him tentatively.
He brought my hands to his lips and kissed them. “Quite the contrary, My Lady, Skyler he corrected himself. You are refreshing. It is not every day a Lady speaks her mind so openly and brilliantly.”
I snorted at his last comment. “I’m not defending ignorance but can you blame them? Noble women may enjoy greater comforts than common women but the societal constraints placed on them ensure that they are far less free to speak their minds, educate themselves, or do anything besides marry noble Lords and breed heirs.” The Prince picked up on the condemnation that crept into my voice.
“How can you speak of noble women with such derision when you are in fact, a noble woman yourself, and here for the same reason the other ninety-nine girls came to the High Palace?”
“I may be competing in this stupid contest, but it is because I made the decision myself to do so for a specific purpose. I did not blindly travel to the High Palace because my already ridiculously rich noble family is jockeying for more power. I am nobody’s pawn but my own.”
“And tell me Skyler, what is your purpose here?”
The question caught me more off guard than it should have. I would have liked to think it was because my true purpose there could never be revealed. In truth, it was because my purpose was becoming muddled with the more run-ins I had with the man beneath the mask of the Crowned Prince.
I said I was nobody’s pawn but my own, but how much truth was really in that statement. I had not come to the High Palace on my own accord. I came because I was an assassin hired to kill the Prince. I was playing at a dangerous game. To fulfill my contract quietly and neatly as requested I needed to get close to the Prince. To get close to the Prince I needed to gain his trust, which I was doing by spending time with him. The problem was the more time I spent around him the more I got to know him as a person. I liked Zander, the person. When the time came to kill him, could I do it? My mind dredged up memories of four years prior.
It was a week after the deaths of my mother, father and brother. A terrible disease circulated through Arythmia’s low society. The Common People’s water supply had become contaminated and none of the High Nobles wanted to incur the cost of cleaning it up. A group of commoners petitioned the royal family for help, but they said it was the nobles’ duty. The High Nobles of the city were too busy bickering back and forth amongst themselves about whose responsibility it was to actually do anything about it. The Common People were left with no choice but to keep using the bad water. We could not heat it before use because that required burning kerosene gas. As expensive as it was, we always had a limited supply of it. One night I went to bed and the next morning I woke up without a family. My mother, father and brother had all passed in their sleeps, sickened by the water. When the High Noble in our part of the city sent an undertaker to retrieve the bodies for burning, he also sent someone to inform me that I needed to vacate the premises. I could not stay there if I could not pay the taxes. It’s funny he could send somebody to kick a thirteen year old girl who had just lost her family out on the street, but he could not send somebody to purify our water. Maybe my family would have never fallen ill. The first couple of nights I slept in the field behind our home. Then, the same High Noble sent the same man to tell me I could not stay there either. He owned the field too and felt entitled to taxes on it as well. I found myself in a dark alleyway that no one could lay claim to. I fell asleep and awoke to a trio of men ripping away at my clothes. I screamed and tried to fight them off, but it was three of them and one of me. Then Samael appeared and sliced the throats of them all. He took me away from the alley and gave me warm clothes and my first meal in days. Then he explained to me what he did and offered me an opportunity to learn to defend myself and to never have to starve or live on the streets again. I was thirteen and alone and afraid and I accepted his offer.
“I lost you again,” Zander gave my hand a gentle squeeze to draw me back to the present.
“I’m sorry, again.” I knew the smile I shot him across the table failed to reach my eyes.
He let my hands go to trace a finger down the length of my cheek. “I don’t know the cause of your shadows, but if you ever need to talk about them, I’m a pretty g
ood listener. And I bet I’d be pretty good at making you forget them,” he added with a wink. The sleazy comment had its intended effect. This time when I smiled at him, it reached my eyes.
“I bet you say that to all the girls,” I teased him.
“No, just you.” This time the look he sent me was a lot less playful and a lot more heated. A blush crept into my cheeks at the intensity of it.
Zander abruptly stood up from the table and offered me his hand. “Do you want to go for a walk? The flowers are in full bloom. It makes the garden lovely this time of year.”
“Actually, I would love to. Roses are my favorite, but I have to pass. I have to get back to my room and prepare for the Queen’s next trial. I do not want to be late,” I said in my Queenly voice.
Zander’s laughed echoed through the garden. “Your impression is almost as good as mine. I love my mother but she can be a bit ridiculous. This competition is a prime example. It is absurd.”
“You mean because you are going to wed Iliana regardless?” I couldn’t help but probe.
A look of pure repugnance crossed his face. “My mother is in for a rude awakening if she thinks I’ll agree to marry Iliana. I mean because the competition is exactly what you think it is. Farcical and insulting.”
For reasons I refused to consider too deeply, his words sent happy flutters through my stomach.
“Then why agree to the competition at all?”
“I didn’t. The competition is all of my mother’s doing. I tried to talk her out of it, but she would not listen. The Queen is big on traditions and customs. We had a huge argument about it. Tradition dictates that I should have been the one receiving you all on the first day and overseeing the trials. But I refused to participate. I told my mother she could pick who ever she wanted from the lot, but I was not going to marry one of them. She went ahead with the competition in hopes that she could convince me to change my mind. She should know by now that I am as stubborn as she is.”
“Then why were you present at dinner last night?” I asked skeptically.
Zander leaned in close to me and place a gentle kiss on my lips. “I saw something in the hallway that made going worthwhile,” he moved his lips against mine.
When I moved to pull back he curled an arm around my waist, pulling me in closer. The initially chaste kiss morphed into something much more hot and demanding as he deepened it. My brain told me to pull away, I could easily break his hold, but my hormones had ideas of their own. I pressed my body closer to his and allowed my tongue to explore his mouth as his explored mine.
We stayed like that until I heard someone clear their throat. I jumped back out of instinct. A girl of no more than 9 years of age looked at us with large, innocent eyes. Then she abruptly broke into a fit of giggles.
“Zander has a girlfriend, Zander has a girlfriend,” she laughed in a sing-song voice.
“What are you doing out here alone, Kiera?” Zander knelt beside her.
The little girl looked up at him with a look of pure adoration. There was no doubt in my mind that he was her hero. “I got bored,” she pouted. “Mother and Father are always too busy to play with me so I was looking for you. The guards said you were having breakfast in the gardens. Will you play with me Zander?” She looked at him through pleading eyes.
Zander kissed the top of her head. “Of course, I will. Don’t I always have time for my favorite little sister?
She erupted in giggles again. “I’m your only little sister, silly.”
“All the more reason for me to have all the time in the world for you.”
“Uh, I’ll leave you to alone,” I said awkwardly.
Zander looked at me with the mischievous glint in his eyes. I was starting to learn that that look always meant he was up to something. “Kiera, this is Skyler.” He directed the little girl’s attention to me. “Isn’t she pretty?”
The girl nodded her head as she beamed up at me.
“Wouldn’t you like for her to spend the day playing with us?”
Again, the girl nodded her head as she beamed up at me.
I was being played. “What about your mother?” I tried to protest one final, yet feeble, time.
“I’ll deal with my mother. Just say yes. Come on, you may be able to deny me, but can you really deny a cute little girl?”
Both brother and sister looked at me expectantly.
I rolled my own. “Fine, but if your mother dismisses me from the palace, you may never see me again.”
The Prince I could deny, but the Princess…I was putty in her hands the moment I saw her. I was a sucker for kids.
Chapter 12
“What would you like to play?” I asked the Princess.
She folded her arms in a huff. “What I want to play Mother will not allow. She says the games I like are not appropriate for a lady.”
That piqued my curiosity. “What games do you like?”
She stuck out her bottom lip. “Bow-and-arrow, but mom says playing with weapons isn’t proper.”
Zander leaned into me with a smile and whispered, “Her impression of Mother is almost as good as mine too.”
“I’m pretty sure she has us both beat,” I told him. “You mean archery?” I asked Kiera for clarification. A wicked idea was forming in my mind.
“Yes,” she eagerly shook her head.
I leaned across the table conspiratorially. “Then why don’t we find some practice targets?”
The Princess was pouting again. “We can’t. Mother will be mad with us.”
“It can be our little secret. It’s just us girls and Zander, and he won’t tell on us, will you?” I nudged his shoulder with mine.
He made a zipping motion with his hands across his mouth. “My lips are sealed.”
The Princess handled a bow pretty well for a nine-year-old. By the end of our practice lesson, she was hitting within the red.
“Would you like to try Miss Skyler before we go?” she sweetly held out her bow to me.
“I’m alright. You have fun.”
“I’d have more fun if you tried it too,” she poked her lip out. The Princess had perfected the art of pouting.
“Fine,” I relented taking the bow. It had been ages since I last held one but its weight felt comfortably familiar. Before my brother died we spent hours in the fields behind our little cottage shooting at makeshift targets. I widened my stance and relaxed my shoulders just as he had shown me time and time again. I brought the bow level with my line of sight and pulled the arrow taught on its string. I leveled the bow at the target and let the arrow soar. It embedded with a thud in the dead center of it.
Admiration shone in Kiera’s eyes. “You are awesome Skyler. Where did you learn to do that?”
I shrugged as if it was no big deal. “When I was your age I had my big brother wrapped around my finger too. I begged him to teach me and he did.”
“Can you teach me?” she looked to me with pleading eyes.
I hesitated. I did not want to make a promise I would not keep. “I don’t know how long I will be at the palace Princess.”
Her face fell instantly flat. Then it brightened just as quickly. “Ooh, Zander, you can marry Skyler and then she will be a Princess just like me and live at the palace and she can teach me to shoot like her!” She squealed to her brother.
He let out a shaky laugh and I could have sworn I saw a hint of blush creep into his tanned cheeks. “Come on little sister. We should get back to the palace before someone finds out we are missing and comes looking for us.”
Chapter 13
The Queen’s face was as red as molten lava when we returned. She waited for us in the gardens. “I sent guards to summon you to the seamstress to have your measurements taken for the upcoming ball and imagine my surprise when they reported back my children were last seen traipsing into the forests with one of the competitors.” Despite looking as if she might explode at any moment, her words were spoken with an icy calm.
“You, Lady Alastair,
missed the second trial. Therefore, you have been disqualified. Return to your rooms and collect your things immediately.” If looks could kill, I would have died where I stood.
Zander started to speak up, but I cut him off. Kiera was staring between the three of us with wide, misty eyes. “You should see the Princess to her rooms.” He looked as if he wanted to argue, but any rebuttals he may have made died on his lips when he took in his little sister’s expression.
“Fine,” he muttered, “but this is far from over. Mother, I would like to speak with you in private. Lady Alastair, you may return to your rooms but you will not be leaving the palace.” He turned to his sister and lovingly placed an arm around her. “Come on Kiera.”
A barrage of questions bombarded me the minute I walked into my room. My mind was too preoccupied to come up with a reasonable lie so I told Emily the truth instead. Well almost the truth. I left out the part about the kiss. Her mouth hung open in astonishment by the time I finished recounting the morning’s events.
“Oh my Gods, Skyler, you were alone with the Prince.”
“We technically were not alone. The Princess was with us.”
“Still this is huge. Prince Edwin never spends time with anyone outside of the royal family.”
“And you know that because?”
“I’m surprised you don’t. It’s been the gossip among all of the Noble families since I can remember.”
I rolled my eyes. Clearly, the nobles had too much money and not enough things to do with it. “We saw him in sparring in the hall with a palace guard remember? They seemed to be pretty chummy.”
“I guess,” she shrugged. “But I still don’t think he has ever been known to court a girl.”
“With the lot he has to choose from, I wouldn’t either,” I murmured more to myself than to her.
Two-Faced (Assassin at Court Series Book 1) Page 3
