My stomach rumbled but I refused to let any tears squeeze out. My throat was already dry and I didn’t want to lose any more moisture.
The hours wore on. My escape plans grew crazier and crazier and eventually I gave up thinking of escape at all. Instead I just lay there and thought of all my friends preparing for the ball. Each time I felt tears threatening I remembered the feel of Max’s arms around me and warmth of his lips pressed tight against mine.
Eventually I heard an increased flurry of sound and motion followed by the sound of a closing door and silence. I pushed myself up into a sitting position and pressed my ear against the door. Silence.
I didn’t have time to wait around so I rolled over onto my knees and pushed myself to my feet. I banged my head against the wardrobe doors in the process but no one came to investigate. I took this as a good sign.
Pushing with my shoulders, I popped one of the doors open and jumped forward into the room.
A lamp and several candles had been left burning and there was still some daylight coming in around the curtains. To my delight the bedroom door had been left open. I slowly jumped across the room, pausing to rest against the bed. When I reached the outer door to the suite, I turned around and tried to open the door with my bound hands. It was locked.
I tried banging against the door but the wood was thick and I could tell the sound wasn’t carrying very far. So I stopped and surveyed the two rooms instead.
I had heard the triumph in Ava’s voice when she taunted me in the wardrobe. If she was so confident in her victory, she might have gotten sloppy. I just needed something to cut my hands free.
Since I could only move by making short, awkward jumps, it took me a while to circumnavigate the sitting room. And my search yielded no results. My feet, legs and back were now aching but I continued into the bedroom.
With a cry of delight my eyes fell on a hand mirror sitting on the dressing table. Jumping over to the table, I turned around and felt along the surface until I could grasp the edge of the mirror. With satisfaction, I turned it over and smacked the surface hard against the desk. There was a loud crack. I smiled.
More carefully now I felt around with my fingers. Finding a large sliver of mirror, I angled my hands and sawed at the rope. It was slow work and twice my fingers slipped and I cut myself on the mirror shard. The resulting blood only made the job harder and I felt so faint I had to lower myself to the ground.
But eventually the rope weakened enough for me to pull apart the remaining fibers. My hands fell free and I cried out with relief and pain. The numb feeling was gone and the tingling pain that flooded my arms and hands almost made me faint. I reached up and undid my gag, spitting the material out of my mouth. Then I rested my head against the floor and massaged my hands together.
After a long moment, I sat up and began to work on the ropes binding my feet. At first I tried to pull apart the knots but I quickly gave that up and went back to sawing at the rope with the mirror edge. At last my feet were also free. I kicked off my shoes and massaged my feet and ankles until they were ready to bear my weight again. Slowly I stood up.
Opening one of the drawers, I pulled out some handkerchiefs which I used to bind my injured hands. I had left streaks of blood in several places around the room and I thought idly that they matched the room’s colour theme.
I couldn’t resist returning to the outer door and attempting to open it again but it remained sturdily locked. I then proceeded to tear the room apart looking for a hidden key. I figured Mrs Pine or one of the housemaids might have stashed a spare somewhere unbeknownst to Ava. I found some water and a few biscuits which I immediately demolished but after twenty minutes I was forced to concede defeat. I sat on one of the sofas and regarded the wreckage of the two rooms. The princess would not be happy when she returned and I was glad of it.
With no other options left, I went to examine the windows. Both rooms were lined with windows but the sitting room had large double door windows that gave out onto a balcony. These doors were secured with a simple latch and were easily opened. Unfortunately, the princesses’ suite was on the second floor and it was much too far for me to jump.
Her room had a view over the park and I looked out hopefully but it was too late for any riders or gardeners to be out. I leaned over the edge and saw that there was another balcony directly below the one I stood on. I considered the distance and then went back into the room.
I went straight to the wardrobe, remembering that Ava had thrown the remaining length of rope in after me. Opening the doors again made me shudder but the rope was right where I expected it to be.
Returning to the balcony I tied one end around the balustrade and then pulled back on it with all my weight. It held. I smiled, glad for once that I was a woodcutter’s daughter and not a courtier. I threw the remaining length over the edge and prepared to descend.
Bunching up my skirts, I straddled the balustrade and lowered myself down until I was able to grab onto the rope. Once I let go of the balcony my descent was more slide than climb and I barely managed to catch my feet on the balcony below. Balancing on the railing, I took a moment to catch my breath.
The handkerchiefs wrapped around my hands had saved them from rope burn but the cuts beneath were stinging fiercely. After several deep breaths I continued my descent, sliding down until my feet hit the ground.
I left the rope dangling there and took several unsteady steps. Now that I was outside I could hear the faint sounds of the orchestra. Some of the windows in the ballroom were obviously open.
I made it to one of the side doors and into the palace but I hadn’t made it far towards the ballroom when I caught sight of myself in a large mirror. I was streaked with dirt and blood and my dress was torn. My hair was hanging around my face and I suspected that few people at court would even recognise me. There was no way the guards and servants would let me into the ballroom looking like this.
Turning towards the princesses’ tower instead, I began to run. I couldn’t manage much more than a shuffling jog but I kept it up all the way to the tower. I dashed into the bathroom, ripping off my clothes as I went, and completed the fastest wash of my life.
Wrapped in a large towel, I ran into my room. I had been planning to pull on the first dress I could find but I was pulled up short in front of my bed. The most stunning ball gown I had ever seen was laid across it.
It was made of white silk and had a tight, boned bodice. The bodice was strapless and would leave my neck and shoulders daringly bare. The skirt flared out from the hips and would lightly brush the ground as I walked. The bodice was covered in thick, ruched green chiffon while the skirt was covered in a single sheer layer. This layer was gathered together under a white rose over the right hip.
Moving closer I saw a small piece of parchment pinned to the dress. Pulling it free I read: To Alyssa, from Korrine. After the horror of my last day and night this kindness and the sheer beauty of the dress almost brought tears to my eyes. I scrambled into it, somehow managing the lacing myself. Noticing my bandaged hands, I pulled on some white gloves.
Looking in the mirror I saw an impossible transformation. I felt as if my very own godmother had come and transformed me for the ball. “Thank you, Korrine,” I whispered.
When I reached the ballroom doors I didn’t pause but stepped straight through. I didn’t even realise the music had stopped until I stood at the top of the stairs, surveying the room.
My steps and even the silken swish of my skirts sounded loud in the expectant hush. The noise was soon amplified by the swishing of many other dresses as hundreds of heads swiveled towards me. The sound of indrawn breaths was audible across the large room. I couldn’t have arranged a more dramatic entrance if I had tried.
Max was standing across the room next to his parents and Princess Ava. The horrified expression on the face of the princess told me clearly that I had arrived just before the big announcement.
It’s not too late! I thought exultantl
y and my heart buoyed with hope as I caught Max’s eyes from across the room. He was looking at me with shock and joy and I felt like my love must be visible to everyone present.
I descended the few steps into the room, careful not to tread on my skirt. By the time I arrived at the bottom, Max was there, grabbing my hands. He must have run across the ballroom, I thought, irrelevantly.
“Where have you been,” he asked, pressing my hands against his heart.
“Max,” I said urgently. “You can’t get engaged to Princess Ava. She’s the one behind the bandit attacks. She plans to move her troops into Arcadie before you’re even married. I heard her talking to the man from the woods. The one with Claud. They caught me and locked me in her room. I only just escaped.”
“Locked you in her room?” exclaimed Max, outrage in his voice and eyes.
“That doesn’t matter now,” I said, grasping the front of his jacket. “You have to stop the king from making the announcement.”
We both swiveled to face the king just as Princess Ava stepped away from him. She had obviously been urging him to go on with the announcement and as Max opened his mouth to call to his father, the king said, “It is with pleasure that I announce the engagement of my son, Prince Maximilian, to Princess Ava of Rangmere.”
“No!” I cried but my voice was drowned out by a round of applause. All around the ballroom I could see swiveling heads as the guests looked from the king and Princess Ava to me and Max, standing by the door clutching each other.
I saw Princess Ava turn and say something to one of her entourage. The man gestured at two Rangmeren guards who detached themselves from the wall and came towards me. Pulling away from Max, I ran from the room.
Part 3 - The Engagement
The Princess
Shock. Anger. Fear. Triumph. The emotions flashing across her face were invisible to the crowd. Her father could have read them but he was far away in Rangmere. He had taught her well.
To come so close and have victory snatched away would have been more than she could bear. But the king had made the announcement. The engagement was official.
Still, her triumph was tainted by anger. To be so upstaged in her moment of victory was intolerable. Even now she could hear the hissing whispers and see the gazes that should have been fixed on her, fixed instead on the girl in green. The Princess Companion. The woodcutter’s daughter. How had she escaped?
And she had done much more than just escape. Ava’s father had trained his daughter to understand the power of crucial moments – the key minute during which you could control an entire room or sway an essential opinion. And in that crucial moment, as the music had died away, she had appeared in the doorway. She had stood there, poised on the top step and had surveyed the room. Ava had understood what she was looking for – had understood the intense emotions transfiguring her expression. But the rest of the room had merely seen a girl, dressed like a princess, made beautiful by the blaze of some internal light.
Ava maintained the sweet smile she had spent so long perfecting but behind it she was clenching her teeth. She had savoured the anticipation of this moment for so long. Sure, she would have been alone in her victory but she preferred it that way. Had always preferred it that way.
And now this woodcutter’s daughter had stolen her moment. Ava knew with an unerring certainty that the momentum of the night had shifted. Whatever happened now, this ball belonged to the girl in green. The girl who was even now being held in the arms of a prince – Ava’s prince.
Suddenly Ava couldn’t bear it. Always she had stood in the shadows. First it was her brother and then his beautiful Lanoverian bride. And now, when she was to have finally stood alone she found herself eclipsed again.
Throwing caution to the winds she turned to the man standing next to her. Hans had been with her for a long time. One word was enough for him to understand her wishes. And his guards were so well trained that a single gesture was all that was needed to pass on the command.
The princess didn’t care what sort of stir it made. Didn’t care if it was wise. She only wanted to take back some control of the moment.
But Alyssa was watching her and saw the command that was silently sent and received. Instant understanding flooded her face.
I’ve underestimated her, thought Ava. Father will be displeased. The thought was as sharp as a stinging blow across the face.
Alyssa pulled herself out of Maximilian’s arms and fled from the room. The guards quickened their pace but the prince was now blocking the door.
Ava wondered how she could keep on smiling when inside she felt so tense. She was too far away to hear the exchange at the doorway but she could see it the moment her guards capitulated. Inside she began to scream and her scream rose up, loud and long.
On the outside her smile remained undisturbed.
Such a pretty, sweet girl, thought an elderly courtier, really a very beautiful princess. Smiling placidly, he turned towards the buffet.
The Prince
Every moment that I stood in a ballroom instead of looking for Alyssa chafed at me. My father thought she had run for it, afraid of being arrested again and my mother thought she was bound to turn up somewhere. This vague non-interest was almost worse than my father’s suspicions.
I thought she must have run away, too, but not out of fear of arrest. My own words kept haunting me. I don’t know how I’ll bear to even look at you after that. It will be too painful.
She hadn’t made it to the Blue Arrow, I’d checked there immediately after breakfast. I kept picturing her lying somewhere, hurt or worse. The thought that she might have fled to save me pain burned my heart. I knew Harrison was scouring the city for her but what could one man do? I gritted my teeth, angry at my father’s refusal to turn out the guard. It was all I could do not to pace up and down in front of my guests.
Father was still insisting on making the engagement announcement and I just wished he would hurry up and get it over with. He’d made me promise to stay until then but as soon as he made it I was returning to the search. The music finally sank into silence and I looked expectantly at my father.
But instead of an announcement, I heard a collective gasp and the sound of rustling silk. I turned towards the entrance and there she was! Alyssa!
She looked more beautiful than I had ever seen her – the most beautiful girl in the world. The green of her dress made her eyes blaze and brought out the red in her hair and she looked more like a princess than the one standing beside me. The shock and joy of seeing her, unharmed, hit me so hard it burned as strongly as the pain had done a moment ago.
The strength of it reminded me of the first moment I had seen her.
There had been a terrible storm outside and I had been coming along the gallery when the footman responded to the frantic banging on the door. I had drawn back into the shadows, happy to leave it to the servants to deal with whatever drama was about to unfold. The girl who had stumbled across the threshold then looked nothing like the girl standing in the ballroom now. She had been dripping wet and utterly bedraggled.
And yet, despite that, something in me had responded to her. Utterly unwillingly I had felt myself drawn to her. Seeing her shivering had awoken my chivalrous instinct and it had taken all my strength of will not to run down the stairs and wrap her in my own cloak.
Ironically enough it was the strength of those feelings that had enabled me to hold back. I had grown up on enough tales of love at first sight to recognise the symptoms and I fought against it with everything I had. I would not allow my emotions to be manipulated by some godmother to fit the confines of a story.
And last night, when I had finally given in, I had thought of myself as weak – no longer able to fight the prescribed attraction. But seeing her across the room, miraculously returned to me, was like a blow. The feelings flooding me now were so much stronger and deeper than the attraction of that first night. They made those feeble stirrings seem like the whispers of shadows.
What an injustice I had done her when I had doubted my love! For months now she had been earning my regard with her kindness and intelligence. How could I have thought my feelings forced on me?
Without thought or volition I found myself running across the ballroom. I needed to touch her, to assure myself that she was real and whole. I couldn’t wait another second.
I reached her at last and the clasp of her hands felt like a homecoming. Overcome with emotion I pressed them against my heart.
“Where have you been?”
“Max, you can’t get engaged to Princess Ava!” Reality came rushing back. Caught up in the strength of my emotions I had forgotten my impending engagement. “She’s the one behind the bandit attacks. She plans to move her troops into Arcadie before you’re even married. I heard her talking to the man from the woods. The one with Claud. They caught me and locked me in her room. I only just escaped.”
“Locked you in her room?” I exclaimed. It was too much to take in at once so my mind caught at this final statement. I was filled with rage that anyone would dare hurt this girl I loved so much.
“That doesn’t matter now,” she said as her hands moved in mine, grasping the front of my jacket and holding onto me as if she were depending on my strength. I liked the feeling.
“You have to stop the king from making the announcement.” Once again reality pulled me from the enjoyment of my newly acknowledged feelings.
I opened my mouth to call to my father, to tell him to wait, but he was already speaking. “It is with pleasure that I announce the engagement of my son, Prince Maximilian, to Princess Ava of Rangmere.”
My mouth snapped closed, my head ringing with shock. It was done. I was engaged. What exquisite irony! That I should be forced into an arranged marriage just as I finally understood my true feelings.
The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea (The Four Kingdoms Book 1) Page 25
