Elaina,
The crew is well. I found a replacement for Tanner. He’s quite young but has an eagerness about him Tanner couldn’t have dreamed of. We’re leaving port soon to meet with a new ambassador from Staroz. I hope you are adjusting well. Charge whatever you need to the estate. I take full blame if your wardrobe is somewhat lacking compared to those in the royal court. Just get whatever you need.
Your Father
Not a single wish for her return or even an I miss you. Before Elaina could follow through with her original plan to throw the note in the water, however, a familiar voice reached her ears.
What was he doing out here on the docks?
Elaina stuffed the note back in the box and slid the lid shut just as Prince Nicholas came into view. Miss Clover Belgrad, the ambassador’s daughter, was on his arm, and he was pointing excitedly to different ships and the cargo that was being loaded on and off them. Miss Belgrad, however, had wrinkled up her button nose and looked to be enjoying the outing far less than he.
Though the prince wore women as often as he wore cuff links, as Elaina had discovered over the past three weeks, she was a bit surprised he had dared to bring a proper little thing such as the ambassador’s daughter to the shipyard. Clearly she was anything but interested.
When they began to walk closer, Elaina realized she had no desire to talk with him any earlier than she had to. Their lessons would take place in exactly forty-five minutes, and she was not in a rush to begin. Not after her father had abandoned her again. But before she could find a place to hide, he called to her.
“Lady Elaina!”
Forcing a smile, Elaina stood, turned, and curtsied.
“Your Highness. Miss Belgrad. How nice to see you again.”
Clover’s dark eyes darted up to the prince’s face before meeting Elaina’s briefly. “Yes, I suppose it is.”
Elaina waited for more, but it seemed that was all the girl would be saying. So she finally turned to the prince, who was beaming at her.
“Lady Elaina, I told you, please call me Nicholas.”
“And I told you sire would suit perfectly well.”
The prince ignored Clover’s gasp and grinned shamelessly. “Imagine meeting you all the way out here!” He patted Clover’s hand. “I was just showing Miss Belgrad where I escape to every chance I get.” He looked back up at the ships, his bravado momentarily gone, leaving him with the look of an excited little boy. Elaina nearly laughed until he returned his gaze to her. “And what brings you out here so early?”
“I was inquiring about my father’s ship.”
He nodded at the little box in her hand. “It seems you got an answer.”
“Of sorts.” She sighed. “It appears he was in port, but only very briefly. He left me a note, but that was all he had time for.”
The prince’s face straightened into a rare look of solemnity. “I am sorry to hear that you missed him.” Then he brightened again. “But since you’re here, you might as well come with us. I was just on my way to escort Miss Belgrad back to her home. It’s only a few streets over from the wharf. Master Dustin is feeling unwell today, so we might as well have our lesson out here.”
Elaina opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it again. While walking alone with the prince was hardly her idea of a dream morning, walking out amongst the ships and sailors was preferable to spending an hour alone in the prince’s study, even if the door was open and a servant posted outside for propriety’s sake.
“Very well,” she nodded, hesitating only for a second when he offered her his other arm.
Elaina only half-listened to Clover’s idle chatter as they walked. While it was amusing that Prince Nicholas’s girl of choice was possibly one of the silliest women Elaina had ever met, Elaina couldn’t help dwelling on her father’s note. Its contents had been so meager. She would have to ask the stars for more information that night. They had been rather quiet as of late, talking gently to her whenever she was lonely, but speaking little about what she really wanted to hear.
“Lady Elaina?”
“Pardon me?”
They had all stopped and were standing before a long, thin, two-level home on a busy street. Prince Nicholas was saying something, and Clover was looking at Elaina as though she were the daft one.
“I apologize. I was distracted.”
“I can see that. I was asking if you wouldn’t mind waiting here while I return Miss Belgrad to her mother.”
Elaina watched as the prince walked Clover up to her door. Halfway up, he stopped and made a pleading face at the girl, holding her hand to his chest.
Elaina didn’t miss the triumphant glance Clover sent her way before blushing and pecking the prince on the lips.
Elaina rolled her eyes. Had he no boundaries?
As soon as Clover was properly returned to her mother, the prince bounded back to Elaina. “Well, this is just grand. Where shall our lesson commence?”
“Perhaps back at the wharf?”
“Excellent.” He offered Elaina his arm, and with a small inward sigh, she took it. As always, however, she began to feel more relaxed as they neared the smell of brine and fish.
He glanced at her then did a double take. “Why do you keep touching your thumb to your lip like that?”
She jerked her thumb away from her lip. “It helps me think. Unlike your prying questions.”
“And what does a lady such as yourself have to think so hard about?”
“Lady Starke!”
She turned at the sound of her name. A nearby sailor dropped a deep bow. She returned his smile and waved before allowing the prince to lead her to a low wall overlooking the entire wharf.
“Do you know him?” the prince asked as she positioned herself on a barrel where she could see the goings-on below.
“No. Why?”
“Then I’m impressed!”
“At what?”
He glanced down at her dress. “First of all, most women of your status would faint before they allowed themselves to be seen sitting on a barrel of fish.”
Elaina laughed in spite of herself. “I’m sure that’s true.”
“No, truly. It’s refreshing to be around a woman who doesn’t mind . . .” He paused. “Living. In the real world, I mean.”
Before the compliment became too enjoyable, Elaina asked, “And what is the second thing that impresses you?”
“They treat you like royalty here. Not that I mind, of course, but I don’t think that chap even recognized me.”
“Probably not.” Unable to help feeling a little smug, she hastened to add, “I’ve grown up around these people. When you spend years with them . . . getting to know their struggles and being in a position to see their needs, it changes you.”
“I see.” He sat himself on the barrel next to hers, and they watched the ships in silence.
If she were honest with herself, Elaina found it rather enjoyable. It had only been three weeks since she’d left the Adroit, but it felt like a lifetime had passed since she’d had anyone to share her love of ships with.
“You see that man over there?” She pointed.
“The one with the yellow stripes on his coat?”
Elaina nodded. “That’s Captain Vogel. He’s one of the twenty-five captains who answer to my father.”
Nicholas studied the man. “Why twenty-five?”
“Your father has six admirals. Five are advisers who run back and forth between the captains and your father to discuss the needs and wants of the navy and help him strategize. My father is the sixth admiral. His status is technically equal to theirs, but on the sea, his word is second only to that of the king.” She gestured at the two dozen stationary ships. “My father has twenty-five captains beneath him because each captain is answerable for up to ten vessels of his own. The captains report to my father, and while your father is consulting with his advisers, my father is there to make snap decisions in the case of an emergency, particularly when orders from the crown a
ren’t readily available.”
Prince Nicholas looked at Elaina, his blue eyes sharp once more. “Your father certainly has a heavy load.”
“Not only is he responsible for the entire fleet during battle, but he’s also the king’s ambassador when matters are too delicate to discuss on land, or when other parties insist on meeting in neutral waters. Sometimes other kingdoms ask him to mediate their disagreements so that matters can be settled fairly in a neutral place.”
“That seems like an unwieldy job without much return.”
Elaina gave him a sideways smile. “Ah, but it would astound you how liberal individuals can be with their information when they believe you to be a disinterested party. Your father has gained much useful information that way.”
“You sound as if you’ve been present at quite a few of these sensitive meetings.”
“I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I’ve run a few of them myself.”
At this, the prince slapped his knee and let out a loud shout of laughter. Getting to his feet again, he held his arm out to Elaina, and she took it. He was still laughing as they resumed their walk. “Do you know how livid my father’s magistrates would be if they knew an underage girl has been running their international affairs?”
Elaina bit her lip. Why had she shared that?
But the prince was still chuckling.
“Your father wouldn’t mind, if he found out?” she asked hesitantly. Drat it all! She’d become too comfortable and said too much. Why did the prince have that effect on everyone? On her?
“Your father could get drunk and jump in the water chained to a boulder, and my father would think it brilliant.” Then his face darkened a tinge. “My father’s advisers, on the other hand, are largely a bunch of sniveling cowards who can’t see past the ends of their own noses.”
“Oh. I see.”
He shook his head. “I apologize. Other affairs sometimes distract me from the present moment.” His face resumed its lighter expression. “So how was life growing up on the king’s flagship? You know I’m quite jealous.”
Elaina smiled as she stepped over a pile of dead fish someone had spilled. “Wondrous. My father insisted I learn all the graces of court life for meetings with important guests, but I also learned how to read the clouds for weather, how to climb rigging, tie knots, and follow maps.”
“Can you use a cutlass?”
“Heavens, no! My father’s first mate, Lewis, tried to teach me countless time. He always said it was imperative that I learn how to defend myself, should we be boarded by pirates. But I was hopeless.” She held up a hand. “In a sword fight, I would be about as useful as a goat.”
The prince gave her that disarming smile he’d charmed her with the first time they’d met, and Elaina averted her eyes as quickly as was polite. Her head was in charge this time. Not her heart.
They had walked to the end of the wharf and were starting back. Elaina noticed, however, that the prince’s face was becoming more and more thoughtful as they went, and she found that this made her a bit nervous.
Finally, he turned to her. “Pardon me for prying into personal matters, but why was it that your father took a little girl onto a warship in the first place, then raised her there for over a decade?” He paused. “You were little, weren’t you?”
Elaina struggled to keep her face passive. “Five years.”
“You were only five years?”
Elaina stopped and turned to him. “When my mother was murdered, heartbroken doesn’t even begin to describe the state my father was in. My relatives asked him to leave me with them when he went back out to sea. He had duties to your father and had to make a choice. Stay with me or fulfill his oath to the king.” She shrugged. “Unable to leave me behind, he chose both.”
Once again, the prince looked more like a bird of prey than the jovial flirt. After a moment of studying her, he stepped back and tilted his head. “You’re hiding something.”
“Pardon me, sire?”
“I don’t know what it is, but you’re keeping something from me. Something important.” He raised one brow and gave her a little satisfied smile. “And though it may take me some time, I’m determined to find out what it is.”
All the feelings of tolerance and distant amusement that Elaina had allowed during parts of their walk vanished. The prince might be more familiar to her now than he had been at the tea, but he was still just as dangerous as ever.
12
Nothing to Pretend About
Elaina was decently proud of herself for finding her way to the prince’s study. It had only taken her five weeks to learn her way through the never-ending maze of cavernous palace halls. Her elation dulled a bit, however, when she realized that Master Dustin was the only other person in the room. His joy, or lack thereof, was always infectious.
“Good morning, Master Dustin.”
As she expected, he didn’t even look up from the book he was reading.
Laying down her reticule, Elaina took up her usual chair, the one in the corner of the room farthest from the prince’s desk. There she waited as she watched the shining waves through the narrow floor-to-ceiling window that created a gap between bookshelves. The silence grew heavier by the second, and after twenty minutes, Elaina concluded that if being alone with Prince Nicholas was undesirable, being alone with Master Dustin was possibly worse. Still, she waited.
And still no prince.
“Where do you suppose he might be?” she finally ventured to ask.
The older man shrugged his thin shoulders. “How am I to know?”
“Does he ever miss lessons completely?” If the prince wasn’t going to show up, she had better things to do than sit around in angry silence with a grumpy old man.
Master Dustin drew a deep breath and let it out before closing his book with a thump. “The monarchs have their needs and their wants. Lessons are a want of the prince’s. Sometimes other needs take precedence.”
“Oh.”
More silence.
“So,” Elaina paused, hoping not to offend the old man again, “if you don’t mind me asking, how did you become employed by the royal family?”
He scowled. “The prince sought me out when I was working as an adviser to a captain.”
“So you were in the navy?”
“No. But I am a scholar, and my particular area of study was under a rather infamous explorer. I worked as his scribe for many years, during which time I was encouraged to seek and read of many historical battles and strategies.”
Elaina nodded. This made sense. While Master Dustin knew much in theory, there was little about true life on the ocean or the navy’s function that he really seemed to understand. Still, she could see how his knowledge of history could benefit a young man like the prince.
“So it wasn’t the king who desired a tutor for his son?”
Master Dustin snorted. “The king approves of me about as much as I approve of you.” He sent her a wry look, and Elaina laughed. “But the young prince is a headstrong fellow,” he continued in a more subdued tone. “Trying to contain his enthusiasm for the military is like trying to hold back a storm. So his father allows him liberties here and there to keep him pacified.” He looked down at the book in his hands, and his bushy brows drew together. “I suppose—” But then he stopped and just shook his head.
Elaina left her chair, daring to come a few steps closer. “What is it?”
“Nothing of public concern. Just an old man’s musings.” He began to straighten his clothes and looked as though he might walk out the door, but Elaina wasn’t ready to let him go just yet. The prince was turning into more of a mystery than she had expected. There was more to the young man than unbridled flirting and fun. She had seen it in his eyes when they’d walked on the wharf and then several times since. With his sudden interest in her secret, she needed to solve his mysteries before he solved hers.
“Please.” She put her hand gently on the old man’s arm and gave it a little
squeeze. “If I am to serve this prince as you do, I wish to know how to guard my words and my steps.”
The old man grimaced at her for a moment as he toyed with his silver mustache, then he blinked a few times, as though surprised. “You worry about him?”
Praying he wouldn’t rat her out, Elaina swallowed. “I think of him often.”
“My dear,” he said, his voice more passionate than she’d ever heard it. “It is not the prince’s activities or interests that you need to be concerned about. I’ve been offered several positions since being employed by Prince Nicholas, positions closer to my family back in the southern hills. But I stay because I want him to succeed against the forces he is fighting.”
“Forces?”
“Lady Elaina, our prince is far more interested in righting wrongs than our king, who will pursue peace at any cost. They both want what’s best for the kingdom, but only one is willing to take the long, difficult road to get peace the right way.” He shook his head, his thin face solemn. “I fear that if our prince is left all on his own, not only his father, but also the magistrates and other politicians will slowly eat him up, one at a time.”
“You mean hurt him?”
“There are more ways to kill a man than by taking his life.” He took a shaky breath. “In my time, I’ve seen strong wills crumble and souls reduced to remnants of the men they once were.” He turned and walked to the door before pausing and placing a hand on its post. “Don’t be so quick to judge him. Our prince is fighting a battle far larger than anyone in this court is aware of. And it’s better if we keep it that way.”
Elaina took her cue from Master Dustin and left the prince’s study. When they parted ways, she felt a kinship with the old man she had never felt before. This would have been comforting, except for the new knowledge he had presented her with. Rather than clearing up the prince’s mysterious stares and occasionally cloudy expressions, the tutor had only served to confuse her even more.
Cinders, Stars, and Glass Slippers: A Retelling of Cinderella (The Classical Kingdoms Collection Book 6) Page 9
