“Oh! What happened?” I cried, eyes shut. “Did it cut me? Is there blood? I can’t look. Am I going to die?” I gave a little, endearing sob and cracked my eyes open just enough to see Rafe in front of me. I stood up and tipped myself into his arms, crying against his chest.
He patted me on the back and tried to shush me. “That was amazing, Lettie.” I could feel his head move to glance around at the crowd. “She and I used to practice together before the curse. Her muscles must have remembered what her mind didn’t.”
A quiet murmur passed through the group, and I slumped against Rafe in relief as the cramps subsided. I’d managed to convince them; the curse was satisfied. I berated myself silently. I had grown too comfortable with my familiar routine, and now the arrival of the Northhelmians had thrown me off. I needed to be more vigilant. No more drooling over bare chests or expert knife moves. Something was going on in Lanover, and I couldn’t risk being out of action for days, or worse. I needed to keep a tighter rein on myself.
I wiped away my tears and beamed at the small crowd. “How amazing! Maybe I can beat you all now.”
They laughed obediently, and I turned to my sister, my tone full of excitement and amazement. “Did you see, Celine?”
Celine stared at me with round eyes. “I seriously thought I was going to die. You saved me Celeste!”
I gave her a hug. “It was terrifying, wasn’t it? I have no idea what came over me.”
“You’re lucky that Rafe taught you how to handle knives. No one ever taught me how to fight.” She clenched her jaw before adding, “Always the unwanted baby.”
“Yes, I am lucky, aren’t I?” I poured all the innocence I could muster into my expression and then held her gaze.
She was the first one to look away, muttering something inaudible.
I turned towards the others, satisfied. My sympathy for her situation as the youngest had its limits.
I nearly collided with William, who was standing much closer than I had realised. He still hadn’t put his shirt on, so I took a hurried step backwards.
“I’m so sorry, Princess.” His voice was low and earnest, all trace of his usual humour absent. “I don’t know what happened, but it was entirely unacceptable. I would never want to put you or your sister in danger.” He shook his head. “You on the other hand were incredible. I don’t know how you did that.”
The sincerity in his eyes proved even more disconcerting than his usual charm. I swallowed and tried to compose myself.
“I don’t know either. But if it hadn’t happened, I might not have had the chance to play the hero. It was quite thrilling, to tell you the truth.” I smiled as disarmingly as possible. “Now Celine will have to be grateful to me and do whatever I say.”
His eyes stared down into mine, his body still. After a long moment, that may have been only a second, he took a shuddering breath. His quiet whisper was for my ears alone. “What? Doesn’t everyone already do whatever you ask? I thought you had us all under your spell.”
My heart beat unaccountably fast, and I tried to tell myself it was nothing but the usual flirting I had long since grown accustomed to. “I don’t know,” I whispered back, “do I?”
He opened his mouth to reply, but Rafe clapped him on the shoulder, breaking us both out of the moment.
“An unfortunate accident, but all’s well that ends well, hey? I told you our Celeste was a remarkable girl.” He smiled at me proudly, and I realised how much I had missed his approval.
Frederic came up behind him, frowning. “I don’t know what you girls are doing in here, but it isn’t safe. I think that much has been proven. I don’t want to see you in here again.”
Celine jumped to her feet. “You aren’t our father, Frederic. And you aren’t king yet. Leave us alone!”
Her glare suggested she was ready for a fight, so I took her arm and began to lead her from the room. She followed me, merely turning her head to continue glaring at our brother.
“Honestly! Who does he think he is?” She fumed all the way down the corridor, muttering to herself about her excess of parents.
“At least we got to have a bit of excitement,” I offered, trying to calm her down. “Didn’t you say you wanted excitement and danger?”
She glanced over at me, and for a moment a vulnerable young girl looked out through her eyes.
“I really thought for a second there…” She shook herself. “Perfectly thrilling – wasn’t that what you said? Maybe I won’t have to leave Lanover to find some adventure, after all. Maybe the adventure has come to us.”
The next two weeks seemed positively boring after the unexpected excitement. Our mother asked Celine to help her plan an extravagant masquerade ball in honour of the newlyweds, so even my youngest sister was quietly occupied.
William continued to give me extravagant compliments, and since our interaction in the practice hall, he watched me even more from afar, speculation mixed in with his blatant admiration. Something about his gaze sparked an answering challenge in me, and I couldn’t seem to stop myself from dangerously skirting the edges of the curse’s limits.
Every double meaning and barbed exclamation only deepened the gleam in his eyes, and I told myself to stop before he began to question me in earnest. But despite my fears of the curse, I continued in our weaponless duel.
But William only received half my attention. Every night, I dressed in black and slipped from my room to roam the corridors of the palace. Now, not a single night went by when I didn’t find messages from my agents. The kitchen staff reported food stores mysteriously vanishing, and my recruits from the ranks of the guard, noted more shifts changed at late notice. I had charged two of my agents with finding out who was making these changes, but they had yet to determine the source. The two palace quartermasters each thought the other responsible, and saw no reason to question the situation.
Since I had yet to identify the purpose of the changes, I kept my agents from bringing it to anyone else’s attention. I kept hoping the mastermind would make a wrong step and reveal themselves. Every night I pored over the reports, looking for some kind of pattern, anything that would shed light on the mysterious activity. I found nothing.
If the duchess had been in Lanover, I would have turned to her in my desperation. But she had stayed behind in Northhelm to finalise some negotiations.
Two nights before the ball, I once again pushed the food around on my plate, too frustrated to eat. Our normal family dinners had been expanded due to our visitors, so the conversation flowed easily around me. I listened with only half an ear.
“Is it necessary to make the day of the ball a holiday for the entire kingdom, Leonardo?” My uncle Horace sounded like a curmudgeonly old man, rather than the relatively young one he actually was.
“Really, Horace! The people deserve a holiday as well as the nobility.” My mother was a perfect counterpoint to my uncle’s tough views. “They will work all the harder for it on the other days, you’ll see.”
Horace shook his head. “You’re too soft-hearted the both of you. The people of Lanover should have more respect for the crown and for good hard work.”
“I, for one, enjoy the more relaxed attitude here in Lanover.” William paused as he brought his fork to his mouth. “And your kingdom doesn’t seem to suffer for it. From what I can see, your wealth must fall from the trees. I only wish we were so fortunate in Northhelm.” He smiled to remove any scent of resentment from his words. I suspected he was trying to turn the conversation to lighter topics.
Frederic quickly backed him, launching into a conversation on Lanover’s chief resources and exports. He liked our uncle and hated it when he clashed with our parents.
Horace glanced from one to the other and then picked his fork back up. But he muttered quietly to himself about young people and their irresponsible ways while his eyes lingered on Celine.
I swallowed a mouthful of food. Our poor uncle would never be convinced of the responsibility and serious work ethic
of my generation if he looked to Celine as an example.
My father’s younger brother had toured the other kingdoms in his youth and been greatly impressed by their formal, hard-working ways and the respect they showed to authority. He had returned to Lanover full of new ideas to increase our productivity and, despite the years that had passed, he still sought to convince my father to implement some of them. Apparently my uncle would never grasp what seemed to come so instinctively to my parents – an understanding of our people and culture. We saw no reason to work harder when no one amongst us suffered serious want.
Of course, some of his suggestions had been good ones, and I had even seen a few of them implemented under Aurora’s careful influence. If I had not been hampered by the curse, I would have sought my uncle directly so that we could work together. As it was, he continued to complain over every new holiday or welfare measure, and I could do nothing to influence him.
Growing up, I had assumed that the other kingdoms must be full of people like my uncle. But my time in Arcadia, and now the visit from the Northhelmians, had taught me that this was not the case. Not everyone from the north was serious and dour and devoted to hard work.
The thought made my eyes lift involuntarily to William, and I found he was watching me play with my food. His eyes lit up when they met mine, and he gave me a special smile that seemed just for me.
I compelled myself to smile in return before looking back down at my food. I had no time for our games while I tried to crack Aurora’s problems. Still, I couldn’t resist peeking back up at him. Concern shadowed his face as he continued to look my way. He could tell something was wrong.
I took a deep breath. I needed to try harder.
“Tomorrow should be a beautiful day.” I cut across all the different conversations at the table, forcing myself to look oblivious to the confused and resigned expressions turned my way. “Marie and William must be sick of the palace and gardens by now. We should show them the rest of the city.”
The next morning, our horses made their way down the steep, well-worn path that led from the palace to the capital.
“No grooms or guards?” asked Marie.
“We don’t bother with such things here.” Celine almost bounced in her saddle, full of pleasure at escaping the palace. “There are enough of us to look after ourselves.”
The northern princess digested this sentiment and then sat up straighter. “Yes, indeed.”
We called friendly greetings to the various people making their way up towards the palace, and William drew his mount close to mine. “Lanover is certainly unlike the other kingdoms. What did you think of Arcadia when you were there?”
“It was delightful, of course. How could it not be? They threw me a great many balls and parties.” The curse turned my tone of sarcasm into sweet earnestness. I winced inside, wishing the curse would let me mirror the internal frustration on my face. He must think me a complete fool.
I paused. Of course he thought me a complete fool. Everyone did. And I’d long ago become accustomed to the idea. So why did it hurt so much to know that William saw me that way?
Despite my continued internal warnings, I was letting myself be swept away by our game, and I wasn’t going to like the consequences if I let myself go too far.
I pulled my horse a little away from William’s, and he let me go, although I could feel his eyes burning into my back.
I tried to view my city through the eyes of a stranger. I suspected it was drier than they had been expecting. The capital was located in the north of Lanover and was by far the driest city in the kingdom. An effect only enhanced by the prevalence of sandstone. Still, it was nothing compared to the vast sandy desert that bordered Lanover to the east. I had travelled there once as a child, and the stinging heat had convinced me never to return.
To the south, however, our kingdom only grew more beautiful. The further you travelled, the more green surrounded you, until you reached true jungle in the farthest reaches. Even this far north, bright flowers lit up our homes and markets, and a hint of water always lingered in the air.
We weaved through the streets, pointing out buildings of interest and calling greetings to the inhabitants of the city. No one paid us much mind; they were used to seeing us roaming around.
“If you want true beauty,” said Rafe to his wife, “I’ll take you out to see some of the islands. My parents said I might plan our wedding tour myself, so I’ll ask them if they have a boat and crew available.”
I sighed silently. I could hardly leave the palace at such a crucial time, but it had been far too long since I’d visited any of the many islands strung along the Lanoverian coast. Their brilliant turquoise waters and white sandy beaches provided the perfect location for a relaxing escape. I tipped my head back to take in the blue of the sky above us and imagined the beautiful scene.
“Perhaps we might join them, Princess,” said William, who had drifted towards me again.
Could he read my thoughts? I tried to think of a way to put him off. “Sadly, that won’t be possible. I get sea sick.”
“Sea sick?” Celine stared at me. I hadn’t seen how close her horse had wandered. “No you don’t!”
I clenched my teeth together and suppressed my glare. Why did she have to stick her nose in?
“Don’t I?” I looked at her with mild confusion. “I must have been thinking of something else then.”
William glanced between us curiously, and Celine rolled her eyes at him. “Ignore this one. She can’t help herself.”
Humiliation washed over me, as intensely as it had done during the first year of my curse. My own sister–dramatic, childish Celine–had no problem dismissing me, and in front of an outsider, too. Her condescension hurt more than Frederic or Cassian’s would have. Even a fourteen-year-old deemed me too foolish to warrant the slightest consideration.
And there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it. My continued survival depended on everyone coming to exactly that conclusion. I glanced sideways at William. Did he agree with Celine?
I shook myself and took a deep breath, digging my hands into my horse’s mane and grounding myself in the steadiness of the animal. Celine didn’t know how her words hurt me. And it didn’t matter what other people thought of me. I knew my own value, and that was enough. It was just strangely hard to remember it with those blue eyes trained on me.
“Perhaps we will go to the islands after all, then,” William said, before letting the matter drop.
Chapter 6
That afternoon I wandered the corridors of the palace aimlessly, glad for once that my curse enabled idleness. I hoped that something would come to me as I walked, some spark of comprehension that I kept missing in the darkness of night.
Nothing came.
Eventually my feet led me to the practice hall. The clash of blades made me peek inside. Rafe and William fought alone, duelling with swords this time. I watched them unseen, wishing I could burn my frustrations off in a similar fight.
The sweat dripped down their faces, and they seemed evenly matched. Until eventually William gave a strong lunge, ducking in beneath Rafe’s guard. Both men dropped their blades, panting for breath.
“Well, well, well. There’s always a first time, I suppose.” Rafe wiped his arm across his face, his light-hearted tone showing he didn’t resent the loss. “Your fight seemed full of passion today.”
William growled something I couldn’t hear.
“I wish you could have met her before the curse.” Rafe strolled over towards the weapons’ rack. “She was incredible.”
I’m still here inside. I wanted to scream it out and let the sound echo off the distant walls.
William shook his head. “Maybe it’s better that I didn’t. She already manages to haunt my every thought as it is.”
Warmth crept up my neck and face.
He growled again and thrust his sword onto the rack with more force than was necessary. “No, I don’t mean that.” He looked sideways at
Rafe. “I’ve decided I’m going to stay.” He tried to sound casual but failed.
“Stay? In Lanover?” Rafe frowned at him. “What will your parents say?”
“I don’t care. I can’t go back and leave her like this. It’s wrong. There has to be a way to break the curse. I’m determined to find it.”
Rafe smiled, but the expression looked grim. “I’ve been looking for a way to break it for more than three years. That’s why I went to Northhelm in the first place, remember.”
I wished my parents would tell Rafe the truth. But the curse wouldn’t let me request it of them, any more than it would let me tell him myself. Rafe, along with the rest of Lanover, believed that the curse was permanent. They thought that the provision of a true love’s kiss had gone when my parents talked my godmother out of putting me into a true sleep.
Mother and Father had left it that way on purpose. They were afraid I would be besieged by young men attempting to kiss me. All in the name of breaking the curse, of course, but in truth, they would be seeking the ultimate prize – marriage to a beautiful princess, and the princedom that accompanied it. I appreciated my parent’s protection, but surely they could safely trust my siblings not to spread the story?
Rafe clapped William on the back and tried for a lighter smile. “Don’t tell me that the great crown prince of Northhelm has fallen in love with a beautiful face.”
William shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know about love…” He walked over to one of the side benches and picked up a towel. “She’s the most exquisite thing I’ve ever seen, of course – and Northhelm has its fair share of beauty, in both people and nature. But it’s not just that. She makes me laugh. And there’s something else about her.” He wiped his face with the towel. “It’s like there’s something lurking, just below the surface. Except I can’t quite seem to put my finger on it.” He threw the towel back down. “I feel like we’re old friends and, in just a moment, I’ll remember who she is. Only the moment never comes.”
I drew back quickly, my heart beating fast. I took two steps away from the door and then took off running. He was even closer to seeing through me than I had thought. And it terrified me that the discovery produced more elation than fear.
The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping Beauty (The Four Kingdoms Book 4) Page 5
