by Connie Glynn
He placed it in her hand and she marvelled in wonder and confusion at the maroon wax seal that had already been broken. It was a strange symbol she’d never seen before: four triangles arranged in a square, overlapping to create two diamonds in the middle that made her think of wolf teeth.
‘What is this?’ she asked.
‘This is our invitation to the Maravish Summer Ball,’ Ellie replied, ‘or rather, the Flower Festival.’ She said the name with an exaggerated eye-roll. Lottie, on the other hand, had been lost at the word ‘ball’. ‘It’s completely ridiculous. They do it every year, but it’s always thick with snow, and there’s nothing summery about it.’
But Lottie wasn’t paying attention.
A royal ball! She was going to a real royal ball. She’d get to wear a gown, and there would probably be princes and princesses there! A REAL ROYAL BALL!
‘Lottie!’
She blinked, crashing out of her daze to find Ellie waving her hand in front of her eyes, and Jamie’s top lip twitching in annoyance.
‘Royal ball, you say? Sounds great – where do I sign up?’ She beamed at Ellie with her best please let me go to the royal ball look.
Ellie laughed, pushing her thick black hair out of her eyes. ‘You’re in luck, Miss Pumpkin, the Flower Festival will be our … I mean, your debut as princess.’
‘Really?’ Lottie stood up, pushing her seat back and smacking her hands on the table in excitement. Suddenly all the fatigue had evaporated from her body. This was like a fairy tale come true … until she saw Jamie’s face. She coughed discreetly and slowly lowered herself back into her chair, blushing furiously. ‘I mean … that sounds perfectly enchanting.’
Ellie snorted at Lottie’s attempt at eloquence. Although Lottie knew that Jamie was trustworthy, she still felt odd around him and had a deep desire to prove herself.
Jamie sighed in a way that suggested he resented whatever he had to tell her next. ‘It’s not that simple. Ellie will be attending formally as your guest, which makes her presence at events easy to explain, but all first-time principal attendees must partake in one full day at Lady Priscilla’s Etiquette Assembly, which, fortunately for you, is being hosted at Rosewood this year.’
Lottie blinked in confusion, having absolutely no idea what any of this meant.
‘That means you have to attend an etiquette class, Lottie!’ Ellie said, stifling her laughter.
‘An … etiquette class?’ Were they making fun of her? Was this all some elaborate joke?
‘This is not a joke, Lottie.’
Lottie shivered, feeling like Jamie had just read her mind. ‘You will need to attend this class in two weeks and you need to make the absolute best impression you can. There will be other young royalty and children of important families and you need to fit in.’ He held her gaze, making sure she absorbed every word he said. She nodded.
‘And if you can trip any of the snobby princes over during the waltz you get extra points from me.’
Jamie grumbled at Ellie’s joke, making Lottie laugh.
Then he looked up at the clock and began packing up their stuff meticulously. ‘Here –’ he held out a piece of paper filled with instructions – ‘this is everything we’ll need to go over before the etiquette class. I’m meeting Raphael for a run. I’ll see you both later.’
Ellie made a retching motion with her finger. Jamie and Raphael had both been placed in the same language classes and had quickly bonded over their multilingual backgrounds and love of long-distance running. It seemed like an odd pairing considering how humourless Jamie seemed. She wondered if, like Ellie, this was the first friend outside the Maravish family that Jamie had ever made.
Jamie paused by the door and turned back to them. ‘If you need anything, let me know –’ he gave Ellie a sharp look – ‘and that does not mean coffee runs for fencing practice.’ Ellie grinned up at him, feigning innocence. ‘And, Lottie, try to get some better sleep tonight.’
Lottie held her breath as he exited the room. She thought she’d hid her tiredness well. As soon as he was out of sight, Lottie slowly exhaled. She needed to prove to Jamie she was cut out for this. She couldn’t let any cracks show.
Thoughtfully watching Lottie, Ellie reached over across the table to grab her hand, gently stroking her palm with her thumb.
‘I promise you’ll be fine, little princess. You’re a natural and this etiquette class will be easy-peasy.’
Lottie blushed, realizing that Ellie had mistaken her worry to be about the etiquette class, and looked down at the instructions in her hand.
‘Fine isn’t good enough,’ she whispered to herself.
23
With the weather turning cold, the students of Rosewood Hall were gifted with a pleasant October evening. Pretty little cut-outs of bats and black cats lined the halls and all the dormitories were filled with carved pumpkins, giving the air an over-ripe smell.
Lottie stood in the queue for the main library cafe with Ellie and Binah, who were chatting about imaginary numbers, something Ellie had been teaching Lottie about in their tutoring sessions. Jamie had been given permission to use the school’s phone to call the Maravish kingdom, to keep them updated on their well-being, and he’d be meeting them later. She looked out of the window at how dark it already was, even though school had ended less than an hour ago, and wondered if she’d be able to sleep that night.
‘I’ll have a slice of pumpkin bread and a white chocolate mocha –’ Lottie checked to make sure Ellie wasn’t paying attention – ‘with an extra espresso shot, please.’ She’d discovered a temporary remedy for her symptoms of sleeplessness: coffee and concealer, lots of both.
The library had quickly become Lottie’s favourite place in Rosewood. She’d been apprehensive to return at first, after their little break-in adventure, but the unrivalled collection of books soon lured her back and, despite its magnitude, it somehow felt cosy. Being surrounded by so much inspiring literature filled her with a happy, warm feeling.
As they went to take a seat in the study area, a few heads turned to Lottie. She’d become very good at pretending she didn’t notice, but no matter how much time passed people couldn’t get over the secret-Maravish-princess thing. Lottie couldn’t blame them, though; she couldn’t quite get over it either.
‘Let’s sit there!’ Binah suddenly exclaimed, marching towards a table by the window.
Ellie and Lottie froze. Seated at the round table were Lola, Micky, Saskia and Anastacia. Lottie was happy to sit with them, but she knew Ellie still felt weird about Anastacia, especially now she was her fencing competition.
Before Lottie could say anything, Ellie’s eyes narrowed and she took a bold step forward to join them at the table.
‘Hey, guys! Is it OK if we sit here?’ Lottie quickly asked as Ellie sat down next to Binah.
Lola beamed. ‘Of course!’ She immediately got out a bag of Tompkins Fizzy Toffees and proceeded to hold the packet out to them. ‘Help yourself!’ she said enthusiastically.
Lottie watched as both Ellie and Saskia leaned forward together, their hands catching as they went into the bag. She held her breath, not sure how Ellie would respond.
‘Sorry, I – Have we met?’ Ellie asked, a little smile creeping on to her face that gave Lottie an unpleasant feeling in her stomach.
‘Not formally!’ Saskia pulled a toffee out and handed it to Ellie. ‘I’m Saskia.’
‘Ellie.’
‘I know,’ Saskia said coyly. Their eyes lingered on each other for a moment as Ellie placed the toffee in her mouth.
‘She’s the head of Conch House for the year above us,’ Lottie said quickly, feeling the need to distract them. They both turned to Lottie and an odd sense of embarrassment overtook her.
‘I like being in charge!’ Saskia grinned at Ellie, and the two laughed.
Lottie slowly sat down in the spare seat next to Anastacia, who was focused on her textbook. She looked over as Ellie laughed again at something that Saskia had sai
d and was overcome with an odd feeling of being left out.
‘I can see why you have so much trouble sleeping when you have such a raucous room-mate.’ Anastacia’s voice came out low and icy beside her.
‘Excuse me?’ Lottie asked in confusion. How does she know?
‘Ellie, she’s wild.’
Before Lottie could process what she’d said, Anastacia turned to her, a serious look in her eyes as she considered Lottie’s tired face. ‘I have something for you.’
Lottie blinked in confusion as Anastacia reached into her bag, pulling out a packet of pills and placing them purposefully on the table.
‘What are they?’ Lottie asked as Ellie leaned forward, grabbing the pink packet and reading the cover aloud.
‘Princess and the Pea Sleeping Remedy. For any princess who struggles to sleep at night …’
Lottie gulped.
How did Anastacia know she wasn’t sleeping? And why did she have to give me those in front of Ellie? Lottie wanted to bang her head against the table; the last thing she needed right now was for Ellie and Jamie to be worrying about this.
‘Lottie, are you not sleeping?’
She jumped at the sound of Jamie’s voice and turned to see him looming over her. When on earth did he get here? It was clear she couldn’t evade his question, though.
Lottie became acutely aware that everyone in the library cafe was now staring at them. Jamie seemed to have that effect. She smiled at him as best she could and his eyes widened a bit.
‘Your eyes …’ he added, a hint of concern creeping into his voice.
‘I thought you weren’t going to get here until later?’ It was a rubbish attempt at sidestepping, but she absolutely could not have him thinking this was because she was stressed about her job as a Portman. Jamie was already convinced she wasn’t cut out for it and she didn’t want to prove him right.
‘Lottie, why didn’t you tell me?’
There was hurt in Ellie’s voice, and Lottie suddenly found herself feeling very angry at Anastacia for getting her into this mess. She looked over at her, but everyone had their heads back in their books, pretending not to listen.
‘It’s fine. I’ll explain later during maths tutoring when everyone’s calmed down,’ Lottie said, giving both Jamie and Ellie as firm a look as she could manage.
Ellie’s face dropped and she looked a little sheepish. ‘Lottie, I thought I’d told you … I’m really sorry, but I don’t know how much time I’ll have to tutor you any more because of fencing practice.’ Lottie felt her heart sink. She loved Ellie’s tutoring, and for the first time in her life she actually felt like she was getting good at maths.
‘That’s fine.’ The words came out automatically. She couldn’t ruin fencing for Ellie by making her feel guilty, especially when she was still getting up on Saturdays to keep her company during her princess lessons. ‘Everything’s fine. I can manage.’ However, she wasn’t one hundred per cent sure who that last statement was aimed at.
‘You need to keep your maths grades up, Lottie,’ Jamie said unhelpfully.
‘I can tutor you.’
They turned to Saskia, who was leaning back on her chair casually. ‘If you want me to. I’m top of my year.’
‘Really?’ Lottie couldn’t hide the surprise in her voice; it was such a convenient solution. ‘That would be amazing. Thank you.’
‘No!’ All eyes spun to Anastacia who’d slammed her hand on the table. ‘We always hang out after school.’ Her voice came out uncharacteristically unhinged and Lottie almost thought she was joking.
Saskia didn’t seem affected by the outburst and simply smirked. ‘But aren’t you gonna be in fencing practice too? The trials are only a few weeks away.’
‘Yes, but …’
‘Then it’s settled. I’ll tutor Lottie.’
The library intercom crackled overhead. ‘Would the students at table eight please keep the noise down.’
Lottie looked at everyone, sensing that there were a million more things they all wanted to say, but they silently turned back to their books.
What on earth just happened?
24
Lottie was practising basic etiquette with Jamie after school in the small gymnasium by Conch House, learning the fundamentals that the other students would most likely already know. They practised everything from dinnerware placement to the correct way to eat an oyster, but the one thing he remained reserved about was the waltz, which he asked Ellie to teach her instead.
I didn’t think he found me THAT annoying, Lottie had thought to herself.
There were only three days to go and Lottie had been working extra hard to hide her tiredness. The pills Anastacia had given her helped a little but nowhere near enough to fix whatever was stopping her sleeping. She stifled a yawn as they went over the appropriate greetings for different levels of nobility, causing Jamie to glare at her. He was still angry at her for not telling them about her sleep problems. He looked as if he were about to comment on it when Ellie let out a low groan that sounded like a growl.
‘THIS PUZZLE IS DRIVING ME MAD!’ she shouted, throwing her workbook across the room. Lottie watched in amazement as Jamie effortlessly jumped up and caught it mid-air. Ellie had taken to spending the ‘boring’ parts of the lessons, as she called them, working on Binah’s puzzle, which she was still having no luck with. Lottie had long given up on ever being allowed to open their gifts.
Jamie flipped through its pages indifferently before closing it with a loud smack.
‘We’d appreciate if you could do your strange anagrams in silence,’ he said coldly, placing the book down on the bench that Ellie had commandeered.
She sat up like a jolt of lightning had gone through her body.
‘Anagram?’ she breathed, raising an eyebrow.
‘Yes!’ he replied, turning back to Lottie to adjust her arm to the correct position for her curtsy. ‘You haven’t converted the numbers into letters yet, but it clearly spells out the founder of the school, William –’
‘WILLIAM TUFTY!’ the two girls shouted in unison.
Lottie broke her position as Ellie came running over. It all made sense now. Ellie had been so concerned with figuring out what the puzzle meant numerically that she hadn’t bothered to look for words in it.
‘Jamie, we’re finishing early,’ Ellie called behind her as she pulled Lottie by the arm.
Jamie reached out to grab Lottie’s hand but hesitated. ‘Fine, you’re dismissed.’
The two girls sat in the Ivy common room on a purple loveseat underneath a large painting of Florence Ivy. Three other Ivy students were sitting by the TV, giggling as they stared at Jamie who stood by the window overlooking the pond and dining hall, doing an amazing job of appearing uninterested in everything. He’d demanded to inspect the gifts before they were allowed to open them, something he’d declared was common practice but which had Ellie groaning impatiently. They’d bumped into a Stratus girl on their way back and asked her to tell Binah that they’d solved her puzzle if she saw her.
‘I can’t believe we’ve had these for weeks and not been able to open them,’ Lottie said as they held the lids of their boxes. They counted to three before pulling the lids and Lottie squeezed her eyes shut, terrified of an impending anti-climax. And that’s exactly what she got.
Inside her box was a tiny fox brooch no bigger than her little fingernail. She looked over at Ellie who was equally puzzled, holding a small enamel mouse.
‘I don’t get it,’ Ellie said bluntly, looking up at Jamie as if he could give her another hint.
Lottie chewed the inside of her lip in thought.
‘Well, it must have some significance.’ She grabbed Ellie’s gift and held them both up in front of her. ‘A mouse and a fox, a mouse and a fox.’ She repeated the words to herself in the hope it might unlock something. She saw Jamie’s lip twitch out of the corner of her eye. ‘Am I doing something wrong?’ she asked apprehensively.
‘It just reminds me of
something,’ Jamie replied, turning to stare out of the window again. His face showed an emotion Lottie hadn’t seen before and she found she didn’t want to look away. She forced herself to turn her attention back to their gifts.
Lottie felt her mind go cloudy, her eyes glossing over as a ghost from her childhood whispered in her ear. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could hear her mother’s voice reciting a verse from her distant past.
They found each other in the woods.
Together they did build a house.
A story her mother used to tell her, before she knew how brutal the world could be.
One was smart and the other was soft …
A rhyme about two very different creatures, coming together to help each other: ‘The Vixen and the Delicate Mouse’.
‘William Tufty wrote nursery rhymes!’ Lottie exclaimed. The words jumped out of her before she’d fully processed the thought. She looked over at Jamie, who was looking at her in surprise. ‘And you know it too – you remember the story!’ For a moment she entirely forgot her nerves with Jamie. ‘The Vixen and –’
‘– the Delicate Mouse,’ Jamie finished, and she felt her heart skip a beat unexpectedly. ‘I’d almost forgotten the name.’
Lottie grinned at Ellie, returning her brooch. ‘I never would have guessed that the founder of Rosewood had written my favourite nursery rhyme as a kid. It was my mum’s favourite rhyme too.’ She looked down affectionately at her gift, stroking the metal with her thumb. Thank you, Binah.
Ellie reached out and gently rubbed her hand, a soft look in her eyes. ‘So you think that’s it? Binah wanted to tell us about his poems?’
Lottie felt a discomfort in her stomach, the kind that tells you when something isn’t quite right. She racked her brain for more of the story and gradually fragments came back to her – of paintings and oak trees – but the memories were not enough to form a full picture.
‘I think we need to find the whole rhyme …’ she said, her eyes still lingering on the brooches. She turned to Jamie expectantly and he nodded. She wondered if he was excited about the poem too.
