hands upon my cheeks and breathed warm air against my cool skin. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and buried my face into his neck.
“Cal,” I whispered, separating myself from him. “I’m cold. Let’s go inside.”
“Cold?” He gazed at me, confused. We were almost dry now, and it was warm in the sun. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” I said with a nervous, breathy laugh. “I just … I’d like to put some pants on, if that’s all right.”
“Um, sure. Yeah, let’s go back. It’s probably almost lunchtime, anyway.”
He took off for the house without reaching for my hand, and I followed at a slight distance, knowing that however hard I tried, I wasn’t going to return home without leaving my mark on Aurora.
TWENTY-NINE
Dinner at Asthall was far more casual than it was at the Castle. Back in Columbia City, only the royal family was allowed to eat in the formal dining room, unless we had guests, but at Asthall, Gloria, Thomas, and Agent Tyson were to eat with us as well. Dress at Asthall was also more casual, but that didn’t mean Gloria didn’t have a say in what I would wear. Tonight I was in a floor-length blue-and-white ikat maxi dress with an empire waist and a draped skirt. It had a long, chunky neckpiece made of dozens of silver chains attached to its fitted bodice, and I wore it with expensive-looking woven silver sandals. Gloria had done my hair herself, in a messy knot at the top of my head. I caught my reflection in a mirror; while the look was more relaxed and beachy, I was still elegant. Gloria seemed pleased with her accomplishment.
“We have a guest for dinner tonight,” she told me. It was a deliberately offhand statement, and it raised the hairs on the back of my neck.
“The General?” The words came out in a squeak. I hadn’t seen him since the dinner at the Castle when I’d had my allergic reaction and I wasn’t looking forward to trying not to squirm under his gaze all evening.
“Close,” Gloria said. “But no. His wife, Alice Mayhew. She lives near here, and she phoned a little while ago, to get in touch with Thomas.” Gloria shot me a hesitant look. “You know Thomas is the General’s son?”
“Adopted son,” I corrected her.
She nodded. “Well, I got the feeling she was fishing and invited her up. It’s not exactly standard protocol, but it’s not unusual for the princess to extend last-minute invitations to people close to the crown, and Alice is close—at least through the General.” Gloria paused. “I think she just wants to see Thomas.”
I shrugged. “Fine. I don’t care.” I wasn’t pleased—I had enough to worry about with Callum and Thomas eating at the same table, and adding the General’s wife would only make it worse, especially if there were tensions between her and Thomas—but there didn’t seem to be much I could do about it now.
We found the entire group gathered in the parlor adjacent to the dining room. It was easy to spot Alice Mayhew; she was a small, chic woman with a perfect auburn bob and hazel eyes that rested gently on me as I entered the room. Everyone rose from their seats, and Callum came over to take my hand, giving me a kiss on the cheek; any annoyance he’d felt toward me due to our earlier discussion seemed to have dissipated.
“You look beautiful,” he murmured, and I smiled at him, grateful for the compliment. There was something about the casual sophistication of the dress that made me feel, for the first time since my arrival in Aurora, a little bit more like myself.
Thomas and Agent Tyson hung back; as KES agents, they weren’t allowed to greet me until everyone else had. Next up was Alice, who smiled at me as she approached and clasped both of my hands in hers. They were cool and soft; a breeze coming through the open window carried her perfume on it, a powdery poppy scent.
“It’s good to see you, Your Highness,” she said. “It’s been far too long.”
“It has,” I said. “I’m so glad you could join us tonight.” I let my gaze wander over to Thomas, who was suppressing a scowl near the back corner of the room. He wasn’t happy that his adopted mother was here, that was obvious, but he was working very hard not to show it. I saw it, though, but I told myself it wasn’t my problem. Alice seemed perfectly lovely, and I was going to be as polite to her as I was to anyone else.
“Thank you for inviting me,” she said, stepping aside to make room for Agent Tyson to pay his respects. Then Thomas approached, and I felt everything inside of me clench. Before yesterday, his presence would’ve calmed me, but now I didn’t know what to feel. He bowed his head in deference.
“Good evening, Your Highness,” he said, stiff and proper. I nodded, and he stepped aside.
Dinner was pleasant, all things considered. Neither agent talked much, which I had a feeling was part of the protocol, but the rest of us chattered easily, and by the end of the meal I’d come to like Alice Mayhew a lot. Her lilting voice was like music, and it was soothing just to hear her talk, though all she was doing was telling stories about renovations to the Mayhew home that she’d been overseeing. Every so often, she would look over at Thomas in the hopes of catching his eye, but he kept his own trained on his food. By the time dessert was finished, Alice seemed exhausted from her attempts to get her son’s attention, and announced that she was skipping coffee and tea in the parlor and going home early. I offered to walk her out.
She was quiet until we reached the front door, at which time she turned to me and said, “Pardon me for being so forward with you, Your Highness, but I have a question to ask.”
This caught me off guard. “Uh, okay.”
“You know Thomas very well, don’t you?” she asked, searching my face.
“I suppose,” I said carefully. “Why?”
“I was only wondering if he’s ever spoken to you about me,” she said. Her cheeks reddened, but Alice Mayhew was a proud woman and she held my gaze.
“No, I’m sorry, not lately,” I told her. Alice seemed so unhappy. I put a hand on her arm in an attempt to comfort her. “Mrs. Mayhew, what’s wrong?”
She took a deep breath. “Oh, don’t trouble yourself about me. It’s only that Thomas and I had a falling-out and I’ve been trying for a while now to find a way to repair our relationship, but he doesn’t seem as though he’s willing to forgive me.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” She seemed desperate to talk to someone, and even though I shouldn’t have cared, I did. I cared about everything to do with Thomas, unfortunately.
“I did a terrible thing, Your Highness,” she told me.
“Whatever you’ve done, I’m sure it’s not something so awful as to be unforgivable.” I couldn’t imagine this woman intentionally hurting anyone, much less her son.
“It happened right after we got word that Thomas had been accepted into the KES Academy,” she explained. “And we found out that Lucas had been rejected for the third time. Lucas was beside himself, and all my husband could talk about was how pleased he was with Thomas, how proud he was to call him his son. I just … I snapped. I screamed at Clarence, saying how dare he prefer some boy he’d practically picked up off the street over his real son.”
I winced. She nodded, dabbing at her eyes. “I didn’t mean it. Of
“I’m assuming that Thomas overheard you,” I said. She nodded.
“They both did. The boys. They heard every word.” She took a deep breath. “Thomas walked out of the house that night and he didn’t come home. I didn’t know where he went or how he got there. I didn’t sleep for days, wondering what had happened to him. Later I found out that Clarence had put him up in the Citadel and I asked him to bring Thomas home, but he refused. He told me that Thomas was his own man, and that he would come back when and if he chose. Ever since then, it’s been Lucas and I against Clarence and Thomas, but I don’t want it to be that way. I want both of my sons.”
I could tell from one look that Alice Mayhew was in agony, thinking that she’d driven Thomas away forever
