“Would you mind watching my fox while I’m gone? I think she’s hungry.”
Matilda looked scandalized. “Pardon me?”
“My fox,” I explained slowly, just in case she hadn’t heard. “She’s just a pup.” I pulled Shiksa from the plush blankets where she’d been sleeping as hard as Oliver. Her pure white coat was hot from the blankets and I couldn’t resist holding her against me for a minute while she whimpered her protests. “Her name is Shiksa.”
“I-I-I…”
I dropped Shiksa into Matilda’s hands. “Thank you.”
Just like Matilda had warned, there was a tall footman and Haemon waiting for me in the hall. Both of them swept into a bow as soon as they saw me.
“Er, thank you…?” I bit my lip. I didn’t know how to navigate my suddenly royal status. I had been treated as a commoner yesterday. Now people bowed and curtsied and dressed me in sausage casing.
I stood there, waiting for them to lead me to the war room, but neither moved. After a long moment of awkward stillness, in which I realized something was required of me, Haemon covered his mouth with a fist and coughed.
I looked at him helplessly.
“After you, Your Majesty,” he said pointedly.
Oh.
“Of course.” I looked at the footman’s outstretched hand. How was I to lead them to a room in which I knew nothing about? “This way then?”
The footman nodded as patiently as he was capable of. I resisted an eye roll and began a slow march down the hall. Once I began moving however, it didn’t take long for the other two men to fall into step beside me. I needed to remember: Royals move first. Even if they have no idea where they’re going.
“Did you sleep well, Princess Tessana?” Haemon asked politely.
“No.” It didn’t occur to me to lie or sidestep the truth. But after another covered cough by Haemon and the footman’s gasp, I realized my response sounded rude. “That is to say, I’m used to sleeping on the ground. And before that, my mattress was made of hay. So, you see, I’m not used to comfort.”
Neither man said anything to that. I’d probably explained too much or said something I wasn’t supposed to, but it was too late now.
I decided to press on. “What about you, Haemon? Did you sleep? I hope you didn’t stand outside my door all night.”
His cheeks heated, even though I didn’t understand what I’d said wrong. “It is my honor to guard you, Princess Tessana. I would never think of sleeping when my service is required.”
Ah, I had insulted his duty and his position. Well, this wasn’t the smoothest introduction to palace life.
Maybe the Brotherhood of Silence was onto something.
After a series of staircases and twists and turns down sunlit corridors, Haemon nodded toward a set of gilded double doors. “Here we are, Your Highness. His Majesty awaits.”
A different footman opened the door and a herald announced my presence. I stepped into an enormous room with bookshelves lining every wall. There was a balcony halfway up and more bookcases along the second floor.
For a moment I thought I’d wandered into the wrong room. If it weren’t for the swords and shields adorning the four columns and the massive war table in the center, I would have assumed I’d found the library.
The war table displayed a detailed map of the realm in raised miniatures and painted replicas. A cluster of tiny black cedars indicated the Tellekane Forest and a section of rolling golden sand dunes the Burning Desert of Vorestra. Elysia sat in the middle where white topped mountain miniatures were raised and painted to sparkle like diamonds.
Hugo stood behind the war table, his crown in place and a floor length fur robe buckled around his neck. His gold belt held three blades and he was wearing the Soravale crest of colors—a tunic meant for declaring war. And parties. Most royals wore their crest of colors during celebrations or royal visits from other sovereigns. Elysia had one as well.
My father had worn it only when something important was happening or someone important had visited.
“Good morning, Tessana,” Hugo smiled. “Or should I say, Your Highness.”
I held up a hand, feeling overwhelmed and out of place in my pale pink dress. Like a rose lost in a briar patch. “No,” I laughed nervously. “Please don’t. I am still trying to remember that I am a royal. Calling me names is only going to make me anxious.”
His tight smile warned that I’d said too much again. But Hugo was gracious enough to move on. “My general,” he waved his hand toward a very tall, very old white-haired scarecrow. The man turned to me with glassy eyes and bowed low. “This is General Stoginan. Please, General, meet our trusted ally, Princess Tessana Allisand of Elysia.”
General Stoginan’s voice sounded like rocks being scraped over gravel. “Pleasure, Your Highness.”
I curtsied. “Likewise, General.”
Hugo went on. “You’ve already met the Grandmaster of our Royal Guard, Haemon Montrez. And of course you know my son.” I nodded to Haemon and had already turned to greet the fourth man in the room when I realized too late that it was Taelon.
I had no choice but to curtsy to him as well. After all, Hugo had introduced me as their trusted ally. How awful would I be to ruin all relations between Soravale and Elysia on the first day of my return? It would have to be some kind of record.
Maybe it was worth it.
Taelon smiled at me and I nearly forgot all the reasons he vexed me. My skin tingled. This boy was the most frustrating of all males and yet my body reacted to him as though he were lost treasure and I was a dragon.
“Princess,” He murmured as a way of hello.
I nodded, adding a regal tilt to my chin. “Rebel King.”
Hugo’s boisterous cough split the room in half. I heard Stoginan lean into Haemon and mumble, “I wonder what she means by that.”
Haemon’s response was a quick, “A joke from their childhood I’m sure.”
Taelon’s
