Several other faces looked at me eagerly and a few matrons whispered. My embarrassment mounted.
“Amarante is too delirious with happiness to answer.”
The group parted, revealing Lady Narcissa in all her glory. Tonight, she was wearing a gown of ruby silk and a swath of diamond necklaces at her throat.
Genevieve and I curtsied, though I wanted to slap the sneer off her face more than anything else.
“Lady Narcissa,” I said curtly.
“I suppose city girls who cannot recognize a royal when they see one would be similarly elated,” she said, rearranging her curls. “But don’t forget the advice my mother so kindly bestowed upon you. Do not flirt with inconsequential men.” She laughed. A few others joined in, but some looked doubtful.
“But it is His Highness Prince Ash,” the girl who had addressed me piped up.
“Inconsequential,” Narcissa said, narrowing her eyes. The girl shrank back. “Really, Amarante. If you’re going to pursue a prince at least pick the legitimate one. Or not. Bennett is far above your station.”
A few gasps sounded at her familiarity with the crown prince’s name. I merely pressed my lips together and looked ahead.
Narcissa scowled at my silence, perhaps disappointed that I hadn’t lashed out and said something foolish. She snapped open her fan, blowing the hair from my face. “Now get out of my way, I have a dance with the crown prince.”
I stepped aside to let her pass. When the door swung shut behind her ruby skirts, everyone began chattering about Narcissa and Crown Prince Bennett.
“They knew,” I said, scowling. “Narcissa and the duchess knew the waiter was Prince Ash all along.”
“How odd,” Genevieve said. “I wonder why Her Grace lost her temper with you at the banquet.”
I wondered too. Was their distaste for me caused by Julianna?
Staying in the powder room proved to be impossible. All the occupants surged out at once at the commencement of the second dance. I tried to make myself inconspicuous, but a few debutantes pulled on my arms and urged me to go.
Genevieve, after accompanying me back to the ballroom, was bombarded by another one of Lydia’s friends and taken away by a lanky youth with a freckled face. I spotted Cedric next to Olivia, following my stepsister with his gaze. Tori, to my surprise, was twirling on the dance floor in the arms of a rather buggy-eyed young guard. From the look of it, she wasn’t too happy with the arrangement.
I wandered yet again at the wall behind the refreshments table, this time alone, sipping punch in an attempt to look occupied. I hoped that the whirling couples would obstruct me from the view of Lydia, or better yet, Prince Ash. I was sorely mistaken.
“Ever so eager for our dance, I see,” a voice came from behind me.
My heart nearly leapt out my throat. I whirled around and scrambled into a curtsy. “Your Highness.”
“You’re late,” he said, smiling. His teeth were very straight and very white.
“I...got lost.”
“Indeed? From one side of the ballroom to the other?”
My face felt like it was on fire. “Yes. Indeed.”
“I see.” The prince leaned against the wall next to me. He smelled like evergreen trees and peppermint candy. “That’s a shame. I suppose we must wait for the next dance.”
I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, wondering if he was displeased. He looked cheery enough, just like he had after the duchess scolded him. I was burning to ask what he was doing that day, but found that my voice wouldn’t work and I couldn’t tear my eyes from his profile. He looked so regal. Too regal to pass for a waiter.
His dark brown eyes met mine. “Well, ask away. We can’t very well spend the next four minutes in silence.”
I was planning on doing just that but curiosity, and his permission, got the best of me. “What were you doing dressed as a waiter at the welcome banquet?” I said, and then realizing who I was talking to, added, “Your Highness.”
His smile widened as if he had been waiting for someone to ask all day. But instead of answering, he grabbed a puff pastry and ate it slowly. I figured he was teasing me by keeping me in suspense.
“If you must know,” he finally said, brushing off the crumbs on his pants, “I was there for research.”
I certainly didn’t expect that. “Research?”
“For choosing the next crown princess consort.”
I furrowed my brow. Was he the royal matchmaker as well as a prince? What business did he have choosing a crown princess?
“It is no easy task. She must possess honorable rank, distinguished manners, virtue, cleverness, and level-headedness to be a good queen,” he said.
“You can determine all that by spilling ice water on people’s laps?”
“Not all, but some.”
I took it that Samantha hadn’t passed the test. Emboldened, I asked, “And Queen Cordelia allowed you to carry out such schemes?”
Prince Ash shrugged. “She ordered it.”
My eyebrows shot to my hairline. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Tomorrow, Bennett and my father will leave for royal business. I’m attending the Season on his behalf,” he said, holding up his arm. A golden ribbon was tied around his wrist with a neat bow.
“I didn’t know that,” I said.
He smiled. “No one does. But I reckon my mother will make it known soon,” he said, tucking his hands behind his back. “Besides, I must past my time with something. Father doesn’t trust me with royal affairs. I hardly know why.”
He was teasing again, but there was gravity to his light tone.
“Now I would like to ask my own question,” he said, before I could read more into it. “What was that earlier? With the apple?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. The embarrassment of the encounter rushed back over me. “I was...not myself.” I explained how our interaction at the banquet was misunderstood and how Julianna threatened me with spreading the rumors. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter now.”
Prince Ash raised his eyebrows. “Her name is Julianna Alderidge, you say?”
I nodded.
“I’ll cross her off the list, then. Gossip
