"No, of course not." Bib's glee faded, his tone turned thoughtful. "No, don't embarrass yourself, Mi'Lady. It should be enough for the deception to announce you're a princess. Slap them down with all the royal elegance you've been denied for so long. But first, we need a tiara. The simpler the better. What princess in exile, living in impecunious circumstances, would have more than just a circlet indicating her royal blood?"
"Hard to keep clean," Merrigan offered. Funny how hard it had been to breathe for a few moments. "Very difficult to keep on your head when you're fleeing ogres and bandits."
"That's the spirit." Belinda chuckled and squeezed Merrigan close.
Gilda and Aubrey had left on their wedding trip, but King Auberg was in the palace and more than delighted to help Merrigan. He had become something of a grandfather to the orphanage. He took such mischievous delight in coming to the warehouse in disguise, loaded down with treats for the children. Books for the studious ones. Tools for those headed for a trade. Wooden practice swords, bows and arrows for the boys who wanted to join the city guard or the army. Ribbons and trinkets for the girls who were old enough to sigh over such things.
"Merrigan of ... of Avylyn?" Auberg repeated, when she finished detailing her request. She had brought Bib with her to the palace for their private meeting. A talking magical book was always a guarantee that her story would be taken as truth. "Oh, my dear princess, I have indeed heard what has been happening with Carlion and Jardien and your father's kingdom, but ... the tales are that you ... well, there are several mad women wandering the mountains, claiming to be you. Rather vicious, foul-tempered women."
"Far too easy for people to believe those women are me, you mean." Her face felt warm enough, she imagined she glowed redder than the coals in the fireplace on the other side of the room. Merrigan was grateful for this private audience. She didn't want word to get back to anyone who knew her, even if it took years for the gossip to trickle across the continent.
"Mi'Lady," Bib said, his tones subdued, "if I may be so bold, you are no longer you. It takes a heavy grindstone to turn wheat into fine flour, but the results are admired by everyone. I imagine if flour could think, it would be delighted at ... well, perhaps that metaphor isn't quite working, but—"
"I know what you mean. Thank you, Bib. You have always been my truest friend." Merrigan shared a smile with King Auberg. "I'm not here for my benefit, Majesty, but for Princess Belinda. If we could verify the princes hunting her were indeed here for the wedding, and determine how many remain on the hunt, that would help us ever so much."
"Determine who is still here in Alliburton, to know how much threat remains." He nodded, a decisive movement that belied his thinning white hair and sagging jowls.
In the two moons since the curse broke, a general sense of haziness and distraction had lifted from the entire city. Merrigan had learned that the king hadn't really been distracted by the hunt to find and free his missing son. Rather, King Auberg had discerned early that the spell was thickest around the palace, and had prudently removed the heart of the government to another city. Whoever set the curse had wanted to cripple the kingdom, not just make the royal family suffer. The curse was flexible, set to discern where the most government activity was, and then settle around that physical location. King Auberg's ministers and officers and secretaries had to pick up everything and move to another city every ten moons or so. The rumors that the king was useless and letting others run the kingdom for him were partly to satisfy the enemy, and keep him from checking the progress of the curse. Now, the seat of the government was back in the palace. King Auberg was a man reborn, alert and decisive and fixing all that had unfortunately been allowed to lie neglected for years.
"Come with me, Princess." He stood and offered her his bent elbow, then shook his head. "Forgive me. How rude. If you don't mind, Sir Bib?" He scooped up the book from the stool next to Merrigan, and cradled it against his chest with one arm.
"You honor me, Majesty," Bib responded, as Auberg offered his elbow again to Merrigan.
Her face warmed with pleasure as she tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow. He escorted her through the wide archway into the next room of the royal apartments. They stopped in front of a massive wardrobe, with three sets of doors. King Auberg bowed Merrigan into a chair, set Bib down next to her, then tugged a long chain from inside his shirt and unlocked the middle set of doors. This section of the wardrobe was all shelves full of carved wooden boxes. He brought down one long box, about eight inches tall, and set it on a footstool in front of Merrigan, then took a key from a hidden panel in the left door and unlocked the box. Inside were five tiaras, varying in grandeur and beauty.
"These belonged to my beloved wife," he explained, after bowing his head over the box and its contents for several moments. "I intend to give them to Gilda for her birthdays, and when she and Aubrey have their first child, but I believe my Rosamund would be pleased to donate one to the cause of defending a princess in distress." He beckoned for Merrigan to join him.
The crown they chose was
