Page 95 of A Royal Kiss & Tell

“Yourfriend,” she said again, looking up at him. “She’s running about with towels for the retiring room and I know precisely where to find her, so if you will come with me?”

“Hollis... I don’t want you to get involved,” he said as she led him down the hallway before turning into another hallway.

“Iaminvolved. Do you think I haven’t talked to my guests? Smile, Your Highness! You look far too serious. People will suspect you’re up to something or have received terrible news.”

Leo forced a smile for her.

There were servants in the hallway, and a pair of retiring rooms for the ladies, judging by how many of them were coming and going from the two rooms. There was also a linen closet. Hollis turned him about so that his back was to the main hall and said, “Pretend we are speaking of our sister and brother as we would, and I’ll keep an eye—Oh! Here she is.” She suddenly stepped away from him and blocked the path of a maid with red hair and a cap that was slightly askew.

“Pardon,” the maid said.

“Excuse me, miss, I should like to introduce you to Prince Leopold of Alucia. He has something he would like to say,” Hollis said smoothly.

“Pardon?”

Hollis took the maid by the arm and dragged her to stand in front of Leo. “Hurry,” she urged him.

“Good evening, Rasa,” he said in Weslorian.

She dropped her towels. Hollis quickly scooped them up and pressed them back into her arms. “Step into the linen closet!” Hollis insisted.

The girl looked frantic. “But I—”

“Stepinside, darling,” Hollis said more firmly.

The girl stepped inside the narrow closet. Leo didn’t attempt to crowd in with her, but he blocked the entrance. “Forgive this intrusion, but I’ve come to collect you,” he said in Weslorian.

“Collect me for what?”

“I’m taking you and the other women who came to London with you to Alucia.”

Her mouth gaped. She clutched the towels to her. “But why?”

She was not understanding him. “Rasa...you’ve been poorly treated. You’ve been sold into slavery and I mean to free you. If you will gather your things and meet—”

“I don’t want to go!” she exclaimed. “I like my post here! Lord Pennybacker, he gave me his daughter’s clothes she’d outgrown.”

Leo was confused. “But doesn’t he... I beg your pardon, but I must speak plainly. Doesn’t he want something...and by that I mean,you...in return?”

She didn’t seem to understand at first, but when she did, she gasped.“No!”

“Come now, Your Highness,” Hollis whispered. “We have company.”

Leo stepped closer. “Do you understand, lass? You were bought and sold by powerful men.”

“I wasn’t! I begged my father to accept the offer, Your Highness. He’s ill, and my mother has to feed my brothers and sisters. How are they to survive? IlikeLondon. I’ve my own room, my own shoes, my own bed.”

Leo stumbled over the idea that she had not had her own shoes.

“Please leave me be,” she begged him. “I don’t want to go back to Wesloria. I want to stay here.”

He hadn’t anticipated this and didn’t know what to say.

“Ah, Your Highness!” Hollis said suddenly. “Are you lost again? Come, I’ll show you the way to the ballroom.”

Leo ignored Hollis and leaned forward. “Rasa, please reconsider.”

She shook her head and stepped deeper into the closet.