Page 13

Chapter 13

Olivia

O livia woke with a feeling of relief. The bed and room no longer caught her by surprise, as they had the first morning, and she was finally going to be given some space to breathe. Her lessons didn’t start until the afternoon.

She spread out, letting herself luxuriate in the softness of the sheets and the perfect tension of the mattress. At home in Henton she had enjoyed the luxury of her own bed only because all five of her siblings were brothers. The bed itself hadn’t been near so fine. And at her aunt and uncle’s house she had been given a guest room that was pleasant in appearance but possessed an overly firm mattress and sheets that were worn thin from long use.

Sunlight streamed through the window since she had left the curtains open the night before, wanting to watch the stars as she fell asleep. Given she was on the second story of the palace, she didn’t have to worry about privacy, and she was determined to enjoy something about her new position. There had been little else to enjoy so far.

She propped herself up on her hands and surveyed the room, admiring the green velvet, gold highlights, and the repeated motif of twining vines. If she was honest, her room wasn’t quite the only positive. The food was even nicer than at her aunt’s house, and the nightgown she currently wore was the softest she had ever owned.

But she hadn’t expected the lessons from the queen to prove more exhausting—to both body and mind—than a full day’s work in her aunt’s house. Perhaps she hadn’t truly appreciated how much the Legacy helped with her chores. She certainly hadn’t realized how mentally exhausting it was to try to absorb so much new information at once. She felt as if her head was bursting.

She slipped out of bed and wandered to the window. She suspected that if she’d left the outer door of her suite unlatched, she would have woken to fresh wash water and a hot breakfast. But she had no desire for strangers to come creeping through her room while she slept. The ability to lock herself securely away from everyone and everything at the end of the day had been the only thing keeping her sane through the whirlwind of the last forty-eight hours.

Gazing across the large grounds at the back of the palace, she drew a deep breath. As overwhelming as it had all been—from endless curtsies, to the dress fittings, to the etiquette lessons, and the charts of the major noble families and important businesses of the capital—she had to admit she felt more prepared for what awaited her in the palace than she had when she rode through its gates.

Of course, she had only learned the most superficial level of correct conduct. She wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking she was ready to hold her own amidst the intrigue and social hierarchies of court. But at least she was no longer in danger of bumbling into a mistake that would reveal a shameful level of ignorance.

And the lessons would continue until she was fully confident. Eventually she would even be able to reach for the correct fork without needing to peek at her dining companions—a practice the queen had kindly assured her was more common than she might have thought.

She leaned on the windowsill, watching the distant gardeners moving through the grounds. Apparently, it was too early for the court to be out strolling the carefully laid paths. Maybe she would spend her morning outside, exploring the gardens from the ground level. She only wished she had a companion to explore it with.

Her letter to Daphne had been sent by royal express, so it should reach her soon. But would her cousin agree to come? And if she did, how long would it take her to arrive? It was no small thing to travel between kingdoms.

Olivia had written the letter out of desperation, knowing it wasn’t a small request. Being so close in age, she and Daphne had corresponded for years, despite Daphne living in Glandore. But while Daphne might live in Glandore, she was no stranger to travel, having been born in Oakden.

Like everyone except the small band of roving merchants, Daphne and Olivia were both tied to their birth kingdoms by their kingdoms’ Legacies. They could physically leave, but the Legacies would extract a price for the duration of their absence—one that varied from person to person and Legacy to Legacy. But the cost was high enough that it put most people off the idea of travel between kingdoms. Most merchant trains met at specified border locations and exchanged goods with their counterparts from the kingdom on the other side of the border.

The Legacy’s price was the reason the king and queen of Sovar never chose foreign royalty for their son’s bride, and it had kept Olivia and Daphne from spending time together in person, with a single exception. When they were seven, Daphne’s parents had brought her through Henton en route between their decade-long sojourn in Oakden and their original home in Glandore.

But their flight home—necessitated by a decade of struggling under the Legacy’s burden—had transferred that burden onto their daughter, who had been born during their years in Oakden. Even as a child, Olivia had thought that unfair. It was Daphne’s parents who had chosen to move in the first place, and they were the ones who had made the decision to move home, though Daphne paid the price.

But Daphne had taken it in her stride. Even at seven, she had been a calm, unflappable person. And fortunately, her individual burden wasn’t one of pain, merely inconvenience.

Knowing Daphne wasn’t in her home kingdom anyway was the one reason Olivia had been willing to write and ask her to come. Daphne would suffer no more in Sovar than she already did in Glandore.

The last time they had spoken, Prince Julius had reminded Olivia that he had a whole team of scholars on his side. He had a whole palace—a whole kingdom—behind him. But Olivia was alone at court.

But that didn’t mean she was truly alone. Aunt Helen had reminded her that her family, at least, would be on her side, and the family member Olivia most wanted in the palace with her was Daphne. Daphne would be far better equipped to handle the environment than Nell or Hattie, and she had the added advantage of not being a subject of Olivia’s husband-to-be. Daphne, alone, had little to lose if she angered the royal family. If it came to it, she could simply return home to Oakden, as she had always planned to do once she reached adulthood.

Olivia shook herself. She trusted Daphne would eventually arrive, but for now, she had no companion for a morning outing. And she should be doing something more productive with her time off, anyway. Her aunt had sent Olivia’s clothing and other belongings to the palace, but when packing up her room, she had missed Olivia’s most prized possession.

Olivia couldn’t blame her for doing so since Olivia had kept its existence a secret and even hidden it within her room. But she was eager to visit her old home to retrieve it—especially since the item might prove to be an excellent assistance in her new role.

If she didn’t go that morning, she didn’t know when she’d have another opportunity. And she needed to collect Mildred as well. Given the mouse’s new size, Olivia feared that every day she wasn’t under Olivia’s protection put her at risk.

Olivia unlatched the external door in her sitting room before retreating to her bedchamber to dress for the day. Her new wardrobe from the queen hadn’t been delivered yet, but her aunt had included some of Nell’s nicer gowns along with Olivia’s practical dresses, and after some hesitation, she chose one of those. While her planned activities didn’t include mingling with the court, she couldn’t be sure who she might run into. After all her hard work of the last two days, she didn’t want to disgrace the queen the first time she was left to her own devices.

After struggling into the chosen gown without assistance, Olivia was pleased to find a breakfast tray had been delivered to the small table in her sitting room. Breakfast had arrived quickly on the previous morning as well, and she was half-convinced the servants had someone on watch to check when she unlatched her door.

She ate in the pleasant room, her amused glance dwelling on the single glass slipper displayed in a prominent position, protected by a glass dome. Apparently, that was why the prince had needed it that night after the ball. Anyone who entered her suite needed to be reminded of her role in the Legacy.

She had just polished off the last bite of the delicious repast, when the door to her sitting room swung open, making her start and spill her hot chocolate. She turned an annoyed frown on Prince Julius.

“Don’t you know how to knock?” She looked around for something to mop up the spilled drops of chocolate.

The prince—she really needed to think of him as Julius now they were formally betrothed—stepped forward, looking like he intended to take over the task, but she gestured for him to keep his distance, and he stopped. She wiped up the spill while he sighed, presumably with impatience.

“Have I come too early?” he asked. “You struck me as an early riser.”

She put down the cloth and stood to face him. “Early or late, you can still knock.”

He raised a brow. “It’s not as if I entered your bedchamber. This is a room meant for visiting, and I am your betrothed.”

“In name only,” she snapped, trying to control her rising indignation. None of the court would treat her with respect if her own betrothed did not.

He ran a hand through his hair. “How about we start again? I’m sorry for startling you. I’ll make sure to give you warning of my entrance next time.”

“Thank you,” she said stiffly. “But what are you doing here? Queen Elsinore said I had the day off.”

Surprise showed in his eyes, and something almost like hurt flashed across his features, quickly suppressed. Olivia frowned. What was she missing?

“Yes,” he said carefully, “she said you had the day free of lessons so that I can show you around the palace and introduce you to some of the younger members of court.”

Olivia’s horror must have shown in her eyes because he quickly added, “I don’t mean any formal functions, of course. It’s supposed to be a day off. Just an informal tour and a few introductions. They’re all dying to meet you, I’m sure.”

Olivia opened her mouth only to close it again. She didn’t think it would be a good idea to say any of the things running through her mind. And she was surprised to find that she didn’t want to cause that look of hurt to return to his face. What he was describing sounded more stressful than the difficult two days of lessons—but he clearly had no idea that was the case.

Had she misunderstood Queen Elsinore entirely? Olivia had thought she was being offered a break, but perhaps the queen had always intended the morning to be an initial test of her lessons. If so, Olivia had promised to devote herself to her studies, and she didn’t want to make trouble over something that had to happen eventually.

She sighed. “I suppose I’ll have to find another time for my own plans, then.”

Julian’s brows drew together. “Your own plans?”

“Yes,” Olivia said tartly. “I do have those, you know. I had a whole life before I made the terrible mistake of wearing glass slippers to your ball.”

She bit down on her tongue, annoyed at herself. She had resolved to keep her irritation to herself and had immediately failed. She was going to have to show better control if she wanted to survive at court.

“I had intended to visit my aunt’s home and collect a few of my items that were left behind,” she said in a politer tone.

Julius continued to gaze at her silently, so she didn’t attempt any further explanation. Instead, she crossed to a mirror to check her hair. Now that she knew about the actual plans for the day, she wished she’d rung for someone to help her put it up instead of doing a simple style herself.

“Don’t worry,” Julius said. “It looks nice.”

Her hands stilled against her head, and she threw him a look. He finally looked away from her, and she frowned. He must be impatient to get going.

But when she walked over to join him, he didn’t move, instead looking down at her with an expression she couldn’t read.

“I’ll talk to my mother,” he said, “and make sure she doesn’t schedule any lessons for tomorrow morning. I believe she’s planning a more sustainable schedule going forward anyway.”

“Thank you,” Olivia said, touched by his thoughtfulness. She had attributed his steadfast gaze to annoyance over her outburst, but he had been thinking about how to fix the problem he had created.

He smiled back at her, and her breath caught. Why did he have to look so attractive when he smiled? And what was wrong with her feelings? One minute she was forgetting his true status and snapping at him as if he were nothing more than the stranger on the hill. The next minute she was all too aware that he was the handsome prince who featured in many girls’ dreams.

It was hard enough to stay on guard without him confusing her with unnecessary smiles and small acts of consideration. Olivia couldn’t afford to get too involved with either Julius, the man, or Julius, the crown prince. His parents were actively seeking a way to dissolve the betrothal, and when they succeeded, Olivia would never see Julius again. She just needed to get through that time without making a fool of herself—or the royal family—in front of the court.

Julius’s smile dimmed when she didn’t return it, but he nodded and led her through the palace, moving along an unfamiliar route. Despite it being her third day of residence in the palace, she had still seen little of the building beyond the ballroom, the queen’s receiving room, and her own suite.

The path they walked still felt familiar, however, thanks to the consistent white marble of the corridors with accents of aquamarine to match the tower roofs. It was more airy than such a large building had any right to be, aided by internal courtyards and long stretches of corridor with only pillars to support the roof instead of full walls.

Julius walked with purpose, and Olivia had to extend her stride to keep up. The further they went, the more he radiated a subtle, tense excitement. On both the last two days, the queen had mentioned he was busy in meetings with the king, and for the first time it occurred to her that he might have spent the time since their betrothal feeling as trapped as she had.

“Where exactly are we going?” she asked as they rounded another corner.

He slowed. “I thought we would start by introducing you to my closest friends. The most likely place to find them at this hour is in our courtyard.”

“You and your friends have your own courtyard?” Olivia asked before she remembered he was the one and only prince. He could probably have as many courtyards as he wanted.

He chuckled. “It doesn’t officially belong to us. But the guards train in practice yards behind the palace, next to their barracks, and traditionally this courtyard has been used for the same purpose for the young men of court—at least the ones with families powerful enough to keep suites in the palace as well as houses on Manor Row.”

“And those are your friends.” Olivia tried not to sound dismayed.

Julius shrugged. “Growing up, they were the only boys my own age that I knew. Since there are only five of us, we grew accustomed to always being together.”

Hearing him describe friendship that way made Olivia feel a reluctant twinge of pity. But it wasn’t really that different from her own experience growing up in Henton. There had been a limited number of girls her own age, and she had considered herself friends—or at least friendly—with them all, even if she’d had no particular close friend beyond her distant cousin. Apparently growing up in a palace or a small town wasn’t so dissimilar after all.

“It was the same for me in Henton,” she ventured.

She had just been lecturing herself on keeping an emotional distance from Julius, but she couldn’t distance herself too effectively. They needed to establish some small sense of rapport before their stumbling, awkward interactions alerted the court to the true state of affairs between them.

“Do you miss your friends and family there?” he asked, but she couldn’t tell if he was truly interested or just being polite.

“Sometimes,” she answered truthfully. “And sometimes I feel guilty that I don’t miss them more. But while I’m fond of my five younger brothers, they are high-energy and exhausting, and I never got any space to myself. Besides, my closest friend is actually a cousin who lives in Glandore, so I’ve been able to correspond with her from the capital as easily as I could from Henton.”

“You have a cousin in Glandore?” Now the prince was definitely interested. “That’s unusual.”

Olivia nodded. “Daphne is actually the one I’ve asked to come and stay with me. Since you said I could have a family member to keep me company here.”

“If she’s from Glandore, she’ll attract interest from the court,” Julius said. “At least among the younger members. Even here at the palace it’s rare for us to get foreign delegations, and they seldom stay long. They find it too uncomfortable.”

Olivia had no chance to reply before they turned into a large courtyard, more sparsely decorated than the ones they had previously passed. A large clear area gave room for the casual sparring session currently taking place between two young men. Decorative greenery ringed the courtyard, however, and in one corner a small fountain was positioned next to several seats. Two more young men lounged on the seats, calling occasional jokes or encouragement to the sparring men.

All four of them were tall, well-dressed, confident, and imposing in Olivia’s eyes. She fell back a couple steps without meaning to do so, bracing herself for their unknown reception to her and Julius’s supposed romance.

One of the seated men—a dark-haired, good-looking young man with a friendly face—spotted the new arrivals first. He leaped to his feet with a glad cry of “Julius” before his eyes fell on Olivia, slightly behind the prince.

His brows quirked, and he looked blankly shocked for a moment. But he recovered quickly, his easy smile returning as he bowed low in her direction. His movement caught the attention of the others, and the sparring match broke off, all three men turning curious eyes on Olivia.

“Well, well, well,” drawled a second dark-haired young man, wiping the sweat off his brow with one arm as he slid his sword back into its scabbard. “This is an unexpected pleasure.”

Olivia, who had given the first young man a friendly smile, gave this second one a more wary look. His lazy tones hid a mocking hint that she didn’t know how to read.

“You’ve been released from your punishment, then?” the first asked Julius with a chuckle, ignoring the sally of the fencer.

Looking between them, Olivia noted a resemblance that was strong enough to mark them as brothers, although their manner was entirely different.

Julius clapped the first man on the back with a smile even broader than his friend’s. “They couldn’t keep me shut up forever.”

“I never thought I’d live to see you defy your parents, Julius,” the second man said, a gleam in his eyes as he surveyed Olivia. “But then I only got back from my trip to Marleston yesterday. Now that I’ve seen her beauty for myself, it all becomes clearer.”

Julius stiffened, stepping back toward Olivia, and she had to stop herself shrinking behind him.

“Her name is Olivia,” he said sternly. “Lady Olivia to you.”

“ Lady Olivia?” the other member of the sparring pair asked, raising one eyebrow.

Olivia shifted slightly, her initial discomfort at the false title returning in full force. But the open curiosity on the face of the second fencer was at least easier to read than the subtle tone of his opponent, and there was no point trying to hide her situation.

“According to King Robert, the betrothed of the crown prince needs a courtesy title, at least.” She smiled at the fair-haired young fencer.

Both his brows shot up, and he threw his head back and laughed. “You’re not like I imagined. But I can see why our friend here was captivated.” He gave her a shallow bow, still smiling when he straightened.

Olivia grinned at the fair-haired man’s laughing compliment, feeling none of the discomfort she’d done at his opponent’s earlier comment.

“My apologies, Lady Olivia,” the dark-haired fencer said smoothly, mimicking his opponent’s bow. “Naturally I meant no disrespect.”

Olivia returned his smile with less ease, although she scolded herself for being overly sensitive. She had no understanding of the dynamics between these men, let alone between their important families, and she wouldn’t do herself any favors by imagining offense where there was probably none intended.

“The graceless one is Zane,” Julius said to Olivia, nodding in his direction. “He’s Lord Strathmore’s eldest and was away on business for his father, so he missed the ball.”

He nodded at the fair-haired fencer next. “And that one is Ashton, the baby of the group.”

Lord Ashton rolled his eyes. “I’ll be twenty-one next year! I’m only a year younger than you and Cade, and less than three behind Zane and Kasper. I even beat Kasper in our match yesterday—if he’s man enough to admit it since the other two weren’t here.”

“Of course I admit it,” said the fourth young man, finally rising from his seat by the fountain.

His expression was guarded, giving nothing away, and Olivia found him even more intimidating than Zane. He bowed respectfully in her direction, however.

“I’m most interested to make your acquaintance, Lady Olivia,” he said, and she finally saw a gleam of emotion in his eyes, reflecting the truth behind his words.

Julius stepped closer to her again, a warning look on his face as he gazed at his friend.

“She’s my betrothed, Kasper,” he said.

His incongruous warning made Olivia examine Kasper again, her eyes lingering on his burnished bronze hair with its hints of red. She stiffened as she realized what she should have recognized at once.

The youngest of Marigold’s three older brothers was called Kasper, and she shouldn’t have needed the flash of familiar red to remember it. Unlike the others, his interest in her stemmed from knowing the truth of the original arrangements and at least something of the mix-up that had followed.

She wanted to ask Kasper about Marigold’s current whereabouts—surely she had returned home by that point—but she didn’t dare say anything in front of the others. As far as she knew, only Marigold’s family and the royal family knew the truth of the original choice of betrothed for the prince.

“Welcome to the palace, Lady Olivia,” said the final young man—the first to have greeted Julius. He smiled and bowed in her direction. “Ignore the rest of these fools. We’re delighted to see Julius meet his match at last.”

He might be the younger brother of the mocking Zane, but Olivia could find no trace of mockery in his words. He seemed sincerely pleased on his friend’s behalf. She smiled back at him, finding him even easier to like than Lord Ashton.

“That’s Cade,” Julius said, something unspoken passing between him and his friend that Olivia couldn’t decipher. “We were born three days apart and have been stuck together ever since.”

But from the way he said it, Olivia could tell he saw Cade as a true friend—perhaps the closest out of the group of his peers. She just hoped Cade’s welcome really was as sincere as it seemed, and that perhaps he might prove friendly to her for the duration of her stay at court.

She could certainly do with some allies.