A guard opened the door, and I stepped inside and was warmly greeted by lush blue velvet benches and blue-and-gold pillows. Sitting down, I spread my skirt out around my legs just as Pru stepped in behind and sat across from me. Her plain linen servant attire was replaced by a dark blue dress with long sleeves and cuffs, signifying her rise in status. Her hair had been expertly braided and coifed, and she looked quite fetching.
The young woman had grown on me, and her fear, though still near the surface, had subsided. She seemed to relax more in my presence, which was good, because I would need a confidant.
Her face had a wonderful glow of excitement as she sat across from me. “You look nice,” I said, wishing I had come up with a warmer greeting, but I was still seething from what had transpired outside.
“Can you believe it? When I told the steward you requested me as your attendant, it was a promotion. Now I get new clothes and get to travel with you out of the palace. I’ve never been out of the palace, and now I get to see the world.”
The door slammed on us then, cutting off any more congratulations I had. The carriage jolted forward, and I was unprepared for the movement, crashing against the back wall before toppling sideways. Regaining my seat, I took a deep breath and looked around. The curtains had been drawn, and it was instantly stuffy. I reached over to pull them open, but they were stuck. Every one of them had been tacked shut so they could not be pulled aside and tied back.
Pru’s face fell with mine.
“I’m sorry your view is not very promising,” I whispered as my hand fell limply in my lap.
She tried to smile, but I knew it was a struggle. “No worries.” I could hear her disappointment. “But I still get to travel. It’s a great adventure.”
Knowing we would probably not be disturbed for a great while, I pulled the veil from my head and laid it along the velvet bench.
“Until a few years ago,” I confided, “I’d rarely been out of my town of Nihill. Well, once in a while we would travel to visit our friends in the north.”
“Nihill? Doesn’t that mean—”
“Nothing,” I answered. “A name very apropos for the town.” Leaning my head back against the sideboard, I closed my eyes and continued to speak. “A town so small, so filled with misfits on the border of Sion and Candor yet no country claims it. Filled with thieves and wastrels and vagrants, it has become a home for the lost and desolate. My adoptive mother was from the northern kingdom of Kiln. Her mother died in childbirth, leaving her to be raised by an ever-doting father.
“My mother is beautiful and was engaged to the prince of Sion. Her father was a well-known and wealthy shipping merchant, and when his largest trading ship was lost at sea, he lost his wealth, including her dowry. The prince refused to marry Lorelai, since she was a pauper now and devastated. Her father begged attendance at the yearly gathering of the seven realms and asked if anyone would honor the broken betrothal in the southern prince’s stead. They all laughed, for what worth could a pauper bring to a kingdom? There was no coin to fill their coffers, no army to join in defense, no family lineage to strengthen. She had no value other than her beauty.
“‘What of love?’ her father asked the current king’s father, who at that time was merely Prince Gerald of Baist. ‘Her beauty is so compelling that surely someone would fall in love, if they take but one look,’ Lord Eville pleaded.
“‘Beauty means little, for one does not marry for love,’ Prince Gerald had responded.
“All of the princes laughed in his face, threw food at him, and ordered him to be gone. When he clutched his chest and fell before them, they thought it was an act to amuse them. They didn’t even realize the severity of the moment until Lorelai came running to him from the shadows—she had been there the whole time, watching and listening. She tried to save her father, but he died in her arms while they argued amongst themselves.
“But her father, Lord Eville, was right. When the seven princes saw the beauty of Lorelai as she rushed to her father’s aid, they each were stricken with