toys stored in the hollow cubes. “Look at this, Moirin,” he said cheerfully, showing me a miniature carriage. “The doors open, and the wheels turn.”
“That’s mine!” Desirée said with a flash of temper.
He glanced up at her. “But you’re not playing with it.”
“It’s mine!” Her perfect pink lips formed a pout. Bao shrugged and put the toy back.
“Your mother used to pout when she didn’t get her way,” I informed her. “But even she admitted that it was tiresome.”
Her fair brows knit. “You knew my mother?”
I nodded. “Very well.”
“I’m coming down,” Desirée announced, beginning a precarious descent.
Both nursemaids rushed forward to aid her.
“Don’t,” I murmured under my breath. “She’s Jehanne’s daughter; she thrives on drama of her own creation. Don’t encourage her. It’s all right. Bao will catch her if she falls.”
She didn’t.
Once she reached the floor safely, her nursemaids descended on her, chastising her, hastening to get her clothed in a miniature satin gown stiff with elaborate beadwork. Desirée bore it with surprising patience, all the while keeping her eye on Bao and me.
“I am being good now,” she said when her nursemaids had finished with her. “Now you have to tell me.”
“Moirin.” I knelt to sit on my heels opposite her. “That is my name, young highness.”
She tilted her head. “And him?”
Bao threw a standing somersault, drawing startled squeals from the nursemaids, landing and settling to sit cross-legged in one fluid movement. “Bao.”
“Bao?” Desirée mimicked his inflection exactly, capturing the rising and falling tone with a child’s careless ease.
He grinned. “Uh-huh.”
She studied him. “Why do your eyes look so funny?”
“Mine?” Bao touched the outer corners of his almond-shaped eyes. “I am from Ch’in, young highness. This is how we look. There, you would be funny-looking.” Dragging down his underlids, he widened his eyes. “Round eyes!” Making a beak with forefinger and thumb, he touched his nose. “A big nose, like a bird.” Stretching out one arm, he compared his tawny-brown skin to hers. “And so pale! In Ch’in they would ask, what happened? Did someone leave you in the bath too long, so all your color faded away?”
Desirée giggled. “That’s silly!”
“I suppose it is,” he agreed gravely.
I could sense the royal steward hovering behind us, and turned to him. “Please, do not wait on us, Messire Lambert. I know my way around the Palace. Tell his majesty I am at his disposal whenever he pleases. We’ll be some while making her young highness’ acquaintance. If that’s all right?” I added with an inquiring glance at her nursemaids.
The younger glanced at the older, who shrugged. “After you coaxed her down from yon perch? Take all the time you like, my lady! I don’t care if it is magic.”
I smiled. “No magic. She’s got her mother’s temperament. I knew it well, once.”
The royal steward departed with a relieved bow, and the younger nursemaid left to bid the princess’ tutor to delay the morning’s lesson.
“Do you like your tutor?” I asked the child. “What do you study together?”
“Manners and counting and singing,” she answered obediently. “And I am learning my letters. Nurse says I am too little for letters, but mademoiselle says she could read whole books by the time she was four.” She considered. “Most of the time, she is nice.”
“Only most?”
Desirée looked down, plucking at the beaded hem of her gown. “Not when I am naughty.” She looked back up at me, her expression achingly candid and woeful. “My mother was naughty, wasn’t she?”
“Oh, dear heart!” I suppressed the urge to hug her, knowing I was far too much a stranger still. “Your mother was a great many things. Sometimes, yes, she was naughty. But she was kind and generous and brave, too.”
“She was?”
“She was,” Bao confirmed. “I did not know her so well as Moirin, but I know this is true.”
“How?” Desirée demanded.
“When you are older, I will tell you the whole story,” I said. “It is a story for grown-ups. But I will tell you this. I was there when your mother learned she was going to have a baby. You.” I laid one hand on my belly. “And she was happy, so very happy. That is why she named you Desirée, so you would always know that she loved you and longed for you.”
She looked down again. “Is my father coming to see me today?”
I glanced at the nurse, who shook her head. “Not today, your highness. You know the King is a very, very busy man.”
“You told the steward my father could see you when