Page 59 of Lake of Sapphire

I, however, did not smile. My breathing was ragged by the time we were done each day. I could barely hold our conversation, but Peter would listen as I complained about my classes in breathless pants. I would vent about how ridiculous it was that there were five different ways to bow, or how unfair it was that everyone was required to learn them all except for Sie.

Once a male won the King’s Tournament, it was considered beneath them to bow. Even a slight nod of the head was offensive. A King bowed for no one.

After my last lesson for the day, Abherham brought me to my fitting room. Beautiful travel bags were scattered across the room, and my three servants were running frantically about.

“What is all of this?” I asked Ashley.

“We are packing for your trip,” Ashley said as she tucked a lavender gown into a leather bag.

“What trip?”

Annabel was the one to answer, “You and Sie have your tour this week. You will be gone for a couple of days in order to see each village, so we are making sure you have enough gowns. We are going to find the most perfect dresses for you.”

“Tour? What tour?” I asked.

“Do you know anything that goes on around here?” Roslyn sneered. “You are always so clueless.”

“Rosie, stop that,” Ashley hushed. “She is being told all about it tonight at her dinner. You know she didn’t grow up in this lifestyle.”

Roslyn clicked her tongue as she moved toward the dresses laid out before her. “That’s for sure,” she grunted under her breath.

The next hour was spent trying on an assortment of different gowns and long coats. Most of which were thick and made of wool since most of the tour would be outside, or so I was told. My body was so sore from training that Ashley and Annabel had to help me in and out of each one, making sure they fit perfectly. Mercifully, they didn’t comment on it. I was thankful they never dressed me in anything revealing again, besides the first night when Sie picked my dress. Tennebris favored modest clothes and all the gowns they selected for me seemed to follow their customs.

“It’s your time to make them believe that rank zeroes have a voice,” Annabel whispered to me as she helped me out of the last dress. I’d never thought of it in that way—that other zeroes might be happy that I was selected.

“You can change things,” she added. “Hopefully, we can all be treated better.”

I smiled at her, wishing it was true. “I promise I’ll try,” I said to her and meant it. I would try for all the rank zeroes that had similar stories, who were treated like me or worse. I would use this tour to try to sway the Advenians of Tennebris that a rank zero could do this job. That we were more than the number burned onto our wrists.

Ashley’s eyes brimmed with tears as she gave my upper arm a tight squeeze. I realized now why they fussed so much about my appearance.

Once the three of them were satisfied with all the outfits they had selected for me, they dressed me for dinner. It would be the first royal dinner since the engagement banquet. All the other nights, I’d been able to eat dinner alone in my room. Despite my growling stomach, I wanted nothing more than to go straight to bed.

The full-length gown they put me in was a deep green. It was simple yet elegant, nothing like the extravagant dresses I would wear during the tour. The dress covered all my skin, except for the long sleeves stopping just above my wrists, exposing my rank.

Even though it was conservative with no high slits or plunging necklines, it clung to my figure, hugging my hips, my ribs, my breasts. The gaunt material left goosebumps on my skin from the cold, stagnant air of the castle.

They applied the usual amount of makeup to my face and curled my hair. Other than when I was training with Peter, I was always forced to wear it down. My previous braids were not up to par for the look of a Princess. Tonight though, Ashley took the strands sweeping my face and twined them into small braids, pinning them back with a beautiful, gold barrette.

“You ready?” she asked as she fastened the final barrette into position.

I nodded, attempting to give my best smile. I just didn’t know what I was ready for yet.

Soft classical music was steady beneath the constant but quiet chatter radiating from the royal dining hall. Abherham halted just outside the door.

“I will wait for you here, milady,” he said with a nod of his head.

“Thank you, Abherham.” I’d been relying on him less and less for directions as I was slowly forming a map inside my head of the grounds, but his constant presence wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. He was quiet and serious and barely sparked conversation with me, but he never ratted me and Peter out for training. He didn’t make me uncomfortable the way Kole did. I was growing to really like having him around.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the large wooden door. A long table expanded the entire length of the room. Seats were filled with more Advenians than the first night at the banquet. Various members of the High Council, and some of the ladies the Queen insisted on dining with during our luncheons, were already wine deep and chatting amongst themselves. The King and Queen’s chairs were still vacant. I scanned the room for black hair and dark eyes but found none.

I spotted an empty chair beside Alec, Reagan, and Peter that I assumed was saved for Sie. So I sat down in a seat on the other side of the table, wanting to be farthest from Sie and his friends.

Peter smiled as he stared at someone next to me.

I whipped my head around and jumped as Sie lowered himself into the adjacent chair, our arms almost brushing against one another. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and leaned into the opposite armrest, pushing myself further away from him.

A half smile formed over his lips as he took in my movements. My eyes lingered on his soft, very kissable lips. Vivid flashes of us in his bathroom raced through my mind. How it felt to have his lips against mine, on my neck, my throat. I tore my gaze away from his and stared into my empty place setting.

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