Page 6 of The Abandoned Princess

“We will not be leaving this wagon for as long as it remains in the Arcadian capital,” she clarified, and I nodded sagely.

“A very wise plan.”

Lori cocked her head, falling silent, although her suspicions had clearly not been allayed. I suppressed a smile. She knew me well but not quite well enough.

I continued to play a compliant and dutiful role for the next few days, lulling her into enough complacency that when we parted ways with the covered wagon in the northern part of Arcadia, she purchased the next leg of our journey in an open one. Seeing the countryside passing by was a great relief and worth the earlier careful good behavior.

But even with a view, sore muscles and boredom soon replaced my initial worry over my missing companions. Even the fascinating glimpse of life among commoners couldn’t make up for the long stretches filled with only fields.

In the villages and towns we passed my eyes darted everywhere, taking it all in, but they were too few compared to the endless hours on the road. At least the only town large enough to have a sufficient harbor had no ocean-crossing ships in berth. But it also offered no sign of anything that might distract Lori from our endless journey and her goal of returning home.

When we passed the first squad of royal guards on the road, Lori returned to her previous state of unease and started looking for covered wagons again. Thankfully our first ride had been an unusual find, and she was unsuccessful in replicating the feat. While there was always someone willing to accept coin in exchange for taking a couple of unassuming passengers along on their northward journey, the vehicles varied widely.

However, it soon became clear that the various guards passing in both directions weren’t interested in us. From bits of chatter, we gathered they were searching for a missing squad of guards that had disappeared on this road—news that sent Lori into a state of further anxiety and me into a state of suppressed excitement. Neither of our emotions proved to be founded, however. We saw no sign of the missing guards or of whatever threat had caused their disappearance.

Arcadia might be in some sort of turmoil, but our own journey was disappointingly free of any obvious danger. The most notable feature of our travel was the mountain range that loomed before us, growing larger every day. By the time we reached it, I had formulated a new plan.

My hopes now lay in Northgate. Lori didn’t intend to hustle us through that capital, and I could only hope that with an entire mountain range between us and whoever had attacked us, she would finally relax. There was no reason to suspect Northhelm of having been involved in an attack far south in Arcadia. And none of our own group would have made it this far north yet since the delegation had planned an extended visit in Arcadia.

I hoped the journey through the mountains might prove more interesting than the road thus far, and at first I was awed by the vastness of the peaks and the wild feel that lingered even on the well-traveled pass. We had no mountain ranges back home in Trione.

But the beauty of the mountains was offset by Lori’s increasing discomfort. I had thought she would relax as we left Arcadia behind, but instead she seemed even more on edge.

“Don’t talk to anyone!” she snapped one night after I exchanged brief and meaningless pleasantries with a fellow traveler.

I pulled her aside. “What is it? You weren’t like this before. I thought you were worried about the Arcadians?”

“I doubted the Arcadians,” she said, “but we can’t trust anyone we meet in Northhelm.”

I stared at her. “Why ever not? What are you talking about?”

She lowered her voice even further. “Don’t pretend you don’t know who lives here! I’m well aware you loved Celine’s stories about her older sister almost as much as that Cassandra did.”

“Princess Celeste?” I bit my lip, not quite able to meet her eyes.

I hadn’t realized Lori had overheard the stories or knew the true identity of Aurora, the infamous spymaster whose network spanned the length of these new kingdoms. She had started as Celine’s sister—a princess of Lanover—but was now crown princess of Northhelm, where she lived along with another one of the Lanoverian sisters who had also married a Northhelmian.

Cordelia or possibly Cecilia. Or had it been Celandine? Someone really needed to talk to those Lanoverians about their naming traditions because how anyone was supposed to keep track of all the sisters was beyond me.

At least the Lanoverian brother who’d married the younger Northhelmian princess had a more distinct name. From the stories, Raphael was just the right sort of person.

I suddenly remembered he had also assumed the guise of a commoner and traveled these kingdoms, just as I was doing. And he had ended with a highly exciting adventure. Did Northhelm hold the same future for me?

“We never know who might be her agents,” Lori whispered, recalling me from my fantasies.

“Surely you can’t think Aurora’s in league with whoever attacked us!” I said aghast, and she shushed me again.

“I think that I’m not going to trust anyone until I deliver you safely home to your parents.”

I groaned. “You’re being ridiculous! Aurora is the very one to give us some answers. By now, she probably knows who was really behind the attacks as well as what has become of the others. We should be running to her instead of trying to hide from her.”

Lori narrowed her eyes. “Don’t go getting any ideas. Just because you took a liking to Princess Celine doesn’t mean we can trust an unknown relative of hers. Don’t forget Celine is now a princess of Eldon, and they were the ones in charge of our delegation. It was also their boat that so mysteriously sprung a leak.”

I groaned again. “I didn’t think you were really serious about suspecting the Eldonians! They’ve been allies with Trione for generations.”

“I suspect everyone,” she reiterated. “And if you had a better sense of self-preservation, you would too.” She gave me a long-suffering look. “But then, you never were too worried on that front. I knew what I was getting myself into when I agreed to accompany you—I just don’t know what came over me that I agreed to take the post.”

I grinned at her. “I’m a trying ward, aren’t I?” I slipped my arm through hers and gave her a coaxing smile. “But you’ll come to like me eventually. Everyone does.”

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