Page 13 of Lily of the Valley

"Put me down this instant!" Lily said, face going hot. "I do not need to be carried about like some— some—"

"Damsel?"

"Child," Lily retorted scathingly.

"Then you shouldn't have run off into the woods like one."

Lily huffed, folding her arms across her chest, absolutely refusing to make this any easier for Scout. "You are the single most irritating person I have ever met."

To her astonishment, Scout laughed—really laughed, loud and long and bright, completely transforming her face, making her so unfairly beautiful and distracting that Lily couldn't stand it. Still chuckling, she said, "You'll have to try harder than that to insult me, princess."

"Queen."

Scout grinned. "Princess. Better than you have cast far worse insults upon me. By comparison, irritating is nearly a compliment."

"Add impossible to the list," Lily muttered, making Scout chuckle again.

Storm

After several minutes of walking, during which Lily was silently horrified to realize just how far into the woods she'd blindly traveled, they at last came to the clearing where Scout's home was located. She'd been so preoccupied lately, she hadn't really taken it all in. Wildflowers were everywhere, everything from dandelions to the flower that was her namesake. Though they used the well for water, there was a small creek cutting through where Scout had gotten them fish once.

It was just a clearing in a forest, but it reminded her of the valleys she'd loved to ride through when she was younger, before duty and responsibility had consumed every second of her time.

Inside, Scout fetched her a bucket of water to clean up with and brought her fresh clothes. Once she was clean and dressed, Scout pulled up a stool and sat to attend her feet. Lily was touched all the time as a princess: servants who helped her dress, officials she met with, her handmaidens to comfort her, people trying to court her, citizens eager to get close, and people who just in general did not understand, or at least obey, boundaries. It was something she tolerated, for the most part, just one more aspect of being royalty.

None of those touches were like Scout's, firm but gentle, her hands deft and elegant, calloused but somehow softer and warmer than the finest fabric. Her touch left Lily feeling squirmy, a funny fluttering in her stomach that she was absolutely going to ignore because there was no way on earth she was attracted to the single most annoying, aggravating, infuriating, rudest person in the kingdom, if not the continent.

"Thank you," she said when Scout had finished wrapping her feet. "I swear, I don't intend to undo all your hard work."

Scout snickered. "I'll believe that when your feet are healed, Your Majesty." She stood and gathered up the supplies. "Now stay there and out of trouble while I finish up outside.

Left to her own devices, Lily hobbled over to the bed, where she'd noticed a basket that morning and investigated to find bits of clothing and other items that needed repairing. Even with her sore hand she could manage a bit of simple sewing. Fetching the basket, she rifled through it and was pleased—and relieved—to find a small sewing kit already inside.

Settling comfortably on the bed, she turned up the lamp beside it and set to work, beginning with a shirt that looked like all the others Scout wore. Sturdy, well-made, light enough for warm seasons but would layer well in the cold months. Ruthlessly practical, the veritable definition of Scout. Josiah would have liked her greatly, and so would the others. Scout and Alice would get along famously.

She sniffled, thinking of her friends, but pushed the anguish aside. Time for that later. Maybe some of them were even still alive. A foolish hope, but she'd cling to it all the same.

Finishing the shirt, Lily worked next on a handful of socks, until the door opened sometime later and Scout strode inside. Lily's chest did that stupid, annoying flip again, watching Scout bustle around, sweaty and dirty, so effortlessly strong, but so deft and elegant in every movement as she set to butchering what looked like some sort of fowl before vanishing outside again, likely to wash up.

Lily set aside a finished sock and began on the next one, pausing to stretch out her neck and shoulders, stiff from being hunched over in the same position for at least a couple of hours. She looked up as the door opened again, eyes helplessly trailing a damp, flushed Scout around the room. Damn it, the woman really was beautiful, unfairly so. Clearly woodcutting did marvelous things to a person's body. More than tea and conversation would ever do for Lily. Not that she'd ever cared until now, because she looked every bit the refined princess—queen—she should.

Stifling a sigh at her own nonsensical thoughts, Lily went back to work on the socks, leaving Scout to her own thoughts, which probably were a lot more intelligent, listening to the oddly relaxing sounds of her working in the kitchen, butchering the bird, chopping vegetables, bustling around.

It wasn't until Scout spoke that she realized the work had stopped. "Are you sewing?"

Lily huffed, annoyance replacing her fragile good mood. "Yes. Believe it or not, I'm not entirely incompetent. Back home I mostly do embroidery and tapestry pieces, but we all start with the basics."

Scout sighed. "That's not what I meant. I hate sewing. I put it off for as long as I can. If I'd known you could sew, I'd have put you to work on that ages ago, and spared myself the torment even longer."

"Oh," Lily said with a laugh. "Most of my days are spent on conversation. Meetings, teas, parties, more meetings, even more meetings, and it's nice to have something to keep your hands occupied. Jotting notes, drinking tea, but where it's appropriate, I like to embroider or sew. Your thread is cheap quality, more prone to breakage than good thread, but these stitches should hold for some time."

Scout smiled. "It's appreciated, Your Majesty."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Not really much point in calling me that. What's for dinner?"

"Roasted partridge and a vegetable soup."

She could also smell fresh bread, which honestly was becoming one of her favorite things. Back home, it was always one fancy bread or another, and all of them delicious, but there was something about the simple, rustic bread Scout made that was so much more appealing. Comforting, in a way fancy palace food could never be.

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