Page 25 of Burning Crowns

As Rose watched the ship get smaller and smaller and then disappear from sight entirely, she closed her eyes and sent a wish to the stars that the journey would go well, that Wren would find the answers she was looking for and then return home, healed and happy.

Rose sighed. She couldn’t stand here staring out of the window until Wren returned, so with some reluctance, she clambered back inside the palace and went in search of distraction. She soon found herself wandering towards the library,looking for a cosy fairy tale or a sweeping adventure story to take her mind off her worries.

When Rose was a young girl, confined by Willem Rathborne to the palace for weeks on end, she had always turned to books. They had been her escape, her comfort, her greatest joy. The only question now was which story to pick. Something familiar and soothing, she decided. Perhaps even something with romance. She quickened her steps as she reached the library, the door closing behind her with a soft thud. She hummed to herself as she perused the stacks, trailing her fingers over the familiar gilded spines. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t see the figure sitting in one of the window seats until she was nearly upon him.

‘Oh! Prince Felix!’ she said, with a start. ‘I wasn’t expecting to find anyone in here.’

‘Ah! Queen Rose!’ he said, hastily shoving something behind his back. ‘What are you doing up so early?’

‘Well, a dutiful queen must rise early to face the day.’ She frowned slightly, trying to peer over his shoulder. Something was winking in the sconce-light. ‘Now I’m looking for a book, which is, I believe, customary in a library. What, may I ask, are you doing here?’

‘The very same thing!’ he said quickly. ‘You have a lovely collection. I was hoping to find a book about …’ He paused. In the short time that Rose had known Prince Felix, she had never seen him lost for words. And here, in the pale morning light, with his hair unkempt and shadows pooling under his eyes, he looked wretched. As though he hadn’t slept a wink.

‘A book about … ?’ she prompted.

‘Horses! A nice book about horses!’

‘Prince Felix, what is that behind your back?’ said Rose, peering over him to see what he was hiding.

‘What is what?’ Felix summoned a shaky grin. ‘Why, I am holding nothing but my great affection for you.’

Rose didn’t like to use magic against people if she could help it, but something about the way the prince was acting had set her on edge. She took a steadying breath and summoned her warrior strand, which granted her greater agility and precision.

‘Perhaps I might take a look anyway?’ She shot her arm out and grabbed Felix’s wrist, twisting until he released what he had been gripping. He yelped, as it fell to the floor with a clatter.

Rose looked down and gasped. It was her jewelled mirror. The one that she and Wren had used to communicate when they were apart from one another. One of the sapphires was still faintly shimmering.

‘Ow!’ said Felix, rubbing his wrist and glaring at her. ‘That wasn’t very polite.’

‘Neither is taking people’s things.’ Rose swiped the mirror from the floor just as the final sapphire winked out. ‘When were you in my bedchamber, Felix?’

‘I was never in your bedchamber!’ he said, aghast. ‘I found the mirror right here in this very library when I was innocently perusing your historical records.’ He folded his arms and stared down his nose at Rose. ‘What a preposterous accusation!’

Rose narrowed her eyes. ‘I’m sure this mirror was on my dresser when I left my room before dawn. And even if you had indeed found it here, as you claim, why were you hiding it from me just now?’

‘That wasn’t my intention.’ Felix sighed and ran a hand through his hair.‘If you must know, I found the mirror right here, on this shelf. And when I realized something so fine must of course belong to you, I thought it would give me a most perfect excuse to go to your chambers and return it to you later.’

Rose felt a strange prickle of relief at his words. That certainly did sound like something Felix would do. And surely he wouldn’t have broken into her bedchamber … but then, who would have removed her mirror and put it all the way down here, in the library?

‘Well, I have it now,’ she said, holding it to her chest. ‘So, there is no need for you to trouble yourself by going all the way up to my chambers.’ Rose was frustrated by the encounter, but she didn’t want to make too much of a fuss. She had enough to worry about without offending the prince of Caro. ‘Especially as it is almost time for breakfast.’

‘Why, I would bedelightedto break my fast with you, Queen Rose,’ said Felix, brightening at the misunderstanding. ‘Thank you for the invitation.’

‘Oh. Wonderful.’ With great effort, Rose summoned a practised smile. ‘I’ll see you in the morning room shortly.’ She turned to leave, and something crumpled under her foot. She bent to retrieve the balled-up piece of parchment at the same time Felix did, and they bumped heads.

Rose scowled at the dull thud of pain, her patience running out. ‘Please give that to me,’ she ordered.

‘I cannot,’ said Felix, clutching the parchment in his fist. ‘It’s far too embarrassing. You see, I’m writing you a poem. And it’s not finished yet.’ His smile vibrated at the edges, his eyes wide and barbed with red. ‘I’ll show you when it’s complete, when it’s as perfect as you are.’

Rose sighed heavily. ‘I see. I suppose I cannot command you to stop writing poetry.’

‘That would be like asking the stars not to shine, the waves not to crash, the clouds …’

She held her hand up. ‘You have made your point. Well, take better care not to leave your poetry on the floor where anyone could find it and mistake it for rubbish.’

Felix, for once, was surprised into silence.

Rose left the library in a hurry, unnerved by the strange exchange and eager to return her mirror to its rightful place.

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