Page 51 of Until the Stars Fall

As Britta passed by me, she leaned in close and whispered, “It’s okay. We all would do the same if Prince Brennan fancied us.”

“And some of you have,” Marin muttered in a somewhat jealous tone.

Lola snickered, and Mrs. Bishop clapped her hands loudly.

“That’s enough of that talk, girls,” she said, a look of genuine concern in her eyes. “We don’t deal in gossip in my kitchen. You hear? The king requested a change in the dinner arrangements. We do as we’re told. End of story.”

“I—” Lola started, but Mrs. Bishop’s sharp glare forced her mouth shut.

The old fae looked pointedly at each one of us, jabbing a finger in the air as she repeated her instructions. “No gossiping about the royals. No guessing about what happened. No assuming you know the truth. Now, get back to work!”

Hurriedly I rounded the table to join Marin, who was ladling a hearty lamb stew into three gold-rimmed bowls. Without a word, I took each bowl and placed it on its respective tray. Soon we had the trays filled with steaming hot rolls, butter, and a cup of strawberries I’d picked from the garden this morning.

As Marin placed the silver lids over the trays, I cleared my throat and asked, “Shall I help deliver—”

“No,” Mrs. Bishop said without looking up from where she was cleaning the table. “Britta, Lola, and Marin will be doing that.”

Although I’d known it was a long shot, especially after Lola’s earlier accusation, my heart sank a bit. I needed to check on him, to know he was okay.

While they removed their work aprons, dusted off their hands, and picked up the trays to leave, I busied myself with wiping up spilled stew from the table before tossing the towels and linens into the laundry basket in the corner. Thankfully the dinner was a simple one, and most of the preparation had been done earlier in the day, so there was little left to clean.

As Marin and the two fae waitstaff stepped out of the room, I bit the inside of my cheek and counted to ten. I could still catch up to them before they reached Brennan’s room, but I couldn’t risk raising Mrs. Bishop’s suspicion. When I was sure I’d given them a reasonable head start, I pushed out a sigh and forced a yawn.

“I’m pretty tired. Mind if I leave a little early tonight?” I kept my tone as casual as possible, repeating the words in my head to ensure I hadn’t slipped up. No, there was no lie in what I’d said. I was indeed tired, and I certainly wanted to leave early.

She slowly surveyed the kitchen, and stars, I had to force myself to breathe slowly, to calm my heartbeat and prevent it from galloping away with my impatience. She might not detect a lie, but there was no way to hide a panicked heartbeat from her.

Finally she shrugged. “Go on then.”

I dipped my chin, careful to keep my movements slow, and offered her a quiet “Thank you” before slipping out of the kitchen.

With a glance down either side of the hallway, I took off for Brennan’s room. I hoped whoever was delivering his meal would hand over the tray without a fuss—assuming I made it there in time. I ran as fast as I could, skipping the servants’ stairways and heading for the main stairs that led up to the royal wing. It was a risk, but hopefully the king and Connor had already retired to their rooms and were awaiting their own meals.

Thankfully, I met no one on the stairs or in the upstairs corridors until I rounded the corner and spotted Lola about to knock on Brennan’s door.

“Lola!” I whispered as loudly as I dared, still running toward her. She slid a sideways glance my way and pulled her lip back into a devious smirk.

When I finally stopped beside her, my labored breathing made it impossible to say anything beyond a pathetic “Wait!”

She turned her head fully toward me. “Forget something, Lieke?”

I sucked in another long breath and shook my head. “Can I deliver his meal to him?”

Lola pursed her lips, and I clenched my teeth, fighting the urge to smack that smug look off her face. “How do you know he’ll want to see you? From what I hear, you’re the one who got him into this mess. If I were him, you’d be the last one I’d want walking through my door.”

I stifled a sigh. I didn’t have time to worry about how she’d heard or who had found out. The longer I stood in this hallway, the greater my risk of being caught by another servant—or worse, Connor.

“Please,” I said, the desperation in my voice earning me another wicked smirk.

“What’s to stop me from going straight to the king about this? I bet he’d be most interested to know the servant distracting his son weaseled her way into his bedroom.”

“I’ll take your dining room duties for a week,” I offered.

She scoffed at me and rolled her eyes. “And earn yourself even more opportunity to be in the same room as the prince? I don’t think so.”

“What do you want then?” I asked. What could she possibly expect me to have that held any value? What could I offer her that didn’t involve taking on her duties?

“Your necklace,” she said quickly, dropping her eyes to where Mother’s pendant hid beneath my dress. My hand flew up protectively to where it sat near my heart as I shook my head. I couldn’t. She raised a single brow and shrugged. “No necklace for me? Then no prince for you.”

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