Page 13 of Unbetrothed

Bells of warning shrieked in my mind.Coming out here with Lux may have been a mistake. My chances of finding an acceptable match were slim, especially if the other suitors took offense to this intimate conversation like Sir Marcoin. Well, that is if I planned to find another suitor.

Taking in the question quirked his eyebrow. I pressed a fist to my lips. Why was I flirting with danger? The markings on my knuckles glistened with a metallic sheen. My stomach clenched.

“I need to go.” I whipped around, my heart buzzing louder than bees around a hive.

Lux called out, “Bea, I’ll be here when you get back. You deserve more.”

I took one last peek at him. He watched me, so refined in his white doublet. I found myself hoping against hope that I would be able to call him more than a friend when I returned from my quest.

“Princess Beatriz, do you need anything?” Laude huffed, racing to catch up to me as I strode to my room from the garden, head spinning from my time with Lux. She shut my bedroom door upon entering.

I paced the hardwood in front of my four-post bed and considered her question for a minute. There was so much I wanted, but could Laude help me? The ripples along my bed canopy reminded me of the many mountains around Giddel. I needed to go before the oath consumed me. Laude could accompany me along with my other maids. Mamá would not oppose a picnic in the mountains. She, of all people, understood the stress of choosing a suitor.

“Yes, I doneed something. Could you prepare for a picnic in the mountains tomorrow?” I stopped to study Laude’s reaction.

Her head cocked to the side, but no suspicion shone in her gaze. “Of course, Princess. Who will be joining us?”

“Only me and you and a couple other maids and drivers and a coach. No, make that a wagon.”

Laude’s blue eyes widened. “Should we wait for your brother to come back from his voyage?”

“My brother won’t be back for another weekor so. Yes, get the drivers, food, and other details arranged. I need a change in scenery.”

“Of course.” Laude bowed her head and twisted around to exit.

“And Laude,” I called before she turned the door handle. “Keep this a private affair. I wouldn’t want any of the suitors following us on our trip.” I winked.

Laude’s playful smile accentuated her freckly cheeks. “Of course, your Highness. One can never be too careful with so many handsome fellows about.”

“This has nothing to do with those nobodies.” I pressed my fingernails into my palm. Could I trust her? If she didn’t understand my need for secrecy, she’d surely slip and tell Mamá. She had to know the truth.

My shoes tapped as they crossed the space between her and me. “Laude, we won’t be going on a picnic.”

“We won’t?”

“No.” I exhaled. “I … I sealed an oath to go to Valle de los Fantasmas.”

She yelped, chin quivering.

“Shhhh! Now you understand. We can announce to the others our true plans mid-trip or … you and I can take a walk alone and end up in the valley.” Blood pulsed in my temples.

Her face paled, and for good reason.

“You’ll wait for me outside the valley while I go in.” I swallowed hard, burying doubts threatening to emerge. “We leave before first light. Arrange the details.” I flicked a wave of dismissal.

She opened her mouth but snapped it shut. Seconds passed. Then she slipped out of the room, gnawing on her bottom lip.

Could I pull this off? I plopped down on plush white covers. Did I have enough courage to follow through with this plan? I pushed out the air in my lungs to try tocalm the knocking against my ribs.

As my plans came together, the vines on my arms loosened their grip, but the metallic coloring spread up to my wrists, twisting my insides. Lux was right. I complained too much about my predicament. If I wanted a life worth living, I needed to pursue my dreams. No matter the risk.

CHAPTER 7

ICLUTCHED A LOAFof bread and a bundle of cheese in one hand and carried my bedside candle holder in the other. Candlelight shifted across the dark corners of the getaway tunnel. Something scurried in the blackness, and I moved backward, my foot catching on my other shoe. My arm shot out, dropping my food, but I righted myself before I fell. The tiny flame dimmed, and I held my breath as the fire danced to life again. Cosme and I hadn’t played in the secret passages for years but planning an escape, and hunger pangs, seemed like the best excuse to enter the bowels of the palace.

Scooping my meal back into my arm, I continued toward my room. The stairs into my closet were narrow, and I struggled with the trapdoor. I managed to unclick the latch with two fingers and bump the door over with my head. I slid my trunk in my dressing room over the opening and locked it in place. My plan would work. The ease of tiptoeing around the palace unnoticed almost seemed too easy.

Tap-tap-tap.

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