Page 39 of If The Crown Fits
“Well, goodnight then.”
He bowed his head, as princes do, and gave me a small smile. “Good night.”
Then he was gone.
I stumbled into the room, where a cold breeze swept across me, and my eyes landed on the open window, curtains blowing around it.
“Good heavens, Cordelia, it’s freezing in here. Why on earth is the window open?” I walked over to the other side of the room and quickly closed the latch, rubbing my arms to warm them.
When Cordelia didn’t reply, I turned around, and her expression was as guilty as a thief who’d just got caught.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked, slowly putting two and two together. The open window, the door flying open when she heard a noise, her red cheeks.
“Cordelia?” I asked, with a smirk on my face.
She started making herself busy with the brushes and things on the dresser.
“Yes?”
“Was there, perhaps, a gentleman in here?” In a room, without a chaperone, behind a closed door. There really was more to Cordelia than met the eye.
“No, of course not. I came to help you get ready for bed.” Those were her words. But I knew a liar when I saw one.
“Well, come on, who was it, then?” I prompted her, my grin as wide as ever.
“No one,” she swore and I laughed.
“Well, if you’re not going to tell me, Cordelia, then I will just have to find out by myself.” She didn’t reply, but I could see her smiling to herself in the mirror.
Another nightmare slithered into my subconscious that night. Similar to the one I had a few nights before, it was based on a childhood memory, one I had fought so hard to keep locked away from my thoughts. We’d run out of food in the camp, and in a desperate attempt to avoid starvation, Ray and I had gone hunting. We didn’t catch anything for days and all along we got closer to the royal hunting grounds in Levernia. Ray hadn’t meant to kill one of the King’s prized deer. We didn’t even realise that we’d wandered off so far. But that didn’t keep the royal guard from punishing Ray for his actions.
I watched helplessly as they whipped his bare back, eventually drawing blood. I could still hear my screams as a villager had to hold me back from running towards him. Anything to make it stop. Anything to keep the guard from ripping open the flesh of my friend’s back. A hatred in my heart formed that day, for what the monarchy stood for, for what they’d done to an innocent child, for the life I was forced to live because a king couldn’t look after his own kingdom. Ray’s hands were tied to a post and he flinched every time the whip hit him. He wanted to scream, I could tell. But he bit his lips so hard that it eventually drew blood. And I couldn’t do anything to save him from that pain. But I could spend my time causing as much trouble for the royal family as possible. Being a bandit and a contract thief wouldn’t change or make up for what had happened. But it was all I could do then, perhaps until now.
* * *
I woke up the next morning with a blinding pain in my head. Someone, I assumed Cordelia, pulled the blankets off my body and I groaned. “Rise and shine, Your Highness.” I wanted to smile at her jest, but my head was in too much pain.
“Please stop screaming.” Next thing I knew, she was pulling me into a sitting position. I let out a yawn before she splashed some cold water in my face and pulled me out of bed, while I attempted to gather my senses. I squinted from the light coming in through the windows. Cordelia sat me down and started brushing my hair.
“You’re a mess,” she commented.
“Thank you, I hadn’t noticed.”
“We’re supposed to meet the rest of the party downstairs in a few minutes. The Duke of Darwick has given us a carriage and some horses.”
“That’s very kind of him.” I yawned again. “What happened last night? How much did I have to drink?”
“I wasn’t there. But it must have been a lot.” She helped me get dressed layer by layer, until she fastened the last button on the back of my dress. “All I know is that Prince Cai escorted you back here and then you fell asleep almost immediately.”
We left the room, making our way downstairs as a servant entered the room to retrieve my trunk of new clothes kindly gifted to me by the duchess. “Cai?” I questioned and then the memories started pouring back into my head. “Oh no.” I rubbed my temples.
The sharp sun didn’t do anything to help my headache. Everyone was already waiting outside by the time we got there, the guards mounting one by one. Rhen brought my horse over, but I caught Cai’s eye as he was standing with his soldiers. “You know what, I think I’ll take the carriage today.”
Rhen nodded, somewhat confused, and pulled open the carriage door, helping me inside. Cordelia frowned and I fell back against the seat in a very unladylike position.
“Mind if I join you?” My resting eyes flew open at the sound of Cai’s voice as he got into the seat across from me.
“In that case, I’ll just take one of the horses,” Cordelia said, and I was about to protest, but she was already out the door. I grimaced, leaning my head against the back of the seat and closing my eyes again.
