Page 22 of Pretense

His expression turned a touch wry. Regretful, even. “You know me and my secrets.”

His secrets, yes. After how he had helped the Tarenhieli scouts both during the war with Kostaria and afterwards in Kostaria itself, she suspected much about his past and his skills.

They strolled up the path past Winstead Palace to the main circle drive, where a carriage pulled by matching black horses waited for them.

An Escarlish footman handed Jalissa up into the white, open carriage with its bright red velvet seats facing each other. Edmund took the seat across from Jalissa while Jalissa’s guard climbed up to sit beside her. Both elven and human guards surrounded the carriage on horseback.

An open carriage. The better to be seen. It did not take much for Jalissa to relax her face into her serene expression. This was what she was good at, after all. Being the image of the perfect elven princess.

As they drove through the streets of Aldon, Edmund smiled and waved occasionally at the people they passed. Jalissa gave a few graceful waves as well.

Instead of heading into the familiar shopping district, the carriage turned down a street lined with large, stately homes that turned into a square formed of opulent buildings that, based on the signs, were several museums and a large library. The center of the square was dominated by a statue of some long-dead Escarlish warrior brandishing a sword while seated on his rearing steed.

At the far side of the square, an archway was covered in climbing roses, though it was too early in the year for the roses to bloom yet. Past the archway, hedges and manicured gardens stretched for a full city block, all the way to what appeared to be a gleaming, glass structure in the distance.

Jalissa could not tear her gaze away, catching her breath. She had forgotten—or wanted to forget—that these gardens were here in Aldon. She had dreamed about visiting, but that was from a time three and a half years ago filled with late nights and books and a mild-mannered servant.

Edmund should not know these gardens would draw her. It was the gesture of someone truly courting her, not merely for show.

The carriage halted next to the entrance, and in a blink one of the footmen was at the footwell, a hand out to Jalissa.

Jalissa gripped the silken fabric of her blue skirts and climbed down from the carriage. As she stepped to the ground, Edmund hopped down from the other side of the carriage and strolled around to join her.

He held out his arm. “Would you join me for a stroll through the Kingsley Gardens? They are world-renowned. Well, renowned through all the human kingdoms. I don’t know if you’ve heard of them in Tarenhiel.”

There was a note in his voice. As if he knew very well that she had heard of them but was pretending ignorance.

“Yes, I have.” Jalissa swallowed. She could not force herself to tell him that she had once dreamed about visiting these gardens. Those dreams were a part of a secret she had told no one.

Jalissa started as Edmund strolled toward the entrance. Sarya and the other guards fell into step behind them.

At the archway, they were met by two attendants in green livery and top hats. Edmund paid the small admission fee, though it was not so small by the time he paid for all of them. Then, with several of the guards leading the way, Jalissa strolled at Edmund’s side into the Kingsley Gardens.

A maze of hedges outlined the walking paths and opened into small, private gardens. Each garden was meticulously manicured with curving pathways, bubbling fountains, and beautiful statues set among glorious bowers of flowers from all over the world. The early spring flowers bloomed in a profusion of purples and yellows and pinks.

Jalissa trailed her fingers over the plants, resisting the way they called to her magic. This was a place she could visit again and again, each season bringing a different majesty of blooms.

For a long while, Jalissa and Edmund strolled in silence, only breaking it to greet those they passed. She did not mind the quiet. It was peaceful to lose herself among the flowers. If she had been born a commoner instead of a princess, she likely would have gotten a job tending the trees of Estyra or the gardens surrounding the home of one of the elven courtiers.

“Are they everything you imagined?” Edmund glanced down at her for a moment before he steered them into another small garden. This one was a rose garden, though it was less impressive now than it would be in mid-summer when the roses bloomed.

“Yes.” Jalissa trailed her fingers over a rose branch, avoiding the thorns. Giving in to temptation, she let her magic flow into the plant. A bud appeared at the end of the branch, then burst into a delicate white bloom.

“Why did you never ask to visit on your other trips to Escarland?” Edmund reached around her and plucked the rose, handing it to Jalissa. His eyes—blue with a few hints of other colors swirling in their depths—focused on her in a way that made her heart beat harder. “For you, milady.”

Jalissa looked away, twirling the rose between her fingers. “I thought about it, but…”

She could not tell Edmund this secret. It had only been three years since Elidyr’s death, a pain far too recent for an elf. How could she explain about Elidyr and her dream about visiting Escarland and the Kingsley Gardens? Before, it had been too painful to dredge up those memories.

Edmund was still looking at her, studying her face.

Jalissa shrugged and turned away. “It was always too busy whenever I visited. We were trying to stave off a war, then we really were at war. There was not an opportunity for frivolous things like visiting gardens.”

“No, there wasn’t.” Edmund stepped back, holding out his arm again. “Would you like to see the glass house? The gardens in there are filled with exotic plants from places across the world.”

Jalissa nodded, and she was thankful when Edmund set a quick pace. She kept up easily without resorting to an ungraceful trotting.

The glass greenhouse glittered before them in the mid-morning sunlight. Arching, deep green plants could be seen through the wavering glass, but it wasn’t clear enough for Jalissa to make out their exact shapes.

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