Chương 6: Chapter 6
By the time dinner was over and she'd spent nearly another two hours afterward bombarded by suitors and other guests, Shanna was exhausted and cranky. Finally back in her room, she endured the maids undressing her and giving her a light bath before they slipped her into a heavy dressing robe, then dismissed them.
A nightcap of liquor and cream was sitting on the table by her chair, along with her current book, a collection of folktales that reminded her of the stories her nurse had told her growing up. Some of those were in the book, versions slightly different but still so painfully, sweetly familiar.
Ignoring both nightcap and book, she went to the velvet box on the table by the door and retrieved the letter, still sealed and sitting beneath the statuette. She broke the wax seal and unfolded the paper as she sat.
Dear Princess Shanna,
I want to apologize once more for our deception of these past few years. Under the circumstances, for our safety and yours, we dare not reveal our true identities. Your mother came to have many fears regarding your stepfather, though she hoped they were unfounded and that she had not in fact chosen so poorly for a second spouse. But she begged my father, should she die and matters seem amiss, to protect you. To that end, she left an open invitation to attend your courtship as this would of course be a most dangerous time for you, and the only time we could enter the country as ourselves. In the meantime, we have come as often as we dared under guise of peddlers. But I am sorry all of this required lying to you, and for so long.
But now that we are here and free to be honest, Ahmla and I are here to serve you. Shields to protect should you need us, swords to strike where you order, and whatever else you desire.
Should you wish to make use of us, take a walk in the gardens this evening and we will settle the details of the matter. If you prefer we take our leave, do not come and we'll be gone by tomorrow evening. If you are unable to come to the garden, send to the kitchens for a late repast of bread, cheese, and pears, and we'll know to speak with you another time before assuming we should leave.
So you know we can be trusted and mean everything we say, I leave you with these words your mother bid us convey to you as proof: you first fell in love at fourteen with a girl in the village who died six months later of the wasting disease. Many knew you adored her, but only your mother knows the little box you placed on her pyre contained a lock of your hair, a wooden hair comb carved with bees, and yellow rose petals.
Yours most faithfully,
K
Heart beating rapidly in her chest, pounding in her ears, Shanna cast the letter into the fireplace, braided back her hair, and firmly knotted her robe, then informed her bodyguards she was going alone for a walk in the garden. One of them would shadow her anyway, but he'd keep his distance and she would be able to speak privately with Kallaar.
She had an ally. A real, true allyand somebody she already knew, and trusted, despite the deception all these years. Part of her still wanted to be angry they had lied, but Kallaar was right: if they'd told her the truth, then it could have been found out by someone else.
On the other hand, it was also disappointing, far more disappointing than she liked admitting, that Kallaar was only pretending to be a suitor to actively help her. It had been much easier to deal with him as a mischievous, flirtatious merchant who would always be at a distance. She'd spun fanciful thoughts here and there, safe in the knowledge they'd never be reality.
But Kallaar was a prince, which meant so many impossible things were in fact possible except that Kallaar was only here under orders, here to keep a promise. Had he meant any of his flirtations, or were they just one more part of his guise?
Oh, it didn't matter. She had to marry to help her kingdom, to stop Mercen before all his years of plotting finally came to fruition. No good would come of letting an infatuation spin out of control because Kallaar was more than he'd seemed.
Because Kallaar and Ahmla were more than they seemed, but that was a path she absolutely was not going down. There was hopeless and then there was hopeless, and Shanna did not enjoy making herself miserable.
She'd just settled on a bench by the little water fountain and fish pond when she heard footsteps. Her heart kicked up another notch, and Shanna clenched her fingers in her lap to keep from reaching fretfully for the collar of her robe.
Kallaar came around the corner and stopped short as he saw her, surprise overtaking his face. "My apologies, Your Highness. I was too restless to sleep, but I did not mean to intrude. The guards said I might walk about, though the gardens are usually restricted."
"Suitors are permitted some privileges, including access to the royal gardens," Shanna replied. "Please, come and converse with me, and maybe we'll cure one another's restlessness."
Smiling, he approached as bid, but sat on the grass a few paces away instead of beside her. "You have a beautiful home, Highness. I've always enjoyed my visits here, with the mountains, the much-cooler air, so many lakes and rivers, all the flowers and plants so different from those back home."
"Thank you." Shanna smiled. "I always wondered how a peddler came to speak such excellent Remnien, when all the others I know usually have much heavier accents or pick up the dialect of where they first learned it, and yours is very schoolroom neutral."
Kallaar laughed. "I always worried that would give me away. My eldest sister is much more skilled with languages. My father is quite stringent about his children knowing multiple languages. I speak three in addition to my own. Between my five siblings and I, we speak about twenty-one different languages. I admit it's been a useful skill, but I've never admitted that to my father because it would make him smug." His smile widened when Shanna laughed. "I hope my gift was not rude or considered some form of cheat."
"That is for me to decide, and I find it acceptable," Shanna said. "Where is Ahmla?"
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