Chapter 24: To the Palace

The countess would not stop gushing about how HER daughter was going to marry a PRINCE the entire carriage ride home. Percy squinted at me thoughtfully the entire time and the earl was largely ignoring everything after giving a simple congratulation to me.

As we reached the house, the countess started ordering servants around immediately to prepare for me heading to the palace for bridal lessons once everything was settled. My brother pulled me aside.

"You were meeting the prince the day you ran away?" he asked in bewilderment.

"Why would you do that? If he was planning on proposing anyway, he should have participated like the rest of your suitors or written to Father directly asking for your hand. You said you did not want to get married so why…Were you trying to elope?"

Sometimes Percy could be oddly perceptive. I couldn't tell him the truth. Such a stickler for the rules would expose us to the king as his royal duty and we would be dead. Literally. I snorted as if it was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard.

"Of course not. But he's very busy and we wanted a little time together without everyone staring at us. We went to the shore and the bakery before he proposed. That's all that happened."

He relaxed, buying my story. I heaved a silent sigh of relief. I couldn't believe he fell for that!

"That makes sense…I imagine it would be difficult for him to leave the palace often…still, he should have given us some advance warning. Mother, Father, and I were completely shocked when we heard all the fuss at the garden party."

"He did intend to tell you all before announcing it officially but things with the duke got a bit out of hand so he felt the need to step in."

I wondered how Al knew I was in trouble. Maybe because he saw his brother and his brother was always bad news?

"I do feel a bit sorry for the duke. Being publicly humiliated like that and all…the gossip will likely haunt him for the next few seasons. But he is still very young; I am surprised he was pursuing you this early on at all. People will forget about it eventually, especially since he is so highly ranked," Percy mused. "No matter. You better get some rest; you have a big day tomorrow."

I certainly did. Once again, I was woken at the crack of dawn to be prettified before being shipped off to the palace. I thought it would at least take a few days.

The countess was frighteningly efficient. My things were packed and I was delivered without any fuss. How could I protest? Ironically, going into a prison was the best way to escape one now.

All four du Ponts were led into the queen's own drawing room. The king and most of the princes were too busy to attend but Al was there, as were both of his sisters-in-law.

After the formal greetings, we sat and I was delighted to find a very familiar raspberry tart being served with the blasted tea.

"This is from my favorite bakery," I remarked casually.

It tasted exactly the same—Marcy had to be here already. When exactly had she come? I had seen her briefly in the bakery the day Al proposed to me but that was weeks ago.

"Mine as well," the second princess, Mariela, said with a polite smile. "Dear Franz brought the pastry chef into the palace so I would not have to send servants to the bakery so often. He is ever so thoughtful."

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I had heard the rumors. Supposedly, Prince Franz was so smitten by his wife's beauty when they met at a diplomatic meeting that he requested her hand in marriage immediately.

She certainly lived up to the hype. Mariela was the fourth princess from a small but wealthy kingdom to the east whose population boasted silver hair and striking violet eyes.

It was an excellent political move on the prince's part. He kept the wife happy, her family bankrolled him.

"Now you won't have to either," Al said cheerfully before sipping his tea.

He looked happier than I had ever seen him. What was his deal? I understood him less and less with each interaction.

"Are you prepared for the bridal lessons? Poor dear, I have heard they are quite strict," the crown princess, Rosenia, said sweetly.

She was the first princess from Annalaias' closest neighbor, Rowenhilde, and since our customs were so similar to theirs, she hadn't needed any.

I disliked her already. She was looking down on me for being an earl's daughter instead of a princess. Well, we can't all be foreign dignitaries.

I was foreign but my common birth wouldn't factor in my favor. An earl's daughter was a large step up from what I actually was.

"If you require any help, I am always available," Princess Mariela said sympathetically.

Her culture was vastly different so she had been through bridal lessons herself. I felt instant kinship with her.

"Thank you, Princess," I said gratefully.

"No need for such titles here," the queen said strictly. "You shall learn this soon enough, but members of the royal family always address each other with their given names, or Mother and Father, respectively."

I had to call the king and queen Mother and Father. How terrifying.

It surprised me though that she seemed family oriented considering her youngest son was so frequently ignored by the royals overall. And I had never even seen the princesses. But I suppose that was because they had all been married off to form alliances.

Al was twenty-one in the novel so his two younger sisters wouldn't be younger than fifteen or so. It made a sad kind of sense that they were already gone. Poor things.

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