M E R E D I T H is a princess without a country. Her family, formerly the royal family of Borgavia, has been exiled from their home, forced to live under the rule of the Empire of Astoria.
A N T O N Y is a prince who doesn't want a crown. Soon to be...
That evening, Antony and Isabella had a quiet dinner in Isabella's private parlor.
Isabella was still overjoyed at making the acquaintance of Meredith. She had asked Meredith, at the end of their work for the day, if she might request the girl to help her again tomorrow. To her happiness, she had said that yes, she would enjoy that.
Antony, for his part, noticed that Isabella seemed in a much better mood than she had been yesterday. It was a good thing, he supposed; he felt rather bad for sleeping half the day and leaving her to find something to do with herself.
"What has you in such a good mood?" he inquired.
"I worked in the gardens all day today," she replied, smiling. "And one of the servant girls and I chatted. It was really very pleasant."
"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. I apologize for sleeping the day away..."
"Antony, it's not as if I didn't notice you haven't been sleeping well lately. I purposefully told Fulton to let you sleep as long as you liked."
He looked up briefly, met her eyes, then looked down at his hands folded in his lap.
"Thank...you, Isabella," he finally said.
She sighed. "Mother arrives tomorrow morning."
"Ah yes. Well..." He frowned. "I suppose, if you wish to awake early and go out to the greenhouse, I can arrange to distract her for you. At least then you will have a few hours of peace."
"Thank you, Antony," said Isabella, sounding grateful and relieved.
"It's the least I can do after your consideration of me this morning."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Meredith wrote her first note to Evan that evening. She decided not to mention much about the Princess, except to say that she had worked in the greenhouse at Fulton's orders to help Isabella. She would leave out any of her confused feelings about what it would mean to be the princess's friend, or the fact that she had been happier with Isabella today than she had been with anyone in a long time.
She undressed and got into bed, pulling the covers up to her chin and staring at the ceiling. She had a lot to think about.
Eventually, the moon high in the sky and shining through her window, she finally turned over and managed to fall asleep.
That morning, Meredith had plenty of time in the dining hall to eat breakfast, alone at the end of the table, while the other servants gathered in small groups and gossiped and chatted. She sighed and looked back down at her food, buoying her spirits with the thought of working again with Isabella in a little while. She wondered if she would be meeting Isabella in the greenhouse, and, if so, when? The Princess hadn't really specified yesterday.
Just as she was worrying over this new problem, the door of the servants' dining hall opened and a hush fell over the table, followed by the collective rise of every servant in the room, the men bowing and the ladies curtsying.
