To Court a Lady

Chapter Seven

I wasn't always this worried about people. And I know I need to go to the morning meals and dinners and balls. But I can't get over the fear. I have always had a small nagging voice in my head, telling me I shouldn't go to balls, but I always ignored it because I usually enjoyed myself at the event with Mama and James and Harper.

Then Mama got sick, she collapsed at a ball, me and Papa were the only ones to be there with her. As we grieved her illness, she worsened. And when she died, at the mourning ceremony, that Harper couldn't attend because of her strict finishing school regime, James declared that he was leaving to the New World because he claimed to be in love with some woman that we have never met.

As I sit in silence and feel some tears threaten to fall, a knock comes from the door and the maid from yesterday walks in with a silver tray filled with food,

"There you go, Miss. I hope everything it to your liking,"

"Thank you very much,"

She smiles and leaves. I stare at the food, hungry, but my stomach still feels tight and is warning me to not eat yet.

I nod at the warning and walk into the sleeping quarters, taking off my dress and corset and putting on the clothes I wore to bed hours earlier.

When my friends return, I managed to eat most of what the tray held. They sit down around me and converse,

"Willow, you will not believe it, the prince I mentioned last evening, Prince Sebastian, he didn't just show up to the morning meal late, but he came in wearing his sleeping clothes, or maybe riding clothes. It was unbelievable and then he left early again, to even the King and Queen's dismay."

I frown at the actions of the said prince, as I seem to do every time he is mentioned.

As they continue to talk my attention turns to the garden where I know see the Prince Daniel conversing with someone with golden hair. The man turns around and I see a pair of piercing blue eyes. It is Bash - what is he doing talking to the Crown Prince? He is still wearing his riding clothes, or maybe it is his work clothes. They continue to talk and I look at them intently, I notice again how tall Bash is, beating the already tall prince by half a head. He is also much bigger than Prince Daniel in terms of physique, the prince is lean and lanky where Bash is muscled and strong, which is leading me to assume he helps in the stables, or maybe in the royal smithy.

Suddenly, Bash looks up and meets my eyes, his eyes fill with shock before he turns to the Crown Prince. They converse for a moment before they both walk briskly into the eastern part of the palace. Strange.

As the sky starts to darken, Harper starts to get ready for dinner, her hair already put in a chignon with a comb. Her corset has been tightened and a dress placed over it. She walks with a servant to the dining room, me and Freya and Maya staying behind again.

After we eat a meal, I go for a walk around the palace, find a library and walk in, lighting a candelabra with matches that were luckily left here.

My fingers run against the spines of the books, all with titles written in a black tidy, cursive script on the cream leather covers. I choose against taking one and read the one I have from home, seating myself on a velvet armchair and taking off my painful shoes, tucking my aching feet under me.

I read through the pages, the poetic words swirling around me like a wind. I smile as I read the magical words that bewitch me into reading more. When I turn the page for the tenth time I look up a little and see a familiar person leaning against the door,

"Good Lord. Bash? What are you doing here?"

Completely ignoring my question he walks to the couch and collapses onto it, his long limbs stretched over the end of the couch.