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  I took a dainty sip and was not disappointed. Delicious, just as royal tea should be. I sighed with utter contentment. Here I sat in a palace having tea with Eileen, who was thankfully safe despite all my unfounded fears of the past week. Joy filled me to see her interact with her mother and fiancé. In all the years we’d known one another, I’d never seen such light in her eyes. My smile matched hers as I imagined her future happiness.

  I waited for a pause in her conversation with Doreen. “When is your wedding?”

  Eileen lit up. “In two weeks. The invitations are being sent out tomorrow. I’d be honored if you’d be my bridesmaid.”

  I clasped my hands at the delightful thought. To think that I, Rosalina, would be part of the royal wedding of my best friend, a future princess! It was positively magical. My imagination immediately stirred as possibilities of what the grand event would be like danced across my mind. I ached to ask for more details and even to begin helping Eileen plan, but she’d turned back to her mother. But no matter. I was content to wait.

  We passed a lovely tea enjoying delectable cinnamon-vanilla biscuits—which were almost as delicious as the ones we made at the bakery—and listening to Eileen recount her story about how she and Prince Aiden had met, along with the Princess Competition he’d instructed the Forest to lead her to so that she could win his hand. It was utterly romantic—all the stories I’d read about over the years come to life. If my best friend could experience such an incredible happily ever after, surely I could too.

  When Eileen finished her story, I seized the opportunity to sidle closer. There was no room for me on the settee, so I opted for kneeling in front of her. Eileen greeted me with a smile and clasped my hands in hers.

  “It’s so good to see you again, Rosie.”

  “And you. I’ve missed you this past week and was so worried about you. Best friends should never be apart that long.”

  She smiled. “You’re right. We’ve spent nearly every day together since we were children.”

  All the memories from our years of friendship flittered through my mind, accompanied by a strange ache. Now that Eileen was going to be a princess, she’d move into the palace, and I’d be left behind in Arador. But at least she’d be happy. That fact would hopefully ease the loneliness I’d surely experience without her.

  Prince Aiden wrapped his arm around Eileen, tugging her away from our conversation. “Shall we give your mother and Rosalina a tour, darling?”

  I beamed at her nod. I, Rosalina, was about to wander the palace corridors. It was too thrilling an opportunity to delay any longer.

  Prince Aiden and Eileen led the way from the parlor while Doreen and I followed, the two guards who’d stoically watched us throughout tea bringing up the rear. Eileen paused to turn towards them.

  “Forgive me for failing to introduce you. These are our guards, Duncan and Alastar. Alastar kindly watched over me throughout the Princess Competition.”

  I curtsied to both guards, who each gave me a slight bow in return. The proper formalities concluded, I turned away, eager to see more of the palace. I stepped into the marble corridor and eagerly looked around for where to explore first. Elegant decorations ranging from paintings, tapestries, and statues filled the hallway, along with countless doors, each inviting me to peek inside to see what lay behind them. Beyond this hallway lay another also full of large doors, and then another, and another…endless possibilities, right at my fingertips. I shivered in excitement. There would be no returning to my boring life in Arador for me. Perhaps Eileen would allow me to live in the palace with her.

  “Where do you want to see first?” Prince Aiden asked.

  Every single book I’d ever read that contained a castle ran rampant through my mind. “The ballroom. No, the library. No, the throne room…or perhaps the secret passageways. Anywhere. Everywhere.” And without waiting for His Highness to select a destination, I scampered ungracefully down the hall.

  Eileen giggled behind me. “There she goes.” I was vaguely aware of her asking someone to keep an eye on me so she could spend time with her mother, but I was too distracted to pay attention.

  I turned first one corner, then another, and quickly found myself in the elegant entrance hall lit by a glistening diamond chandelier. I gaped up at it. Oh, it was positively lovely.

  My attention was quickly captured by a towering door, guarded by two rather serious-looking men in uniform. Ooh, could that be the throne room? I absolutely had to see. I hurried over. I’d no sooner reached out to graze the gold handle than their spears crossed to block me.

  I gasped and leapt backwards…right into a rather firm chest. I oofed. “What are you up to, Miss Rosalina?”

  My breath caught. Whoever this tall, broad man I’d run into was, he knew my name. I swiveled around and came face-to-face with the serious brown-haired guard Eileen had just introduced me to. In my distraction I couldn’t remember which this one was, Duncan or Alastar. It didn’t matter though, not when he was being meddling.

  I gaped up at him, unsure what a heroine was supposed to say to a guard who’d thwarted her attempts for adventure. Before I had a chance to find the words, he took me by the arm and led me away from the doors blocked by those rather sharp-looking spears.

  My words, which had been mysteriously absent up until now, tumbled out as I tugged against his hold. “What are you doing? Unhand me this instant; I need to see what’s behind that door.”

  “No you don’t,” the guard said. “His Majesty is currently entertaining many regal guests and would be quite upset if you barged in uninvited.”

  “The king is behind that door?” I turned and craned my neck to see. “Can’t I meet him?” After all, I’d already met the prince, making an introduction with the king the next natural step.

  “Are you a foreign advisor who’s been invited to engage in serious political discussion?” he asked.

  “I’m the future queen’s best friend.” Oh, I loved the sound of that.

  “Close in importance, but not quite. Unfortunately, even an esteemed lady such as yourself doesn’t have permission to run everywhere she desires.”

  “But I’m in a palace,” I said. “It’s not every day something so incredible happens to a common girl such as myself, but it’s something I’ve dreamt of my entire life. Normally heroines in fairy tales have to do an honorable deed to an enchanted sorceress disguised as an old beggar woman before going on such a magical adventure…” I trailed off, getting all fluttery at the thought of my great fortune at finally having something exciting occur in my rather-average life.

  The guard’s gaze didn’t leave my face during my recitation, nor did his serious expression falter…except for the brief moment when the corner of his lips twitched. But despite his subtle change in expression, he didn’t detour from his objective of escorting me away from the room I desperately wanted to explore.

  I tugged futilely on his iron grip. “Release me at once, you dastardly fiend.”

  He cocked a single eyebrow. “Dastardly fiend?”

  I momentarily paused in my attempted flight. “Isn’t that the most fitting description for a villain? I read it years ago and have been anxiously awaiting the day I could use it myself. Dastardly fiend perfectly conveys your role in my current predicament, don’t you think?”

  The guard gaped at me as if he’d never seen anything quite like me before. I used his temporary distraction to once more attempt to escape, but his hold was too firm for me to yank free.

  “Please enlighten me,” he said. “What have I done to deserve the title dastardly fiend?”

  “You’re thwarting my attempts to explore.”

  “And in that dramatic mind of yours, that’s a capital offense?”

  “It’s quite close.” I made another attempt to escape, one that was sadly futile. I groaned in what I hoped was the properly dramatic way for a captured heroine. “Despite my best attempts, I still find myself trapped in the villain’s clutches.”

  T
he guard actually snorted of all things, which was strange, considering villains chortled in all the books I’d ever read. This guard was likely performing his villainous role wrong for the sole purpose of aggravating me.

  “Don’t snort,” I snapped. “Villains chortle. If you’re going to haul me off to the dungeons for the mere offense of exploring, the least you can do is play your role correctly.”

  “My apologies,” the guard said with all grave sincerity. “I’m still in the middle of my villain lessons and haven’t yet learned the fine art of the chortle. I shall study it at my break so I don’t disappoint you in any future encounters we may have.”

  “Villain lessons?” I grinned. “How delightful.”

  “Indeed it is. One must do all they can to become dastardly.”

  “Considering you’ve yet to complete your training, you’re doing an aggravatingly good job.”

  “Natural talent, would you wager?” As he spoke, he tugged me firmly but with surprising gentleness in the direction of the parlor.

  I stomped my foot. “I expect to be treated like a lady, so unhand me at once.”

  His lips twitched. “Unfortunately, I’m afraid I must disappoint you. You strike me as a lady who always has mischief up her sleeve, which means I can’t have you poking around in places you shouldn’t.”

  “You’re ruining my story,” I grumbled. And things had been going so well in this chapter until his cruel interference.

  “Are we in a story?” While the guard’s serious expression didn’t even crack, amusement glistened in his eyes. Great, having fun at my expense. He played his villain part well. “If we are, it’s not my intention to ruin your story; I’m merely taking this current scene in an unexpected direction.”

  I momentarily paused in my attempt to tug myself free. Wait, was he playing along? Or was he teasing me? “What direction are you anticipating for this scene?” I asked stiffly.

  “A reunion,” he said as we turned a corner to enter the corridor where Eileen and Doreen stood listening as Prince Aiden discussed the history of a painting that had captured Eileen’s artistic eye.

  Eileen brightened. “There you are, Rosie. I was afraid in your excitement you’d gotten lost, so we decided to wait for you and Alastar to return from your exploring so you wouldn’t miss Aiden’s tour.”

  It was impossible to get lost with that guard on my trail. I huffed when my new antagonist handed me over with a bow, as if he’d fetched me like a servant would bring Their Highnesses a cup of tea. I scowled at him and he merely raised his eyebrow, as if in question. The fiend.

  I immediately dismissed all thoughts of the stoic guard the moment Eileen proposed showing me the palace gardens. I wouldn’t allow the annoying Guard Alastar to ruin not only my first time in a palace, but my time with my dear friend. Whatever came next, it was sure to be grand.

  Chapter 3

  I’d never lain on a bed so soft and comfortable before—it was certainly made of actual clouds—yet sleep still stubbornly alluded me. I’d been tossing and turning for at least an hour. Every time sleep almost lured me into the magical land of dreams, the reality of my amazing situation would settle over me: I’m spending the night in the majestic Sortileyan Palace, for my dearest friend is the future Queen of Sortileya, making me, Rosalina, practically royalty. My toes curled in excitement. Ah, bliss!

  As the first hour of sleeplessness drifted into two, I finally realized my insomniac foe had vanquished me. Who could sleep in a palace? Palaces were not meant to be slept in; they were meant to be explored.

  I immediately scampered from bed to light a candle. The dancing flame glistened against an object decorating the mantle. I squinted through the shadows and an excited thrill rippled over me—it was a golden sphere. I reverently picked it up and turned it in my hands. I’d once read the most fantastic story about a princess who dropped a golden ball into a pond, where she discovered it possessed the power to lead her to her true love. Perhaps one day it could do the same for me.

  I started to carefully place it back before changing my mind and tucking it into the pocket of my dressing gown; maybe it’d lead me somewhere special in tonight’s explorations. I inched the door open to the empty marble corridor, lined with dozens of doors on either side—doors which I, Rosalina, Palace Explorer, was about to discover what lay beyond. I shuddered in anticipation.

  I tiptoed past the guards standing rigidly outside the door to Eileen’s guest room. I ignored their baffled expressions to see a royal guest out of bed long after midnight and pattered to the next corridor, where an entire palace lay at my disposal.

  Unfortunately, this first hallway’s doors were all locked, as were those in the second. I huffed in frustration as I gave a futile yank on yet another firmly bolted door before wandering down a staircase to a lower floor to try additional rooms, all of which were annoyingly also locked. I sighed. Exploring a palace by night was a lot more exciting in books. I tried to squelch this disappointment as I pattered down another staircase.

  I’d no sooner jumped from the third step to the landing than I careened into a tall, firm body. I gasped and stumbled backwards, but before I could fall, the mysterious individual seized me by the waist to steady me.

  “Miss Rosalina?”

  My heart lurched as I raised my candle to illuminate the face of Eileen’s head guard, Alastar, the very one who’d thwarted my earlier explorations. In a palace that contained hundreds of guards, why him?

  “What are you doing here?” I snapped. “And why are you planted at the bottom of this staircase?”

  He cocked a single eyebrow, his expression as stoic as ever. “Forgive me, but I’ve been ordered by His Highness to thwart any attempts made by his esteemed guest to have a pleasant evening. On the off chance this royal guest came down this particular staircase after midnight, I was to remain here to knock her off her feet and under no circumstances stray from my post.”

  I glowered. When he put it that way, he made my accusation sound downright ridiculous, but there was no way I’d leave this interaction without the upper hand. “Are you attributing our unexpected encounter to mere chance?”

  “Not mere chance,” he continued, as serious as ever. “In my villainous studies, my marks in ‘annoying royal guests with perfectly timed inconveniences’ were rather high, a relief considering I haven’t yet mastered the chortle, otherwise I’d be chortling right now on a scheme well done.”

  “You make up for your failed chortle by aggravating innocent heroines.”

  “Excellent. My professor will be pleased.”

  A strange thrill from our word spar rippled over me. Imagine: I, Rosalina, was engaged in a battle of wits with a royal guard in a palace in the middle of the night.

  “If you weren’t planted here for my annoyance, what are you really doing here?”

  He studied me as if debating whether or not to divulge that information before he cocked his head. “Why don’t you guess? Our brief acquaintance has already taught me that you’re going to come up with something far more interesting than the truth.”

  Already my mind was brewing up some excellent possibilities. I tapped my lips with my forefinger. “You’re a spy engaging in a secret mission against the crown; you’ve just left—or are going to—a romantic rendezvous; or perhaps you were sleepwalking before my careening into you woke you up, in which case your ill timing at being at the bottom of this staircase when I descended is even more incredible.”

  He finally reacted—the corner of his right lip twitched. “Wrong on all accounts.”

  “Even the romantic rendezvous?” That was the scenario I’d most hoped was the truth. “Aren’t guards known for having flings with the maids?”

  “Sorry to disappoint you. Unless you’re the woman I’m scheduled to meet, that particular theory of yours is sadly false.”

  I pulled a face. Me being romantically involved with a royal guard? Such a ridiculous scenario was definitely not in my future. “Then why are you really he
re?”

  He leaned against the wall. “Would you be horribly disappointed to learn I’ve just finished my guarding shift and am on my way to bed?”

  I frowned. What a boring answer. Unless—“You’re lying. In order for me to slip away for my own explorations, I had to pass by the guards stationed in front of Eileen’s door, and you weren’t amongst them.”

  “Are you always so accusing? My shift ended an hour ago.”

  “It shouldn’t take you an hour to get from your post to your bedroom.” This guard was clearly up to something, I was sure of it.

  “Wandering the palace isn’t a crime, Miss Rosalina, else you’ll find yourself in the dungeons for the very offense of which you’ve just accused me.”

  He had me there, but I refused to be vanquished by the likes of him. “Your story still seems suspicious. What are you really up to?”

  Guard Alastar gave me a searching look, as if I were a complicated puzzle, and didn’t answer. Aggravating man.

  “If you’re not going to tell me, I’ll be forced to discover the answer myself.”

  “Of course you will.” For some reason the right corner of his lip was twitching again, and I felt the strangest urge for him to actually smile. I’d never met a man so sullen-looking as him.

  “Would it kill you to actually smile?”

  “It would, in fact, on account of a wicked curse placed upon me as an infant.”

  He leaned against the wall between two floor-length vases. My imagination immediately stirred. What multitude of secrets could such exquisite vases contain? Perhaps an ancient king had discovered them on a noble quest and stolen them from a dragon’s lair, which meant they were enchanted. Or perhaps they held a dastardly secret, such as a stolen cursed artifact. I’d have to sneak back to investigate them later…

  “What far away place has your mind gone to now?” Alastar asked.

  The familiar excitement I got whenever I told a story settled over me the moment I began. “I was just thinking how those vases probably contain something extraordinary, such as a map to a hidden treasure, stolen jewels, the lost diary pages of a captive princess, or perhaps even ingredients for a mystical spell.”