A Tale of Two Castles(28)

But I might not?

Master Jak picked up his knife. As he backed out of the donjon, his eyes were on me, and their expression was not friendly.

“Ehlodie, stay awhile. We are both sleepless, and my maid is snoring. I should like company.”

How would I be company for a princess, unless she wanted to hear about mansioners’ plays or the antics of Lahnt geese?

When the door closed behind Jak, Princess Renn held her candle up to my face. “La! You are a child!”

“Fourteen, Your Highness.”

“You are not a minute past twelve.” She frowned. “You don’t sleep in a cap?”

“No, Your Highness.”

“But during the day you wear one?”

“No, Your Highness. On Lahnt, where I come from, only married women and men wear caps, except in winter, when we all wear them.”

“But you live here now. Are you too poor to own a cap?” She put so much feeling into poor that I almost wept for myself.

I shifted from my left foot to my right. Probably everyone who’d seen me since I’d arrived thought of me as The Girl Too Poor to Own a Cap. “I will save to buy one.”

“You can have mine. I have others. Here.” She raised her hand to her head. I saw a gold ring on her middle finger. As her sleeve fell away, two gold bracelets gleamed in the candlelight. “Hold this.” She removed her crown and held it out to me.

I took it. How strange she was. Kind, very kind, but strange.

And the crown was strange in my hands, dreamlike, unexpectedly heavy for such a thin band, only an inch or two wide, without a single jewel. The metal had the sheen of moist skin, the upper rim unexpectedly sharp, the lower smooth. For a mad moment I imagined running off with it.

She donned her crown again and put the cap on me. “You have a small head.” The cap’s flaps nearly met under my chin. “But you’ll grow into it.” She inspected me, her face close to mine.

I smelled cardamom oil, the same perfume Mother wore.

Woe invaded her voice. “Oh! It’s too fine. They’ll think you stole it.” She walked in a circle in the small clear space among the barrels. “My maid has several caps, which would do, but I don’t want to waken her.” She put a hand on a barrel. “Might there be caps in a barrel?”

“They probably hold pickles or some such, Your Highness.” The stores were for a siege, and no one could eat caps. I took off the cap, but I wanted it. “I can turn it, Your Highness.”

“What?”

I spoke louder. “I can turn it.”

“La! I heard you. Turn it?”

A princess wouldn’t know what ordinary folk did. “Some people, when their caps are worn, turn them on the other side where the fabric is less used. No one will think me a thief in a turned cap.”

“Then I may give you the gift! Ehlodie, you are clever.” She kissed my forehead.

Lambs and calves!

I reversed the cap and tied it back on.

“Let me.” She tied the strings twice more. “There. This is how I tie my cap. Now you will not lose it. I believe in thoroughness. See?” To my astonishment she lifted the hem of her kirtle. “Two chemises underneath. Thoroughness. Now let us search for Nesspa together. For Jonty Um’s sake, we’ll put our sleeplessness to use. Where shall we look, Ehlodie?”

“The stables?” The count had probably searched there—

and here—but the dog might have been taken somewhere else first.

“Excellent. The grooms will be asleep. La! Hide an animal among animals, like hiding a ring in a mountain of rings.”

Nothing like hiding a ring among rings, but I didn’t say so.

She held out her hand. “We’ll go there now.”

How courteous she was, to clasp the hand of a kitchen maid.

We left the tower. The princess walked with a bounce as we crossed the inner ward and passed between two apple trees laden with fruit.

“He will be so happy if we find Nesspa.” She stopped, tugging me to a stop, too. “If we find Nesspa, I want to bring him to His Lordship. I want him to be grateful to me alone.”


“Yes, Your Highness.” I could give no other answer, although I wanted Masteress Meenore to be known as the finder, through me. “Do you . . .” She seemed friendly enough to answer a question. “Do you hold His Lordship in high esteem, Your Highness?” I wanted to know if anyone did.

“Certainly I do. I esteem him very much!” We walked again. “He is taller than I, wealthy, with excellent table manners.”

So much for true esteem.

“The miller’s son, Thiel, is also taller than I and possesses fine table manners, but he isn’t wealthy.”

My Lahnt table manners might not be good enough for Master Thiel.

“Jonty Um is handsome for an ogre, don’t you think? Not so handsome as Thiel, I suppose. Do I esteem Jonty Um?” She raised her arms and twirled, kicking an apple across the courtyard. “Father has betrothed me to him, Ehlodie. A king always betroths a princess.”

My mouth fell open. Hastily, I closed it. News of the coming marriage had not reached Lahnt. I wondered if it was widely known here and if my masteress knew. Few in Two Castles could be pleased.

We started walking again.

“I shouldn’t have told you. It’s still a secret. Father wants wealth, a strong arm in battle, a lion if need be, and I like a strong arm, too.” She laughed. “And a gentle lion. La! He is lovely as a monkey. I do not fancy him as a bird.”