Chapter 24

As Nicholas asked out Lilliana, I stood in the back of the crowd of watching girls, my heart down on the floor.

I had no right to be upset. I knew that. I had given up the right to be upset a long time ago.

Yet I couldn’t deny the feeling.

First, Nicholas had returned the handmade gift I made him, and now he was asking another girl on a solo date.

According to the rules of the competition, solo dates were only supposed to be awarded after a girl performed well in one of the events.

Of course, from what I’d heard, the rules also stated that a prince could ask any girl out at any time, so I supposed such a thing wasn’t unheard of.

But for it to be Nicholas who asked for the first solo date felt like the hardest pill to swallow.

I understood that the candidates were invited here to the palace to date the princes. Soon, Nicholas would pick someone to marry.

He’d already made it abundantly clear that he would never be interested in me.

Not that I wanted him to be. We’d both moved on since then. It wasn’t my business who he dated, or who he married.

But looking at him standing there in the entryway to the dining room, holding Lilliana’s hand with only the barest touch, he didn’t seem happy. That, to me, was the greatest tragedy.

The more I looked at him and his faceless expression, the more he seemed like a shell of the man I once knew. It hurt me to see. I couldn’t stand to look anymore.

Needing an escape for a minute, I turned away from the spectacle and headed into the gardens for some fresh air.

The sun was just beginning to set over the western tree line. The sky was painted in a palette of orange and purple. It was beautiful.

For a moment, I simply enjoyed the view. I wondered if Elva was looking out the window to see it. We had never gotten much time to appreciate nature back in the bustle of the city.

I hoped she was looking now.

“Are you lost, miss?” a male voice said, suddenly behind me.

I jumped, startled, and turned to face the stranger.

His appearance was immaculate, with not a hair out of place or a speck of dirt on his guard uniform. His uniform had more stripes and fringe than the other guards I’d seen.

That was because he was the head of the royal guards. Joseph.

He was not someone I had met personally, but I had noticed him when some of the other girls had pointed him out.

He stared at me with a severe expression. I felt much like an ant under a microscope.

“I’ll ask once more,” he said, voice gruff. “Are you lost? The banquet is inside.”

“I just needed a moment to catch my breath.” I tried to offer a friendly smile. I didn’t want to make a bad first impression with the man in charge of Elva and my safety.

Yet the harder I tried to smile, the more his eyes narrowed.

“You should be able to breathe inside the palace just fine.”

“I only meant –”

“I know what you meant,” he said, cutting me off. “Perhaps if you are so uncomfortable here, you might consider bowing out of the competition.”

“I’m not uncomfortable.”

He crossed his arms and continued to stare me down. I didn’t understand his hostility, I’d never even spoken to him before now.

“This competition is no place for a woman like you, nor your child,” he said.

Oh. Now I saw. He was like Lena, someone who didn’t want me here because of my background and my daughter. People who valued maintaining traditions above all else.

I stood up a bit straighter. I wouldn’t be intimidated by this bully, regardless of his position in the palace.

“I have no intention of backing away from the choosing game,” I said.

He stepped closer. “Do as you wish, but know this. I will uphold my duty to protect the royal family from any and all threats. No matter in what form those threats appear.”

His words sent a chill up my spine.

I had thought that the guards were sympathetic of me and Elva, but now I wasn’t as certain. If their leader was someone who wanted me gone, maybe the guards were only pretending to be nice.

“I’m not a threat,” I said. “Neither is my daughter.”

“We’ll see.” He glanced around. “You should go inside now. It’s dangerous out here.”

The only danger out here was him, but that was enough for me. I stepped around him and headed inside without another word.

During the banquet, I struggled to keep up conversation, too distracted by Joseph’s words. Julian gave me curious looks across the table, but I avoided returning them. Just as I avoided glancing down the table to Nicholas at all.

I kept my gaze fixed on my food, replying only when necessary, and couldn’t wait until the banquet was finished.

When I was finally free, I rushed back to my room to relieve the nanny. Elva was getting ready for bed. I hugged her extra tightly when I saw her.

From then on, I noticed a change in the guards stationed around me. Gone were those that were kind and understanding to Elva and me. Now, we were glared at whenever we left our room.

Elva was afraid of them. She would try to hide behind me when we got too near them.

Once, toward the end of the day, when I was feeling bold, I tried to approach one to ask for information about my talkative maid.

I was met with silence.

“I’m sorry,” I said, attempting to be kind. “I know it’s a bother. But I haven’t heard anything about her, and I’m worried.”

The two guards at my door just stared ahead, looking straight through me like I wasn’t even there.

Unnerved, I returned into my room.

I wouldn’t forget, though. My maid had been someone almost like a friend, and I wasn’t about to let her wither away wherever she was, if there was anything I could do to help.

So the next morning, after making certain the guards were different this time, I asked them.

“Have you heard anything about my last maid? Or do you know where she is being kept? I’d like to see her if I could.”

One of the guards ignored me entirely, but the other gave me a moment’s attention, even if only long enough for a passing glance and a handful of words.

“For the sake of you and your child, you should stop asking.”

What did that mean? Was that a threat?

“I only want to make sure she is okay,” I said, but by then the guard had gone back to pretending I didn’t exist.

Later, my newest maid handed me a note Joseph had written me.

I was loathe to open it. I doubted that man could say anything I had wanted to hear. But I couldn’t exactly ignore a message from the head of the royal guards. That would be too reckless. What if it was a serious issue?

I opened the note and read.

I heard you were asking a lot of questions that are none of your business. Keep asking, and it will be bad for you.

He hadn’t signed it, but I had no reason to doubt who this was from.

Joseph wanted me out. He was stonewalling me from any information. He’d changed my guards to stern ones that disliked me.

The threat in this note was clear.

I had to be more careful around him and the guards.

I couldn’t risk my life or freedom, or that of Elva.