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The storm hadn’t let up by morning, though its intensity had lessened. I debated back and forth between leaving at seven o’clock as usual versus waiting for a carriage. Prince Chevalier hadn’t mentioned sending one, but it seemed like something he would do. Then again, if a carriage didn’t come, I would be late to work, and I was still upset about how much time I’d lost to Prince Clavis yesterday. It didn’t bother anyone else. I knew that. Even Prince Chevalier didn’t seem to care. But it bothered me, because I never skipped out on my job. If it weren’t for Mother, I probably would have stayed late at the palace to finish polishing everything.
She taught me that.
I didn’t like leaving her alone today. The roof still held, but our house was drafty, and she got too chilled going to and from the outhouse in the torrential downpour the day before. It took the hot soup, dressing her in more layers, piling the dirty laundry over her blanket, and cuddling with her to get the shivering to stop. I had to make her promise to use the bucket I set up next to the bed instead of going outside while the rain continued. She didn’t like the idea of going to the bathroom inside. I preferred it to her being washed away in the storm, even if that meant more work for me. She needed a new blanket, too, and that couldn’t wait for me to ask Prince Chevalier for some time off during the day to go into town and get it.
“Mrs. Stotts?” I called, knocking on our neighbor’s door.
“Mom, it’s Ivetta,” one of her children called out. I couldn’t quite make out which one it was.
“Well, don’t leave her standing out in the rain! See what she wants,” Mrs. Stotts called back.
I smiled to myself. Mrs. Stotts had her hands full with six children, and, judging by the hint of exasperation in her voice, they were getting on her nerves more than usual. I guessed the rain was to blame for that. It was hard for active children to stay inside and out of trouble at the same time.
“What?” a bored-looking teenage boy asked as he yanked the door open.
“Manners!” Mrs. Stotts reminded him from another room, probably the kitchen.
He sighed irritably. “Hello, Ivetta. What do you want?”
“Jason,” Mrs. Stotts warned.
“I said hello,” he shouted back to her, his thick brown curls bouncing as he whipped his head around to direct his voice in his mother’s direction.
“Don’t talk back to me!”
I stifled a giggle. Jason was a good kid, just rebellious lately, stuck in that in-between stage where he was too old to be a child and too young to be an adult. He and his mother had been fighting constantly for a few months now. She would welcome a break from him, I knew, and he was also plenty old enough to go into town on his own.
“Jason, I was wondering if you could do something for me today.”
“Me?” he asked, frowning as he whipped his head back around to look at me. His curls were getting long and unruly, I thought. Mrs. Stotts would chop them off any day now.
“Mother needs a new blanket, and I can’t get away from work when the shops are open. Would you go into town and buy the thickest one you can find?”
“Of course he will,” Mrs. Stotts said, appearing in the kitchen doorway and drying her hands on her apron. Her thick brown curls and dark chocolate eyes matched her son’s perfectly, as did her frown. “Right, Jason?”
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “I guess.”
“Jason, I’m warning you-”
“I said I’ll do it,” he complained.
“This should cover it,” I interrupted, handing him a few coins. “If it’s not enough, I’ll pay the rest when I get back tonight.”
“Don’t worry about your mother, Ivetta,” Mrs. Stotts said, her stormy expression instantly morphing into a smile as bright as sunshine when she turned her attention to me. “I’ll see that she gets the blanket.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Stotts. Have a good day!”
“Take care, Ivetta!”
They were arguing again before the door closed behind me. I pulled my coat tighter and headed down the muddy road to the edge of the village, smiling to myself. Mother and I used to help with the Stotts children from time to time, and now Mr. and Mrs. Stotts were repaying the favor by helping me with Mother when they could. They’d do more, but Mr. Stotts had to work, and Mrs. Stotts had her own house and family to tend to.
I sighed and ducked my head down to shield my face from the rain. At least the storm had calmed down a bit since yesterday. The heavy winds were gone, and though the rain was relentless, it didn’t have the aggressive, driving energy from before. I was still on track to be completely soaked by the time I got to the palace, unless I crossed paths with a carriage.
I really hoped Prince Chevalier had sent one. The perceptions of others didn’t really matter to me when I was cold and wet.
The wonderful sound of horses’ hooves clip-clopping on cobblestone finally came to my ears after I reached the city. I looked up hopefully, and the sleek, perfectly matched team of bay horses directed by the coachman in distinctive red and white livery could only belong to a royal carriage. The coachman pulled the horses to a stop as I hurried to the carriage, but the door burst open before I reached it, and out stepped Prince Clavis.
“Good morning, Ivetta,” he said with his usual smile, offering me a hand.
“Good morning, Prince Clavis,” I replied, too relieved at the sight of the carriage for his presence to surprise or bother me. This might end in trouble, but if it was dry trouble, I could handle that. I gratefully accepted his hand up into the carriage, and I didn’t even mind when he sat down next to me.
“You’re soaked through,” he said fretfully, removing his white cloak and wrapping it around my shoulders. “Why didn’t you wait?”
“I wasn’t sure a carriage was coming, your highness. Thank you.”
He sighed. “What am I going to do with you?”
I shook my head. “Nothing, I h-hope, your h-highness.”
Darn it. My teeth were chattering, and as unpredictable as Prince Clavis usually was, I knew exactly what he was going to do now. And darn it, the extra warmth from his arm wrapping around my shoulders and pulling me to his side felt too good for me to resist him.
“I h-hope you r-realize that I’m only allowing this bec-cause I’m c-cold, your h-highness,” I reminded him.
“And here I thought you were finally falling for me,” he lamented, his golden eyes sparkling with mischief. “You’re too cruel, Ivetta.”
He ignored half of what I said. I figured it was only fair of me to do the same. That was getting ignored. I clenched my teeth together and willed them to stop chattering so I could speak without sounding like a child.
“What are you doing here, Prince Clavis?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m stealing you for the day.”
I frowned up at him, unsure if he was just teasing. He laughed and casually brushed some loose wet hair back behind my ear. I nervously reached up and ran my fingers along my hairline on the other side of my face to catch any stray hairs and prevent him from doing that again. It was just a little thing, but it felt too intimate, especially since he still had his arm around my shoulders.
“No, I’m not whisking you away to my private retreat,” he reassured me. “My friends aren’t the type of people you should associate with. I’m just an early riser, and I guessed Chev would send a carriage for his favorite plaything, so I hopped aboard.”
“Please stop calling me that, Prince Clavis,” I said, suddenly tired. My workday hadn’t even begun, and I was already having to deal with this nonsense.
“I’m surprised he doesn’t make you take a carriage all the time. He’s usually so meticulous with his property,” Prince Clavis continued.
“I’m not his property, and I don’t want to take a carriage all the time, your highness. You asked yesterday about when I take a break. My commute is my break. It’s the only time I get to myself, and I’d rather it stayed that way.”
His brows pulled closer together, and there was a hint of sadness in his smile. “You’d do anything for your mother, wouldn’t you?”
“Wouldn’t you?”
He sighed and squeezed my shoulders. “She won’t get better, will she?”
I shook my head and turned to face out the window. Everything was gray. The sky, the rain, the cobblestone street. A gloom had settled over the city, muting all the color in the shops and the ever-present roses. Mother liked the rain, though. She always had. Her smile seemed brighter on rainy days than it did under a clear, bright blue sky. If the rain continued tapering off, and Jason bought a new blanket fairly soon, maybe she could even enjoy today. I’d made enough soup for her to warm up a bowl for lunch. The image of her cuddled up with a thick, fluffy blanket and a hot bowl of soup, smiling as she listened to the rain, made me feel better about leaving her today.
“Of all my brothers, I was the best loved and the most adored by my mother,” Prince Clavis said, his voice softer than usual. “She was always smiling and laughing.”
I could picture a little Prince Clavis, causing mischief and mayhem all over the palace, giggling hysterically as he ran from disaster to disaster. His mother must have had a great sense of humor.
“I’m sure you kept her entertained, your highness.”
He didn’t laugh or even chuckle. The sudden silence felt unbearably heavy. I turned back to look at him, and he was facing the other window, his golden eyes fixed on something far away, his smile strained.
“I knew she was upset after the queen died, even though she didn’t show it, so I tried harder to keep her happy, to cheer her up,” he finally said. “She was smiling and laughing until the day she died.”
He smiled as he said it. He almost always smiled, and he laughed far more than I thought was necessary, but it was all part of his mask, I realized. The palace was full of masks. Everybody lied, and everybody hid their true feelings.
“I think mine will be the same way, your highness,” I said quietly as the carriage slowed down to enter the palace gates. “Smiling, at least. She doesn’t laugh much anymore.”
He looked back at me, his golden eyes searching my face, and for a moment, I thought we were having a serious moment. The carriage jostled to a stop. His smile suddenly brightened, his eyes twinkled, and he leaned in closer to me.
“Shall I help you get out of these wet clothes?” he asked suggestively.
I scowled up at him and shoved his arm away. “No thank you, Prince Clavis. If you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of work to catch up on, thanks to you.”
He pulled back, laughing, and sprung past me to open the carriage door. His blue boots touched down on the cobblestone court, and he turned back and offered me his hand with a flourish. I shrugged out of his cloak and shoved it into his hand, pushing past him and heading toward the servants’ entrance. He followed, still laughing, and got to the door before me.
“Oh, did I forget to mention I have business with the servants this morning?” he asked, holding the door open for me. “Nothing that will affect you, of course, since Chev has specified that you take orders only from him or the head maid. A few minor changes for the less amusing among the staff.”
“I’ve never been happier about that than I am now, Prince Clavis,” I said sweetly as I headed inside.
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