“I do not require anyone’s assistance.”
“Oh, I’m not going tohelpyou,” Elizabeth assured her. “I’m going toguardyou.”
Fury rose within Kuni. No other words could offend her more. “I do not require a guard. Iama guard.”
“Well…you require one a little bit,” insisted Elizabeth unrepentantly. “You wouldn’t be a guest of the Wynchester family if you hadn’t needed Graham’s protection, andIwouldn’t be a Wynchester if I let you run off unprotected.”
“I am not ‘running off,’” Kuni pointed out through clenched teeth. “I am taking a carriage staffed by a driver and a footman. It would also be my prerogative if I wished to set off on foot, alone.”
Elizabeth opened her mouth.
Kuni forestalled her. “I know what this is. You are one of your brother’s spies. He’s keeping a book about me, and whatever you observe will find itself in those pages.”
“Well,” said Elizabeth. “Your wild accusations aren’t…inaccurate. But they are—”
Kuni crossed her arms. “What?”
“—incomplete,” Elizabeth finished. “Marjorie’s up in her third-floor art studio and the rest of my family is gone. I’ll be bored if I stay here. The least you can do is let me poke holes in anyone who looks at you sideways.”
“That makes no sense,” Kuni burst out. “If you wanted adventure, why not join the others?”
“I can’t,” Elizabeth replied matter-of-factly. “My body would not last cooped up in a coach for two straight days, no matter how fine the squabs. I’d either slow down the others by forcing the journey to take a week, or end up unable to move my limbs for a fortnight once we arrived.”
Kuni’s lips parted in surprise. “I thought you were the strongest of them all!”
“You’ve never seen me without a cane, yet assumed I wasn’t helpless?” Elizabeth linked arms with her. “I would take a bullet for you.”
Kuni snorted at the absurd idea.
“I hope we get in a violent skirmish,” Elizabeth continued dreamily. “The bullet shall graze my sword arm and the villain will think that he’s won, only to discover too late that I am equally deadly with the other arm.” She pantomimed a vicious jab with her bejeweled cane.
Kuni extricated her arm and leapt up into the carriage.
Elizabeth bounded in behind her.
Kuni sighed and accepted her fate. “What would I be doing in this Gothic scenario?”
“Being weak and helpless,” Elizabeth answered decisively. “Princesses need saving. It’s knights who do the rescuing. And the occasional knightess.”
“I am not a princess. I am a soon-to-be Royal Guardswoman.”
“And I’myourRoyal Guard,” Elizabeth answered cheerfully. “Except not royal. And I’ll only guard you if there’s reason to be violent. I hope you’ll be kind enough to start a riot.”
Perhaps her uninvited companion was a boon, Kuni decided. For one, her brothers were searching for a solitary stowaway, not two ladies out for a stroll.
And for two…Being utterly overwhelmed by someone else’s eagerness to tag along was an unfamiliar sensation. Perhaps a hint of how her brothers might have felt, whenever Kuni insisted on joining them to train or to shoot or to throw daggers. She didn’t have a sister, but if she did, Kuni imagined she would be very much like Elizabeth Wynchester.
Kuni and her imaginary sister would have wanted each other’s company. Trained together on purpose. Helped each other voluntarily. Perhaps become Royal Guardswomen together. The long fight wouldn’t be nearly so lonely a prospect if she didn’t have to battle alone.
“Tell me about life in the castle.” Elizabeth leaned against the squab. “Is it all wine and gluttony and dancing?”
“In the evenings. Daytime is much quieter.”
Princess Mechtilda slept through most of the sunlight. Companions were expected to be present when she awoke, which meant that by the afternoon, Kuni could no longer be outside with her knives or practicing moves and marches with the soldiers. All she could do was watch by her window and train her muscles as best she could in her fluffy, luxurious bedchamber.
The soldiers thought of her as something of a pet. They knew her family history. How her great-great-grandfather had become a Royal Guardsman after saving the life of Balcovia’s first king. How every generation since had given birth to new and formidable Guardsmen. And of course no soldier wished to slight the sister of Floris and Reinald, the great and feared fighting masters.
Kuni wanted to show all those doubters that she was worthy. Not just the insignificant relative of those who had come before her.
