Prologue
Princess Brandese hadbeen in a fair amount of trouble lately. She pushed her auburn hair over one shoulder and seated herself in a chair to wait for her father. Ever since she was caught returning to the palace through a delivery entrance well after sundown, it had become known that she had found a new way to sneak out after the spiral stairs outside her room had been barred.
Falise, her sister’s petite maid, poked her head in. The maid’s wild curls were pulled back by at least a dozen small pins, but tiny tendrils had escaped. Brande could relate to those errant curls. What harm was there in wanting to be a bit free?
“Now, dear princess, I want to be certain about something. Because this is serious business,” the girl said gravely. There was a tremendous cuteness to the girl who was near her own age, so it was difficult for Brandese to take her seriously despite her tone.
“My princess has been in that royal library lately. I want to be certain that you make it known that she has not been there in your company.”
Brande’s brows rose. Her older sister Lanamoar rarely went to the king’s libraries of her own accord. She chose instead to study from the books provided by the palace instructors.
“Why has Lana been in the library?” she asked.
“That’s her private business.”
“Hmm. I’d like to know. If you are seeking my help with something, you should indulge me.”
“She wanted to read some books on protocol.”
“Lana knows all the protocol books by heart.” Brande paused. “Unless it was matrimonial protocols she was reading about.”
Falise’s color darkened. “It’s time for you both to learn more about that.”
Brande wrinkled her nose. “I know Lana is anxious to marry Commander Calex, but I’m not hurried in that regard.”
“If anyone asks, you’ll be sure to be clear that Princess Lanamoar was only in the main library on her own?”
Brandese leaned back and considered. “I think I see. Someone—my maid Horxen perhaps—found a book that she doesn’t approve of? And she’s been telling tales?”
Falise stepped closer and then practically danced back and forth on her toes. “We tried to convince Horxen to slip it back into the restricted collection, but she wouldn’t! She says you’re clearly on a path to wickedness, and she means to see you knocked off it.”
Brande’s brows rose, then she pursed her lips. “Don’t say that she reported it to my father?”
“A lady’s maid speak to the king outright? Never! But it is known by the monarch. Through his valet.”
Brandese groaned.
“It’s not my place to tell a princess what she should or shouldn’t do,” Falise said. “But perhaps a bit of care? Sneaking out at night is so dangerous. You know that according to palace security there are those former convicts that are obsessed with you? They keep trying to find a way to get close to you. We don’t know if they want to kidnap you for ransom or just to keep you, but no matter what, you shouldn’t go wandering around alone!”
Brandese shrugged. She did know there were dangerous men obsessed with her, but she couldn’t live her life in fear. Besides Commander Calex always had his best men guarding the king and hence the palace. Ex-convicts wouldn’t get close enough to grab her as long as she took care to be discreet when she slipped out.
The door opened, and the king strode in.
Falise ducked around the chairs to exit as discreetly as possible.
Brandese rose, made a small elegant brow, and then kissed her father’s ruddy cheek, noting that she’d gotten at least a bit of the red in her coloring from him. The king’s hair was darker than Brandese’s but had the same russet undertones. Only the flecks of gold in her light eyes were said to have come from her mother’s side.
Lana with her glossy dark hair and lavender eyes favored their mother, or so people said. Brandese couldn’t remember what her mother had looked like since she’d only been two years old when her mother died from a fall from her horse.
The king lowered his soft bulk into a chair and motioned for her to sit.
“You are rarely where you ought to be, little girl,” the king began. “And you are often where you ought not to be. I understand that you have been pilfering books from among the restricted works reserved for the royal physician.”
Brandese thought about the well-worn tome of illustrated erotic stories that she’d hidden in her room. She doubted that the royal physician had been the only one to read it. And why should he be?
“You have mentioned lately that it will soon be my time to marry,” Brande said carefully. “My mother is not alive to advise me,” she said, thrusting out her lip pitifully to elicit his sympathy.
“You need not remind me that you are motherless. She was my queen,” he said sourly.
