CHAPTER 3
When they crossed the southern border of Arcadia, the guards changed, and the maids started obediently addressing Natalie as Your Highness. Hearing it the first few times was a thrill, but when they approached Lanare, the capital of Lanover, even Natalie’s confidence wavered.
What had seemed like an excellent lark when the two were alone in the middle of endless fields looked a little different in the bright sun of an unfamiliar city. Everything around her looked foreign—different from both her home kingdom and from Arcadia—reminding her that she might be out of her depth. Even the air held an unfamiliar hint of moisture, although Natalie had heard it got far worse in the south of the kingdom.
But Natalie had been making her plans for too long to shrink away from them at the first hint of uncertainty. She refused to go meekly home to the mountains and a life of irrelevance and boredom. Lanover might look unfamiliar now, but she would grow accustomed to it soon enough.
Natalie leaned out of the carriage to drink in her new home. The city was an unexpected combination of dusty, understated sandstone and bright, vibrant plant life. Everywhere she lookedshe saw flowers, each of them a splash of color against the reddish stone.
A small but insistent hand gave her a sharp tug. Unbalanced, she fell back inside the carriage. Natalie glared at Rose, but the princess was glaring back.
“You’re a princess now, remember!” she hissed. “And princesses on visits of state don’t hang out carriage windows. You promised to behave in a way that wouldn’t bring Arcadia into disrepute!”
Natalie bit her lip and sat meekly back on the carriage seat. Maybe the task was going to prove more difficult than she’d blithely assumed.
For a moment, she thought Rose was second-guessing the entire charade, but as soon as Natalie sat down, a grin spread over Rose’s face.
“I, however, am not currently a princess.” She promptly stuck her own head out the window Natalie had just vacated.
Natalie snorted, but something about Rose’s obvious joy was infectious, and she settled for gazing avidly out the other window. At least princesses were allowed to look—as long as they kept themselves decorously inside the carriage.
They had entered Lanover from the north, but the hills above the capital necessitated a roundabout route into the city itself. As a result, they rolled northward through the streets of the sprawling, single-storied city, approaching the first of those hills.
Atop it sat the palace, facing south. Natalie had already seen the bare hills and treacherous slopes that guarded the rear of the palace, but before it spread the glorious vista of the large city, unimpeded by high walls. Natalie had spent time in two palaces in her eighteen years, and neither of them had prepared her for the sight of the Lanoverian royal residence.
There was no sign of polished white marble or rugged gray stone—just the same red of the city’s sandstone. Neither were there intimidating turrets or soaring spires. The palace was only a single story like the rest of the city, standing out due to its size and location—and the vast gardens that completely encircled it. It was by far the most welcoming palace Natalie had ever seen, and she loved it instantly.
“It’s beautiful!” she breathed.
“It is,” Rose murmured, pulling back to sit sedately in the carriage once more. “It’s nothing like home but it’s…inviting.”
“Yes, that’s just the word for it,” Natalie agreed enthusiastically.
But while Natalie’s spirits were rising, Rose’s seemed to be falling. When the princess caught Natalie’s worried gaze, however, she smiled.
“Don’t worry, I’m not having second thoughts. You’ll have your chance to be a princess for a few days.”
Natalie grinned, her eyes drawn back to the approaching palace. As their carriage rolled through the elaborate gardens, she itched to get out and walk. Everywhere she looked, unfamiliar plants and flowers caught her eye. But she remained in her seat until they reached the front of the palace, and a footman appeared to help her alight.
Rose followed her out, also politely assisted by the footman, but she immediately melted away from Natalie’s side. Natalie had expected them to face the palace together, but instead she stood alone to greet the people who had appeared in response to the carriage’s arrival.
The first to step out was a tall young man with the golden skin and dark hair of the Lanoverian royal family. An understated golden circlet rested in his generous dark hair, similar to the one that Natalie now wore nestled in her own elaborate arrangement of hair. But her eyes were drawn moreto the prince’s broad shoulders, and the sight of his handsome features made her pulse quicken. He was even more attractive than she had dared hope. Loving him was going to be no difficulty at all.
Natalie’s lips curved upward, but before she could drop into a curtsy in the manner Rose had taught her, a second young man stepped around the first and approached her with an easy smile. He also wore a circlet, this one more elaborate than the other, and he had the same coloring.
Natalie froze, her eyes flickering between the two men before settling on the second. From his crown alone she recognized her mistake. This was the crown prince, not the first man.
His smile was still in place as he gave a shallow bow. She responded automatically with the practiced curtsy, allowing him to take her hand and bend his head over it. But the moment of her first meeting with Prince Leo—which should have been magical—had somehow been stripped of its spark.
She tried to ignore the first man who was watching her with something suspiciously like laughter in his eyes as she forced herself to focus on the words of the one holding her hand.
“Welcome to Lanover, Princess Rose. It’s an honor to have you here. I am Crown Prince Leo, and I will be your host on behalf of my parents.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Natalie said, her focus regained. “I’m glad to be here.”
She peeped up at him through her lashes, hoping she looked less avidly curious than she felt. Leo was just as uncommonly handsome as the first man—who must surely be his cousin—and there was no reason for her to feel disappointed at the momentary mistake.
“Please, call me Leo,” he said with a disarming smile, and she instinctively smiled back.
