“I think the more pressing question,” he continued, catching the woman’s eye, “is who this young lady might be.”
The woman–Frey–held his gaze for a long momentbefore nodding slightly and drawing in a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, she turned them on Norah.
“Yes. I apologize for my lack of manners. As you can see, my brother caught us… off guard.” She gave Phil a piercing look before turning back to Norah. “Um… If you don’t mind my asking, though, what happened? And who are you?”
Norah looked at Phil again, expecting that he would now speak and at least explain the situation to his sister–whoever this Frey was. But he only put his hands behind his back and looked expectantly back at her.
All right, then. Apparently,Norahwould be explaining her presence.
“I’m terribly sorry,” Norah began, clutching the blanket more tightly, as though it might protect her from the insanity that the evening had been. As she did, it hit her that she would have to tell themeverything–rather than the largely falsified part that Nanny had made her memorize for strangers.
Norah would have to tell thewholetruth if she were going to claim the shelter she’d sought so many times before. But after nearly ten years of hiding, that was going to be hard, and it made her heart race all over again, nearly as hard as it had been beating out in the storm. “My name is Norah,” she finally squeaked out. “And I’m–”
Before she could finish, though, the lady’s eyes widened, and she gasped as she pointed at the top of Norah’s head. “Do you… have red hair?”
Norah reached up to feel the headband Nanny always made her wear and froze. It was to keep her hidden from the pirates, Nanny had always said. Because Norah’s hair would be the surest giveaway of her identity. And though Norah had initially fought Nanny’s strictures, she’d become an expert at realizing when it had slipped, more out of habit than anything else. She’d even been aware that it had slipped while she was out in the storm. It was why she’d kept the stranger’s cloak on so tightly when they’d enteredthe palace. But she’d been so focused on her desperate situation that she’d allowed him to take the cloak back. And now a lock of her fiery red hair showed through the silky wave of black around it.
Well, there was no way around the truth now. With a sigh, Norah removed the headband. As soon as she did, a wave of red curls flew out from beneath.
The lady threw her hands over her mouth. “Norah…PrincessNorah of the Bianne line?”
Norah swallowed hard before uttering the words Nanny had been waiting for her to tell the royal family for years.
“I… am Princess Norah Eveline Bianne, youngest princess of the Bianne line, and I am–”
Before she could finish, however, revelation struck her, and Norah halted, whipping her head around to stare at her rescuer–the man she had assumed to be a guard. A long moment passed before she could remember how to speak again.
“... betrothed to Crown Prince Phillip of the Angus line of TiFiore,” she whispered.
Freya and Phillip. Those were the names of the crown prince and his elder sister. By law, Phillip was her husband-to-be, the one Nanny had been pleading to speak with for the last decade.
Why Norah hadn’t connectedPhilandPhilliporFreyandFreya,she couldn’t say. She could only blame it on the havoc that the pirates and the storm must have wreaked on her head. But if this was the crown prince and his sister…
Then why hadn’t they answered all those times that she and Nanny had stood at the gate before, pleading for someone from the royal family to answer or let them in?
Also, her annoyance aside, this wasnotthe way she had planned on meeting the crown prince. Misconduct or not, being introduced to one’s betrothed for the first time in over a decade while resembling something of a wet rat hadnotbeen on the list of things Norah wanted to do before shedied.
Involuntarily, Norah gave a violent shiver, and that seemed to snap everyone out of their reverie.
“You must be freezing,” Princess Freya said, hurrying to Norah’s side. Then she turned to the other man. “Love, please ring for Alistair. Tell him to have the servants prepare a hot bath. And… and tell them I want her in the Green Room.” As she said this, Princess Freya gave the man a significant look, but what it could mean, Norah had no idea. Whatever it meant, the man only nodded and hurried out through a second door.
“Please, Your Highness,” Norah said as the princess took her by the shoulders and turned her back toward the door before leading her into the hall. “I don’t wish to ask anything else of you after taking me in, but my guardian–my nurse and I were attacked by pirates tonight.”
The princess paused and stared at Norah with wide eyes. “You were…Piratesattacked you?”
Norah nodded, feeling suddenly very foolish. It was an outlandish-sounding tale, the kind small boys might make up to impress one another or to play pretend. “The same ones who attacked my family the night they died.” She swallowed. “They… they somehow found us where we were hiding. Nanny delayed them so I could escape.” In her mind, Norah still saw her dark cottage with the strangers inside. “I got away, but I don’t know whether she got away as well.”
For a long moment, Norah wondered if the princess might decide she was simply a lunatic and have her dumped back out again. But after a moment of thought, they began walking once more.
“I see,” the lady said. “We will most definitely send out a contingent of guards to search if you can tell us where you were.” She paused. “Is she… did she serve as your nurse when you were small?”
Norah nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! She watched over all ofmy sisters as well! She’s the reason I survived the pirates’ attack on my home.”
“I think I remember her,” the princess said thoughtfully. Then, seeming to return to the present, she smiled at Norah. “But if she were here, I think she’d want you to have a warm bath and a good night’s sleep.”
Norah would have preferred to go searching with the guards herself. Nanny was, of course, more than human, and if anyone was likely to escape pirates, it would have been her. But Norah wouldn’t be able to rest completely until she knew Nanny was safe.
Still, the princess had a point. Nanny would be irate if the guards came to search for her and Norah showed up with them. No, if she were here, Nanny would argue that this was where Norah was supposed to be, with her betrothed in the safety of his palace. So when she was led to a large white door, all Norah could do was pray to the Maker and submit to the princess’s attentions.
