“To my understanding, you met her before,” Sam said. “Will you not say something polite?”
The lord thought about it. “Greetings, Your Highness. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Except you’ve met,” Sam said.
Both of them tapered to a halt; then Sam bounced between the two of us.
“How was that again?” he asked.
Lord Evergreen said nothing, so I said, “We met in the market today.”
“You did?”Elías asked.
Cyrus shrugged.
“You don’t remember?” I asked him. “Lord Evergreen, you helped me find–Well,” I stopped. “I suppose you helped me find the road again, and Iwaslost, but you did not, in a fairly obvious way, help me locate the apples I’d asked you about originally.”
His expression burned to a scowl. “Itoldyou they were in the front.”
“Wait a second,”Sameer said. “This? Thisis the Apple Girl?” He tilted his head and then inspected me.
“What?” Discomfort filled my cheeks. “Apple girl?”
“This is the…” Sam and Cyrus shared a look.
“I beg your pardon?”I asked. “I’m the what?”
“I said nothing,” Evergreen replied.
“You said–”
Cyrus blatantly cut Sam off. “Sam.” Then he crossed his arms.
The Prince was clearly bothered. He looked at me another time.
“Is Apple Girl an insult?” I asked.
“No,” Sam replied. He shook his head. “He said he had to stop for something, is all.”
“Sure,” Evergreen said. “Yes.”
“Svana,”Elías whispered.
“I think I’m quite ready to return to my chamber,” I told him.
“I’ll escort you,” he returned.
“Thanks. I–”
“You’re misreading this moment,” Sameer added.
“Leave it,” Cyrus said.
“I have to tell her. She thinks you’ve mocked her.”
“Sam, I didn’t know who she was.”
I scoffed. “Right. Well, I feel rather sick standing here. I–”
