Audrey, her lady-in-waiting, ventured further into the cozy library. There was a larger, grander one on the ground floor of the Nedran palace, but Lizzie had always preferred this one, with its warmer colors and more intimate feel. Many of the books hadbeen carefully curated during her adolescence to include texts on all of her favorite subjects.
Not that she had any of those anymore.
"He didn't say, only that I was to make you suitable and bring you down at once." Audrey took the book from Lizzie's hands, snapping it shut and turning it over to view the title. "Going back to birds again, are we?"
Lizzie shrugged dispassionately. "It was something to pass the time, though I can't see what I ever saw in ornithology in the first place. Birds are birds."
Audrey hummed and set the book on a low table near Lizzie's chair. "There's nothing wrong with having interests, Your Highness. Why, when you were young, I could hardly get you to talk about anything else." She turned her attention to Lizzie's hair, gently tucking back the curls that had come loose during the course of the day.
"I don't have interests," Lizzie admitted with a sigh. "I know I did, once. But everything is just so…dull." She leaned against the arm of her chair, resting her chin in her hand.
"Well, I have a feeling things are about to get a whole lot more interesting." Audrey finished with her hair and pulled a small container of rouge from her apron pocket. She began dabbing a bit onto Lizzie's pale cheeks, blending it upwards towards her temples.
"Why is that?"
"Don't you know? Just how long have you been shut in here?"
"I don't know. Since just after breakfast, I suppose." Lizzie felt a sharp pang of hunger shoot through her stomach at the reminder.
Audrey frowned. "All day? Haven't you eaten?"
"It hardly matters. But what have I missed?" A tiny spark of curiosity, the first she had felt in what seemed like weeks, burned its way to the surface.
"Only a whole parade of guests that His Majesty has invited."
The spark was immediately snuffed out. "Father often has guests; that's nothing new."
"Not a whole slew of handsome, eligible guests," Audrey countered. She applied a little of the rouge to Lizzie's lips, then stepped back, giving her a once over before nodding in satisfaction. "Even Prince Shea of Cabriole is here. That boy has certainly done some growing since the last time he was here. I never thought one could look dashing with an eye patch, but I was proven wrong."
Lizzie raised her eyebrows. "Aren't you married?"
"I'm married, but I'm not blind. The more important point is that you are not married, and neither is he."
Lizzie rose and smoothed out the blue fabric of her skirt. "Prince Shea is betrothed to a princess of Brisia as part of their peace treaty. He might be unmarried, but he is far from available. For that matter, so am I." She looked down at her left hand, at the sparkling teardrop diamond that glittered on her fourth finger. She wasn't entirely certain why she still wore it, to be honest, other than the fact that some small part of her, buried deep beneath the icy wall of her heart, protested the idea of losing the last link she had to Freddy.
Freddy.
His name alone brought forth whispers of regret, and the thought of his face, with his bright, laughing eyes and perpetual smile, was one of the few things that caused her to feel strongly enough to allow the emotions to push through the barrier of her curse.
But since it was exactly the kind of dull, aching pain that she had been trying to avoid in the first place, she shoved the thoughts of his face away.
Her sister's voice echoed in her thoughts where Freddy's name had been.
“It's simple, Liza. If you don't feel, you can't be hurt.”
"Your Highness?" Audrey's voice brought her back to the present.
She straightened her shoulders. "The ballroom, you said?"
"Yes, though I believe he may be waiting just outside. Don't worry, though. He seemed to be in good spirits when he sent me to fetch you."
Lizzie nodded in acknowledgement of her lady-in-waiting's words. King Alfred's mercurial temper was known and feared by all the staff, but it had been years since she had trembled with fear in his presence. "I never worry," she stated as she passed through the elaborately carved door and into the hall beyond.
"I know." Audrey's quiet words followed her into the hallway. "And that's what troubles me."
Lizzie spied her father, King Alfred, pacing back and forth in front of the tall, gilded doors of the ballroom like a caged tiger. He looked up as she came to the edge of the wide landing at the top of the splendid, curving staircases that encompassed half of the entrance hall. His dark brows were drawn together in a scowl. "There you are."
She moved with unhurried grace, scooping her skirts in one hand and lightly sliding the other down the railing as she descended. "Audrey said that you wished to see me?"
