No one spoke, so I continued. “I hope you can forgive me for the deception. I would be honored to continue being nothing more than Mina here in Skorsa, a village that welcomed me with open arms.”
Mistress Hervor was the first to break the silence. “Princess or merchant’s daughter, you’ll always be welcome in my inn, dear.”
Everyone in the room began saying similar things, though I knew they were not all as sanguine as they pretended. I moved from person to person, answering questions and explaining my actions. It saddened me to see how my news immediately changed how everyone treated me. Even Mistress Hervor curtsied and called me “Your Highness” when I thanked her for the baking lessons.
I was saved from dealing with Kayla, however. After my announcement, she had left the tavern in a huff. If it had been anyone else, I would have followed her and tried to explain. I doubted she cared about my reasoning, though. She probably didn’t care about the use of magic or my deception. Her annoyance would center on the fact that I had stolen the spotlight from her.
After explaining to everyone that the charm I wore would prevent anyone from realizing my identity unless I personally told them the truth—though the entire village would be free the morning I rode away—I left the tavern. I still had several stops to make.
I had never intended to tell every person in Skorsa my identity, even if I told a few, and even expecting it would get out eventually. But after what had happened with Alan, I knew I couldn’t leave without telling as many villagers as possible what I had done. Facing them was in part an atonement for hiding the truth from Alan. But it was more than that.
I felt uncomfortable with the deception now. There were also certain to be people from the village planning to attend the ball. Skorsa was close enough to the city that traveling there for a night of revelry wasn’t out of the question. Better to admit my lie now than come face-to-face with someone in the middle of the ballroom.
I went from shop to shop, making my announcement to all the people I had interacted with regularly around the village. I couldn’t tell every individual farmer, not without spending all of my final hours in Skorsa traveling from farm to farm hunting each one down in the fields, but most of those farmers I had barely done more than nod at in passing. They’d learn the truth once I was gone, and that had to be good enough.
There was one farmer, however, that I wanted to talk to personally. So, instead of telling Gemma and her parents the truth all at once, I asked my friend if she could pull Cole away from the farm later. Knowing that my departure loomed, Master and Mistress Kiels gladly let Gemma out of helping in the shop for the afternoon.
I told them the truth while she went to talk to Cole.
I expected Gemma to return with a meeting arranged for after Cole finished his chores, but instead, she returned to the village square on his arm.
I fell into step next to them, not wanting to have this conversation in the center of the village. “I hope I’m not causing problems pulling you away from your work on the farm.”
Cole laughed. “This is the last season I’m helping out there. Travis is old enough to take on my workload. He needs to get used to my absence sometime.”
“Thank you for making time for me. I know you are probably wondering why I wanted to talk with you.”
He looked at me from the corner of his eye. “I’ve got a few guesses.”
“Is it true that you discovered the charm Master Powell used on Alan?” Gemma asked, startling me.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise that she had heard about the charms. The entire village council, which included her father, had spent all yesterday afternoon discussing the situation. If I hadn’t been going around giving everyone fresh gossip, it probably would have been all I heard about today.
“I helped Alan find the charms.”
“I can’t believe Master Powell was using magic against the entire village for years.” Gemma shuddered. “It makes you wonder what else people could get away with.”
Great. This was not the segue into my admission I had hoped for. But I couldn’t ignore it. That would only make the eventual conversation worse. Just like with Alan.
“I actually wanted to talk to you both about charms.” We had reached the green, and though anyone walking by would easily see us, our conversation would be private here. “Well, one charm in particular.”
Gemma and Cole stopped when I did, shifting so they both faced me. Gemma tilted her head in question. “What charm?”
I lifted my necklace in a now familiar gesture. “This one.”
I forgot my practiced speech, telling them with unvarnished directness that the diamond was a mind-bending charm that hid my identity. I offered no explanations, only an apology for lying to them.
To my surprise, Gemma laughed.
“Gemma?”
“Sorry. It’s just... I’m imagining what it would have been like if Kayla had known you were the crown princess all this time. I almost wish she had known, though I can see why you wanted the anonymity.”
“Exactly,” I said with a relieved sigh. Though I had tried to explain my reasoning to others, Gemma was the first one to understand. “She would have treated me very differently. I wanted to know what life was like for people who aren’t royalty.”
Everyone adapted their manners, even their stories around me. Some tried to make life seem better, others exaggerated the negatives, but no one let me see and judge for myself. They all wanted to color my perceptions with their own perspectives.
At Gemma’s side, Cole frowned. “When did you tell Alan?”
