I took it that Samantha hadn’t passed the test. Emboldened, I asked, “And Queen Cordelia allowed you to carry out such schemes?”
Prince Ash shrugged. “She ordered it.”
My eyebrows shot to my hairline. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Tomorrow, Bennett and my father will leave for royal business. I’m attending the Season on his behalf,” he said, holding up his arm. A golden ribbon was tied around his wrist with a neat bow.
“I didn’t know that,” I said.
He smiled. “No one does. But I reckon my mother will make it known soon,” he said, tucking his hands behind his back. “Besides, I must past my time withsomething. Father doesn’t trust me with royal affairs. I hardly know why.”
He was teasing again, but there was gravity to his light tone.
“Now I would like to ask my own question,” he said, before I could read more into it. “What was that earlier? With the apple?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. The embarrassment of the encounter rushed back over me. “I was...not myself.” I explained how our interaction at the banquet was misunderstood and how Julianna threatened me with spreading the rumors. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter now.”
Prince Ash raised his eyebrows. “Her name is Julianna Alderidge, you say?”
I nodded.
“I’ll cross her off the list, then. Gossip and threats are not fitting for a queen,” he said.
“If you’re looking for a bride for the crown prince,” I said slowly, “then the rumors that he’s betrothed to the duchess’s daughter are false.”
“Indeed. But I’m not surprised,” the prince said with a shrug. “Narcissa is the obvious choice, solely because of wealth and position. Father certainly approves of the match.”
I bit my lip before I could tell him what I thought about Narcissa. I didn’t want to contradict the king, after all. “So, there’s no point in your list?” I asked, amused.
“Of course there is,” he said, grinning. “It gives me something to do.”
At that moment, the second dance concluded. Couples bowed and curtsied to each other and split off, some moving toward the refreshments and others elsewhere. Lydia emerged from the crowd.
“Amarante! Have you been here all this time? This is your first royal ball and you spend a quarter of it snacking like a gluttonous social pariah! Come here at once before you—” Lydia stopped abruptly when she saw Prince Ash. She trilled a nervous giggle and curtsied. “Oh. Good evening, Your Highness.”
I was too mortified to look at anything but the floor.
“This is...?” the prince asked.
“My stepmother. Madam Lydia Bonavich Flora,” I managed to say.
He dipped his head graciously. “Madam.”
Lydia giggled again and sidled up to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “I was giving dear Amarante a little motherly advice, Your Highness. She’s quite shy, really. Never too good at balls.”
“Perhaps a dance will remedy that.” He offered me his hand just as the orchestra began playing a waltz. I took it. Lydia looked as if she had seen the gates of heaven.
Prince Ash led me to the center of the ballroom where other couples had positioned themselves for the dance.
“I apologize for my stepmother,” I said as he led me through the steps of the waltz.
“I reckon you’re not usually ‘dear Amarante’?”
I shook my head. “She gets overexcited when I’m not disappointing her.”
“Are you in the habit of disappointing her?” the prince said.
I thought back to the Great Tea Scandal. “Absolutely,” I said. “In fact, this is my punishment for doing so.”
