Instead, Lady Cabril reached forward. “Let me see your face, girl.” She held Ashlin’s chin and turned her head to the side. “I am terribly sorry about that. He was looking at you far too closely for comfort.”
After an uncomfortable moment, her stepmother finally released her chin and Ashlin inhaled, feeling lightheaded.
“Here.” Lady Cabril grabbed a rag from the kitchen table and dipped it into a pail of water. Squeezing it out, she folded it and placed it over Ashlin’s cheek. “That should help.”
“Thank you,” Ashlin whispered. She put her own hand on the rag, pressing it into her cheek so that her stepmother could pull away. She wanted her stepmother to leave. The lightheadedness was making her stomach turn, and she wanted to be alone. She would rather be in the small, dark bedroom behind the kitchen wall than anywhere else in this house with her stepmother.
She could not think of the appropriate words to ask her stepmother to leave, though, especially as she was being so kind at the moment. Maybe she could try what Stasiya did to get out of difficult situations. “I’m sorry, madam, but I am not feeling well...”
“Of course, my dear, you must take a rest.” Lady Cabril turned to leave, but she paused at the door. “Ashlin, I hope you know that I no longer hold you responsible for your father’s death. I... realize that you have proven yourself in working so hard to keep our family together.”
Ashlin had no room to experience any more feelings at the moment, but she tried to believe that her heart had grown lighter. “Thank you,” she breathed.
“Unfortunately, though, since a member of the royal family has been introduced to Stasiya as Ashlin Cabril, she must attend the ball with that name. I hope you understand.”
Before Ashlin could respond, Stasiya stepped into the room with a large mass of blue silk in her arms. “Ashlin, I brought you your dress.”
“Of course, of course,” Lady Cabril said, “place it on the table here. Ashlin can alter it to her size when she has time.” She put her arm around Stasiya and guided her back to the door. “Get some rest, dear,” she said back to Ashlin, “we don’t mind if dinner is late.”
She stopped again at the door. “Oh! I almost forgot. Did you hear the news? King Frederich has ordered Prince Onric to choose a bride at the ball.”
Ashlin dropped the wet cloth from her face. “He what?”
“It is all over town, I’m surprised you have not heard. Is that not wonderful for our dear Stasiya? She will have two princes to choose from!” Lady Cabril smiled down at her daughter.
Ashlin felt faint. She had already accepted that nothing could happen between Onric and herself. Or, at least she had thought she had accepted it. But had he known this whole time that he would be choosing a noblewoman from the ladies at the ball?
“Excuse me.” Ashlin nearly ran to the small door that led to her room. She closed it behind her and sank to her knees. She would not cry. Why had he toyed with her? To get her to help him with his magic search? To get her to do all the work for him? She was tired of being used.
No more.
He had no responsibility to her. Why would he offer her anything once her usefulness to him had run dry? The only people who could not toss her away were family.
Chapter 23
Onric paced across the small tower room. Where was she?
The sun had already set.
As soon as he’d returned from the seamstress’s shop, he had spoken with Steward Daniel to ensure that the palace had extra room in the house staffing and reserved a place for Ashlin . . . or was it Stasiya?
He walked until his face was nearly touching the wall before he turned back around to pace the room again. She did not seem like the type of person to lie, but was her name really Ashlin?
He paused to look over the tapestry as he walked by. The new stitching now covered nearly half of the damaged panel, but it was still impossible to tell what it depicted.
If he was going to believe in the words of one person over another, he would choose to believe Ashlin over that woman in the seamstress shop. At the very least, he decided not to jump to conclusions until she had a chance to explain herself.
Finally, the door creaked open and his favorite person walked into the room. The weight of his waiting for her finally fell from his chest as the tension left his shoulders.
The moment her eyes noticed him, though, she looked away, dropping into a curtsy and avoiding his gaze. “My Lord,” she said as though trying to put distance between them before moving towards her usual spot at the tapestry.
He stepped in her way, forcing her to stop.
“You must move to the palace. I’ve already spoken to the steward about it, and you can live here with the other servants for now.”
“You what?” She looked at him then, and the shock in her eyes was not what he expected to see.
“If you are losing your other work because of it, he can offer you extra duties here to compensate for that.”
