“No.” My lie struck me again. I couldn’t keep doing this. It had become too easy to utter a lie, but now I would pay for it.
He studied me as I flinched. “You haven’t told him, have you?”
The nearest guard nodded to another before he approached us. “It’s time we returned to the palace.”
I was grateful for a chance to escape to the solitude of my chambers. Fyn would never let it go if I had told him what Soren said.
Novena recounted every beautiful thing she laid eyes on as we rode back to the palace. I tried to hold onto every pleasant scent, even as the scent of Fyn’s pickle tormented us both. I waited for my hair to set in the solitude of my chambers.
When enough time had passed, Eva pulled back the wrap. She gestured me toward the mirror as the sky-blue waves fell forward.
I ran my fingers through it, my lips curving in a smile I couldn’t resist.
The color highlighted my skin and eyes in a way I had never seen them before.
It was me.
“I’ve never truly seen anything like it,” Eva said. “The ladies of the court will be so envious, but most won’t be able to achieve it.”
“For the first time, I’m grateful for my usual color.” I combed my fingers through it. The hue complemented the dress perfectly.
Eva pulled strands back, twisting them away from my face, until only a few tendrils hung freely.
A knock came at the door. Eva quickly pulled it back.
A man in armor stood waiting. “Prince Soren requests Princess Ashlyn’s presence in the garden. I am to escort her there now.”
I peered out past Eva into the otherwise empty hall. “And Lord Fyn?”
“He is in a trade meeting still, Your Highness. I am to chaperone,” the knight said.
I followed him. My heart thrummed, drowning out the clanging of metal that echoed beside me.
Fyn would have had far too much to say if he were walking beside me. He’d comment on the color I chose for my hair.
Maybe he’d even like it.
If I married Soren, I’d be summoned whenever my husband wanted me and met with silence whenever he didn’t.
I would have to learn how to handle stillness—perhaps someday I’d get used to it.
“Did the prince say why he wishes to see me?” I asked.
“No, Your Highness.” His armor was louder than his words.
We walked a stone path that led from the slender wooden door. The last of the lingering sunshine washed over me.
Mountains embraced the land beyond the palace. A pink and purple sky clung to the peaks that prodded the clouds.
Their etched edges were barely visible on the ride, even when the fog lifted. This view rivaled any glimpse I had before.
Thick green hedges trailed the path’s edge. It looked like a maze I didn’t care to get lost in. With each sharp turn, I felt my breath catch.
When I was younger, I romanticized a moment like this in my daydreams. But now approaching Soren left me with a nagging feeling I couldn’t ignore.
If I gave it time, eventually we would learn each other’sways. My parents had to learn how to navigate one another when they married.
It didn’t help that I knew they had failed at it.
