Princess of the Midnight Ball - Jessica Day George [66]
“I don’t know what you mean,” Rose said stiffly. “Your Majesty.”
“Don’t lie to me, Rose. I may be trapped down here, but I am not unaware of what goes on up there.” He pointed one skeletal finger skyward.
“There is a young man at the palace right now,” Rose said reluctantly. “But he’s only a commoner.” Her voice became dismissive. “One of the gardeners, if you can believe it!” She laughed, and humiliation washed over Galen, but then he looked at her face and saw the rigidity of her expression and the hint of moisture in her eyes. She was sweating a little with the strain of maintaining the charade in front of the king.
“But then, all of your daylight-dwelling suitors have been common, compared to my sons. Does this gardener hope for the ultimate reward?” A smile slit the king’s face. “To marry a beautiful princess?” A chilling laugh.
“Your gardener should feel honored: he will not marry a princess, but he will die a princely death.” Again the king laughed, and Galen felt sick.
“H-he will?” Rose swallowed loudly.
“Of course. Before the month is out he will be punished for his audacity, just as the others have been. What will it be?” the king mused. “A duel? A riding accident? It pleases me to dispatch him in the same way that I got rid of the foolish nobles. I shall have to think on it. It would be an unworthy death for one who aspired so high, to be run over by a farmer’s cart.”
“Why did you have to …The princes. …” Rose trailed off, shivering, and pulled the white shawl closer around her shoulders, much to Galen’s delight. “Excuse me, Your Majesty.” She curtsied to the king and moved away from him on the arm of Prince Illiken. Galen followed them, trying not to think about how he would die.
“You mustn’t anger Father,” Illiken said in his wooden voice.
“I—,” Rose started to say; then she just shook her head and looked away.
Prince Illiken stopped and Galen jumped back just in time to avoid treading on the back of the prince’s shoe.
“Who is this commoner who courts you?” The faint curiosity was the most emotion Galen had ever heard from Illiken. Curiosity, and could it be jealousy?
“He’s not courting me,” Rose said, but her tone was uneasy, and something else Galen couldn’t identify.
“But he searches for answers?”
“Well, yes.”
“And if he succeeds, he will marry one of you?” Prince Illiken’s black eyes narrowed.
“He offered to do it without the, er, reward,” Rose said defensively. “Of course, my poor father will probably give him anything he wants if he uncovers the truth.” She raised her chin.
“He will not find out,” Illiken said simply. “And even if he did, he could not help you.” And then, without warning, he grabbed Rose and pulled her into the figures of the next dance. She stumbled, but he was holding her so tightly that she didn’t fall—although it did take her several staggering steps to join in the dance properly.
“Oaf,” Galen said aloud, and thought of several other things he’d like to call Illiken as well.
“What did you say?” The woman standing behind him turned to her partner in confusion.
“I didn’t say anything,” the man replied. As they moved off to join the dance as well, Galen blew on the woman’s neck and made her shriek. He sat down in his “good spirit” chair and tried to think.
He wondered if Walter would be able to help protect him from Under Stone, if the king really did try to have him killed. Galen had his suspicions about the old gardener and who he really was. If Walter had done anything to protect the princes, though, it hadn’t worked. But then, Walter hadn’t particularly cared for any of them.
Galen was forced to leap up again a moment later, when someone nearly sat in his lap. The edge of his cloak caught on the white-faced courtier’s hand as Galen slid away, and the man suddenly got up and walked out of the ballroom, rather than sitting down after all. Cursing softly to himself, Galen readjusted his cloak and stood in the corner until the ball ended.
By the time the princesses were allowed to leave, Pansy and Petunia were so tired that their princes had to carry them.