Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow - Jessica Day George [35]
“Just tell me,” Rollo pleaded, embarrassed.
“Well, from what I can tell it’s the story of a princess who lived in a palace and dreamed of finding a handsome man who would love her. But the man, or it might be men, she found insulted her, and she was very sad. Or maybe it was bitter.” The lass drew up her knees under the comforter and wrapped her arms around them.
“Humph” was Rollo’s comment. “That’s not that interesting. Humans are always doing things like that.”
“Who said they were humans?” The lass raised one eyebrow at him.
“What are they then?”
“I don’t know what the princess was; it just says that she’s a princess. But all the other symbols for people have a mark underneath that Hans Peter told me meant, well, people. It says that she’s looking for a handsome man. Very clearly. But on the pillars there are stories about warriors and princes and ladies, and there are different marks underneath, which I think mean they are different creatures. Like Erasmus and the rest of the servants.”
“What are the other stories about?”
“Well, there’s one about the beautiful princess seeing some maidens in a forest. I’m not sure, but I don’t think they’re human. The princess speaks to them and they run away, screaming. Except for one, who taunts the princess. The cruel maiden is stricken dead, and her betrothed attacks the princess. She has mercy on him, however, and takes him to live in her palace so that he can learn what goodness and beauty really are.”
“That sounds terrible.”
“It does?” The lass gave Rollo a surprised look.
Rollo nodded. “First of all, why did the maidens run when the princess appeared? What did she do that scared them?”
“I didn’t think of that.”
“Sounds to me like this princess isn’t all that beautiful, if all her lovers betray her and other females run screaming when she appears.”
“Well, maybe it’s just like when I saw the servants today. They’re all very strange, you know, but once you get over the shock, they are quite striking in their different ways.”
“Maybe,” Rollo said, but he sounded doubtful. “But then I don’t think what the princess did next was very nice, either.”
“Taking the betrothed to live with her?”
“To teach him a lesson, you said. His lover just died, and this strange princess whatever-she-is takes him away from his home to her palace to be her slave.”
“I never said he was her slave, just that—”
There was a crash from the doorway of her bedchamber. Rollo leaped to his feet and the lass shrieked before she saw that it was Erasmus. He was staring at her in shock, and at his cloven hooves was a dented tray and a broken mug. Hot chocolate was seeping into the rug.
“Erasmus, are you all right?” The lass hopped out of bed and hurried over to the faun.
“Who—where—how—do you know that story?” he gasped.
The lass was temporarily offended by the thought that Erasmus had been eavesdropping on her. “Why?”
“I—n-no reason,” he stuttered. “It sounded . . . familiar.”
“I read it off one of the pillars in the great hall,” she said, her mood softening. Erasmus looked gray with shock.
“You can read the—the language of the tr—of the pillars?” He stared at her in a mixture of awe and fear.
“Yes, my brother taught me,” she said, taken aback by his reaction.
“Your brother?” The faun looked openly astonished now.
“My eldest brother, Hans Peter,” she clarified, though it seemed silly, as the faun didn’t know her brothers’ names, or indeed that she had any.
“Hans Peter Jarlson?” The faun’s voice was barely a whisper.
The lass grabbed Erasmus’s slender shoulders. “How do you know him?”
Erasmus slipped from her grasp. “A terrible mistake has been made. She will be so angry.” His face was white and tight with fear.
“Who will?”
The faun shuddered. “I hope you never know.” His voice was bleak. “I will send Fiona to clean up.” He scurried away.
Fiona entered a few minutes later. The lass had stacked the pieces of the broken mug on the tray and set it on a side table.
The selkie used wet towels to blot the stain and carried away