Rose hurried from the couch full of indignation. 'Father is scheming again. That never ends well. Whether I had picked somewhere close or far for Sir Ethyn, it would have proved whatever father was thinking. I would have had to suffer that smug grin of his for weeks!'
Rose's steps were a little too hard as her slippers rang out on the marble floor. Her stomping made her shoes slip on the smooth surface. Catching herself, Rose marched out with as much dignity as she could, ignoring her father's muted laughter.
She knocked lightly on the door only once before it swung open. Rabert greeted her with a smile only for her to brush past him without a word.
Seeing her pinched face, the Captain furrowed his brow. "Your Highness?"
"She is just tired!" Rhodri called amicably from within. "Please attend me for a moment, Captain. We need to find the perfect accommodations for Sir Samberg moving forward."
A wave of understanding passed over Rabert's face as he winked at the princess.
"Not you too!" Rose flushed.
"I have no idea what you mean, Your Highness," Rabert quickly shut the door and the guards resumed their positions in front of it. For a moment Rose felt like ordering the soldiers to let her back in, but decided against such a scene. She would not give the men that satisfaction.
Instead, with her two shadow guards, Rose searched for Lady Caitlyn and Sir Ethyn. The two were sure to be close by, for it was their job to walk her back to her room.
The pair appeared hurrying down the hall each with a strange expression on their face.
"I am sorry, Your Highness! We seemed to have lost track of the time," Caitlyn said breathlessly. Her face was pale, all the color was gone from her lips.
"You certainly did," Ethyn's amused tone was punctuated by his smirk.
"You took your sweet time relieving yourself," the lady-in-waiting was unwilling to take all of the blame.
"Did I?" The young man chuckled lightly before locking his lips and tossing the imaginary key.
"Are you both quite finished?!" Rose did not like feeling that she was left out of yet another of their secret conversations.
The pair paused abruptly and bowed before their mistress. "Forgive us, Your Highness," they said in unison.
The Princess's face softened slightly. "I want to go to bed."
"Is something wrong?" Ethyn asked despite the warning look from Caitlyn. In the palace it was not his place to ask such things. The nearby guards glanced his way with veiled disapproval.
"I don't know what you mean," Rose pressed her lips together, "I am just tired."
"Then let us walk, if it pleases Your Highness." Caitlyn gently ushered them along.
Motioning for her two shadow guards to back away, Rose continued down the corridor with the knight and lady on either side of her.
"You two seem to be quite cozy," Rose said blandly.
"We have been getting to know each other because we will be serving you together. How was your time with your father?" Caitlyn redirected the conversation.
"I don't want to talk about it…" Rose huffed.
"That means she wants to talk about it, but doesn't know where to start," Caitlyn whispered across the princess.
"Good to know," Ethyn responded, touching his finger to the side of his nose.
"Will you both stop talking like I'm not here?" Rose glared at them.
Caitlyn coughed lightly. "Did your father finally tell you about Prince Callum?"
"So you did know!" Rose was both upset by the fact her lady-in-waiting keeping the secret and relieved she did not have to explain.
"What about Prince Callum?" Ethyn tensed, his mirth suddenly leaving him.
"Princess Rose is engaged!" Caitlyn exclaimed before being shushed.
"Oh? Then perhaps my time as a personal knight will be short lived," Ethyn seemed unsure how to react.
"I am not!" She turned to the guards behind her who had clearly overheard and shook her head. "I have gotten caught up in some scheme by King Willric which made him send a marriage contract…" Rose's voice trailed off.
"So that is why you were upset?" Ethyn thought about reaching forward to comfort her, but decided the better of it.
"It was not. I was upset about—" the princess caught herself and rephrased, "nothing. Father has everything well in hand. Only Caitlyn seems excited by the prospect. Father and I are staunchly opposed to the match." Rose sped up, forcing the others to match her gait.
As they neared the first set of stairs, Caitlyn hooked her arm into the princess's to support her as she walked. The two women had been doing it for so long that it was a habit, and neither wanted to break it even though the young man would have been better at catching her if she fell. Instead Ethyn fell in behind them.
Caitlyn sighed. "I only want to see you happy. You can pick any man and I will support you."
"Any man?" Ethyn asked innocently.
"Hush now." Caitlyn reached back to try and thwack the knight behind her with her fan.
Rose's expression darkened. "Will you two stop flirting?"
Both parties stopped in their tracks, Ethyn halting on the stairs mid-stride.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but what?" The knight cleared his throat as he ran his hand through his hair nervously.
"You were laughing at dinner and talking so low that no one could hear you. Now you carry on as if I am not even here with some joke you think I am too oblivious to understand." Rose lowered her voice, "I was grateful for your help, Cailtyn, with securing a personal knight, but now I think you might have had an ulterior motive for doing so."
"She definitely had an ulterior motive," Ethyn's grin was so wide that his teeth sparkled in the torchlight.
"I knew it!" Rose pointed an accusing finger at the lady beside her.
"It is not what you think...ugh." Caitlyn fanned her face, which was feeling unusually flush. "This is your fault," she chided Ethyn, "You may as well tell her before we both get in trouble."
"Yes, my lady," Ethyn dipped his head. The three continued walking to the next landing. "Lady Caitlyn's intervention in tonight's affairs may have been partly on your behalf, Princess Rose, but there was another issue at play. I could not put my finger on it until I came back from the privy and spied something I was most certainly not supposed to see."
Rose was suddenly interested. "And what exactly did you see, Sir Ethyn?"
"I had hoped to find prim Lady Caitlyn awaiting me so we could come and attend you at your leisure. Instead, I saw a young woman hidden in an alcove passionately enthralled with a man who had his arms around her waist. They were so busy kissing and exchanging sweet nothings that they did not see me approach. Like a gentleman, I retreated and made myself known moments later with loud, measured footsteps. But the pair somehow knew what I had seen swore me to secrecy." Ethyn winked at Caitlyn.
"Is this true?" Rose looked pointedly at her lady-in-waiting. Caitlyn's hair was disheveled and the remaining color she had left on her lips was noticeably absent. "Who is the man that caused you to act so rashly?"
"I assure you it was not a rash act," Caitlyn answered. "And you can guess at the man without me saying his name."
Rose thought for a moment. Who could have captured Caitlyn's heart and also made it necessary for her to intervene on Sir Ethyn's behalf. There was only one name on that list. "Sir Ashton!"