Waiting For Spring

Chapter 29

Applause jolted me from the spell that had enthralled my senses, suddenly throwing me back into the overcrowded ballroom, filled with curious faces. Glancing up at James, I saw him smiling down at me, a moment before he took my hand and began leading me through the encroaching crowd, headed for the raised dais where his throne stood.

As we reached the steps, he placed his hand on the small of my back, guiding me up the stairs. Once at the top, he took my hand and turned us to face the curious crowd. Although, as I looked down on their faces, I began to see that many of them weren’t as curious as I first believed. Many held looks of contempt, their eyes narrowed and their bodies tense.

“As you are now aware, the lost princess of Paca Territorus has been found.” James announced, his voice booming over the heads of the noblemen and women. “And as such, we are now able to see a conclusion to our endless war with her people. With the betrothal and marriage of a member of both houses the agreement made long ago will be sealed with a family bond.”

The room seemed stunned for a moment, before breaking into riotous applause, everyone desperate to see the end of the pointless loss of life on our kingdoms’ borders. The room was quick to fall silent again when the king raised his hand, though excited energy continued to thrum through the air of the ballroom.

“So, let us celebrate her return and the end of this war.” Suddenly, a servant appeared beside him, with two glasses filled with a yellow bubbly liquid on his silver tray. First, he handed one to the king and then a cool glass was also placed in my hand. “To Princess Arlarose Mary Maclinar, future Queen of Citra Colonia,” The king proclaimed.

The room raised their glasses as they roared joyously in agreement with the king. Glancing at the king, I watched as he drained his glass, placing it back on the servant’s tray. Anxious to do the same, I gulped the liquid down only to start coughing a moment later.

“What was that?” I coughed, quickly putting the glass back on the tray. I heard the King chuckle beside me as he took my hand in his again.

“That, my dear, was champagne and I fear you are not quite old enough to enjoy its pleasures.”

Sighing, I watched as the ball seemed to burst into life again. The people started to clear the floor and allow room for the dancing to begin. There was a flurry of skirts and the rush of beautiful music filling every corner of the room.

Gently, James turned me to face the throne and I was surprised to find a second throne placed at the right hand of the King’s. James’s throne was imposing, made of black wood and harsh angles. While the one that had appeared beside it was intricately woven, and when I looked closer, I could see that it appeared as if it were woven out of vines, with wooden flowers carved into the back and arms.

“I had this made for you when my father was still alive,” James explained, leading me over to the thrones and settling me in mine before sinking into his. “It was only months before you were stolen from us.”

“It’s beautiful,” I conceded, but I offered him no more. I kept my eyes trained on the revelry and majesty of the night. The warm candlelight cast the entire ballroom in a soothing glow. It was almost as if it were a scene from a dream, or a fairytale. All the faces were filled with smiles and all the noblewomen’s dresses seemed to float and flutter in a way that seemed ethereal. The dancers looked as if they were soaring above the cloud tops, their feet hardly touching the ground.

My body tensed as I felt the king’s large, calloused hand twine itself in mine, stealing it away until they both rested on the arm of his monstrous throne. Before I even had the chance to pull it away two people stood before us with calculating smiles spread across their faces. The deep brown of the woman’s eyes seemed to ring familiar, but the green eyed, rotund man standing at her side was foreign. They were both short and almost wider than they were tall, a distinct sign of an overindulgent life and I fought hard to stop my nose from scrunching up in disgust.

“Your majesties,” The woman crooned curtseying as deeply as her partner bowed. I thought they were sure to touch their noses to the ground if only their stomachs would allow.

“Lord and Lady Saradoth, we are pleased you were able to attend our celebration.” James greeted, and out of the corner of my eye I was able to see that he too was fighting a grimace of repulsion. It lasted moments, before he was able to replace his practiced smile.

“Well, the news of the Paca Prince’s arrival has had the court all a flutter. We had to attend ourselves to see what the announcement might be, and we were not disappointed. We are overjoyed with the reappearance of your betrothed.” Lady Saradoth droned, her eyes remaining firmly on the King despite speaking of me.

“Yes, finding my princess couldn’t have come a moment sooner,” the King replied.

“She has grown into a very lovely woman,” Lord Saradoth remarked, and I felt his eyes race across my skin, sending shivers through my spine. “Wherever she has been, hasn’t impacted the beauty she promised as a child.”

“It is truly lucky she has returned, especially with the Paca forces waning as they have been over the past few months.” The Lord continued and I glanced at his face to find his eyes narrowed and his lips tilted in what I assumed was meant to be a smile.

I opened my mouth to speak, not wholly sure of what I wanted to say, but James was faster. “Finding my Rose is the greatest gift I could have ever asked for. For our kingdom and our neighbors.” There was a finality in the King’s tone, and I looked over to see him glaring harshly at the Lord, daring him to continue. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, there are several more people we need to meet before the night is through. We hope you enjoy the celebrations.”

The couple bowed and curtseyed again, slinking away with glances back towards me that only caused my skin to crawl. How many people were going to ask where I had been all these years? What excuse could I give? How many would accuse me of prolonging this war?

I barely had a moment to gather my thoughts before another couple scurried over bowing and scraping as they did. Their mouths were full of false platitudes and their eyes were filled with accusation. Then we began the cycle all over again.

After almost an hour, I had met and tolerated so many people of the court, I was surprised there could possibly be any left. Yet, they continued to come and when I glanced at the line, it was no shorter than when I had checked ten minutes before.

“This is the worst party I have ever attended.” I groaned as the latest couple made their way back to the dance floor.

“You are a Royal, Arlarose. Balls and celebrations are opportunities for diplomacy.” I couldn’t stop my eyes from rolling as I glanced out at the dancing crowd. My eyes caught a crumple of skirts towards the edge of the dancefloor and I instantly found my face breaking out into a huge grin.

“Alice is having fun,” I inclined my head in her direction and watched as James’s face flinched.

“That girl is a walking disaster. Her poor brothers are never going to find her a husband.”

“Yes, because all that matters in this world is that a girl is married off.” I sniped, finally succeeding in snatching my hand away from his.

“We are all slaves to our duty.” James shot back and I clenched my hands tightly in my lap.

“You’re the King James,” I huffed. “If anyone was to affect change it would be you.”

“And yet even I am pinned in by the expectations of our people and my advisers.”

“Then you should try harder.” I grumbled and it seemed James had no answer for my petulance.

“Only a few more couples and we can dance the night away. It will be good for our people to see us joining in the festivities.”

Frowning, I slumped back in my throne as James announced the next couple to visit with us, “Princess, this is Lord and Lady Marintar of the Southern Mountains.”

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Princess Arlarose.” Lady Marintar greeted sweetly. I inclined my head, as I had been doing most of the night, unwilling to speak unless entirely necessary.

“Princess, I understand that you have been part of palace life for several weeks now. It must be quite a shock after spending all those years on the streets of Huen.” The Lord sneered, sending ice through my veins.

Quickly, I glanced at James and I could see the corners of his mouth turn down and his eyes narrowed slightly, but other than that you wouldn’t have even noticed his response. And the slights seemed to continue throughout the remainder of the couples until finally, James grasped my hand and pulled me back into the crush of dancing bodies.

True to his word, James spent the rest of the night twirling me into such a state of euphoria that I wished to never see the morning and simply live the night forever. When our feet finally stilled, there were few people who remained in the ballroom.

“When did everyone leave?”

“Quite some time ago.” James laughed.

“Well, we aren’t very good hosts.”

“That’s what I have Troy for.” He smiled, sliding his hand to my lower back and leading me across the almost empty dancefloor. We were almost at the base of the stairs I had entered on at the start of the night when Troy and several guards came storming down the stairs, their harsh boots cutting through the last strains of music and filling the whole room with a tension that felt crippling.

“Escort the princess to her rooms,” Troy ordered before the King could speak. Before I knew what had happened, two guards I had never seen before stood at my sides ready to lead me away.

“What’s happening?” I asked, taking a few steps in James’s direction only to have the two men at my side take my arms in their hands.

“Leave now, Arlarose,” Troy commanded before turning his back to me and whispering something that made James’s eyes go wide. His eyes quickly found mine and in place of shock I found determination.

“Take her,” he growled. Instantly, the men at my sides began dragging me up the stairs almost lifting my feet from the ground as we ascended. I tried to turn and face James and Troy, but I was out the door before I could even twist back to see what had them so worried.

“James,” I shouted, in one more attempt to try and find my footing. How had it gone from a pleasant evening of dancing and laughing to being dragged away to my rooms?

I put up very little fight as I was led to my rooms. I barely registered the sounds of guards marching throughout the palace before we were back at my rooms and I was being pushed inside. Mantai and Sam had worry etched into their faces as we passed them but they remained outside as my new guards stepped inside behind me and locked the doors. Who could have the whole palace so rattled?

Feeling unsettled, I paced the room as the guards watched on. They remained silent and stoic by the doors as I worried a hole into my sitting room floors thinking of all the things that could have caused the worry on King James’s face.

“My brother?” I suddenly demanded, putting a stop to my pacing as I lifted my gaze to the guards. I didn’t know when he had left the party, but I needed to be assured of safety. He was one of the last members of my family and I refused to lose any more of it.

However, just as one of the guards was about to answer there was a loud thud from the other side of the door. There were sounds of swords being drawn and I saw the guards inside my rooms do the same as they put themselves in front of me when the shouting and fighting outside my room got louder.

Feeling something buzz through my veins, I searched my room for something to use as a weapon but was quickly met with the emptiness of my room. Since my many attempts to escape there was hardly anything left that could be used as a weapon. Hissing in frustration I cursed James for his need to keep me pinned in because now it was going to be the reason I had nothing to defend myself with.

“Give me your knife.” I demanded drawing my guards’ attention. They looked at each other for a moment and I continued, “You know I train almost every day. I’m probably better at handling that thing than you are.” Acquiescing, the guard reached for his sheath and pulled his knife free, tossing it easily into my waiting hand.

I barely got into my fighting stance before the door burst open and the room was suddenly flooded with dirty looking men. Their clothes were nothing but a collection of threads barely holding themselves together, and their skin was covered in a thick layer of grime and dirt.

My guards backed themselves closer to me, but even I could tell we were outnumbered. All I could do now was pray that James and Troy came with more fighters.

“Rosie,” a familiar voice shouted and from the dirt covered men a face from my past appeared.

“Simon?”

He stepped through the crowd and stood just before my guards; his eyes trained on me with a determination I had never seen in him before. There was something very different about this Simon. He seemed to walk taller, to walk with more authority than he had possessed when we had been lost souls on the streets.

Within the space of a heartbeat, he had motioned for the men at his back to take down my guards and the sound of their bodies slamming against the floor rang with the sound of finality. And I knew my time was running out.

I tossed the blade casually in my hands, daring the men to step closer and my bravado was immediately met with laughter from the boy I had called friend.

“Rosie,” he chuckled, “you can’t believe you can escape your fate with that single knife? Even you can’t get yourself out of this one.”

“Get myself out of what, Simon?” I demanded, desperate to see James walk through my door.

“You’re just a pawn my dear princess-“

“I’m no one’s princess.” I hissed, clutching the hilt of my knife so tightly my knuckles turned white.

“There are more powerful players than your king in this game Rosie, and they’ll use you and anyone else to get exactly what they want. No matter the cost.”

“I don’t understand, Simon,” I began, eyeing the men that continued to move in on me. I had long since run out of room to back away into. Short of jumping out of the window to a certain death, there was nowhere else for me to go. “When did you stop being on my side.”

“I’ve always been on your side, Rosie.”

“It doesn’t look like that from where I’m standing,” I spat just as one of the men made a grab for my wrist earning him a deep cut in his forearm when my knife struck, though my victory was short lived when two more arms took his place and my wrist was squeezed so hard I was forced to let my only protection tumble to the floor.

“I’ve always protected you Rosie, but losing yourself to the King forced my hand. As soon as you were in his hands the plan needed to be move forward.”

“What plan?” I shouted, kicking out at one of the men holding me, but it only caused him to grunt in pain and his grip to tighten.

“Come on Rosie, don’t make this difficult.” Simon scolded, taking the few steps to bridge the gap between us. “You were never meant to be Queen of Citra Colonia. Your father didn’t even want you. What makes you think King James wants you any more than anyone else might? Your worth has always been in what you symbolize.”

“This is my place, my duty,” I tried, hearing in my own words the hollowness of my claim. “Why did you never take me back. You always knew who I was, you knew I needed to be Queen.”

“You’re right, Rosie. You will be Queen, just not for this pitiful country.” He answered darkly, running his finger down the side of my cheek and causing a cool chill to race down my spine and goosebumps to raise across my skin. “I’ll fix this mess you’ve made, princess. Just as I’ve done since I stole you from that fire, all those years ago.”

A single nod from Simon to the man holding me and there was a hand across my mouth holding a cloth that made my eyes water and my blood curdle. Then all at once, my world went black.