“Oh, Clover!” cried Flora. Hands linked, she and Goldenrod bounded after.
“Oh, look what you’ve done!” said Delphinium, crying angrily. She swept Lily into her arms and took off unevenly after them. Kale, Eve, Jessamine, Hollyhock, and Ivy ran out, followed by Bramble, who shot the King a flaring look as she left.
Tutor Rhamsden snorted, reciting Latin in a doze. “Tero, terere, trivi,” he wheezed.
“Azalea—” said the King.
Azalea stacked the slates, her nails digging so hard into them that her fingers hurt. She stopped at the folding doors before leaving.
“Perhaps they remembered,” she said quietly, “you couldn’t abide us.”
Sir John came that evening. The girls sat on the edges of their beds, and he knelt in front of each of them, asking questions in his quiet, doctorly way. Ointments, bandages, and candy sticks were given. The King stood in the doorway, his arms crossed and face lined.
The poking and prodding made Azalea nervous, and she hugged a pillow while Sir John bandaged her ankle, frowning at her feet. He spoke in low tones to the King as they left the room.
That night, when Mrs. Graybe and one of the maids came to deliver a dinner of potato soup, they left another basket on the table. The girls seized upon it, and when Azalea unfolded the cloth from the top, she gasped.
Nestled inside, in a bundle of colors and ribbons, lay twelve pairs of dancing slippers.
Azalea was so relieved she laughed aloud. The girls squealed with delight and overturned the basket, sending a waterfall of satin onto the rug. They found their slippers and tied them on. There was even a tiny blue pair for Lily.
“Lovely!” said Delphinium. “Real slippers! It’s like walking on air! Even with the bandages on!”
“Oh, joy, rapture, joy, all that,” said Bramble. Her yellow-green eyes sparkled at Azalea. “Sir John must have convinced the King.”
A card had been tucked inside the basket, and Azalea unfolded it to read:
I expect you to be on time to all your lessons.
I will not hear a word of your mother, or dancing.
It was the King’s hand. Azalea blinked at the note.
“Is—is something wrong?” said Clover.
“No,” said Azalea, feeling lost. “We win.”
CHAPTER 13
Dancing in slippers after two nights of boots was heaven; stepping on clouds. Although none of them could dance for very long, they laughed as merrily as though the Great Boot Bungling had never happened. They felt especially cheered in learning the next morning that the shoe arrangement would be the same as before, when Mother had taught them dancing. The shoemaker would mend their slippers every day, bringing the mended set to the palace and taking the basket of the torn ones away. When the twins realized this, they nearly cried with relief. They had pricked their fingers raw trying to stitch the soles.
The next day was Sunday, the girls’ favorite day. Before mourning it had been the scourge of the week. Now, on their only day allowed out, they sat obediently through Mass, even more subdued than usual because the King stiffly sat with them. Then, when the bells rang, they slipped out to the graveyard behind the cathedral.
It wasn’t much of an outing, nothing like the flowered hedges and mossy fountains of the gardens, but the sun fell over everything in dappled yellows, and the air smelled like leaves, and the girls delighted in their time outside the palace.
After some time, the King arrived at the iron gate, tugging his glove over his bandaged hand, to see them draping posy strings over the weeping angel. He frowned.
“The carriage is waiting,” he said when Azalea came to him, Lily in her arms. “Azalea—”
“Don’t be cross,” she said, trying to stand up to his towering sturdiness. “Let them have a little more time. It’s our only chance outside. It counts as Royal Business, doesn’t it?”
The King remained frowning, taking in Lily’s pale face, then Azalea’s, framed with black bonnet and veil. He turned his attention to the girls timidly playing in the sunlight, faces white, and his frown became more lined.
“I expect it does,” he said. “Don’t be long.”
The King made to leave for the street. Azalea struggled inside herself.
“Wait,” she said.
The King turned, and Azalea tried to stammer out something.
“Thank you,” she said. “For the slippers.”
The King sucked in his cheeks, leaving indents on either side of his face. His fingers tapped the rim of the hat he held.
“I am not condoning this,” he said.
“No, sir,” said Azalea quickly.
“We are a house of mourning. You will be on time to all your lessons, and your meals, and there will be absolutely no talk of dancing. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.”