Daylily did not budge in the face of his bluster, but let him talk until he’d quite run down. All the while the household staff watched and the goat girl cringed behind her goat. When at last he had finished, Daylily took a step closer to him.
“Are you the prince?” she asked. “Or aren’t you?”
Leo’s face drained of color.
For a long moment, he did not breathe. Then he turned to those assembled. If his voice cracked when he spoke, it was still deep and full of force.
“I declare to you all, by the blood in my veins, by the sign of the panther, and the blessing of the Silent Lady on the house of my forefathers: This girl is my servant and under my protection. You will treat her as such. I, Lionheart, son of Hawkeye, Crown Prince of Southlands, command it.”
7
ROSE RED SAT IN THE RUMBLE SEAT on the back of the carriage, looking backward up the path down which the carriage rolled. With one hand, she gripped a side bar to keep herself from being jostled out of place; the other hand she wrapped around Beana’s neck as the goat knelt awkwardly beside her.
Rose Red’s head hurt from gazing up the mountain, from watching those familiar peaks grow smaller and smaller, from passing out of forests she knew better than her own face into lands unknown, surrounded by strangers.
Strangers who hated her.
She closed her eyes.
The crown prince! How, by Hymlumé’s light, had she missed that detail? “Hen’s teeth!” she muttered. “What a fool I am.”
The moment she’d understood what Leo said, panic had seized her, and she had flown up through the gate and up the mountain, using secret paths she hoped that he could not follow. But Beana could, and did. The goat had caught up to her by the creek.
“What are you thinking, fool girl?” she bleated. “Get yourself back down there at once, do you hear?”
“He’s the crown prince, Beana!” Rose Red cried, burying her face in her hands. “I didn’t know it! I swear.”
“I know you didn’t,” Beana replied. “But you do now. And you’ve left him in an awful pickle by running off! It took some nerve on his part to stand up to all of them for you, and this is how you’re going to repay him?”
“I cain’t go back there.”
Beana rolled her eyes to the heavens, muttering, “Lumé grant me grace! What did we just spend a whole afternoon arguing over?”
Rose Red did not have the chance to answer, for Leo stumbled through the brush and fell into the creek the next moment. Up to the elbows in muddy water, he bellowed, “Dragon’s teeth!” then glared at Rose Red for all he was worth. “Dragons eat you, Rosie. Why did you run away?”
To Rose Red’s horror, she thought she saw tears glimmering in his eyes. But only for a second.
She got to her feet and scrambled into the creek to help him upright. “I’m so sorry, Leo—Your Highness,” she said, then bobbed another of her awkward curtsies. “I didn’t know who you were or else I’d never ha—”
“And that’s just why I didn’t want you to know!” Leo exclaimed. “Don’t you see, Rosie, the minute you found out, I knew you’d do just what you’ve done. Did you think you were the only person on this mountain who wanted a friend? A friend who could see past names and titles and . . . and veils?”
Rose Red could not answer. She bowed her head, ashamed.
“I knew you’d run off on me.” His voice was tight, angry. “And I didn’t think there was a chance in this world that I’d find you again.” He put out a hand to her, and his voice softened as though afraid to frighten her away. “Rosie, we’ve both kept secrets. But I’m still Leo. You’re still you. Titles and veils and all that nonsense . . . it doesn’t change anything.”
When she looked up, she saw no more trace of tears in his eyes. But they were large and serious when he spoke. “Please don’t leave me again. Come back, and let’s do as we planned.”
“Leo—I mean, Your Highness . . .”
Suddenly he was there again, deep in her mind. The voice that she knew could not be real, but that screamed all of her fears in words of fire.
I’ll make him pay!
She cringed and bowed her head. But Leo was still with her, and he put his hands on her shoulders, gently, as though half expecting her to hurl him across the creek in a second. She didn’t but stood stiff as a board while he carefully held her at arm’s length.
“We can’t be friends anymore, of course,” he said. “It’s not allowed. But you can be my servant, and I can watch out for you, just like we agreed. Nobody can touch you as long as you’re under my protection; it’s the law. Only the Eldest himself can reverse my command. And he won’t. Father’s a good sport, really, if a little stiff on taxes sometimes. And Mother won’t cross Father, so you’re safe. Do you see?”
Don’t leave me, princess.
“You’re not real,” she hissed.
Leo trembled at the sound of her voice, but he couldn’t understand the words. “I’m sorry, Rosie, what was that?” She looked up at him. He thought, if only for an instant, that he caught a glimpse of her eyes through the slit of fabric. Then the folds settled, and he realized he must have imagined it. “Are you coming with me?” he asked.