Princess Awakening: Tower of Sand

The Open Door

Outside, the wind picked up force, beating against the tower, and Aurelie felt that old sensation that the fortress of sandstone was beginning to shake. She looked around the room full of people, more people than she had ever met with in this place before, and she realized that every one of them had entered the room without her consent. They had found a way in, and they could leave whenever they wanted. Only she had never found a way through that door. She no longer felt that the tower was perfectly designed for her protection.

"Heresy," Queen Yolande said again.

Aurelie shuddered.

King Hugh, so tall and lithe, seemed to crumple.

"Father," Aurelie said, and she reached for him just as he took a step back. Her fingers brushed through air.

"Is everything all right?" Roland said. His arms tensed for action though his eyes remained closed.

"His Majesty the King has just invoked the words of God over a woman—a sinful woman," Queen Yolande said. "And then he dared utter them in the common tongue. No, everything is not all right."

"Please, be calm, your Majesty," Roland said. "Surely, this is a trespass of love, and God has grace for it."

"So, you claim to speak for God, too, now?" Queen Yolande said.

"We must call for his Excellency the bishop," Sera said. "He always knows what to do about heresy."

Roland jumped at the sound of an unexpected voice in the room.

"No one will speak of this to anyone," Yolande snapped. "Is that clear?" No one answered. "Sir Roland," she said. "Do I have your word?"

Roland rubbed his hand across his closed eyelids. "Will you please give me permission to open my eyes now, your Majesty?"

"Only if you promise to look at no one but me," Yolande said.

Roland let out a frustrated sigh and opened his eyes.

"Now," Queen Yolande said to him, "do you promise never to speak a single word of this entire encounter to anyone?"

A frown deepened the worry lines in Roland's face. "Yes, your Majesty," he said.

"Will you swear it by the nail-pierced hands of Christ?" Yolande said. Her blue-gray eyes glazed with intensity.

Roland's jaw clenched. "I gave you my word," he said.

"Good," Queen Yolande said. "Now, please, take my husband away before he does any more harm."

Aurelie glanced at the king, who was sitting on the windowsill and staring down at his hands, flexing his long fingers. She looked back at Roland. He had not moved. "Honor compels me to disobey," he said. "I offered my services today to the princess."

Queen Yolande snorted. "Then I release you from your promise," she said. "Now, go."

"Your Majesty," Roland said, his jaw pulsing. He looked down, collecting his thoughts, and his eyes moved over the low pallet of a bed, the fallen stack of books and the chess pieces, the bare sandstone floor and walls. Then he looked back toward the queen, and his eyes locked for a moment on her belt of many keys before looking up at her face. "I live by a code of honor," Roland said. "Whatever else you might think of me, I am a knight, and I gave my promise to a lady. She is the only person who can release me."

Queen Yolande clicked her tongue. She turned to look at Aurelie and moved slightly so that she stood between them.

Aurelie moved too, opening up her view. "Sir Roland," she said. He looked up but not at her. He stared over the king's head at the stained-glass window, and Aurelie saw that his eyes were brown as earth and that they looked too old and too sad for his young, strong body and lively voice. She wanted to take his hand again. She wanted to tell him thank you for standing by his word and staying with her, but she was struck by those mournful eyes, and the words got lost somewhere between her heart and her mouth. She pitied the man who had come to offer her a deed of chivalry and had been rewarded with shame, scandal and accusations of heresy. "Sir Roland," she said again, gently.