The Princess's Servant

17. The Date

"You're kidding," Holden said.

The princess patted the table with her hand and sat herself down. Holden reluctantly followed.

The servant Marcus had summoned scurried through the dark doorway and set a dish before Her Highness: a plate piled high with leg of lamb and sweet potato mash. Holden's dry mouth watered at the earthy smell.

The princess took one long-forked bite after another as white aproned servants flooded her balcony and carried out her sleeping guards. She chewed as they mopped up Holden's blood and swallowed as they dragged away the Draconian's unconscious body. Holden would have been thoroughly unsettled by the scene, had his thoughts not been so wholly fixed upon the food. Scrumptious bite after scrumptious bite, the princess tucked away the only real meal he had seen all day.

And as he watched her softened lips, the princess's eyes met his. He felt a jolt and in an instant, the prince's gaze flickered to his lap. Sybil stopped chewing for a moment and looked between the man and her plate.

She beckoned over a servant and Holden heard a hushed word exchanged between the two that he couldn't quite make out. The maid curtsied and the cleaning crew fled. A silence fell upon the night and the two of them were all alone once more.

Except! An arm; a plate! A hunk of lamb and orange mash set before his eyes! Holden couldn't believe it — could obtaining what he wanted truly be so easy? His hand reached for his fork; he prodded the meat with its prongs and poked into the flesh. It looked real, he thought. It smelled real, too.

"Well, tonight was a complete bust," the princess said, leaning back in her chair and taking drink in hand. A waxing moon poked its face around a castle tower. One-by-one, stars blinked on in the sky.

Holden twisted his fork and tore meat from bone. He inspected its bloodied tendrils with great uncertainty.

"All that work, and for what?" The princess asked. "A prince who didn't show."

Holden closer inspected the shred of meat as it glimmered in the candlelight.

"Say, what do you think happened to him?" She asked. "Do you think he got killed by bandits on his way? Or nabbed by pirates? Or run down by a wild, rampaging boar?"

Holden's hand trembled. He couldn't keep it in any longer. "Is it poisoned?" He asked her.

The princess cocked an eyebrow at the prince. "No," she said with some offense.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" He asked.

Sybil glanced between his plate and him. "Do I strike you as the type to kill from a distance?"

Holden glanced down at his heaping plate again. "No," he admitted. "But you could have poisoned the food enough to make me suffer," he said. "And not enough to kill."

The princess drew in breath and sighed. She took his plate in hand and switched it with her own. "There," she said. "You're safe. Unless, of course, you think I spent the last two weeks accustoming myself to a poison so I could sprinkle it in my food and trick you into thinking it was fine," she said.

Holden stared at her. She stared back. "That's not funny," he said finally, taking a delicate bite.

The princess exhaled and resisted a slouch. "You're not used to going without food, are you?" She remarked.

Holden said nothing as he shoveled down bite after bite.

She breathed an annoyed sigh and waved her hand. "Enough about you," she said. "Tell me about this rumor."

Holden flashed her a glance while he jammed another fork-full of mashed potatoes down his throat.

"That the prince and I are intended to marry?" She clarified.

The prince nodded once. "That's about all there is to it," he said, his mouth half full of tendrils and mush.

"Right," Sybil said. "But where did it come from? Did 'Prince Holden' start it?" She asked. She said his name like the 'prince' part was hypothetical, or undeserved.

But again Holden didn't take the bait. "I couldn't tell you," he replied in all truth as he chomped down on a lump of fat.

The princess picked at Holden's old food with her fork. "Do you know what I think?" She said. She put the fork down and crossed her arms in front of her. "I think it's not a rumor," she told him. "I think my mother promised me to the emperor's son without my consent, and I think she's hid it from me all these years. Just like she hid the truth about Lailoy from me."

Holden stopped chewing. He thought a moment. "What truth?" He asked.

"That we're essentially a puppet state that exists only to supply your nation with lapis, cotton, and wine."

The prince moved his fork a little away from his mouth as he thought. "That's not—" He cut himself off. "I suppose that's not entirely untrue." Holden stopped eating for a second. "But if that's the case, then why would she hide it from you?" He asked. "Unless..."

"Unless she wanted me to think highly of Ward so I wouldn't resist my marriage to Prince Holden when the time came," Sybil completed.

Holden paused a beat and shot her a glance. "That... Makes sense, actually. You can be rather observant when you will it, can't you?" He said.

"Yes, of course I can," the princess replied. "What gave you the impression otherwise?" She asked.

The Second Prince of Ward took in another fork-full of food. "Nothing," he said, biting down to hide his expression.

The princess sat back in her seat. "But the joke's on Mother." Sybil gazed into that black abyss of a doorway. "I'd sooner throw myself off this balcony than marry Prince Holden," she said.

Holden let out a wild laugh. An uncontrolled laugh. An unintentional laugh. A very-difficult-to-explain-without-revealing-his-greatest-secret laugh. Holden clamped one hand over his mouth as he watched the princess cock another eyebrow. "Sorry, sorry." He waved his hand. "It's just— knowing Prince Holden, I'm sure he'd say the same."

The princess narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

Holden blinked a few times. "What do you mean 'what do I mean?' Knowing Prince Holden, I'm sure he'd also rather die than marry you."

The princess turned her head to gaze at him out of the corners of her eyes. "What do you mean 'knowing Prince Holden?'" She asked. "Knowing him how?"

A/N: Please don't forget to vote! :)