The Heart of a Wielder (Book One of The Wielders Trilogy) ✔️

Chapter Thirteen

As she began her fourth month at the palace, Maren found herself in really quite peculiar circumstances. Things were both going quite well and were extremely dire, which she found confusing.

On the one hand, her association with Prince Donovan had become more congenial than she would have ever thought possible. Since forming their alliance, their interactions had changed dramatically. Maren expected it was due to the sort of bond that one has with another once realizing that you are actually on the same side of a problem and not in opposition to one another. But she'd never had something like camaraderie with anyone before, at least not since she was very young, so she wasn't sure.

The Prince had also been rather helpful regarding the encounter with Prince Kieran at the stables, and she was grateful for it, although in hindsight she did regret appearing quite so vulnerable in front of him.

She wasn't sure she liked Prince Donovan. His arrogance and rudeness were still far too fresh in her mind. But she did appreciate having someone with whom to converse and as they had to pretend to be lovers anyway, it was a relief to have their meetings shift from distressingly adversarial to something quite a lot more friendly.

Not only that, but much to her intense surprise, she was actually starting to enjoy life at the palace, or at least not hate it. Since she had been released from her rooms, she found she rarely spent time there during the day, preferring to explore the grounds or the library or spend time in the stables.

She had even found that she enjoyed having tea once a week or so with Lady Vanessa and her friends—who she had dubbed the Tea Ladies. She didn't really understand them, but they were very kind to her. And, as she was not terribly proud to admit, she did enjoy scandalizing them with her wholly different sensibilities occasionally.

She didn't know many of the other courtiers well. The men especially seemed to give her a wide berth, apparently not wanting to be perceived as being too forward with someone who "belonged" to the Prince.

That was all right, though. There was already plenty of talk about her, the slightly odd northerner who liked horses and rode them in an unladylike fashion. For the most part, she found that amusing and was glad to have the freedom to ride how she pleased.

She hadn't gone back to the stables after tea time since the incident with Prince Kieran; he, of course, being the principal reason for the direness of her circumstances. She was glad Prince Donovan had found her in the stables, and she appreciated his straightforward kindness in the aftermath of the incident. But that did nothing to change how dangerous her situation had become.

She knew Prince Kieran wanted her to reveal herself, but she hoped very much that he wouldn't go any further than he already had. She somehow doubted that was the case, though. Worse still, there was very little she could actually do to stop him apart from avoiding him as much as possible.

She had done a decent job of it. Maren hadn't seen him except in passing since then, but she was more afraid of him than she cared to admit. She tried to keep an eye out for him while she was in public, but he seemed to be excellent at sneaking up on her.

One afternoon, she was sitting in the gardens, reading, when she saw Prince Kieran walking through the gardens in her general direction. She quickly buried her nose in her book and hoped very much to avoid his notice. She wasn't sure what Prince Kieran might try in such a public place, but she was not eager to find out.

"Lady Maren, good afternoon."

She cursed silently but rose and curtsied, "Good afternoon, Your Highness."

"Are you enjoying your reading?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you, but I'm afraid I have to go now. If you'll excuse me, Your Highness," she said and made to walk past him.