Delicate Flower

Chapter Nineteen ♡

Chapter N i n e t e e n

  Juliette wiggled her feet happily as she sat on the fountain's edge, a pen planted between her lips as she looked thoughtfully at the inked words she had written on her little piece of paper.

Dear Xandy-bunny,

She scratched that. It doesn't rhyme at all! she thought to herself. Besides, she can't just use her favorite pet and stick it to his name! That'd be just ridiculous.

Dear Xandy-candy,

That's better, she thought. Plus, it sounds sweet, just like the tarte she had baked him this morning. She kneaded it all by herself and even made the strawberry filling the same exact way she had seen Gregg do for the king last week. And she was determined to sneak into the king's quarters and give it to him while doing his guard duties. She could just imagine his proud expression as she surprised him with it. It'll be sooo good! she giggled happily. She just hoped her secret plan would work before her friends found out and stopped her. She just knew they were always super protective of her and would always want to burst her bubble of fun. Which was why she was sitting outside in the castle's entrance plotting her little surprise to her beloved Xander.

This is to thank you for all the hard work you've been doing and still finding the time to send me gifts every day. I feel like a little princess every day. I love you so much Xandy! I hope you like my tarte. xx Juliette ♡.

That'll do. She smiled, satisfied, then continued to wrap the tarte with a big pink bow, sealing the letter inside.

Today, she was on a mission she wasn't willing to give up on until she was pleased.

With her hair tied in a pink bouncy ribbon and the softest humming on her lips, she made her way toward the eastern wing of the palace — where the royal quarters were. She didn't even stop to think whether she was allowed there. It wasn't wrong, technically. She wasn't breaking anything, and no one said she couldn't give pastries to the guards.

"For Xandy," she whispered under her breath, holding the little wrapped bundle like a treasure. The scent of warm strawberries and vanilla clung to her like perfume. Her cheeks were flushed pink, more from excitement than from the morning sun.

But fate, as it often did with Juliette, had other plans.

After relentlessly asking for one of the king's personal guard with the name of Xander, and no one seeming to remember him, she started giving up.

Then she turned a corridor too sharply — and bumped straight into a wall of silk and perfume.

"Oh no—!" she yelped, staggering back a step, her eyes wide.

The woman she'd collided with barely moved. Tall, graceful, and dripping in icy authority, she blinked down at Juliette as if she were a very unfortunate stain on a prized carpet.

"Do you mind?" the woman asked smoothly, brushing invisible dust from her blue satin gown. Her voice was dipped in honey — and poison, and her face looked too familiar.

Juliette, blinking fast, curtsied clumsily. "I-I'm so sorry, my lady! I didn't see— I mean— I wasn't looking—"

The woman didn't respond at first. Her eyes moved, slow and deliberate, over Juliette's figure — the soft apron, the dusting of flour on her sleeves, the ridiculous pink bow tied around the bundle in her arms.

"And who are you?" the woman asked at last, coolly, squinting her eyes at her as if recognizing her from somewhere. Juliette taped her mind internally, trying to remember where she had seen her before.