To Win the Prince's Hand

Chapter 18

 18.

I suppose the fact that I was with the prince made Madame Goustav forget about my terrible manners during my grand entrance, except to remind me once to “Keep my private relationships more secret.” It also helped her to decide I needed more time to spend with the prince, so she loosened her schedule.

However, that incident made her even more unbearable. Everyone had blown it way out of proportion, and suddenly, I was the most likely candidate for the prince to pick.

Most of the girls gave me the cold shoulder for the rest of dinner. Jasmine didn’t bring up the topic at the table, but the look she gave me told me that I had a conversation with her coming soon.

“So, how often do you spend time with the Prince?” Madame Goustav asked for the hundredth time the next morning. I sighed, leaning back in my chair.

“I don’t really know. We wander around the castle and such,” I explained, only half interested.

“And are you on your best behavior?” she continued.

No. “Yes, Madame Goustav,” I lied.

“Me, the governess of the princess,” she whispered to herself, but I caught it and rolled my eyes. That was unlikely.

“Excuse me, Madame,” a servant stated, entering the room. “An invitation for Lady Danielle, from the Queen.”

She picked up the invitation, dismissing the servant. “The Queen wants to have tea with you this afternoon!” she exclaimed. I internally groaned, sinking even more into my chair.

“I don’t like Gabriel!” I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. “He’s only my friend! Leave me alone! We’re not getting married!” I figured that wouldn’t be taken too well, however, so I stayed silent.

“… I’ll need to get that lazy servant of yours, Amy or whoever, to dress you in one of your finest day gowns…” she muttered to herself as I tuned back in. She began to look through my closet. “None of these are nice enough!”

“Excuse me,” I spoke up. “I went dress shopping with one of the other girls a few days ago.” I kept out the fact that Abigail was there as well. “Maybe she could fetch one of those dresses."

Madame Goustav seemed to like this idea, and quickly rang for Abigail. She came, got her instructions, and ran off quickly. While she was gone, I was grilled on etiquette by Madame before she swept off as well, leaving me in my room alone.

“Psst. Danielle,” a voice whispered from my window. Looking around, I walked over to find Gabriel standing outside. “May I come in?”

I rolled my eyes, gesturing he could enter, and he quickly climbed in my window. “Couldn’t you just walk in the door?” I asked.

“It’s improper for a man to be in a ladies room—“

“Not that that’s ever bothered you before,” I said under my breath.

“—and everyone is gathered around outside your door, seeing if I’ll visit you,” he finished.

“Oh.” It was a dumb thing to say, but there was nothing else to say. “What are we going to do about this mess? Your mother invited me to tea, no doubt because she thinks I’m your future wife.”

“Yeah…” he trailed off. “I have no idea.” I sighed, collapsing back into a chair.

“This is bad, Gabe,” I stated the obvious.

“I know,” he agreed. We both sat in silence for a minute. “Maybe they’ll forget about it if we just aren’t seen together much. I’ll still meet up with you every night.”