For King and Country

The Promise

Chapter 21

"What is your relationship to that soldier?" Marie demanded, bursting into the dressing room where Tessa was busying herself with the ties of my newest dress. It was simple thankfully, and there was no damask anywhere on it. The noblewomen had been taking notice of the ridiculous amounts of the print she dressed me in and were beginning to wear it as well. Josephine had just left the room to make sure the reception and the banquet were in order. I groaned.

"Who Micah?" I asked, trying to sound innocent.

"Well of course!" She snapped, anger painted on her face. "Of all the men for you to go gaga over." She collapsed onto a lounge. "I can deal with Elijah." She sighed, her hand resting on her forehead in exasperation just like Josephine always did. "I can even deal with that pompous prince. But you cannot... I repeat cannot be in love with a soldier."

I rolled my eyes, murmuring my assent to Tessa as she arranged a pile of curls on my head, asking if it was alright.

"Are you listening to me?" She snapped, swinging her legs off of the chaise, her pretty face painted with seriousness. "You can't be in love with a commoner... No matter how much of a war hero he is? And why did he call you Cora of all things?" She opened her mouth to rant further, but I had had enough.

"Good lord, Marie. I had a life before I came here!" I snapped. "I had a life and a family in a little bitty village. I live on a farm. And when I was two years old, my mother left me at the merchant's wife's house while she made a delivery. They had a little boy two years older than me. We broke into his mother's supply of sugar and ate half of it, and we'd been best friends ever since." I looked over my shoulder to Tessa. "We were engaged. I left him broken hearted when Elijah brought me here. I was a commoner. You seem to forget that."

Her pink lips snapped shut, and she hurriedly busied herself with smoothing the gold material of her full ball gown. "Sorry..." She mumbled. Willow giggled in the corner, and Marie quickly shot her a look.

"But no, I don't love him." I said. "Not enough." She nodded.

"That should be it Princess." Tessa said smiling slightly as she helped me off the podium. I smiled and thanked her. I dismissed them all to prepare for the ball, and suddenly I was bitterly alone in my thoughts. I decided to sneak away to the gallery. The wide, echoing halls of the palace were empty as I made my way through them. Everyone was getting ready for the ball. So I walked passed the main entrance of the palace, over the main waterfall, and into the gallery without being seen.

I was surprised to see Henry inside, staring up at his face on the wall.

"Henry?" I asked, my voice echoing through the vaulted halls.

"Oh, Avalyn, my dear." He said, as I walked over to his side. He placed one of his arms around me, tucking me into his side. I smiled, looking up at his portrait. "What are you doing up here?"

"Well, I needed a break from the ladies for a moment." I smiled. "I love this painting of you." He laughed, his voice raspy and his blue eyes twinkling.

"You should have been there the day we all sat for it." He laughed, his face cracking into a smile. "Your father was a mess; he pitched a fit the whole morning, and your Grandma Avalyn, Lynnie, was ready to pull her hair out. Marie, the babe, was colicky. And Harrison put a tack in the painter's chair. Bless them." I laughed.

"They sounded terrible!" I laughed.

"Yes, but that's exactly the point I think." He squeezed my shoulder. "Harrison got sick a year later. We lost him that summer. Marie married off to a Duke when she was eighteen and they both died on their way to Thanir. Soon, your father and your mother were all I have left. Sometimes, I like to come in here and think about those little times, when we were happy despite it all." I nodded.