To Be A Princess (ON HIATUS)

CHAPTER 13 - Whoa, Hold Your Horses!

THE NEXT DAY WAS a full schedule for the debutantes. And unfortunately, that included me as well. I couldn't afford to skip any more activities, especially after Queen Lilian's "punishment." As much as I liked Queen Lilian, I knew she wouldn't be as lenient forever. And to add to all my misfortunes, I still had to talk to Xavier and clear up this whole Gareth d'Sauvererre thing. It all had to be a result of miscommunication, right? However, before I could do that, I'd have to join everyone in the Queen's sitting room. So, now I'd have to suffer through tea with the rest of the debutantes and pretend to enjoy their company. Oh, joy.

By the time I arrived at the Queen's sitting room, all of the other debutantes were already there. Queen Lilian shot me a stern look, but I could tell she was only doing it to disguise her grin. With a slight nod back to her, I took a seat on a faded yellow loveseat next to Jackie. She set down the cloth she had been embroidering and turned to face me.

"Hello, Sky," she said, "how are you today?"

"Well, besides being stuck in the same room with people I hate, minus you of course, then I'm alright," I replied. "You?"

"I'm doing well," she said. Then she leaned in closer and whispered, "But to be honest, I'm already kind of bored with all these activities. All we do is sit around and gossip or drink tea or something."

She straightened back up. "By the way, where were you three days ago? You missed tea in the gardens with Queen Lilian and the other debutantes."

"Oh, yeah, about that," I muttered and awkwardly shifted in my seat. There was no way I was going to tell her what actually happened. "I just didn't really feel like going."

"Are you allowed to do that?" she asked.

"Nope," I replied, "so Queen Lilian sent me into the Eldynwood Forest."

"What?" she yelped, "but that's so dangerous!"

I shrugged. "It actually wasn't that bad."

She opened her mouth to argue, but was interrupted by Queen Lilian.

"It's such a beautiful day out," she said. "Why don't we all go take a walk out in the gardens?"

"That's a wonderful idea, Your Majesty," Catherine replied, fawning over Queen Lilian in hopes of gaining her favor. I quietly snorted at her blindness. Couldn't she see that her flattery was having the opposite affect?

The other ladies mumbled in agreement, though none as sycophantic as Catherine. I rolled my eyes. As if Catherine—or any of the other debutantes—would gain anyone's favor with her false words. Although Queen Lilian was very good at hiding her emotions, her lips formed a slight frown and annoyance flashed through her amber eyes. But she quickly schooled her features back into a blank look before rising from her seat and leaving the room with Madame Firmin and the debutantes trailing behind her.

Queen Lilian was right about it being a beautiful day. It was finally starting to cool off as autumn approached. The leaves on the trees in the gardens were beginning to take on a slight orange hue and the sunlight no longer burned my skin. A soft breeze cut through the air, loosening strands of hair from my braid, bringing the sweet floral scent of the gardens with it.

I longed to break away from the group of giggling noblewomen and sneak off to Queen Aurelia's garden, but I knew that I would be caught. So, I turned to Jackie and began to make small talk. We trailed slightly behind the rest of the debutantes, though not enough so that they were out of our sight. Madame Firmin looked ready to scold us, but kept her mouth shut. However, she did send up a few disapproving looks with sharp eyes and pursed lips.

"How do you do it?" I asked suddenly.

Jackie started in surprise. "Do what?" she asked.

"This." I swept my arms in a big arc. "How do you pretend to enjoy these kinds of things when they're really boring?"