Three Pretty Princesses

Chapter 7- Evalyn

Evalyn wanted to run. Not because she felt endangered, but because her mind was already racing with possibilities. She had down well with the Amakarian Ambassador. Benjamin seemed to like the girl, and not just because of her provocative curtsey. At Hawthorne Quality Merchandise, she had met many travellers from Amakario. She knew they loved ale, gem collecting, and arena-fighting. Evalyn impressed Benjamin with an over-inflated description of the Gillamor Arena. In truth, she had only visited Gillamor as a young child, and her father had covered her eyes during most of the visit to the arena. Ambassador Benjamin had been enthralled, begging for descriptions of some of the violent battles the Princess had witnessed.

The Palace had an eerie atmosphere to it after dark. There were fewer staff bustling around, and one truly had a chance to realise that every single King and Queen of Dulcinea had walked through these halls. Lachlan the Charming, Matthew the Prudent, and Benjamin the Kind would all have grown up at Fairfax, making fun of the serious faces in the portraits, telling ghost stories about the locked-off rooms. The Palace was indeed magnificent, but only in the higher sections that royalty would inhabit. As one travelled underground, as Evalyn was currently doing. The tapestries, murals, and painting became few and far between. Soon Evalyn was wandering through a narrow, dark hallway, yellowed, chipped paint on either side of her. At the end of the hall, she turned into a large, boiling-hot room.

As soon as Evalyn entered the Palace bakery, the entire room went silent (aside from crackling fire). The bakers, dressed in dirty aprons, dropped to their knees.
"Princess Ava, we had no idea you would be visiting us tonight," the head-baker marvelled.

Evalyn smiled and explained, "Me neither, but I'm having a great craving for sweet treats. Do you have any leftover desserts?"

"Yes, of course, your Highness," the head-baker replied, "Reese, get the raspberry pastries!"

An attractive teenage boy rushed to the storage cabinets, and filled a cotton bag with a dozen pastries. To most people, a dozen pastries would be enough for one snack with extra for the next day.
"Do you have any lollies too?" Evalyn inquired.A helping of crystalised lollies was added to the cotton bag.

The boy fumblingly handed Evalyn the bag, trying his best not to make eye contact with the heir to the Dulcinea throne.

Evalyn thanked the head-baker, giving him a silver coin, as well as subtly slipping a gold coin into the boy's hand as she took the bag of treats.

The night was beautiful. Instead of the bustling nights of Kittown (the air filled with sailors' shouts and boats docking), Fairfax Palace was tranquil. After slipping off her uncomfortable Princess attire, Evalyn had lounged on the balcony of her quarters in her nightgown. She took a bite of a pastry, and thought about the Queen. Queen Gwendoline was an unimaginably selfish woman. It was admirable that she loved her child so much she would go to such extremes to protect her, but Evalyn wondered whether the Queen loved the idea of a daughter more than Ava herself. It would be easy to manipulate the Queen, but the woman holds little power.

Evalyn knew that the only way she could guarantee safety for her family would be to ask the King. The King is the most powerful man in Dulcinea, probably even Montague. The problem she faced was that power is a double-sided coin- it could go in her favour or horribly against. If Evalyn marched into King Thomas's quarters demanding pay for her services, he would probably have her executed on the spot. She needed a way to force him into protecting her family. It wasn't like she could threaten the King with physical violence, but Evalyn knew that if there was one thing more dangerous to royals than violence, it was secrets. King Thomas had a thousand secrets. Some of them weren't really secrets at all; his frequent affairs were known to the entire kingdom. However, Evalyn was sure that with the unlimited access to the Palace she had, she would be able to find something that threatened his reign. She knew the King would need to buy her silence if that ever happened.

Evalyn brushed the pastry crumbs gathering on her dressing gown off the balcony into the abyss. The spring night was becoming a bit nippy.