Morning Glory-Francis (Reign)

Chapter Six

I had no idea how I was supposed to get away from Liesel and the girls later. I knew that Liesel occasionally let Isabella leave early because she was courting a boy in the village. But there was no way I could fabricate that elaborate of a lie in a only a couple of hours. Before Liesel had even considered letting Isabella go, she had been chatting up the girls for weeks about his entire life story.

After considering my options on my way back to the workroom, I decided my only real choice would be to sneak out after everyone went to bed. There were many risks in that, but with any other plan I probably wouldn't make it out the door.

If I was caught wondering the castle at night by a guard, I would likely be thrown in a cell for the rest of the night. That was not an option. If I was caught, I would need to have a valid reason to be out and about. I needed to be able to get out of the sleeping quarters without alerting anyone of the other girls that I had left. If I was caught there, I would need another lie. And then of course there was the possibility that if I went late at night, Francis would be asleep, and I would have put my neck on the line for nothing.

Of course there was always the option to just not go. Francis may be the Dauphin, but he didn't own me. If he ever asked me why I didn't show later, I could just say I couldn't sneak away. I guess I could tell Liesel the truth about where I was going. If I needed to leave because the Dauphin requested my assistance, she couldn't really say no. But at the same time, Francis said it would be a secret. And keeping it a secret would probably be a better idea anyway.

If my entire web of lies collapsed and it got out that the Tsesarevna was spending extra time in the evening with the Dauphin...well that would not be good. My mother would be furious.

When I reached the workroom, I had made up my mind to attempt to sneak out that night. I left the room plenty of times in the morning when everyone was still asleep, so why would this be any different?

Back in the workroom, I quietly sat down at my seat and pulled my next project towards me. Another dress for another lady, somewhere here at court. It was a dark cloudy kind of blue, and I was supposed to be embroidering an elaborate stripe around the hem in grays and slate blues.

The six of us worked in silence for a few minutes, though I didn't miss teasing glances Millie and Alice sent me, letting me know my extended absence did not go unnoticed. I was hoping they would just let it go, knowing they would not except the 'I got held back' excuse again. However, all of my hopes were crushed with Alice opened her mouth.

"It seems no one is going to address this, so I will." Alice began. I let out a heavy sigh, and covered my face with my hand. "Anna," She turned to face me. "Why is it that whenever you get sent somewhere it takes you twice as long to complete the errand than anyone else? What do you do while you're alone that takes so long?" She asked. I didn't answer for a moment, hoping that Liesel would come to my rescue. When she didn't, I realized I would have to speak for myself. Liesel was looking at me with the same amount of interest as the rest of the girls.

"I've only gone out on an errand twice, though." I started, hoping to build myself some credit. "The first time I was late was actually because of some courtiers causing a scene in the hallway. I got caught up in the middle of it." I put an earnest look on my face hoping they would buy at least that, because the second half of my excuse would for sure have to be a lie. "Today..." I trailed off, scrambling for an excuse, "today, the guard would not let me into the Dauphin's chambers until he returned."

As soon as I gave my excuse, I wanted to bash myself over the head. Of all the things I could have said, that was by far the worst choice.

"What?" Breelyn said. "That doesn't make any sense." I could see that Breelyn and Millie were buying it, but the other three still looked mildly suspicious.

"I didn't understand it either, but I didn't want to argue to much with the guard, so I just waited." I tried to elaborate. "Luckily, the Dauphin returned soon. Otherwise I might've been standing there for hours." Alice, Isabella and Liesel nodded in acceptance, and I knew I was safe, though I could tell there was still some thought that I was lying.

Luckily, I'm a very good liar.

Once dinner was over, we worked for about another hour before the girls left for bed. I used the excuse that I wanted to get some extra work done, to stay late in the workroom. To my delight, Liesel left me the key to lock up the workroom when I was done, and to lock the sleeping quarters after I came in, since I would be the last one to bed.

I legitimately wanted to make some extra progress on the blue dress before I left, because depending how late I was made to stay in the Dauphin's quarters, I may not get to sleep early tonight. However, as soon as I was getting into the rhythm of the stitches in the skirt, the door to the workroom burst open and the four younger girls came flying in.

"Open it!" Breelyn exclaimed, dropping a pure white piece of paper folded up and sealed on top of my hands. On the front, written in a neat but flowing script was 'Anna' in black ink.

"Where did you get this?" I asked, looking up at the girls.

"It was laying on your cot." Alice said. "I saw it while I was getting ready for bed." I turned my attention back to the envelope. I was a little nervous to open it in front of them, because I had no idea who it was from. I had too many secrets for them to see this.

Best case scenario, it would result in them finding out about my plans to sneak over to the Dauphin's room to play cards, which would be less than ideal. Worst case scenario, it would be a letter from my parents or one of my brothers, and would force me out of hiding. That would be unacceptable.

"Well thank you, I'll open it when I finish up here." I said, hoping they would take the hint and leave.

"No, open it now!" Isabella protested. "None of us ever get any mail, because none of us can read! This is exciting!" As soon as I processed what she had said, most of my apprehension about the letter faded away. The only trace of stress left was that if the letter was from my family, hoping they wouldn't have written it in Russian. The girls might not know how to read, but they should be able to recognize the difference between their alphabet and Cyrillic letters.

"Fine." I sighed, flipping the letter over in my hands, searching for any hint as to who the letter was from. The Russian seal was nowhere to be found on it, but I didn't think my parents would be stupid enough to include it.

As I unfolded the letter to reveal the message, I breathed a small sigh of relief when I recognized the words as French.

My sister Anna,

Congratulations! You have not yet gotten yourself thrown out of French court. We all miss you here on the farm. Alec and Michael keep asking where you went. Father has been hard at work, trying to make it so you can come home soon.

Mother has also been busy. She's looking for a husband for you. I hope you're safe at court.

Love, David

P.S. I had to have Theodore write this for me.

After scanning the letter quickly, I read it out to the other girls, leaving out the very end about having Fyodor, our tutor write it for Dmitri. The letter was short and to the point. I was happy I may be able to come home soon, should Father be successful in his efforts to quell the unrest. However, my stomach turned when I thought of marrying as soon as I returned. And not in a good way.

"That's so sweet!" Millie said, taking the letter from my hand. I let her take it, because I knew she would have no idea what it said, besides what I had told her. Listening to the girls behind me chat about the letter, made me think of something. I turned around in my chair to face them.

"Do you want me to teach you how to read?" I asked them. The four girls looked at me, confused for a moment, before their faces lit up.

"Would you really?" Breelyn asked, all attention gone from the letter she was holding.

"Of course." I answered. "But you all should go to sleep. I'll be in soon. It's late." I was surprised when they nodded, before bidding me goodnight and leaving the room. "Finally." I muttered, before turning my attention back to the skirt.