A Princess Torn (Alys Book #2)

Chapter 12

If her father had disapproved of her reaction to the gifts from the Marniac royal family, he never said so. 

Maybe he did but did not have time to say anything before the palace turned into a frenzy of preparations for Prince Jatova's arrival any day and King Dastrehan's in the next two weeks.

Servants moved around cleaning and polishing surfaces that already seemed perfectly clean to Alys. The gardens were pruned and tidied to look even more perfect than they had before. Even the village surrounding the palace looked neater and brighter. Every where Alys looked, people looked excited. When she pointed this out to her grandfather, he just shrugged and told her that visitors had been rare since she and her brother had disappeared, especially royal visitors.  Alys also knew that High Cloud Palace was not an easy place to get to, and the sky tunnels were only used by people living in the palace or with the king's permission. Having outsiders knowing how to find and use them would be dangerous.

On top of the palace getting attention, Alys was also focused on.

New dresses replaced the ones that were already new when she had arrived, though she insisted that the Tarkam gowns she had brought with her stay in her wardrobe.  The servants wrinkled their noses at this but did not argue.

The pinks and purples of her chambers were taken down and replaced with more appropriate ones for an adult princess; creams and a soft lavender, white lace curtains, all her dolls and other toys put away in storage. The sofas that she had adored as a child were replaced with new ones, stuffed and covered in black leather. The rug that ran under them was replaced with a nice cream one.

With every day that Alys spent in Balear, more beads decorated her hair, she wore more obvious Balearian styled clothes, and she came more and more out of the shell of "Alys" that had developed over the years of her memory loss. It got to the point that she had doubts that Dastrehan would even recognize who she was becoming, but it felt nice to finally know who she had been and to be discovering who she wanted to be. 

Another thing that was different about the palace while everyone waited for the royal visitors was Princess Royce and her girls.

As usual, Prince Ancel was absent from almost every single meal and meeting the family had together. Royce, however, seemed to be making extra effort to help organize servants, plan the events that King Caldor would have to throw during the stay of Prince Jatova and then King Dastrehan, and attended more of the family meals and meetings.  Elspeth and Atheena were never far from their mother, and they boldly ordered servants around while seeming to enjoy every minute of it. Alys noticed that her grandfather's presence became more and more seldom the more Royce and any of her three children were around. If he had not made it clear before they had arrived at the palace that he did not trust nor like Royce, it was very clear now. Strangely enough, King Caldor did not seem to mind his sister-in-law that much. If anything, he seemed relieved when she appeared, as if he was worried that she would be up to no good when she was not around.

Right then, Alys and her aunt were supervising as servants set up one of the gardens for a small banquet. 

"This is the first, smaller one," Royce explained, almost cheerfully, gesturing to the tables being set up on the lawn, "To welcome Prince Jatova back to High Cloud Palace after so long. It will be smaller and more intimate; just our family, his group, and the families of our closest advisors," she explained, staring into Alys face in a near-manic manner, "We will throw something far more grand in size and luxury when the King of Tarkam arrives."

Alys nodded that she understood and stepped away to get some space from her aunt. Their royal family, the advisers and their families, and however many people Prince Jatova was bringing with him did not seem so small and intimate to Alys. But then we she thought back to the balls and banquets she had seen Dastrehan host at Tarkam Palace, and she knew it could be much worse.