I bit my cheek.
I nodded to the guards, meeting Anna at the palace doors so I could be allowed in. Her smile faltered at the sight of me.
“Are you alright, Lyra?”
I nodded, jaw clenched. “I have a letter to deliver.” On the way to the palace, guilt had gnawed at me until I’d stopped and added a final, foolish warning to the bottom about my latest premonition.
Not that he’d take me seriously. But I had to try.
Her eyes dropped to my hands, her expression morphing into disbelief. “I thought you were over Prince Thomas.”
“I am,” I lied. “But I need to tell him something vital. Can I meet you in your room in a few minutes?”
“Of course,” she said, her brow furrowed. I left her behind, walking down the stairs in a daze, knocking on Mrs. Calloway’sdoor.
Her eyes widened when she saw me. “Lyra, what a surprise!”
“I have a favor to ask. It concerns Prince Thomas.”
Her lips twitched. “Oh?”
“I… I have a letter for him.”
She pursed her lips. “And what prompted such familiarity with a prince?”
I opened my mouth, unsure of where to begin.
“Ordinarily, the answer would be an immediate no. However,” she said, rifling through an oak cabinet in the corner, “these seem to indicate that your communication would be welcome.”
She pulled out two stacks of folded letters, each bound with twine, and placed them on her desk.
I gaped. “What are these?”
“They are letters from His Highness.”
My heart raced. “What are they doing here? How old are they?”
She twisted her mouth. “At the end of the prince’s visit home last Snowfest, the butler handed me a letter from Prince Thomas to pass on to you. You had already left by then, and I tucked it away. I’d planned to have Anna bring it to you on one of her monthly visits, yet my memory of the letter slipped.”
My eyes darted to the piles, which were significantly more than a single letter.
“A few weeks after, another arrived. Then another. Soon, they were coming weekly. As the pile kept rising, I felt more hesitant to ask Anna to pass them on. I was worried they were confidential, and shouldn’t leave palace grounds. I certainly didn’t trust Anna not to read them—she snoops through even my mail.”
On each letter, a light greenTentwined with vines was stamped into the wax seal, unbroken.
“And so I have waited for your return. I apologize for the intense delay. I have to say, I haven’t quite known what to make of all of this.” She gave me a serious look. “There is a more important matter, a more nuanced reason why I held these back. When my girls fall in love with the men upstairs, when they blush at their winks and style their hair in hopes of getting a second glance, the job I pay them to do goes undone. But more importantly…” she reached out, taking my hand. I stiffened. “They’re left incredibly vulnerable. Who are we to say no to princes and kings? Who are we to defy what they desire? I now realize I handled Ella poorly, and for that, I hope to one day apologize. But I didn’t want to make the same mistake with you.” Her grip on my fingers tightened. “Has he acted inappropriately with you, Lyra? Has he pressured or manipulated you into some sort of relationship, making promises he cannot keep?”
I was stunned. Here was Mrs. Calloway, the woman who had helped ruin my best friend’s life. Suddenly, sympathy filled me for the tension, the ethical quandaries, she’d been forced to face these past few years.
“Nothing of the sort,” I said. “We are…werejust friends. And he’s always been a gentleman.”
Her eyes narrowed, then darted to the letters piled up, tied with twine. “Be careful,” she warned, handing them over. “And know that you—or Ella—can always come to me if it ever leans otherwise. I care little for spoiled princes and their whims.”
I smiled, knowing I’d once shared her opinion wholeheartedly. “Thank you, Mrs. Calloway.”
She harrumphed with a nod. “Now scatter. I have need of the office.”
“Yes ma’am,” I said with a smothered grin, taking piles of lettersin my arms and drifting toward a dim corner to read them.
