Page 23 of A Heart Too Tender

“Your Highness?” Charles’ bushy eyebrows raised high.

“I have a theory to test. Remove it for this afternoon and then replace it before she retires this evening.”

Charles begrudgingly nodded and left the gardens.

As soon as Gisela had proceeded up the flagstone steps and back onto the patio to the finish line, she slipped her blindfold off and gave Colette a malicious smile.

Colette fled straight for the double doors, but that didn’t stop Elizabeth from cornering her before she could make her hasty retreat.

“Making friends with the Governor won’t win you any trials,” she hissed. Gisela appeared on her other side and together they faced Colette.

“I’m not friends with him to win,” Colette replied with obvious irritation.

My stance behind a particularly large flowering vase kept me entirely hidden. Not that Elizabeth or Gisela would even notice if I was standing right beside them. But I knew Colette would.

“How can you even stand being so close to him?” Gisela asked, her nasally voice marking her as the speaker.

“If you’re referring to his scars—how dare you,” Colette replied with more menace and backbone than I had heard from her before. “But if you’re referring to his position at court then I would advise you to correct your oversight at once. Being a Princess of Wimberley will dictate your time spent with citizens of various backgrounds and ranks.”

I could imagine her fiery expression in my mind and it made my pulse race.

One of the two instigators snorted before Elizabeth spoke. “If you think you have a chance of being Princess of Wimberley, you’re just as stupid as I have heard the folk of Silver Hill to be.”

“My selection in the trials is just as valid as yours,” Colette replied simply. “And do not ever speak poorly of Julian around me again.”

I watched as she strode up through the path and the patio before entering the palace. Gisela and Elizabeth began speaking in grating, agitated tones. With their arms still locked, they meandered back through the hedge, no doubt to think up even more ghastly things to say to Colette.

I jogged into the palace and then followed behind her at a leisurely pace, keeping well out of her sight. With the closing of her bedroom door, I heard her throw herself onto her bed and sob. It made my heart ache to know she was under so much duress, so I flagged down Maude and sent her in there to check on her.

I waited patiently in the hallway, for what felt like hours, watching the light slant in from the window of the hall. Then I resorted to pacing before Maude finally slipped out with a finger pressed to her lips.

“She’s finally sleeping, poor girl,” she said, well out of earshot of the sleeping princess inside.

“Good,” I breathed.

I had known Maude all my life, but she didn’t know it was me under the guise of the witch’s spell. It was a strange feeling, knowing someone and them not knowing you.

Maude twisted her hands in her apron. “She said she failed the trials … ”

I nodded, perplexed at Maude’s unusual demeanor. The Maude I knew had no trouble speaking clearly about whatever she was feeling.

“Is there anything you can do? She’s such a kind girl. I know Aug—Prince August would just love her. You can put a note in there that Maude said so. He would know who you’re talking about.”

I bit my cheek to keep from smiling. “Unfortunately, I cannot. But I wouldn’t fret. There’s still two more trials.”

Maude sighed, her thin shoulders rising and falling.

“I’ll just have to prepare her better for those,” she dropped into a curtsy. “Thank you, Governor.”

I hoped she felt better about her performance on those trials, but it didn’t matter one bit of fairy dust to me—so long as she kept failing to sleep.