Page 52 of The Masked Princess

That afternoon, after the procession through Rea, Soren had checked on her as she got settled in her chambers. His manner had been overly formal and stiff, and she doubted it was only because of the Rhinnean guard shadowing him wherever he went. He’d stayed for just long enough to ensure she was safe and inform her that he’d cleared a plan with General Anar; they would be assigning a hybrid mix of Dovean and Rhinnean guards to her chambers starting the next morning to ensure her safety in the days leading up to her wedding.

He’d been the utmost professional with her, bordering on dry, and had declined to step foot into her rooms before excusing himself on the grounds of returning to the barracks to make sure his men were playing nicely with their Rhinnean babysitters.

A pang of jealousy stabbed Annalise in the heart as she watched him dance. She’d never questioned his constancy, but the Soren from the night before, when he’d all but sworn his undying love for her, compared to the one dancing with the women of the Rhinnean court without a care in the world, gave her quite the emotional whiplash.

She took a measured sip of her wine and turned her attention away from Soren to her betrothed. She told herself it was good that Soren was moving on, and his example was something she should follow. Her life, for better or worse, was to be entwined with King Nelan’s, and she would not dishonor herself by lingering on what might have been.

As King Nelan explained to her between introductions and well-wishers, there were more nobles than usual at the Rhinnean court. The court’s social season ran over the course of winter and early spring, the highlight of which was traditionally the spring equinox celebration. As such, almost the entire Rhinnean nobility lived either at the castle or their own personal houses in Rea. Any latecomers who wouldn’t normally be in the capital for the social season would soon make the journey in order to meet the new future queen consort, as well as to prepare for the wedding.

Annalise had always thought herself good with names and faces, but after an hour of near-constant introductions, she felt the cheer in her voice start to slip and the corners of her eyes hurt from her forced smiles.

After the last minor lord and lady made their bow and curtsy, Annalise sighed loud enough that King Nelan heard her over the din of the dining room.

“How are you feeling, my princess? Don’t try to disassemble; I know all too well how draining these things can be,” he said, leaning uncomfortably close.

Annalise shifted in her seat to give herself more space. “Honestly, Your Majesty, I am fatigued. My journey here has been long and fraught with peril, and even with a rest this afternoon, I fear I am feeling rather… stretched.”

“I see.” King Nelan stroked his clean-shaven jaw. “Well, if it helps, you’ve been quite impressive to weather such a marathon. You were even able to get old Lord Cuppents to smile, which is a feat on par with slaying a dragon.”

“You flatter me, Your Majesty,” she replied demurely.

His dark gaze pinned her in place. “I fear this is the second time my envoy has misinterpreted your various charms to me. Not only are you as beautiful as a frozen mountain lake on a clear winter’s day, your tact and statesmanship are far beyond what I could have ever dreamed. I hope it doesn’t offend you to hear this, but Ambassador Selveg represented you as akin to a plain wooden cup, when in reality you are a delicate silver goblet decorated with the finest of jewels.”

“The Rhinnean delegation didn’t have much time in Dovea, and what little they heard of the rumors in my father’s court probably colored their view of me.” Annalise paused to take another sip of wine before continuing, but then remembered what Nelan had said earlier in the day about punishment for misrepresenting her. “Please, King Nelan, don’t punish them on my account. I don’t wish to be the cause of any trouble or misfortune.”

“You are as sweet as a bowl of spun sugar.” Nelan cut a bite of fruit tart from the display set in front of them and chewed on it thoughtfully. After he swallowed, he shook his head. “But that is a request I cannot accept, as any impugnment of your honor is a mark against mine.” The King raised a hand, and immediately one of his servants was hovering over his shoulder. “Bring me Ambassador Selveg, who led the contingent to Dovea.”

With a deep bow, the servant scurried off, and Annalise tried not to let her discomfort show.

All too soon, the ambassador was escorted into the Great Hall. The dancers on the floor made room for him and the guards who brought him in. His appearance was abysmal. Annalise couldn’t stifle a gasp at his bloodied and swollen face, or at his shirt, which hung in shreds around him.

“Ambassador Selveg, do you know why I’ve brought you here?” King Nelan asked, leaning forward in his chair and placing his elbows on the table.

“No, Your Majesty,” Selveg replied through bleeding lips. Compared to the last time Annalise had seen him, he was missing several teeth.

“You committed the travesty of misrepresenting my future bride to me. You said she hid her homely features behind a mask, that she was no different from any other princess I could wed. Gaze upon her now and tell me that you don’t see a beauty to rival the stars in the winter night sky. Tell me that you don’t recognize her noble bearing, or the cultured way in which she moves. Tell the entire court that when you look into her eyes, you don’t observe a soft, feminine spirit and an intelligence that would stand tall next to that of our greatest scholars.”

Ambassador Selveg hung his head. “My sincerest apologies, Your Majesty and Your Highness. It was not my intention to misrepresent Princess Annalise; I only sought to temper your expectations for fear that if I spoke too highly of her, you would feel displeased and accuse me of deceiving you.”

“You think you know my mind? You assume I can be managed?” King Nelan slammed his palm on the table.

Several of the courtiers jumped, but Annalise was not one of them. She sipped her drink to give her hands something to do and keep them from trembling.

Ambassador Selveg’s eyes went wide, and he jerked up his head. “No, Your Majesty, I would never⁠—”

“And now you have lied to me once more. Do not think that it escaped my notice that you refused to look at the princess just now either. For your impertinence several times over, I decree that your punishment is to have both of your eyes plucked out. If you cannot see the value of the woman sitting in front of you, you do not deserve to see at all.”

Annalise set her cup down. She knew that speaking up was a risk, especially if he had a temper, but she couldn’t let Ambassador Selveg suffer for such a vain reason if she could help it. “Your Majesty, please spare this man. He didn’t have the chance to speak with me because of my father’s overprotection, and to my knowledge, he served you well while in Dovea. Please, I beg of you, do not punish one of your loyal servants.”

King Nelan paused, his hand raised in the air as if he were in the middle of conducting a symphony. His cold and calculating expression made Annalise feel as though she was staring into the eyes of a snake.

“If that is your wish, my dear, then I suppose I can make an exception,” he said finally before turning his gaze back to the room. “Princess Annalise has pleaded for mercy for this man. To honor the request of my betrothed, I’ll amend his punishment: He will only lose one eye—so that he may look upon the beauty of my bride and know that if it were not for her kind and gentle spirit, he would never see again, and his right hand—so that the next time he writes a letter, he will remember the cost of writing lies and deceiving his king.”

In Dovea, when servants of the crown were punished, it was done away from prying eyes. There were very few cases in which public examples were made; only once in Annalise’s memory had someone suffered a public punishment, and that was a case of treason in which a disgruntled cook attempted to poison her father, leading to half the court taking ill.

Apparently, things were very different in Rhinnea.

Sensing King Nelan’s eyes on her, Annalise feigned disinterest as a pair of guards grabbed Ambassador Selveg by each arm. If there was anything she’d learned in Dovea, it was that bullies thrived off fear and discomfort from others, and she refused to become a target. She feared her betrothed was as big a bully as her father, and that his cruelty was much, much worse.