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Princess Allera choked on the next sip of tea she was taking. Face flushing, she coughed violently and patted her chest with her palm, apologizing for the interruption before sending Yasmin a quick, incredulous glance.
Then she smiled my way, as if pleased by what she found in me. Leaning closer, she murmured, “Never be embarrassed by your gut instinct, my lady. In High Cliff, one’s intuition is regarded with much honor. In fact, my little brother’s won every battle he’s ever led because of his gut instinct and keen insight on matters.”
I nodded. So Prince Urban had seen war. I felt a little smug for being right about that, and less embarrassed for my own hunches.
“So, this is your first child?” Princess Allera guessed, interrupting my thoughts.
My face heated as I smiled and then bit my lip, covering my stomach again. “Is it that obvious?”
She merely laughed. “No, not at all. You just have a certain glow about you.”
“Thank you,” I murmured, not sure how to deal with so much attention. I glanced discreetly toward Yasmin, only to find her lips tightened with displeasure.
Time to direct the attention away from me.
Clearing my throat, I turned back to the princess. “I want you to know, I
absolutely adore the prince. I just know he’ll make a wonderful husband.”
Pulling back in surprise, Allera blinked at me from parted lips, her expression startled before she croaked, “You… Wait. You adore my brother? I wasn’t aware you two had spoken already.”
My pulse jumped at the question. For a moment, I wondered if her own intuition was so strong it had realized how attracted I’d been to him the night before. Heat covered me like a rash, and I could only gape at her a moment before it struck me that she’d merely misunderstood my meaning.
“I… No…” With a small laugh, I pressed my hand to my brow, and said, “No. I’m so sorry. I meant the prince here, at Donnelly. Prince Brentley. I’m sure he’ll make a good husband to you.” As her shoulders fell and her mouth snapped shut, I let out another laugh. “Please excuse me,” I went on. “I’m not used to there being more than one prince in the castle.”
“No worries. It’s quite alright,” she murmured almost numbly before blinking and giving a sudden smile. “And thank you for the reassurance…about Prince Brentley. I had a suspicion he was a good man. But your word helps ease my mind even more so.”
I nodded, understanding. “The night Yasmin and I became betrothed to our husbands was the same night we met them as well. I just remember how nervous and afraid I was all day, leading up to the introduction. I wondered if maybe you might’ve felt the same—”
“I did,” Princess Allera told me with a grateful smile. “Thank you so much for your perception and understanding, my lady. I almost made myself sick with worry the entire trip here. It’s reassuring to know someone understands.”
“It’s maddening, isn’t it?” I asked, grinning over our similar experience. “Not knowing what you’re going to get but expected to be happy with it for the rest of your life.”
“Indeed. It is.”
Sitting back in my chair, I set my hand over my stomach and sighed. “Thank goodness all three of us ended up with pleasant enough outcomes.”
The princess’s eyes glittered as she watched me. After a moment, she finally nodded her agreement. “Most definitely. Pleasant enough.”
I swear I saw tears glistening in her eyes before she cleared her throat and glanced down at her hands clasped in her lap. I wondered if she was remembering her marriage to her first husband—her one true love—but then she looked up again, and the tears were gone.
“So, I had the most delicious treat for breakfast that a servant brought to my room this morning,” she stated briskly. “And I’m dying to know what it was called. It had to be some kind of fruit, for it was dark blue like a blueberry but sized and shaped like a pear, yet it tasted like a melon, even though I had to peel it like an orange.”
“Oh, you must mean a grumpacker,” I said before groaning in delight and clutching my chest over the mere mention of the fruit. “They’re my absolute favorite food ever.”
“Truly?” she asked with a curious smile. “And they’re called grumpackers? How interesting. We don’t have them in High Cliff.”
I gasped. “You don’t? That’s so tragic. I think I could survive on sweet grumpackers alone.”
“She’s not lying,” Yasmin added with a groan and roll of her eyes. “When we were young, she’d eat so many of them Father was forced to ban them from our home entirely so she wouldn’t get fat.”
Princess Allera’s smile faltered. She glanced from Yasmin to me as if worried about such treatment happening to her.
But I waved a hand past that and kept grinning. “Never fear, Princess. King Caulder doesn’t have such restrictions here, otherwise I’d probably sneak from the castle weekly like I did from home to get my fix.”
A smile returned to the princess’s face. “A girl after my own heart,” she murmured in approval before leaning toward me. “Don’t worry, my lady. From here on out, I’ll join you in grumpacker gorging. That way, we can grow fat and happy together.”
That’s when I decided I rather liked the princess of High Cliff. Grinning at her, I nodded my approval. “It’s a deal.”
