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I couldn’t deny that the entire situation gave me an uneasy, jealous feeling, but I trusted Cade, and none of this was Stralia’s fault. I had to put my personal feelings aside and be the bigger person here.
I found Maywin pacing her room frantically when I walked back inside. She almost collapsed with relief to see me. “Miss Zephyrine!” she croaked. “I-I was just about to send for someone.”
“I wasn’t gone that long, Maywin,” I chided her.
Sheepishly, my servant shrugged. “It felt like a long time. What happened?”
I sat in the single chair next to her bed, and she immediately fell to my feet, peering up at me expectantly, like a child waiting on a bedtime story.
“She’s been reassigned to work far from the King and me—in the worst part of the palace. She came to ask me if I’d help her get back to her old placement.”
Maywin frowned lightly, shaking her head. “She works in the north wing,” she replied. “It’s not so bad there.”
“It’s bad enough if she’s removed from the only life she’s ever known because of me,” I insisted. “I suspect that she and the King have always been in love and would have been together if not for me.”
“Oh, but miss, that’s not your fault,” my servant told me passionately.
“Maybe not,” I sighed. “But it doesn’t make me feel any better about keeping two souls apart who want to be together.”
“You didn’t send her to the north wing. You don’t have any reason to feel guilty,” Maywin pressed. “And it’s really not so bad there. I’ve been. It’s just a bit more work than the rest of the palace, and it’s not as used. It sounds like she just doesn’t want to work as hard.”
“Even so…” I mumbled.
“King Cade won’t be happy if he learns that Stralia went behind his back to guilt you like this,” Maywin said with uncharacteristic sharpness. My head jerked up, and my eyes narrowed.
“And who would tell him?” I challenged.
My maid lowered her chin. “Not me, of course.”
“I’m trusting you and telling you because you are my only friend in this place, Maywin. You are the only one I can speak to freely. Please, don’t abuse my confidence.”
“I would never!”
Sighing, I sank back, dropping my neck to stare up at the ceiling, my mind racing.
“I can’t marry the King if his heart belongs to another. It’s not right on any level.” It pained me to speak those words aloud, but they were true. And yet…
“What can you possibly do about it?” Maywin asked worriedly. “You are bound to this marriage, just as King Cade is.”
Her question would play over and over in my mind for the rest of the night, because I really had no answer. What else could I do but accept my fate and embark on this pretend union of misery while my husband and his true love resided under the same roof, unable to be together?
Or worse, they would be together, and I would be made a fool for it.
A dozen awful scenarios ran through my mind, clouding the euphoria that had blinded me in the aftermath of being with Cade.
“You should discuss your concerns with the King,” Maywin suggested tentatively, but I had already asked him about Stralia, and he had not told me the truth. I couldn’t raise the subject again without betraying Stralia’s trust.
“I’m going to go to bed, and maybe watch a movie to get my mind off of all of this,” I announced, standing. “Remember, not a word of this to anyone—not even Jasper, Maywin.”
My servant blushed furiously. “I would never!”
“I believe you,” I reassured her, reaching for the door handle of the adjoining room. “Good night.”
But as I let myself into my own suite, sleep was the last thing on my mind. Suddenly, I wanted to rush off into the night and run home to Carrottrove, where my life had been so much simpler. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option anymore. My parents wouldn’t take me back knowing I had broken my engagement to Cade. It would only spell disaster for the future of both our families—and Ironhelm—if I did.
I was truly stuck in a terrible predicament without escape, and for all of my magical abilities, I had no idea how to fix it.
Chapter17
