-THE PRINCESS POV-
Lianna had brought her up to her room after they left the circus. They had gotten there just in time for dinner—which Anabel wasn't really too eager for. They were dining with the ambassadors today which meant talk of Anabel's future.
"If there's nothing else you need Princess," the girl gave her a short curtsy before making motion to leave. Anabel wished she'd actually call her by her name but the girl seemed to ignore her every time she requested it.
"I need to give you your dress back." Anabel replied and the girl just raised her eyebrows. She seemed to do that a lot, raise her eyebrows.
Everything Anabel said the girl would just give her a look before giving a distant and calm answer. How was a girl like this such close friends with a complete goof like her brother. It made no sense.
"I can come pick it up later your highness, you'll be late for your dinner if you don't get ready soon." Anabel nodded not having any argument. She couldn't really think of anything to make the girl stay.
That had been her problem the past year. Finding an excuse to talk to her. It had started out as a mere curiousity—the girl was strange. She walked around dressed in men's clothing and she was incredibly adept at fighting.
Most of the knights, she had seen from the courtyard, seemed to stay away from her while sparring. And she could almost always best her brother—even if most of her opponents were double her size.
Her brother talked about her a lot—especially when it came to his stories of adventure. She had fought off an entire gang of thieves once when they had gotten trapped on the wrong parts of the town—and she had gotten away without a scratch.
Her curiosity had grown but she had always been afraid to approach the girl. Whenever she tried she would get short polite answers.
That was half her reason for going down to town—of course she had wanted to see the girl her brother was so infatuated with but also she had wanted to see what Lianna was like.
The girl hadn't made it very easy to talk to—and now Anabel sat on her bed, already dressed in her dinner gown.
She had completely embarrassed herself, from getting yelled at by the vendors to making Lianna have to save her from the market guards. She had even screamed when she saw the rat.
She felt horrible, but at the same time she felt lighter. Having spent the entire day with her.
A year later and her crush on her brother's best friend hadn't subsided. Having followed her around for the day—it had only increased her feelings.
She was very beautiful—it was something Anabel had first noticed ten years ago when her brother had introduced them.
She had a tanned face from spending so much of her time outdoors and even under the grime she always seemed to wipe all over her face Anabel could see her freckles. They were light, only a few shades darker than her skin and her large brown eyes were kinder than the rest of her face. She had high cheekbones and a firm mouth that was always set in a serious line. Except sometimes—rarely when Anabel saw her smiling.
Lucien said Lianna smiled a lot—but all the instances when Anabel saw her, mostly while serving dinner, she looked serious. Sometimes even angry.
She saw more of the smiling today than any other time before—but even then it was later on in the day.
Lianna's dress lay folded on her dresser table and Anabel got up, putting the dress over one arm. She was the Princess, if she wanted something then she would have to go do it herself. Lucien had told her that when she'd asked him for advice—of course she hadn't told anyone who it was that she was so confused over.
She would go—she would go down and find the girl herself, then she would return the dress and actually make conversation with her. Otherwise she would be thinking the day over and over again all night.
"I'm not joking Janie, I'm not covering for you again. You know I hate serving." Lianne growled at the maid that was now sitting on her bed.
"Please, Lianna, I'll work your next lunch shifts for a week!"
She shook her head. "I've covered for you for the past two weeks. What do you even do at night?"
The girl sighed. "Fine, I'll just ask Marta instead."
Lianna raised her eyebrows. "You ask Marta to cover for you and the whole castle will be talking about it until next year."
"That's why I asked you first!" the maid called Janie exclaimed. "And you know I cover when you leave for afternoons sometimes."
Lianna glared. "I finish all of my work before leaving."
"Oh please Li, you work in the castle you can't be done with chores."
Lianna sighed. "I can't keep covering for you—you know what will happen if they find out you're never here at nights. Nights Janie."
"I ask you because you don't ask questions Lianna. Please." The girl was practically begging.
"I don't usually ask questions—but I'd like to know you're safe." The girl just shrugged.
"Just tell me if you'll do it or not."
"I can do it." She signed knowing Janie wasn't just slacking over her job. "But you know I won't judge you for your choices. I'm your friend Janie."
The girl nodded. "I'm fine Li, I'll do your afternoon shifts."
She nodded—watching as the girl packed a small purse with a piece of bread and a jar of what looked like soup.
She had put on her dinner uniform even though there was still a half hour before it began. Thankfully she didn't have to also do the set-up.
She was sure dinner would end early today, it was a meeting with the ambassadors and those meetings were always terribly awkward. She would be able to make it to the circus if she rushed.
She even had her pants on underneath the gown in case she was asked to clean up.
"Thank you so much Li!" Her friend called out before running out of their quarters.
Lianna shared her room with two other girls. Janie was one of them and the other girl was Marta.
Many of the workers in the castle lived in the village—but there were some such as herself and the cook, along with Marta and Janie who lived in the castle.
Janie had been sent from across the country by her aunt and uncle who couldn't afford to feed her themselves. They were hoping she would be promoted to a Lady's made or something similar.
Marta was an orphan like Janie, only the Queen had taken pity to her when she had visited one of the orphanages in town and adopted the girl. Marta had been eight, when her parents had died of the plague she still remembered them.
Lianna was braiding her hair into two braids, when she heard a knock at the door. Janie had shut the door when she'd left and Lianna wondered if she should bother getting up to open it.
Maybe if she pretended she wasn't there. It was probably one of the other maids looking for Marta or Janie—usually Marta. There was always someone looking for Marta.
It usually took her hours to braid her hair properly—especially since she had let it grow out so long. Usually she had it down to her shoulders but recently she hadn't had the time to cut it and so it hung down to her hips.
She had bunned it up into a hat when she'd gone out today but if she didn't braid it out of the way now she wouldn't have time to do it later at the circus.
Whoever was at the door didn't seem to get that there was nobody inside as they knocked again—even louder this time.
"The door's not locked!" She yelled out—undoing her braid.
"S-sorry." She turned around to see the princess standing at the door frame holding a folded clothing on one hand.
She had her dinner gown on already and her blonde hair was let down in long loose waves.
She was biting her lips as if terribly nervous and she looked hesitant to come in.
"What are you doing here your highness?" She asked getting up to take the clothes from her arm. It was odd that she would come down herself to return her clothes.
"Oh… well I wasn't busy so I supposed that I could just come down and return your clothes to you."
"Oh…" Lianna answered taking the dress and placing it in her closet. It had a few stains on the skirt but it didn't really require washing.
"Thank you your highness," she gave a short curtsy. "Is there anything you'd like… or…?"
"Oh… me?" The Princess seemed extremely fidgety and Lianna ran her hand through her hair awkwardly.
"N-no… I guess not. That was all."
"Thank you your highness." She waited for the girl to leave but she just fidgeted by the door.
"Um… thank you for today too… it was really nice—the circus and the lion and stuff."
Why was the girl dragging out a conversation? Lianna wondered, beginning to braid her hair again—maybe she would get te message if she started doing something. Thirty minutes until she had to get to dinner and it took her much longer to be able to do a proper braid. She needed her hair out of her face.
The Princess just stood there for what actually seemed like an eternity—it was probably a minute—before she opened her mouth to stutter again.
"D-do you n-need help? Braiding your hair… I mean…?" The princess asked. Lianna raised her eyebrows.
"Can you do it well?" She asked. Her tone coming out incredibly informal.
The Princess nodded. "Yes, I've seen how you usually do it. I can do it in two minutes."
Lianna nodded. "If you want to your highness."
The Princess followed her to the chair in her dresser where Lianna sat down as the Princess started tugging on her hair.
"Are you going back to the circus tonight?" The Princess asked as the quickly finished her braid on one side of her hair.
"Yes, I'm doing the Lion show tonight." She answered.
"Oh! Really?" The princess said excitedly. "It's so amazing that you can get the lion to do those tricks."
Lianna smiled. "So you actually liked the circus today?"
"Yes, of course. The whole trip was fun."
"Even the part where we had to run away from the guards?" Lianna laughed asking. She had honestly enjoyed it—annoying the market guards was one of her favourite hobbies although she doubted the princess would share that.
"It was scary—but I think I enjoyed that better than staying in the castle practicing my embroidery." The Princess replied, her tone was light and Lianna could detect a slight tone of distaste at the mention of practicing her embroidery.
"Would you like to go again tonight your highness?" Lianna found herself offering before she even realized it. She could feel the Princess stop midway through her braid.
"Tonight? Really?" She asked.
"Y-you probably wouldn't want to." Lianne replied, stuttering herself for the first time. What had made her offer that?
"Oh…" was all the Princess said as she finished braiding and tied up her hair.
Lianna turned around—suddenly feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
"Could I really?" The Princess asked eagerly.
Lianna felt a relieved smile form on her face as she saw the Princess' face flush red. "Of course! You could help me set up before the show."
The Princess nodded. "I'll see you after dinner then?" She asked and Lianna nodded back.
Had she really offered to take the Princess to the circus at night?
The circus show wouldn't end until an hour before midnight—meaning that by the time the got back it would be one in the morning.
This was going to be hard to pull off.