"What are you suggesting, Mother?" the king replied, sounding tired.

"I am suggesting that the princess, the future leader of Toboso, may not have her mind fully on leading her country."

"And how do you see that in her dancing with her tutor?"

"Do you not see the way they were looking at each other? Do you not think it strange how close in age they are?"

"And yesterday afternoon," said Lady Lucinda, joining the discussion. "I saw them practically in each other's arms in the garden."

I closed my eyes. Oh, no, she had been the one in the window and had seen us in an easily misconstrued position.

"And if they end up giving in to their feelings," the queen mother continued. "Either the tutor becomes the royal consort, or she runs away with him, leaving the country without a ruler." She set forth the two options as if they were equally bad.

The king was silent for a few moments. He's not really listening to this, is he?

"I shall observe myself and if you are right about this indiscretion with her tutor, then we will have to factor it into our trade relationship."

No, no, no, this is not good. Marval is one of our main trade partners. I cannot have them doubting my commitment, especially not at this time.

I saw Julian coming with two drinks and heard King Leopold, his mother, and his aunt go quiet.

"Your drink, Your Highness," Julian said, handing me a glass.

"I think you for your pains, Mr. Cobbler," I said coolly.

Julian looked at me strangely. Even in public we were never this formal. "I apologize for how long it took," he said. "I met Mr. Lopez on the way."

"Oh, I would not want to stand in the way of your conversation with a fellow tutor," I said quickly. "Please, go back to him."

He raised an eyebrow. "Very well, Your Highness," he said, matching my cool tone and turning away.

I winced at the cold civility. I should not have invited him, having to act like I do not care is so difficult. But I'll explain everything tomorrow, I assured myself. He'll understand.

As I went to find someone else to talk to, I didn't even bother to glance back at the three who had been watching us. I knew that what I had said was cold enough, that was why it had hurt so much.

• •

I tried to avoid Julian for the rest of the evening, instead spending time with Queen Annamaria and the rest of the Marvian court. Julian would send me questioning looks that I would pretend not to see and all in all, it was not a particularly pleasant evening for me.

I tried to be pleasant for the guests and was fairly successful at that. Queen Annamaria was lovely as always, telling sweet anecdotes about her children. King Leopold was charming as ever and Prince Leo, now at ease, turned out to be very witty.

Princess Lucy and the two younger princes had of course long gone to bed and, as the evening wore on, more lords and ladies took their leave. After some time, it was only Mother and I and the main part of the Marvian royal family. Julian wasn't here anymore, although I had not noticed him leave. He had not said goodbye, though I doubted whether Lady Lucinda or the queen mother had noticed that.

"I am feeling a bit tired, my love," said Annamaria to her husband. "I think I shall retire." She turned to Mother and I. "Thank you both for a lovely evening."

"I think we shall all be going," said King Leopold. "I am sure our hosts are just as much in need of rest as we are."

Grateful for King Leopold's comment, I was soon walking down the hall to my room. As I turned the corner, I saw Julian standing outside my door. I looked around, making sure there was no one around to see and misinterpret this.

He looked up when he heard my footsteps and quickly approached me. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"No," I said quickly.

"Then what the hell is it?" he busted out, but then sighed and said quietly: "Sorry. What happened this evening?"

"I was going to tell you tomorrow," I said, sighing and glancing up and down the hallway. If Lady Lucinda or the queen mother or – worse – the king found us like this, we might as well kiss a better trade agreement goodbye. But it didn't look like Julian was leaving without an explanation. I sighed again and muttered. "Alright, fine." And, glancing up and down the hallway one last time, I opened my door and quickly pushed Julian inside.

I closed the door behind me and leaned against it. Julian stared at me. "What are you doing?"

"I avoided you this evening because Lady Lucinda saw us yesterday at the apple tree. She and the queen mother were suspicious and told King Leopold that perhaps I was not fully committed to ruling and was... distracted. If they had thought that we were... involved, then this trade talk would not go well, because of an unstable future ruler, or something like that." I said this all very quickly, avoiding Julian's gaze.

Julian was quiet for a minute. "You avoided me because the queen mother and her sister wanted to spread a rumour?"

"Yes," I said slowly, uncertain where he was going with this.

"So, first you invite me to spite her and now you let her control you?"

"I didn't realize how much control she had over her son!" I exclaimed. "I thought he had more sense than that."

Julian knew she was right. But that didn't mean it hurt less. Whether it was his pride or his feelings that had gotten hurt, he was unsure. He turned to go.

"Julian, wait." There was pain in her voice. He stopped.

"I hate it, you know," she said, and Julian turned to look at her. She didn't avoid his gaze now. "I hate how I have to act differently around you when there are others around. I hate hearing you call me Princess and Your Highness. I hate having to pretend not to care about you because I do!" She quieted. "I do care about you."

Julian wanted to kiss her. He really did.

"But the people always come first," she continued. "You know that."

He looked at her for a moment, seeing how her shoulders were squared and how she was trying to hide her quivering lower lip and blink the tears in her eyes away. "I do understand," he said, turning to go. "I'll make sure no one sees me leave."

"Thank you, Julian," Anneliese said quickly.

Julian said nothing as he quietly closed the door behind him.

I sank into my comfortable chair and kicked off my shoes. He understands what I was doing, I thought. Then why do I feel so terrible?

I sighed and shook my head. I would think about it in the morning.

°• •°

Hey everyone! I hope you liked this new chapter!

It can't be interesting without some things getting in between them, right?

Love you all!

- aclmohle