Chapter 3
Isabella woke with a roaring headache and bleary eyes. She had cried herself to sleep the night before, although she wasn't entirely sure why. The previous day had tried her feelings sorely.
Her maid Marin was upon her immediately. "Come, princess, up you get! Today's promisin' ta be a fine, lovely day."
"I have a horrid headache, Marin. Could you please get me some tea?" Isabella asked.
"Of course, my lady."
After the girl had gone, Isabella rose and washed her face. The cool water on her eyelids made them feel a little better, but she still felt groggy. When her maid returned, she was out on the balcony, catching a breath of fresh air and ignoring the pouring rain.
"My lady! You mustn't be out in this weather! You'll catch your death of cold!" Marin exclaimed, dragging Isabella inside. The early fall rainstorm had soaked Isabella to the skin.
"Come, milady, let's give you a warm bath, shall we?" Marin asked kindly. She had never seen Isabella act like this. She drew a bath for the princess, then left her to soak in the cooling water.
Isabella lay in the tub for a long time, thinking. Was she this upset because her parents wouldn't let her marry Gavin, or because she couldn't marry Teren? It couldn't be the latter; she didn't love Teren and didn't want to marry him anyway. It must be the former. But why was Teren in her head at all?
After she had been dried and dressed for the day, Isabella took her embroidery and made her way to her usual spot, so she could watch Gavin practice and put Teren out of her mind. But no sooner had she left her chambers than she ran into Edouard, her younger brother.
"Isabella!" he saluted her. "I was just on my way to find you. Let's do something fun today!"
"Edouard, why aren't you training? Your swordmaster will not be pleased that you're here," Isabella scolded.
"He gave us the day off. Well, not really. Because it's raining we have to clean armor," Edouard explained with a noise of disgust. "But I had Henrick do mine. I'd much rather look for secret passageways with you."
Isabella sighed. When she and Edouard had been quite young, they had spent inordinate amounts of time searching for the secret passageways they just knew riddled the castle. They had spent hours in the dusty corners of the palace halls, lifting tapestries, rapping walls, and rattling doors. Teren had played too, Isabella remembered vaguely.
"Well, I suppose I have nothing better to do," she conceded. "Let me put away my embroidery."
She let her brother lead her through the halls to the north wing, the guest hall. There, they met Teren.
"What are you doing here?" Isabella asked irritably. Her time with Edouard was meant to take her mind off her problems.
"I'm here to help you find secret passageways. Just like old times," he said with a smile. "Trust me," he whispered, leaning down to her ear, "we won't talk business at all."
She couldn't help but smile at his grin. He was so like the Teren she had once known, but at the same time so different.
"Does anyone remember where we've already looked?" Edouard asked.
Teren and Isabella shook their heads. It had been a long time since they'd played this game. In fact, Isabella realized, the game had stopped when Teren had gone off to sea.
"We'll just start at the end of this hallway and work our way down," Teren said, and raced off to begin knocking on walls.
"I'll take the Mauve Room!" Edouard called over his shoulder as he ran after Teren.
Isabella walked, ladylike, to the end of the hall where Teren was already pounding walls and lifting tapestries. "I'll take this side of the hall," she said, and began her own knocking.
After a few moments, Teren spoke. "I missed you, Isabella."
"I missed you too. You left so suddenly."
"I know. My father wanted me to go."
"Was it frightening?"
"Was what frightening?"
"The ocean. It scares me just looking at it. It's so wild, and so dangerous. Weren't you ever scared?" Isabella shuddered a bit involuntarily. She had once seen a ship driven into the rocks beneath the castle and had never forgotten.
"Whenever I was frightened, I just thought of you, and how brave you always are," Teren replied, not looking at her.
Isabella stayed silent. She didn't know how to respond.
"Are you sure you don't-" Teren began.
"You promised," Isabella reminded him coldly.
"I'm sorry," he apologized hastily.
She didn't reply. She tapped louder on the wall before her.
"I'm sorry about yesterday, Isabella. I suppose I should have given you some warning," he said after a while.
"You could have told me you were back."
"I wanted to surprise you."
"Well, I was surprised."
"I found one!" Edouard called from inside the guest room.
Teren and Isabella turned and smiled at one another, their differences momentarily forgotten. Then they dashed into the Mauve Room, Isabella dropping all semblance of manners, to see what Edouard had found.
"Look," he said unnecessarily, pointing to a black hole in the wall before him. "I just tapped this wooden panel, and it opened."
"Should we go in?" Isabella asked nervously. To think, after all this time, their plan had succeeded!
"We'll need a light. Grab that candle," Edouard said eagerly.
Isabella did as instructed. "But how will we light it?" she asked. "None of us have any matches."
"No worries," Teren said, producing a matchbook from within his tunic.
"Why do you have a matchbook?" Isabella asked curiously.
"Tobacco."
"You smoke that stuff?"
Teren looked at her. "Every sailor does. Why, is there something wrong with it?"
"It's noxious," Isabella said, "and it's quite rude to smoke in decent society."
"Well, you shouldn't count then," he replied with a wicked grin.
"Are we going in, or what?" Edouard asked impatiently.
The two turned their attention to the matter at hand. Teren, as the tallest, held the candle high as the other two entered, Edouard at the front and Isabella taking the rear.
"It's not very exciting," Isabella said after a while.
"We don't even know where it goes yet!" Eduoard protested. "Who knows what it's for?"
Something skittered over Isabella's foot. She screamed and clutched tight to Teren.
"What's wrong?" he asked, sounding panicked.
"Something ran over my foot. I apologize." Isabella was glad for the dim candlelight. Teren couldn't see her blush.
The three continued to wander for what seemed like hours. The tunnel twisted and dipped and rose again, but never seemed to come to an end.
"Let's go back," Isabella said finally. "This tunnel leads nowhere."
"No, I feel a draft," Teren said. "We're nearing the end."
They came out of a hole, overgrown with weeds, that even Isabella had to stoop to get through. They were decidedly outdoors, although exactly where she couldn't initially tell.
"Well, it's stopped raining," she said.
"We're outside the castle wall!" Edouard exclaimed excitedly. "We walked all the way out here! Just imagine, if it hadn't rained today, we never would have found this!"
"We did finally find one," Teren agreed, "and it's a good one."
"Well," Isabella said, "why don't we go in through the gate instead? I'd rather not take that tunnel again."
Teren stared into the fire, thinking. Only yesterday he had struggled to reconcile the Isabella of dinner with the Isabella he had known in his youth. Now he tried to reconcile the Isabella of today with the Isabella of yesterday.
How could she treat him so coldly one day, and so kindly the next? Had she realized she loved him? Then why wouldn't she talk to him about it?
His feelings for her had not changed. At twelve he had noticed something between them, but in the interim years without her, he had chalked it up to a childhood crush. Only in recent months, as his impending return had drawn his thoughts to her, had he realized it might be more. After seeing her yesterday, he had assumed she didn't feel the same way. But today, she had acted like she had in old times.
Had the old king been right? Should he keep hope?
He rang for a bottle of liquor. He would need it to keep his thoughts away from her.
Isabella contrived to run into Gavin as he left dinner that evening.
"Gavin!" she exclaimed. "What a surprise!"
He flashed that grin at her, and every thought went out of her head. He was just so handsome! "Good evening, Princess," he said, bowing low. His eyes met hers as he rose.
"Please," she said casually, "call me Isabella."
"Isabella, then. How coincidental that I should run into you now, as I have been thinking all day about you."
She couldn't help it. She blushed. "How coincidental that you should have been thinking of me, when I was thinking of you."
"I am flattered, Isabella."
"I never got a chance to congratulate you on winning the tournament. You fought quite well, and I was most impressed."
"I did it all for you, Isabella."
Gavin reached for her hand and kissed it. A thrill ran through her body.
"Please, such attention is most forward," she protested coquettishly.
"I am ready to be forward, Isabella," Gavin said, and he kissed her softly on the lips.
She stiffened at first, then relaxed and kissed him back. It felt so good to kiss him! He did love her!
He pulled away first. "I must tell you something, Isabella. I love you, and I have since I first set eyes on you. I thought the best way to show it was the tournament, but I haven't spoken to you since."
"Oh, Gavin!" Isabella sighed. "I feel exactly the same way." She kissed him again.
"Shall I court you, then?" Gavin asked between kisses.
"Oh, please do!"
"Of course I will. I'll go right now!" And with only a swift kiss on the cheek, Isabella was left alone in the hallway, glowing with joy.
When Marin awoke Isabella the next morning, she gave the princess no such leisure time as she had had the day before.
"Your parents and the king wish an audience with you, and you mustn't be late," she said.
Isabella leapt out of bed. An audience! Surely that meant Gavin had talked to them, and they wanted to tell her yes; yes, she could marry him! She gulped down her breakfast and urged Marin to such haste in dressing her that a button came off the back of her dress.
"Now look what ye've gone an' made me do! Now we'll have ta wait for a seamstress ta sew your button back on!" the maid scolded.
"Oh, please, no, Marin! It's very important that I go now! Please, let's just leave it! No one will notice!"
"It's not your head what's on the line, milady. But, seein' as it's so important to ya…"
The woman trailed off, and Isabella rushed out of the room, running her fingers through her loose hair as she ran.
"You're not marrying this man," Frederich said sternly.
Isabella was shocked. "But Father, I love him! And he loves me! And he's a noble knight!"
"It doesn't matter, Isabella. You're to marry Teren Thundergrad, and that's final."
She cast a glance at Gavin, tears in her eyes. He wouldn't look at her.
"How could you do this? How could you?" she cried, and ran out of the room without waiting for an answer.
Well, well, well. I actually cannot think of much to say that is particularly productive, and so for now I shan't.
Thanks to my lovely beta, InChrist-Billios for helping make this chapter make sense!
Now I think y'all should know what to do!
!--Mazzie--!