“What was the family like—the ones who raised you, I mean?”
Elara tears her gaze from the curtains. “Is this an inquisition?”
“What? No, of course not.”
“Then I don’t feel we need to talk. Let’s just get to the castle.”
“Okay . . . but I shall spend my life here in Kyrenica. I don’t imagine I will return to Galandria that often, maybe ever. And you will only be in Korynth until the masquerade.”
She stares back at me, not comprehending. “And?”
“Well, we only have a short amount of time together and . . . I mean, don’t you want to get to know each other?”
Her eyes are hooded. “What I want has never mattered.”
“I understand that, Elara. I really do. However differently we have been raised, I do understand that, at least. You cannot know what it was like, being forced to wear the mask.”
“Forced?” A sardonic smile twists at her lips. “So they held you down and strapped the mask to your face every day, is that it?”
“Well, no,” I say, frowning, “But—”
“Did they starve you? Threaten to throw you in the dungeon? Lock you in your chambers?”
“No, of course not. But there were so many rumors. Of my ugliness. Of a curse. Even some people in the palace believed them.”
“Some people are idiots,” she snaps. “So what? You’re not blind, and you own a mirror. Obviously you must have known there was nothing wrong with your face.”
I am speechless. Her life may have been harsher, yet for all her smugness she cannot know what it was like, to endure the constant rumors.
“You are the daughter of the king,” Elara continues, her eyes now intent on mine. “And the sister of the crown prince. You could have refused to wear the mask.”
“It is not that simple,” I insist. “Our family—”
“I don’t have a family,” she snaps. “Or a name,” she adds softly.
“What?” I lean forward. Then a thought occurs to me. “Who named you Elara? Did our parents—”
“I’m tired,” she interrupts. “I want to be alone. Tell the driver to stop so you can find another carriage.”
“But Lord Quinlan said we were to travel together until we reached the castle. The guards were given orders.”
“Lord Quinlan is a pompous fool,” Elara says. She turns away and shouts, “Driver, stop the carriage!”
The carriage slows, but doesn’t stop.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” comes the driver’s voice. “But Lord Quinlan said—”
“I don’t care what Lord Quinlan said,” she interrupts. “I am Princess Wilhamina Andewyn, Daughter of King Fenn-rick the Handsome. And for your sake you had better stop this carriage, before I take off my mask and look upon the one who dares to defy me!”
The carriage stops so fast I am thrown backward, and I stare in wonder at Elara.
“That was amazing,” I say. “I have never spoken like that to anyone in my life.”
She gives me a withering look “Maybe if you had, your father wouldn’t have tossed you out of the kingdom.”
My hands tremble as I hastily tie on my mask. When I step outside, a guard appears to assist me. “Please take me to another carriage. We should like to travel separately.”
Confusion marks the guard’s face and I can guess what he is thinking. Is the girl he’s looking at the decoy, or the princess?
“Find another place for her,” Elara calls. The guard mumbles his assent, and when he turns back to me, the confusion is gone.
It is clear he has decided I am the decoy, while the voice inside the carriage can only belong to royalty.
CHAPTER 25
ELARA
I am being unkind to Wilha. Cruel, even. But I can’t look at her, at the girl who was given everything. I know the best I can do, before I say something truly unforgiveable, is to get away from her.
After she’s gone and the carriage has started up again, I settle back into the plush cushions. My nerves are brittle and need only a spark to light them. For the last two weeks as we’ve traveled, the guards halted every time they heard so much as the snap of a twig and seemed to ready themselves, as if preparing for an attack.
But did they grip their swords just a little more carelessly? Did they ask themselves that, since I am not the Masked Princess, but merely a decoy, if I was worth risking their lives for? And if so, during those moments when they kept watch in the forest, did it occur to them that they could just run away?
Aislinn Andewyn will forever be known as the Great Betrayer. For the first time, I find myself sympathizing with her. What would it be like to grow up in the shadow of your older twin? To be treated all your life as a second copy, when one was all that was ever wanted or needed?
I reach under my seat and find my satchel. I open it and pull out some of the items I’ve stolen. Several nights after the guards have fallen asleep I’ve rifled through Wilha’s trunks. I have carefully selected the smallest items I could find that won’t be missed. Opal earrings, a tiny opal ring, several worthings from a bag intended to purchase foodstuffs in case the guards were unable to hunt up enough food.
I have decided I won’t stay in Korynth until Lord Murcendor, Lord Quinlan, and Lord Royce arrive. Despite their promises of a new life in Allegria, I don’t trust them. Once I have done their bidding, what is to prevent them from disposing of me on the road back to Galandria? A quiet death, for someone they suspect is a threat to the monarchy.
Even if their offer is genuine, why would I want to return to Allegria, where I’ll always be under their watchful eyes? And really, will Galandria ever be safe for me? Lord Finley may have been caught, but are there others who know of my existence? Others searching for the lost Andewyn daughter? Men who are eager to place me on the throne, beholden to their cause? What would they do if they found me?
I don’t intend to find out. Once we reach the Kyrenican Castle, Wilha is on her own.
CHAPTER 26
WILHA
When the carriage comes to a halt before a stone manor that is set into a hill, I call out to the driver. “Why are we stopping?”
“We’re here,” comes his muffled reply.
“Here, where?”
“The Kyrenican Castle.”
A guard wearing a breastplate bearing the Strassburg coat of arms waves us through a wrought-iron gate. I study the manor as our procession crosses a small courtyard. It is made of gray stone and is smaller than the estates of Allegrian nobility. This is where the Kyrenican royal family lives?
“Now what?” I hear one guard ask another. “Do we bang on the door until they let us in?”
But it doesn’t take long before a flustered servant emerges from the castle and inquires who we are. His cheeks redden when Garwyn answers.
“We were not expecting you for another three weeks. The king and queen will be so angry to not have been here to receive you. They are attending an engagement in the city. The crown prince is not even in residence.”
“Then perhaps you should send a messenger to tell the king and queen of our arrival,” Garwyn replies. “In the meantime, I am sure they wouldn’t like to hear you have made the Masked Princess wait outside their door.”
Garwyn’s words snap him into action. He hurries over to Elara’s carriage and bows to her. Garwyn extends his hand and she emerges.
“The princess needs to rest from her journey. Could you show her to her chambers while my men see to the horses?”