Princess without a Palace: A King Thrushbeard Fairy Tale (16 page)

He strained his ears to listen, but their
voices were a little too distant to overhear any part of their conversation.
Roderick looked around, but he couldn’t see any way to move closer. Not without
one of Prince Cornelius’s guards noticing him.

He watched the prince pick up one of the
small cups on the table and study it with apparent admiration. Roderick was
surprised he didn’t recognize the piece. At first, he wondered if Liesel had
acquired more pottery to sell, but then he realized it was indeed the same
pottery, only painted. And all of the pieces looked incredible.

Was Liesel the artist?

He was impressed, but had to wonder
where she would have acquired the paints and brushes to do such a thing.

Perhaps Maria had given them to her to
make amends for whatever she must have done a few days ago? That thought
pleased him, but he doubted it was true.

He knew Maria too well.

His attention returned to Liesel as she
presumably talked to the prince about the painted cup. After a short exchange,
Prince Cornelius passed Liesel a small bag of coins containing enough money to make
her blush.

Roderick’s eyes narrowed. What was
Prince Cornelius up to?

He studied the pair as they continued to
talk. It was obvious the prince admired the princess but Roderick couldn’t
quite tell if Liesel reciprocated his feelings.

He didn’t think she appeared smitten,
but Roderick knew he wasn’t the best judge of such things.

It didn’t take much to recognize Prince
Cornelius’s intentions though. From the way the prince was looking at her, it
was likely he had admired Liesel before she had been banished, and now that she
had softened and grown kinder during the last couple weeks, Roderick surmised
the prince would only want to pursue her even more now.

A few more words were said before the
prince offered his arm to Liesel. Roderick watched with more than a little
alarm as Liesel then began walking away with the prince down the lane. Part of
him wanted to immediately step forward to interrupt the cozy conversation, but
the more reasonable part of him urged caution. He could watch a little longer
before deciding on the best course of action.

Being careful to keep a safe distance
away from the pair, he trailed the twosome for a little while until he was
reassured that they were only heading back toward Maria’s hut. Levenstein was
in the opposite direction.

At least the prince wasn’t stealing her
away.

Not that Roderick could fault him if he
tried. After all, he doubted Prince Cornelius could find anyone better than
Liesel to marry.

“But Liesel could do better,” Roderick
whispered aloud right before the pair turned another corner and disappeared
from view.

Roderick was stunned when he realized
what he had just said. The words had slipped from his mouth without him even
meaning to say anything.

What did this mean?

Obviously, keeping his promise to her
father was not the only reason he was desperate to keep her from running away.
But beyond that …

Roderick shook his head and tried to sift
through his thoughts. When had his plans drifted from their original course?

He was unsure, but he couldn’t waste
time now trying to sort that out. Not when some foreign prince looked eager and
ready to whisk Liesel away.

Roderick turned on his heels and began
running the other direction in search of a certain yellow cottage on the other
side of the city. He apologized as he dodged between people strolling through
the market, but he still didn’t lessen his speed. He couldn’t. He needed to
find Albert quickly. He was the only person he could think of who might be able
to help.

He just prayed he would find the old man
at home.

Liesel paced inside the barn until she
saw lights flickering through the windows of Maria’s hut. She watched for a
while, straining to detect any shadows that might indicate whether it was only
Maria home alone or if Roderick was inside as well, but she could hardly see
any movement inside at all. The thick curtains concealed too much.

She tried to be patient and wait for a
clear sign of his return, but her nerves were too strained to cooperate
tonight. Finally, when she couldn’t bear to wait any longer, she wrapped her
shawl around her and marched over to the hut.

After inhaling a deep breath, she tapped
on the door lightly, and then quickly slipped inside.

Maria didn’t even pause as she stirred a
pot of soup over the fire, but simply questioned with a quick glance, “Yes?”

“Is Roderick here?” Liesel queried,
scanning the hut.

Maria looked around the room. “Can you
see him here?”

“No … I just expected him to have
returned by now.”

“As you can see, he has not.”

Liesel regretted her impatience. Now she
was forced to either endure an awkward wait with Maria or return to the barn
and have to guess yet again when Roderick returned.

The heavy silence expedited her
decision.

“I think I’ll just leave you to your sup-”
Liesel said, reaching again for the door.

But her words were cut short as the door
swung open.

She stepped back and smiled with relief as
Roderick walked inside. He nodded to each of the women as he dropped his bags
onto the floor, and then remarked, “Liesel! I didn’t expect to find you in
here.”

“Yes, I um, I was looking for you,
because I actually need to tell you-”

Roderick held up a finger to cut her
off. “Just one moment. Sorry to interrupt you, but Maria, here are the turnips
you requested for your stew for supper tonight.”

He walked over to his sister and set a
burlap bag on the table.

“Thank you, Roderick. I wasn’t sure you
would remember.”

“Of course I would remember,” he
answered as he pulled the bag open and then tossed one to Liesel. “After all, aren’t
they a perfect purple color?” he added with a wink toward Liesel’s shoes.

Looking down at the turnip cradled in
her hands, Liesel felt her heart begin to break a little, but she hastily
buried the feeling.

“Yes, just like my infamous shoes,” she
answered with a weak smile as she set the turnip aside. “But Roderick, there’s
something very important that …”

Her words tapered off as she realized
Roderick wasn’t really listening at all. She watched him lean back toward the
front window, pull the curtain aside, and peer out into the darkness. Liesel
wondered what he could be looking for.

“Yes, yes, of course,” he mumbled. “I
was going to ask you about your work in the marketplace this week. Did you
manage to sell everything?” he asked, turning to look at her again.

“Yes, in fact, I did. But that’s not
what I need to talk to you …”

“How much money did you make?” Roderick
quickly interjected.

“Quite a bit. But that’s
not
what
I’ve been waiting …”

“Mmmm … Maria, this bread is delicious,”
Roderick mumbled after pinching off a chunk of one of Maria’s rolls.

His distracted state was beginning to infuriate
her.

“Roderick, please listen to me!” Liesel
yelled suddenly, desperate to finally have his full attention.

Roderick set his roll down on the table,
brushed the crumbs on his hand against his pants, and then looked her in the
eye. “I’m sorry, Liesel. Is there something you want to tell me?”

“I’ve been trying to tell you something
since you walked through that door!” she exclaimed in exasperation.

Roderick waved for her to go on. “Then
by all means, please proceed. What do you need to tell me?”

She opened her mouth to reply, but a knock
on the hut’s door interrupted her.

Liesel closed her eyes and growled in frustration.
She couldn’t believe it. No one ever visited the hut. How could her luck be so
terrible tonight? She was angered even further as Roderick appeared to battle a
smile as he apologized, “I’m terribly sorry … Just let me attend to our visitor
and then my attention is all yours.”

Liesel sank into a nearby chair as
Roderick turned to open the door. Leaning against the table, she released a
long sigh. She had intended to be done with this dreaded conversation as
quickly as possible, and instead, it was taking forever. And it hadn’t even
started yet. As soon as the visitor left, she was determined to pull Roderick
outside so she could talk to him without any more interruptions.

“Liesel?” Roderick called over to her,
pulling her from her thoughts. “Liesel?”

She straightened in her seat and looked
over to him. “Yes? What is it?”

“Someone is here to see you.”

She stood and slowly walked to the door.
A knot of anxiety twisted around her stomach as she worried whether or not she
was about to find Prince Cornelius standing across the threshold.

But when she turned the corner around
the door, she saw it was only Albert.

She exhaled quite a sigh of relief and
greeted, “Albert, please come in. It is too cold tonight to linger outside.”

“Thank you, dear Liesel.”

She waved him to a chair and then sat
across from him. “How did you ever find me? I didn’t think you knew where I
lived.”

The old man nodded toward Roderick. “My
wife works in the kitchens in the castle. Since Roderick was there the last few
days I stumbled upon him a time or two when I arrived to walk my wife home, and
we talked about you and this hut as well. And now I’m very glad, because I
needed to find you tonight to ask you something that cannot wait until tomorrow.”

“You can ask me anything,” she offered
generously.

“Do you remember the day after I saved
you in the market and you told me that if you could ever do anything for me,
you wanted me to ask?”

Liesel’s eyes automatically strayed to
Maria, but she quickly forced them back to the old man. “Of course I do. And I
meant it.”

The old man nodded. “I am glad to hear
it. Because I think I need your help now.”

“What can I do?” Liesel asked without
hesitation. How grateful she felt that he had come not a day later when she
would have missed him!

“Well … you see, as I told you, my wife is
in charge of the kitchen at the castle, and she is quite overwhelmed in her
preparations right now for the royal princess’s ball in two weeks.”

“What can I possibly do to help?”

“If it is alright with Roderick, I was
hoping you might be willing to take a break from your work in the marketplace
for two weeks so you could help her.”

Liesel blinked. Had she heard correctly?
She prayed her ears had deceived her.

“I would not mind such a thing at all,”
Roderick chimed in.

“Work in the castle … for two weeks?”
Liesel repeated. She frantically looked back and forth between the two men. “Oh,
Albert … I wish you had asked me sooner. Actually, I … Just today I … It’s
quite unfortunate, but …”

Her words trailed off into silence. She
couldn’t bear the look of utter disappointment etched across her dear friend’s
face.

“I understand,” Albert murmured, bowing
his head.

 Liesel closed her eyes in resignation.
She had promised. He had saved her from a great deal of harm, and she owed him
a favor in return.

But when she opened her eyes, she
scowled at Maria. It was her fault she was being put in such a terrible
position right now. If Maria hadn’t crusaded through the marketplace wreaking
havoc that fateful day, Liesel wouldn’t have ever had this obligation to stay
any longer.

She sighed. She would have to tell
Prince Cornelius to return to Levenstein without her. As difficult as it was to
make this decision, she was determined to be a woman of honor.

Liesel cleared her throat and forced a
smile. “I’m sorry, Albert. I just needed a moment to think everything through.
Of course I will help your wife.”