Princess without a Palace: A King Thrushbeard Fairy Tale (20 page)

A hopeful gleam leapt to his eyes. “You
can’t expect me to regret that.”

She finally allowed a hint of a smile to
escape. “But I still haven’t decided what I want.”

He nodded and then looked deep into her
eyes. “But do you care for me?”

She was taken aback by his boldness, but
eventually she gathered the courage to answer, “I … I do.”

His shoulders seemed to fall a little with
relief. Then he smiled again. “Then I won’t make you decide anything now. But
on the day of the ball, I
will
ask you to stay.”

He reached down and cupped her cheek in
his hand and then whispered, “And I hope you’ll say yes.”

“Oh, Roderick,” she whispered. But she
didn’t know what else to say. Fortunately, Roderick’s expression indicated he
didn’t expect a response.

He gently caressed her cheek with his
thumb, and she sighed. He was just so wonderful.

His expression then changed again, but
before her mind had a chance to register what it meant and possibly resist, he
leaned down and softly pressed his lips to hers.

Her world seemed to swirl around her,
and when he pulled back to look into her eyes again, she felt like her legs
might fail her.

“Oh dear,” she whispered again, leaning
into his hand against her cheek as her eyes locked with his once more.

Roderick only smiled.

Releasing her face, he then reclaimed
her hand. After lacing his fingers through hers, he nodded toward the empty
street. “The rain has let up. We can continue on if you want.”

After a slight pause, Liesel nodded,
albeit a little uncertainly. She wasn’t sure if her unsteady legs were up to the
challenge.  

But Roderick held her hand tightly and
she knew he wouldn’t let go.

And at least for now … neither would
she.

E
ven
though she wasn’t trying to avoid Roderick anymore, Liesel still woke up at an
early hour the next day. When her eyes fluttered open, the interior of the barn
was devoid of any traces of light. She listened for the early songs of birds
that often preceded sunrise, but instead she only heard the tap-tapping of
water droplets rolling off of the rain-soaked roof into puddles below. She
rolled over and tried to sleep a little longer, but it was too much of a chore
to keep her eyes closed. Her mind had already exchanged dreams for reality.

She arose with a groan. It was wet and
cold outside, but as much as she didn’t want to leave her warm, straw-covered
surroundings, there was nothing for her to do at home in the dark. She might as
well go to the castle as she had done the last few days and get an early start
tackling her list of chores in the kitchen.

After braiding her hair back and picking
off the stray pieces of straw that dotted her dress, she wrapped her shawl around
her slender frame and trudged out into the misty rain.

As she bolted the door to the barn
tightly closed, she was surprised to hear the sound of another door closing. She
turned toward the hut and saw Roderick wearing his large hat again walking toward
the barn.

Her heart leapt at the sight of him.

“What are you doing?” she called out to
him softly.

“I’m coming to escort you to the
castle.”

“There’s no need for that,” she
protested.

“It’s still raining. The roads won’t be
any less slippery.”

“But I’m not in such a hurry today. I’m
sure I’ll be fine.”

He shrugged his shoulders as he stopped
just in front of her, and looked down at her with a smile. “I couldn’t sleep
anyway. And I had a hunch you might go to the castle early again so I decided
to start my day early too.”

A movement behind his shoulder caught
Liesel’s eye and she glanced up to see a curtain fall in one of the hut’s small
windows.

“But it looks like you’ve woken Maria as
well,” Liesel observed, still watching the window for further movement.

“Did I?” he asked, looking back over his
shoulder.

“I don’t think she’s going to be very happy
with you about that,” Liesel warned.

“Maria’s always a little grumpy in the
morning,” he replied with a smile. “I wouldn’t worry over that. She probably
just heard me leave and wanted to check on me before she goes back to bed.”

Liesel wanted to say that she didn’t
think Maria’s grumpiness was entirely confined to mornings, but she refrained.
She was his sister, after all. But that was Maria’s only redeeming quality.

Roderick offered his arm, but Liesel
shook her head. “Truly, you don’t need to walk me all the way to the castle.
You’d be walking in completely the opposite direction from your own work.”

“And at this early hour, I will still probably
arrive before my master awakes,” he returned with a wink.

“But-”

“Liesel, surely you must know by now
that I am one of the few people who may actually be more stubborn than you. And
with only three days left to convince you to stay, I’m determined to take
advantage of every opportunity I can to be with you. So unless you want to
stand out here in the rain all morning arguing about this, I suggest we be on
our way.”

She folded her arms, ready to challenge
his claim, but the set of his jaw and his determined stare soon convinced her
that he had meant every word he had said. Releasing a sigh, she finally
accepted his arm and they began walking through the tall grass toward the road.

They walked in silence, neither of them
disturbing the stillness of the sleeping world around them. It took longer than
expected before the city came into view. The fog rested over it like a blanket,
but eventually she was able to detect the silhouette of the slumbering
buildings resting in the shadows of King Thrushbeard’s mighty castle.

The rain that had fallen steadily
through the night had almost disappeared, but every now and then a raindrop or
two would splash in nearby puddles. However, as they began to walk through the
cobblestone streets of the city, the foggy mist transformed into a steady
drizzle, and Liesel released Roderick’s arm to pull her shawl more tightly
around her.

“You must be freezing,” Roderick
observed, looking down at her with apparent concern.

Indeed, she did long for a cloak, but
she could hardly complain when Roderick was without a coat himself. It was a keen
reminder of just how poor they really were. If she accepted him, she was sure
their savings jar would be depleted by buying the necessities to survive winter
before they even had a chance to discuss building their own home. Surely
Roderick truly hadn’t thought his proposal through or he would have known their
future was an impossible dream.

“Here,” Roderick said, turning toward
her and plopping his large hat on her head. “You should take this.”

“I don’t want your ridiculous hat,” she
protested, reaching up to remove it. “I’ll drown in it.”

“Walking in the rain would drown you
long before a hat ever would.”

She waved his argument aside and tried
to return it to him, but he put it right back on her head.

“Why do you care if you look ridiculous?
Who is there to see you in it?” he argued quietly, motioning toward the
slumbering houses lining the lane. “We are the only ones foolhardy enough to be
out so early.”

She looked up at him with a scowl, but
with her face hidden in the shadows of the monstrous hat, she doubted he
actually saw it. Fortunately, she had given him the same look enough times over
the course of the last few weeks that she was certain he would be able to
imagine it on his own by now.

He only brushed off her scowl with a
laugh and reached an arm around her shoulders to pull her close to his side.

Chills swept through her, and even
though she tried to attribute the chills to the frigid air, she knew it wasn’t
true. Her heart quickened again and she contemplated pulling away, but she
couldn’t bring herself to reject the much-needed warmth.

She tilted her head up a notch and secretly
peered over at Roderick, studying his strong profile as they continued on their
way up the stone path toward the castle. He seemed so confident, so sure that
they could forge a happy life together. She wished she could be so sure one way
or the other. On one hand, he was a peasant. A man she would have obviously
never considered as a princess, even if she hadn’t been so opposed to marriage.
But even though he was her equal now, she still struggled with the idea of
permanently entwining her fate with his humble prospects. And as a woman of
honor, she knew she couldn’t accept him until she was ready to put her past
life completely behind her and be willing to forever remain by his side through
all of the many trials that would surely plague their life.

But on the other hand, when he held her
hand or held her close like he did now, she couldn’t help but wonder if such a
hard life would be worth it.

Her thoughts were interrupted when
Roderick glanced her way and caught her looking at him. The corner of his mouth
turned up in a questioning smile, but she quickly looked away.

Her heart seemed to trip over itself inside
her chest and she silently commanded it to find its steady beat again. Where
had its discipline fled? Her heart had been so reliable before, but it seemed
that ever since she had met Roderick, she had lost all control over it.

Eager to not disrupt her heartrate
again, she didn’t risk another glance his way until they had finally reached
the kitchen door.

Turning to face him, she pulled off the
hat and shook it to rid it of all the water that had pooled along its wide
brim.

“Are you sure you don’t want to keep it
so you can wear it when you walk home?” he asked as she handed the hat to him.

“Definitely. I wore it this morning because
you made me, but I’ll never wear it again.”

He laughed, but she noticed he didn’t
seem all that eager to wear the hat either but instead nervously shifted the
hat in his hands.

After an awkward pause she pointed
toward the kitchen door. “I probably should go inside and get a fire started.”

“Do you need help?”

She shook her head. “No, I’ll be just
fine. Goodbye, Roderick.”

“Goodbye, Liesel,” he returned. He then captured
her hand and pulled her forward before bending down to give her a quick kiss on
her cheek. She knew she really shouldn’t have been surprised by the gesture, but
she was sure she looked slightly stunned when he pulled back. “I’ll look
forward to seeing you tonight. Perhaps you’ll let me watch you paint that
canvas I gave you?”

“I still haven’t decided what I want to
paint.”

“Then it’s fortunate you still have the
rest of the day to decide,” he answered with a wink.

He then finally placed his large hat on
his head, nodded to her and turned to begin his retreat through the rain.

She moved to go inside, but stopped when
her hand brushed against something in her pocket. She looked down and saw a
single, small white flower resting in her food collection jar. She withdrew it
and looked back toward Roderick, barely finding his shrinking silhouette
through the thick fog.

She held the flower to her chest and
leaned against the doorway as she watched him until he had completely
disappeared from sight.

She shook her head and sighed.

Roderick was nothing like she had ever
planned, but in many ways, she had to admit, he was better than she could have
ever dreamed.

Maria dropped the curtain and walked
away from the window. What was Roderick doing with Liesel at such an early
hour? The night was only half through!

She clenched her fists and paced around
the hut. She was exhausted, but she couldn’t go back to bed. Not now. Not when
she knew her foolish brother needed her more than ever.

Despite his claims to the contrary, it
was perfectly obvious the conniving princess had successfully ensnared him.
There could be no other explanation for his unusual behavior. She had seen Roderick
falling for Liesel by degrees, but she had always hoped he would be able to
catch himself in time. Now she just hoped it wasn’t already too late. She
couldn’t let him continue on such a path when she knew it would ruin him!
Roderick had always been a hard-working, kind, and generous person. Liesel was
a spoiled princess who would surely leach everything she could from him. The
princess didn’t deserve to have her self-centered life rewarded with a marriage
to the best person Maria had ever known. And Roderick didn’t deserve such a
fate either.

But what could she do about it?

She bit her lip as an idea sprang to her
mind. There was one person she could possibly turn to, but she knew it would
make Roderick furious if she did. Furthermore, when he found out about it, and
she knew he inevitably would, she doubted he would ever forgive her for it.

But if she didn’t at least try to save
him, she knew she would never be able to forgive herself.

She hesitated for just a moment and then
sat down at her desk and lit a candle. She dipped her quill in her inkwell, but
then paused as she questioned her decision one more time.

A few seconds passed and then she nodded
her head. Yes, she had to write the letter. It was the right thing to do.

She wrote the greeting, but looked over
the scrawled words with a furrowed brow.

“Dear Father,” it read. She bit her lip
again as she worried how her message would be received when she hadn’t spoken
to either of her parents in almost a year. But since she knew her father was
the only person in the world who wielded any power over her brother, she had to
have faith her letter would move him to action.

Rallying her courage, she hastily
scratched out the rest of the letter and then reread the message several times
before she folded the parchment and sealed it closed.