Princess without a Palace: A King Thrushbeard Fairy Tale (25 page)

Her father considered her carefully. “If
you’re certain …”

Liesel hesitated only a moment before
she nodded. Her stomach was in knots, but she tried to push her anxiety away.
She might not have felt very brave at the moment, but she was resigned to try
to at least play the part.

Adelaide was right. She didn’t ever want
to look back on this day and feel like she had run away. Maria might have scorned
her for being so easily deceived, but she wanted to show her and her brother
that she had emerged from the experience unscathed.

Or at least make it appear that way.

She tried to force her best look of
confidence and then wrapped her hand around her father’s elbow. After Adelaide stepped
up to his other side, the trio commenced toward the door.

Liesel inhaled a shaky breath, and then
raised her chin up just a notch.

It was time for her to conquer the ball.

R
oderick
had to question five farmers on the outskirts of the city before he found anyone
who could supply any answers to his questions.

Yes, the young man was positive that he
had seen Prince Cornelius that morning with a company of soldiers. But he was
sure that the prince had been heading toward the castle, not away from it. And
no, he had not seen any young lady, alone or otherwise, traveling along the
road during the last two days.

With such disheartening news, Roderick
questioned whether it would be best to continue along the road to Levenstein or
turn his search elsewhere. But just because the farmer hadn’t seen Liesel,
didn’t necessarily mean that she hadn’t passed that way when he wasn’t looking.
But then again, perhaps he didn’t see her, because she was indeed somewhere
else.

Roderick growled in frustration. There
were far too many possibilities and he couldn’t afford to waste time debating
them all. He scanned the scenery around him and wished Liesel had at least left
him some kind of clue. He needed something to give him direction if he was
going to have any chance at finding her.

His horse panted heavily, and Roderick
leaned down to pat his side. His horse had run swift and strong all day, but now
his energy was obviously fading.

Roderick pulled on the reins to steer
his horse back to the castle. If he was to continue his search in haste, he
needed a fresh horse. He regretted the temporary delay the exchange would cause,
but at least the short excursion to the castle and back would give him some
time to decide the best course of action for the next part of his search.

He had just reached the outer perimeter
of small homes along the city’s farmland, when eight loud peals rang out from
the castles’ high bell tower.

Roderick let out a growl. The ball was
beginning and Liesel was still lost. And he had given his word he would select
one of the princesses at the ball to be his wife.

He regretted ever making such an
impulsive promise to his father. But he wasn’t ready to lose all hope. No
announcement needed to be made until the end of the ball, which meant he still
had a few more hours to find her.

He leaned over and begged his horse to
muster all the energy he had within him. His horse puffed, but obediently
lengthened his strides. The horse sprinted all the way up the hill until they
entered the stables, when Roderick pulled the reins back hard, bringing his
horse to a halt.

“Fetch me a new horse!” Roderick ordered
to the servants shoveling hay nearby. A young servant stumbled as he dropped
his shovel and ran away to obey his command.

Roderick slid off his horse and patted
the horse’s neck. “Well done, old boy,” he approved quietly. “Now get some
rest. You’re the fastest horse in the kingdom and I may need you yet again.”

Seconds later, the young stable hand
appeared again, pulling a fresh, white horse behind him.

“Thank you,” Roderick mumbled as he
mounted the steed and turned toward the door. Praying he would have no need to
return again until he had found Liesel, he started for the exit, but Hilda’s
frantic voice stopped him.

Yanking the reins hard to the right, he
turned the horse around to see Hilda running toward him, waving her arms high
above her head.

“Wait, Prince Roderick, wait!” she
shouted breathlessly.

He slid from the horse and ran forward
to meet her. Grasping her shoulders, he demanded, “Hilda, what is the matter?”

“I’m so glad I happened to find you
here,” she huffed between labored breaths.

“What is it?” he impatiently prodded as
he waited for her to speak again.

“The King of Pozlow was just announced,”
she answered, clutching her heaving bosom. “King Richmond and his
two
daughters.”

Roderick’s eyes grew wide and Hilda’s
smile spread, filling her face.

“Liesel is inside, Your Highness,” she
breathed with relief.  

“Are you sure?”

“I didn’t pause to confirm the
announcement after I heard it, Sire. I didn’t even linger to hear the rest of
the introduction, because I wanted to tell you the news as quickly as possible.
But King Richmond only has two daughters. There can be no mistake. Liesel must
be with him.”

Roderick yelled for a servant to attend
to his horse as he dashed from the stables to sprint up the hill toward the
kitchen. It was the fastest way to get to the ballroom.

He navigated his way through the busy
kitchen and was almost to the door that led into the dining hall, when Hilda
shouted from behind him, “Prince Roderick, stop where you are!”

“I don’t have time, Hilda,” he answered
over his shoulder.

“You will wait!”

The forcefulness of her tone made him
pause, and he looked back to see her standing just inside the kitchen with a
finger sternly pointed his way. “I will
not
let you enter that ballroom
covered in dust, and undoubtedly smelling like a horse or worse.”

“There isn’t time to do anything about
that,” he argued.

She was not persuaded by his rough tone,
but simply pointed to the other side of the room. Following the direction of
her gaze, he spotted one of his silver-lined, navy jackets hanging on the wall.

“You can afford to delay your entrance
long enough to at least change your jacket, Your Highness. I took the liberty
of bringing it down here in case you needed it, and looking at you now, I can
tell you that you should be grateful that I did,” she decreed, placing her
fists on her hips.

Sighing in frustration, he obediently
slipped out of his current jacket that was admittedly filthy and tossed it aside.
Hilda then stepped forward, and with her assistance, he shrugged into his
formal coat.

“There,” the old woman approved. “I
should make you tidy up a bit more, but at least Liesel won’t faint dead away from
your stench when you dance with her.” She straightened his collar and then
nodded, “Off with you, now. It’s time for you to go and win that young woman’s
heart.”

He smiled his gratitude and then hurried
from the room.

Winding his way through the multitude of
nobles crowding around the dining tables, he eventually reached the high arched
entryway that led into the ballroom. He froze at the edge of the room as his
eyes hastily scoured the area. There were hundreds of faces, but it only took
seconds for his eyes to find Liesel. Her face was too dear to him to ever blend
into the crowd.

The air caught in his throat as his eyes
settled upon her.

She was stunning.

He had never seen her looking so
beautiful. He had always found her attractive, but he had not been prepared to
see her looking so perfect. She was absolutely flawless.

Impatience swept through him as he started
forward, pushing his way through the people along the perimeter of the
ballroom.

He also felt an immeasurable amount of
relief to see her standing so close once more. He was still puzzled as to why
she would have disappeared without telling him where she was going, but at
least she was back now! His fears had been unfounded, and he regretted the
uncharitable thoughts he had harbored against his sister and father.  

Still, he wanted to scold Liesel for ever
giving him such a scare. But if she promised to never leave him ever again, he
was sure he could easily forgive her for it.

“Liesel!” he called out as he rounded
the last cluster of guests that separated them.

She turned at the sound of his voice,
but the color instantly drained from her face. His eyes narrowed at how quickly
she had paled. Was she unwell?

Adelaide stepped closer to stand at her
side and greeted him first. “Ah, you look familiar. You must be Prince
Roderick.”

“Yes, and I remember from my brief stay
at your castle that you are Princess Adelaide,” he quickly answered. But as
soon as his duty was paid, his attention swiftly shifted back to Liesel.
Wishing to be as alone as possible with her in a room brimming with so many people,
he bowed and asked, “Liesel, would you do me the honor of this dance?”

She blinked a few times in surprise, and
then finally shook her head. “No. Please excuse me, but I’d rather not.”

A laugh escaped him. Surely she must be
joking.

But there was no hint of a smile on
Liesel’s face.

His brows furrowed. “Liesel, what has
happened? Are you ill?”

She looked away, and he was at a loss
for words. What had happened? He wanted to take her by the shoulders and force
her to tell him what was the matter, but he couldn’t do that in front of so
many people. And certainly not when her father was just feet away talking with
another king.

“Liesel?” he questioned, desperate for
her to at least look at him again so he could search her eyes for an answer.
What had come between them?

“Excuse my interruption,” Prince
Cornelius petitioned as he suddenly appeared at Roderick’s side, “But Princess
Liesel, may I have this dance?”

“I’d be honored,” she replied without
even glancing at Roderick.

Now he was not only confused, but anger
boiled within him as well. At least he knew her well enough to recognize that
the smile she gave Prince Cornelius was certainly forced.

A smug look filled Prince Cornelius’s
face and Roderick clenched his fists. If he hadn’t been taken so off guard by
his cold reunion with Liesel, he was sure he would have knocked the prince
down, right there on the dance floor.

And it was still a possibility.

But first, he would focus all of his
attention on Liesel until he discovered what had caused her to change toward
him.

Roderick watched with narrowed eyes as
Liesel took the prince’s arm to accompany him to the dance floor. Prince
Cornelius patted her hand on his arm, but before he walked away, he turned back
to Roderick with a triumphant look and quietly jeered, “Obviously shaving your
beard was not enough to make her change her mind about you.”

Roderick instinctively reached for his
sword, but Adelaide quickly stepped between them to prevent anything
unfortunate from happening. He ignored the look of sympathy on her face and kept
his gaze fixed on the pair as he watched them join the other couples on the
dancefloor.

He couldn’t believe his eyes. This was
not the reunion with Liesel he had spent so much time imagining since he had
been forced to leave her to help with the dam. He couldn’t fathom what could
have caused such a drastic change in so little time. Finally, not wishing to
watch the dancing pair any longer, he looked back at Adelaide who had remained
by his side and asked, “What has happened, Princess Adelaide? You must tell
me.”

Adelaide hesitated, but then answered,
nodding across the room, “I believe that question would be better addressed to
your sister.”

Liesel glanced over Prince Cornelius’s
shoulder to see Roderick still standing exactly where she had left him. His
hands were fisted at his sides and his mouth was set in a hard line in an
expression she could only describe as lethal. His eyes watched them closely,
making her wonder again what Prince Cornelius had whispered to Roderick as they
had walked away from him.

She threw a scowl Adelaide’s way. She
should have known it was a mistake to listen to her sister and stay. Now she
was stuck dancing with Prince Cornelius and Roderick looked like he didn’t plan
on leaving her alone anytime soon. She tried to force her eyes to ignore his
presence on the edge of the dancefloor, and focus her attention instead on the
prince before her, but her disobedient eyes continued to stray Roderick’s way.

During one such glance, she saw Roderick
turn to talk to Adelaide, and her head snapped back to watch the rest of the
exchange. For the first time since seeing him again, Liesel wished that she
wasn’t so far away so she could hear what was being said. She watched Adelaide
give him an answer before both of them turned to stare across the room. Liesel
followed the direction of their gaze to see what they suddenly found so
interesting and saw them staring at none other than Maria.