The Amaranth Enchantment (9 page)

"Do I know you?" he asked, his eyes moving back and forth over my face.

"No," I blurted. "No, definitely not, no." I blinked, and 95

panicked. You don't just talk that way to royalty! "Your Highness! No, Your Highness, sir, we haven't. Met. Sir." I attempted a curtsy, which didn't fit into the gavotte at all.

His expression darkened and he looked away.

Was I that different in my mother's dress? Or just that easily forgotten?

I focused hard on the dance. If all these folk could do it, then so could I.

And I was determined not to be any more foolish than I was already, in his eyes.

"You learn quickly," he said, smiling once more, which made my heart and my stomach change places.

"I like music," I said.

Who didn't like music, nonny-head? But his eyes were kind and didn't mock.

Our row of dancers hopped forward and bowed to those opposite us. The prince bowed to a red-haired young lady who blushed and beamed without once making an imbecile of herself, curse her.

The music neared its end. The prince examined me once more, and my insides turned to jelly.

"Are you sure we haven't met? Because you remind me so much of ...

"Of whom?" The words flew out before I could stop them.

"That's just it. I can't remember. Someone, maybe, from my childhood."

We hooked elbows and circled around each other, but 96

he made no move to change partners. The red-haired girl, now on my side, looked none too happy about it.

"Don't you think your childhood friends would have taken more dance lessons than I?"

He smiled. "Not necessarily. What have you studied?"

I stared at the ground. Not pianoforte, not dance, not painting silk screens, nor needlework nor deportment nor anything a young lady of quality should know.

"Jewelry," I said softly. His eyes brightened.

The song ended, and we bowed to each other, then clapped for the orchestra.

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"I'm a bit of a collector myself," he shouted over the applause. "I've got some marvelous gems I could show you. A diamond they say is the largest ever to come out of India."

"Diamonds say "forever," I said. The applause had only then dried up, so my words were a shout. I bit my tongue.

His eyes narrowed. "You don't say."

Had I ruined everything? I looked away. A crowd of young ladies surged up behind him, panting for their chance to address him.

He took my arm and pulled me close so he could speak in my ear. "What's your name?"

I stalled. I could forget to answer, just feeling him this close. I hadn't given any thought to divulging my name or not. Certainly not to the prince, whose family had been intimates of mine, once upon a time.

A pair of guards detached themselves from the crowd 97

and stepped forward to stand at the prince's side. Directly behind one of them, I caught a glimpse of a face disappearing behind a stout old lady.

Not now! Here I was in heaven, and yards away stood the devil I was chasing.

"Peter," I breathed.

"Peter?" the prince asked, surprised. "Miss Peter? Miss Peters?"

"No," I said, pulling away. "I mean, yes. Miss Peters. Miss... Angelica Peters. Good-bye!"

I darted off in the direction I'd seen Peter go, relieved to get away from the staring eyes that surrounded the prince. Then it hit me. I'd been rude to him on my first, my second, and undoubtedly my only encounters with him in life, and I'd run off with all the grace of a buffoon.

I turned back for one last look. It was too late. All I could see was the nodding crown of his hat over the cluster of people that surrounded him.

I turned back. There was no sign of Peter.

How could I lose everything, everything in one instant?

A trumpet fanfare rang out from the platform. The crowd grew quieter, and an announcer bellowed, "Hear ye, hear ye! The next song is a tribute to the Princess Beatrix of Hilarion, composed at his majesty Prince Gregor's special request! It will be played again tomorrow night at the royal ball celebrating their betrothal. Ladies and gentleman, I give you, 'The Pearldrop Concerto!'"

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Applause rang out, and the lines of dancers collapsed into the crowd, all but where the Prince stood, his guards keeping a protective space around him.

"And here to grace the first public performance of the piece is the lady herself, Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrix!"

The applause went wild.

A guard dressed in green and yellow, the royal colors of Hilarion, ascended the platform, followed by a retinue of ladies in billowing gowns and fur stoles. They parted like flower petals to reveal an even more glorious lady, obviously the princess. She was petite, with white-powdered cheeks and a tower of flaxen hair elegantly arranged, with a peacock feather swooning over the top and brushing her forehead. Her furs were white, and they parted to reveal a sky-blue gown with skirts and flounces billowing widely from her tiny waist.

All around me were gasps and whispers.

"Ain't she beautiful?"

"Like an angel!"

"She's no bigger'n my ten-year-old daughter!"

"Aye, but she's full bloomed, ye can see that!"

The princess waved a gloved hand to the crowd and blew them kisses. Roses landed miraculously at her feet, though where anyone got roses at this time of year, I couldn't imagine. Her ladies gathered them up and presented them to her. She inhaled deeply from the bouquet and smiled prettily at the crowd.

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Like an angel. Like a fairy princess. Like something sculpted from spun sugar to adorn a wedding cake. I hated her.

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"They'll make a handsome couple, those two," my tormentors continued. "I hear tell the prince is so much in love he can scarcely sleep nights."

Of course he was. How could he not be desperately in love with such an exquisite creature? Regal, beautiful, wealthy, destined for him. An irresistible combination.

Well? What did I expect?

Nothing! That was the worst of it. I was less than a nothing to someone like Prince Gregor, and I knew it. I'd only laid eyes on him twice, for the love of heaven.

But twice was enough.

At least I had danced with him--if my part could be called dancing.

I turned my back to the stage and willed myself not to look back at the prince again. Princess Beatrix had clearly been groomed since the cradle to be a queen, and that was the kind of bride he needed. And deserved. Good luck to them both.

The orchestra struck up the opening chords of the concerto. I scanned faces, searching for Peter, and had all but given up, when suddenly, there he was, at the edge of the crowd, staring dumbstruck at the stage. No doubt he was estimating the value of the princess's jewelry and forming a plan to steal it.

I sidled my way through the crowd until I was directly behind him.

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He wore a tricornered cap with the point pulled low over his right eye. When he turned his head slightly, I knew for certain it was him. The mark snaking down his cheek confirmed it.

I never thought, after that day that he ransacked my bedroom and my breakfast, that I'd ever feel this relieved to see him again. I'd found him! And now here he stood, every brazen inch of him, and all my old anger smoldered. How dare he steal from me, after I'd helped him hide?

Perhaps the jewel was still in his pocket. If not, he could surely take me to it. A little money, a little persuasion, and my quest would be complete, my childhood home mine, forever.

His attention was still fixed on the princess. I stood on tiptoe so I could speak directly into his ear.

"You shouldn't let your guard down, Peter," I whispered. "No telling who might sneak up on you."

He whipped around, his hand at his pocket, and scanned me up and down.

"And how do you know my name?"

"You took something of mine," I said, "and I want it back."

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Chapter 13

Peter took off faster than an eel through bulrushes.

Perhaps startling him wasn't the shrewdest way to announce myself. But I hadn't come this far to lose now.

I lunged after him. He was quicker than me, but whereas he had to plow a path through the crowd, I merely followed his steps in the path he'd just cleared.

In a footrace I'd never have kept up with him, but in all the bustle of the Winter Festival I managed to keep him in my sights, barely. Once, I came close enough to clutch at his arm, but he squirmed free.

"Come back!" I yelled. "Stop him!" But nobody listened.

Men hollered as we barreled past. Others joked loudly about a girl sprinting after a boy. Should be the other way around, they said. As if I'd ever chase Peter in that way!

Still, Peter ran away from the city center, elbowing his 102

way through festival goers. The sky had deepened from blue to purple, and the dying sun left an orange gleam at the edge of the world, just enough to throw long shadows across my path.

My chest cramped from the cold. As the crowds thinned, Peter began pulling away from me. Despair nearly choked me, but fury made me push each foot forward.

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But I was losing. I couldn't stop my feet from slowing down. His legs kept pumping, though, and I felt a sob rise in my throat.

I could think of only one more thing to do.

"You stole something from me, Peter Thief," I yelled, "but I've come to buy it back!"

He stopped and turned, eyeing me suspiciously. "Buy?"

I nodded. That would get his attention. Well done.

My legs throbbed, my chest burned. For half a penny I'd have laid down in the gutter. Not a pleasant place in the shabby part of town our chase had led us to, where kitchen waste and worse were dumped into the streets.

Slowly Peter approached, tacking back and forth as if undecided, keeping me firmly in his sights. He reminded me of Perdition, Aunt's cat, closing in on a mouse.

He frowned. "Who are you?"

I pulled off my hat, which was skewed from running, and worried the pins from my hair. "Don't you know me, then?"

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He shook his head, but slowly this time, less sure of himself.

"Lucinda;' I said. "From the goldsmith's shop? On Feldspar Street?"

His eyes widened.

"Two nights ago you slept in my bedroom," I said, irritated. "I should think that would leave some impression on you."

Now he knew me, it was plain. Just as quickly, he slid into his old lazy, mocking manner I'd seen in my garret. "Another night, another stop, another girl," he said. "After a while they start to blur together."

"What rot!"

Peter looked me over from side to side, circling behind me like a buyer inspecting a donkey. "Hallo there," he said, grinning, "so it is you, isn't it? I'd never know you in all that frippery." He rubbed his forehead with a dingy kerchief. "You could have told me who you were back there, and spared us both the exercise. How was I supposed to recognize you? You didn't have these fancy duds yesterday, I can say that." He fingered the woolen sleeve of my dress.

I yanked it away. "You're soiling my cuffs."

Peter ignored me. "Who's your friend?"

I felt a bony prod at my legs, and looked down to see that Dog had managed to follow me on my chase through the crowd.

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"You're a miracle," I said, scratching between his horns. "This is Dog," I told Peter.

"Obviously," Peter said, raising one eyebrow. "Now, what's this about buying something back from me? I have plenty to sell, and I'm always happy to talk with people with cash."

I jingled the bag at my hip. "I've got cash."

Uh-oh.

A foolish slip. The gleam in his eyes confirmed it. I wrapped a hand around the mouth of the little money sack and squeezed it tight. A thief was a thief, and that was why I was in trouble in the first place. All my anger bubbled up once more.

"You stole something valuable from my pocket," I said. "Right out from under my nose, after I'd helped you and kept you as a guest in my room."

A group of drunken men spilled out the door of a public house close by, which had just lit its lamps. The evening air chilled my sweat and I shivered. Peter moved to my side and steered me by my elbow a little farther down the street, for all the world as though he were my beau.

"A word of critique," he said. "You have a tiresome way of rehashing old obligations and favors. A gentleman will grow weary of it. I feel as though we've had this conversation before."

I shook my arm free from his grasp.

"Tiresome? Because I don't think hospitality should be
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rewarded with stealing someone's most valuable treasures?"

"See, now, there you go;' he said. "What treasures? Where's the evidence? How often do poor servant girls like you have anything worth taking?"

"Servant girl?" He was more right than not. Still, I made a point of throwing back my shoulders and preening a bit in Mama's fine clothes. "It doesn't matter why I had it. The fact is, I had it, until you stole it."

"Baseless accusations. You have no proof that I took something from you."

I felt as though my veins would burst.

"Why, you ..."

"Shh," he said, indicating the curious glances of people passing by.

"This is my proof," I hissed. "It was in my pocket until you came. You stole bread from my apron. You were the only person with access to me. I didn't lose it--the thief substituted a pebble for it."

Peter's lips twitched ."A clever touch."

"I caught you in the very act of stealing my aunt's things!"

He waved that away. "Mere rubbish," he said. "She should thank me for ridding her of old refuse. It was hardly worth my bother."