Chapter 11

Oliver's surprise turned into anger in a split second.

"Why are you here?" He asked through clenched teeth. 

Confused as he was, Bradley could sense that no answer he could give would be the right one. He was surprised by how quickly Charlotte had pushed his hand away when she saw the prince. He stood up, sensing that whatever the prince was mad about had nothing to do with him. "I'll just leave now."

He stood and headed for the door, forgetting it was closed. He turned to use the connecting door but found the prince blocking his way.

Charlotte stood up, wiping her tears on the back of her hand. Oliver turned to her. "What is he doing here?"

She got defensive. "Oh, first you locked me in this miserable room, and now my friends are not allowed to see me?"

Both men stared at her, Bradley amused and Oliver confused. Both knew that Bradley was not her friend. Oliver was angry. To any other person, he looked fine. Charlotte, who had grown up with him, saw otherwise. She noticed his tight smile and clenched jaw. 

"Him, he's your friend? Charlotte, no one hates Bradley more than you," he said harshly. He was being petty. Before Charlotte could decide how to respond without hurting Bradley's feelings, Oliver had already begun again.

"And did you think how it would look? You are on your bed with another man, in a locked room! For heaven's sake! What if a maid had walked in instead of me? Did you stop to think how that would look for everyone in the palace?" his voice was raised, his face red.

Charlotte was angry. How dare he raise his voice at her, in front of Bradley. How dare he raise his voice at her at all.

"No, I didn't!" she matched his volume. "Why? You wonder? Because I don't care! I do not want to be married to you and I will do everything in my power, to never see you again!"

There was silence. Oliver's face was blank. Shame and guilt flooded her insides. She had not meant the last part. But it didn't matter. The damage was done.

The door suddenly opened and three maids stood outside. Stopping suddenly as they realized the scene in front of them.

Oliver turned to them. "Speak nothing to anyone." He said to them with finality and authority in his voice. They nodded submissively and bowed.

He turned back to Bradley. "Get out of here. Use my window." Bradley nodded, bowed, and disappeared through the connecting door.

He turned to her. "I had nothing to do with the king's order, and this door will be locked. Find another way to sneak your boyfriends in," he stated coldly and followed Bradley out.

"They are not even my friends," she whispered to his back.

Charlotte wished she could believe that he was as pushed into this marriage as she was. She turned to the maids, her expression sour.

"We are to prepare you for dinner," Anne answered her inquisitive look, her voice trembling.

She ushered them inside and ordered them to close the doors.

Charlotte let the intrusive hands of the maids probe and rub places only she had ever seen. She was tired, she didn't care, and her previous resistance had sent the maids to the old woman who did not take kindly to her need for privacy.

Charlotte, too tired to argue, had given up and gone with the flow. She was bathed and wrapped in soft towels, oiled and powdered, after which she was put into a blue gown she never would have worn out of her own free will. The gown was beautiful and elegant but showed more cleavage than she was comfortable with. Her opinions on the matter were ignored. She did not put up a fight. 

Her hair was let down and brushed so thoroughly she was worried she would go bald. It was then styled to frame her face in a way that when she looked at her reflection, realized made her look, delicate, vulnerable, and helpless. Just a helpless lady in need of a strong man to swoop in and save her. She scoffed.

"MANNERS! Young girl, that is no way for a princess to behave. You will do well to try and be more ladylike, you are no longer a warrior, you are now, just a girl. Behave so." the old lady, who she had just learned was the chief maid reprimanded.

Charlotte held her tongue, wondering instead why this woman held so much power in the palace.

"You didn't have to lock me in, you could've told me to stay and I would have," she said instead.

"I doubt that." the lady chuckled. Charlotte got the sense that she preferred little use of words.

"So, you are to make a lady out of a fighter?" she asked.

"I am to make a princess out of a nobody," she answered, her mouth twisted in disgust. 

Charlotte had never thought of her status in society. She was born in an era of war, she chose to be a warrior, with no use for polite society. Or really, she never had a choice she was born into warriorhood.

The king needed all the fighters he could find for the great war, and when that was over, rebellions rose all over the kingdom. The one in the north lasting the longest. The kingdom had not known peace for almost seventy years. She thanked God for that, wondering how she would have survived as a lady.

"That is going to be very hard, "she answered, annoyed and a little offended.

"I accept the challenge." the chief maid was smiling cruelly. Charlotte shivered. "Ready for dinner?"

Charlotte declined to answer.

"Good girl!" the chief maid exclaimed sarcastically. "Keep up the quiet spirit. You are not to speak unless spoken to at dinner. The king will have guests, knights. Do not embarrass the palace."

The old lady gave her a last spiteful look and left, leaving instructions to Anna to lead Charlotte to dinner and attend to her needs. She took the other maids with her.

"Are you ready, my lady?" Anna asked after a while. "We are to arrive early."

"To whom do you answer to, the chief maid or me?" Charlotte asked.

Anna was lost for words. Confused, she stammered, "I follow the chief maid's instructions, but I answer to you, my lady."

"Who are you more afraid of?"

The maid bowed repeatedly, her hands shaking openly. "I am sorry my lady-"

"Would you contradict your superior's instructions if I ordered otherwise?"

"My Lady, I would lose my position and be disgraced."

"And if I promised to protect you from that?" Charlotte prodded. 

"You wouldn't be able to milady, I apologize if I offended you." the last part she added for good measure.

Charlotte nodded. She had gotten what she wanted to know. The chief maid was the queen in the palace. She wondered how she could hold so much power in the palace. She would need to find out soon. Charlotte knew that she would need to either leave, and fast, or make her position in the palace concrete. She preferred to leave.

"Let's go to dinner." She took Anne's hand, and let herself be led down halls to the great hall, where the king occasionally ate with his subjects. She assumed this would be when he would announce Fredrick's death and maybe even her intended marriage to Oliver.

The hall was full of hearty laughter and light conversation between some of the guards, palace workers, and knights waiting for the king when they arrived. Anne led her to the high table where the king would join them. They walked past a scowling Beatrice, apparently not early enough for her liking.

She could see Oliver, and some of her father's colleagues on the council as she went up the stairs to join them. Oliver watched her, his face unreadable.

As she turned to take her seat reserved next to him, she noticed the other people at the table; more of the king's men, the knight, to whom she gave a glare, and for whatever reason, Bradley had been invited.

Charlotte smiled inwardly. This would be an interesting dinner. Her chaotic heart danced. Worry or excitement, it didn't matter.