Chapter 22

The Fourth of the Month of Palefrost

The Royal Palace.

Xyla shook with silent laughter before looking over at the other two.

Blythe had a hand clamped over her mouth as she giggled quietly and the other maid had a large smile on her face.

Megraye walked in with a firm pace before setting the tray down on a table.

"She was trying to get some gossip out of me."

The other three squealed with laughter.

"Thank you," Xyla mimicked and Megraye cracked a smile herself.

Eva rushed forward to help Blythe out of her dress, "Why don't you eat before we try on anymore, my lady?"

Blythe nodded.

Eva made a loud gasping noise and the women looked over in concern.

"Is everything alright?"

Eva looked mortified, "Prince Augustus had asked me to stay by the kitchen and sneak a tray of food to the room. I had completely forgotten. No other maiden was to know!"

Megraye shook her head in stern disapproval, "I wondered why he would send another lady up with food when we are to be hidden. Eva, do be less forgetful next time."

"I am so sorry!"

Blythe hurried to speak, 'That's alright! I'm sure the Prince will sort that out somehow. We'll just be more careful now. Eva, it's perfectly alright! Megraye handled it this time!"

"Thank you," Xyla mimicked again and peals of laughter sounded around the room.

~

Elliot walked down the stairs.

He was late.

He hoped his parents and brother weren't waiting for him.

He'd woken up hours after he usually did, mentally tired from the week before.

He sighed, nodding to the servants who greeted him.

The Prince really hoped Augustus' contract proposal would not tire him out some more.

The idea of courting a lady and taking care of her in the middle of this entire conundrum didn't excite him.

There was so much emotional toil ahead and Elliot did not want to think of having to protect another through it all when he needed help himself.

He watched a huddle of maids whisper to themselves before spotting him and scurrying away, heads bowed.

Things like this would usually be missed but he'd always been quick to catch subtle gazes and quiet whispers.

The Royal Palace, he'd been told, in the age of his grandparents and before had been a place of scandal and secrets; A very unsafe place that people found thrilling because of the nature of affairs that reigned in its corners.

Tales of adultery and jealousy going up to murder were whispered around these halls.

Things had changed with his father taking the throne.

All of those had been put to stop.

Only people of integrity were encouraged and with the exception of the nobles that simply could not be replaced owing to their experience and knowledge in matters concerning the kingdom, most others were not willingly welcomed into the palace.

That had changed the way nobility had behaved and the people had accepted the new view of the Palace with surprising quickness.

Elliot had never been able to understand what the Palace would have looked like in those years ago but now, he wondered if he was close to finding out with how things were going.

~

Livia stood at her job dusting one of the large carpets.

The word around the castle was that a secret lover of Prince Elliot's was being sneaked into the Palace by the queen.

The story tickled her. It was one of the most ridiculous things she had ever heard.

Prince Elliot definitely seemed like a man capable of courting a lover in secret. He was too quiet and did not enjoy displays of his activities but the thought of him having a lover whilst being engaged to another was absolutely preposterous.

Livia knew this and she knew the rest of the gossip-spreaders did as well.

It was so rare, however, to find anything on the mysterious Prince at all that this sensational tidbit was spiraling out of control.

She knew that most nobles had heard the story as well and curiosity was sweeping over the Capital.

It was true that Livia wanted to know the truth as well but she knew waiting was a good idea.

She had someone else she had to concentrate on.

A certain philandering prince and his new fiancée were her target.

The contacts she had received so far seemed promising.

All she had to do was work her way into the households of the Everglowers and the Waldorfs and she would be able to gather intelligence on the affair the gorgeous Aldith had with the old noble.

News of such a scandal would, no doubt, have even the queen looking into the matter.

All Livia wanted was to cause a stir in the life of the prince and his haughty lady.

~

Xyla stepped down into the large hallway.

She had left Blythe with Eva and Megraye and had decided to wait outside the dining hall for the Prince.

She hoped she wouldn't meet Elliot.

He had seemed very annoyed the last time she'd seen him and she did not like having to keep things from him that she knew.

Meeting him would cause her to have to speak of things other than what he wanted to know and Xyla realized she had never had to hold information from her friend before.

She sighed as she stood beside a long pillar.

He had seemed so obliging lately.

In all of her years as his friend, she had never thought he'd be so quick to convince into getting engaged to a girl he'd never met.

He'd agreed in an instant when his mother had asked.

Xyla sighed again.

That was the odd thing with Elliot. Even Augustus didn't know him completely well with all the time they spent together.

Xyla knew that if Augustus was not the crown prince, most ladies would fawn over the second prince.

Augustus' charm was unmatched but Elliot had an air of mystery around him that kept most everyone away.

Xyla wondered how Aldith Everglower could have given it away in a minute to choose Cecil.

It made little sense.

The flower bestowing the power of healing to Cecil did not mean much given that there were four more actual tests and gaining the ability of healing did not necessarily or in any strict term indicate that the person receiving such ability should be crowned king.

Aldith was foolish, Xyla decided her eyebrows frowned in annoyance at the thought of the girl who had dropped Elliot to choose Cecil.

Xyla felt her skin prickle with anger at the thought of the audacity of the two.

They had announced their wedding to be on the same day as the one scheduled for Elliot and Aldith. It was, Cecil had declared, to make Elliot suffer for not treating Aldith the right way. The nobility in attendance would be told that a better man was marrying Aldith.

Her head began to throb thinking of the events that had happened that day.

Cecil had walked into Xyla Riverlove's father's workplace and demanded her father speak to his daughter about the affair she had had with Elliot although knowing of his engagement to Aldith.

There had been a disturbance caused.

Xyla had been mortified but quite a few had come up to point out that the two had hardly met since Sir Waldorf's funeral save the event of the flower.

Cecil had, idiotically, gone on and on while ignoring the many sensible people who spoke trying to convince him.

Xyla had walked into the room shamefully when Cecil had refused to leave and had stood silently while the youngest prince had thrown all sorts of insults at her; insults that stung since she was one of the only nobles who adhered to following the king's wishes and avoiding scandals of any sort.

The silence from the Palace on the matter had hurt the most.

It wasn't until the Riverloves had been informed about the many other things Cecil and Aldith had done at the court that the noble family had realized that the royals had not acted to reach out and apologize since they had so much more damage to control back at home.