The Ring and the Crown (The Ring and the Crown 1)

Marie smiled at them benevolently. She, too, loved the London Season. As a child, she had been enamored of the glamour and magnificence of the legendary Bal du Drap d’Or. During her debut year, she had not taken a particular affinity to any of the young men who had come courting, and had been thankful her mother had not pushed her to marry any of them. But the time had come now, and the whole city was buzzing with her prospective engagement. The ladies were all gossiping, talking about her as if she weren’t there.

When she felt she had stayed long enough to be polite, she excused herself from their company. She went through the elaborate bowing and curtsying ritual with the queen, and was about to take her leave for the evening when her mother stopped her.

“Marie,” Eleanor said, and her face was hesitant.

“Yes, Mother?” Then she noticed her mother was close to tears; her eyes were shining.

“I just want you to know that I am very proud of you, my girl,” Eleanor said, her voice trembling. “I know you think I am hard on you, but it is only because I need to prepare you for your future—for the day when you will reign with your husband over our people.”

Marie started. Her mother had never spoken to her like this before. She felt a wave of tenderness for her. If only Eleanor showed her true face to her more often…if only she allowed her daughter into her intimate conversations, into her plans with the Merlin. But it was almost too late.

She bowed and said good night, and the queen dismissed her. Finally, she was alone in the corridor with Gill, who was to walk her back to her rooms.

“Thank God that’s done,” she said, stomping down the hallway. She shook her hair out of its tight braids as if she were shaking Leo out of her life. “If he tells me again how my eyes look like starlight, I swear I am going to have him hexed,” she muttered.

“He could be sincere, you know,” Gill said, giving her a sidelong glance. “You’re far too hard on the chap. Don’t give him an inch. You’re much nicer to his brother.”

“Wolf is my friend. Leo’s a fraud, and you know it,” she said. “I’m not a fool, Gill. I know love when I see it.”

There was a strange silence. She noticed he did not say anything, but instead blushed to the roots of his fair hair. She felt her heart ache painfully at that moment. But no. Gill had always treated her as a friend, nothing more…had never given her any hope that he returned her feelings. He couldn’t even hold her properly when they had practiced the Lovers’ Waltz the other day.

They arrived at her apartments. He held the door open for her.

“Don’t you want to come in, for a change?” she asked. “And have tea, and read stories, as usual? I miss you, you know. You told me we would always be friends.…” She tried not to sound whiny, and failed.

His open face crumpled. “I would like nothing more, Princess. Especially since…” He shook his head.

She was alarmed by the morose tone in his voice. “Especially since what?”

“After the ball, when you are formally engaged to the prince…I have been told I will no longer be needed at your service.”

“No longer needed? Why?” she asked.

“You will be the responsibility of the Prussian court, and their soldiers will be in charge of your protection.”

“What on earth? Are they insane? You’re part of the Queen’s Guard! Does Mama know?”

“Yes. I gather she and the Merlin don’t like it too much, but the Prussians will be offended if they are rebuffed in this matter. They are quite insistent upon it.”

“But this is still my home—and the Queen’s Guard is our tradition—they cannot do this!”

“My captain tells me that it is a sign of faith. Of peace between the two nations.”

“Gill—”

“Don’t fear. I don’t think the queen would agree to it unless she and the Merlin knew your safety was secure.”

“So after next week, I shall never see you again?”

“Surely not?” He smiled. “I will visit the palace sometimes, and you can wave to me from the royal carriage.”

How could he be so casual about their coming separation? Why were they taking him away from her? Then she realized. It was because they knew how she felt about him. They had noticed that she had been gloomy for weeks. Hardly acting like a girl in love, she was the only girl in the kingdom who did not find Prince Leopold the most fetching prince of all time.

Leopold had said something very pointed the day of his arrival. You seem very attached to your guard. The Prussians were worried about scandal, the same scandal that had haunted their very own queen—a royal queen and her loyal guard, fanning the subsequent rumors about a bastard son. They had determined the secret recesses of her heart, even if she herself had never told the boy who held it what she felt for him.

It was Gill’s turn to bow. “Good night, Marie. See you around, eh?”

But Marie would not let him go so easily. She had to say something she had kept from him for so long. She had to be brave: she had to speak her mind and her heart. “Gill, listen, they know how I feel about you,” she said. “And so they want to take you away.”