“Living at the palace?” Darius repeated, and then actually blushed. “Oh, right, right! Then, I say, why not have dozens? Boys and girls.”
“Perhaps not dozens,” I said. “If I am to bear them all.”
Darius looked, for a moment, even more abashed, and then he offered me a smile of breathtaking sweetness. “Then we will have just as many as you desire,” he said, reaching out to take my hand.
I wondered if I was the only one in the room who realized, at that moment, that Darius would never be my husband—or if I was the only one who had not realized it until right now.
Gisele made sure the silence did not become awkward. “And you?” she asked Harwin. “Have you given any thought to your own progeny?”
“I have,” he said in his serious way. “I am certain I would welcome any child born to me and a wife I love. And if I am privileged enough to have a daughter, I will fight to give her the same advantages any son of mine might have, and I will not allow her to be placed in any situation that stifled or abused her.”
“Now, there’s the kind of man I wish my own father was,” Gisele said with a sigh. “Or my own husband.”
I had to admit, I was thinking the same thing.
Dannette poked Darius with her foot again. “So how long must we stay here to appease our grandmother?” she asked. “A day? A week? A month?”
He looked as if he hadn’t given the matter a moment’s thought. “Must we stay? Don’t you think we could leave in the morning?”
All of us cried out against that—not because we had any particular desire to linger, but because none of us, even Dannette, could bear the idea of depriving Arantha so soon of the joy of Darius’s company.
“A week, then, I suppose,” Darius said glumly. I wondered if it was the thought of staying put here, or merely of staying put, that made him despondent.
“And then what?” Harwin asked. “Would you travel on to visit nearby sights and cities? Or would you return straightaway to the palace and begin planning your nuptials?”
There was a small blank space of silence, and then, almost in unison, Darius and I said, “Travel on.”
“We are not far from the coast,” Dannette said to me. “If you’ve never seen the ocean, you will find some magnificent views.”
“I would like to make my way to a harbor town,” Gisele said. From the matching looks Harwin and Dannette wore, I knew both of them realized why Gisele was interested in such a destination.
But Darius hadn’t noticed. He said, “My grandmother asked if we were planning to visit Kannerly, since we’re so close.”
Harwin and Gisele exchanged significant glances. “No,” Gisele said tightly.
“What’s Kannerly?” Dannette asked.
I was frowning. “One of my father’s properties,” I said. “He goes there three or four times a year.”
Dannette looked at me. “But you’ve never been?” When I shook my head, she transferred her thoughtful gaze to Gisele’s face. “I wonder why.”
“If you’re to inherit the estate, shouldn’t you at least know what it looks like?” Darius said.
“I don’t think Olivia would find it a very—welcoming—place,” Gisele said. She was still staring at Harwin, who wore an unreadable expression.
“She’ll have to visit it sometime,” he said.
If they were going to be all mysterious, I had better find out what secrets lay at the heart of Kannerly. “I say we should go there now,” I said firmly. “Just as soon as we can get clear of here.”
Gisele wrenched her gaze from Harwin and said, “Olivia, I truly do not think you will enjoy the journey.”
“A princess has many duties she does not enjoy,” I said loftily. “But that does not mean she should shy away from them. We’ll go to Kannerly when we travel on.”
7
The Cursed Destination
As it happened, we did not stay a full week at Arantha’s house. All of us were restless by the end of the second day, and Darius himself was like a caged hunting cat who had been deprived of too many meals. I enjoyed the chance to sleep in private, bathe in luxury, and spend the days in idleness, but soon enough even I was longing to be on my way. So four days after we arrived, we packed our bags, bid our hostess farewell, and set out again.
Another day and a half of travel took us to Kannerly, where my life changed.
It was a smallish property, accessed off a narrow road devoid of any ornamental planting or fencing. In fact, the ground on either side of the drive was tangled with unkempt vegetation—low shrubs, tall weeds, and the occasional oak standing surprised and doleful on the overgrown land.
The manor house itself was squat and narrow, built of yellow stone that had molded over to black along the foundation. It was smaller than some of the outbuildings that fanned out behind it—what looked like a couple of enormous stables, constructed of weathered wood, and a few storage sheds. I saw three circular arenas, heavily fenced, and a huge pile of mounded debris. Something was giving off an unpleasant smell, heavy and meaty and foul, but I could catch only the occasional whiff as the wind shifted—and as we grew closer.
From some distance out we could catch the ceaseless cacophony of many dogs.
I happened to be riding in the wagon with Darius for this leg of the journey. I looked at him with a questioning expression that in no way mirrored the trepidation that had coiled in my stomach. I could not have said what, exactly, but something at Kannerly was very wrong.
Darius was looking about him with a small frown weighing down his cheerful features. “Strange sort of place,” he said in a hesitant voice. “It feels—off—somehow, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” I agreed. “I don’t like it.”
Harwin had circled back and now wheeled his rangy bay up beside the wagon. “There will be guards at the entrance,” he said. “I assume they’ll recognize your stepmother.”
“Harwin,” I started, but he spurred forward to say something to Gisele through the coach’s open window.
Another few minutes brought us to the gate, where four soldiers lounged, looking bored, though they all came to attention to inspect us. Gisele poked her head out and said in a colorless voice, “I have brought Princess Olivia and some companions to spend a day at Kannerly. We will travel on in the morning.”
The guard who seemed to be in charge studied her face for a moment, then glanced at me. Unimpressed, he waved us toward the gate. “Pull on through,” he said.
A footman and a butler awaited us on the exceedingly modest front porch, and two grooms raced up to take charge of the horses. The footman helped Gisele and Dannette out of the carriage, while the butler bowed to the queen.
“Majesty,” he said with an inflection of surprise.
“An unexpected detour on an unexpected trip,” Gisele said lightly. “Grayson, this is Princess Olivia, who has never had the honor of touring Kannerly. We will require five rooms for a night, dinner, and breakfast. We do not plan to stay past the morning meal.”
“Very good, majesty,” Grayson replied.
Just inside the door was a woman who looked less like a housekeeper and more like a tavern waitress, young and full-figured and sullen. She recognized Gisele, because she dropped an unwilling curtsy, but she neither knew nor cared who the rest of us were. In silence, we followed her through the house, which was clean enough, though not nearly to the proud standards of the palace. It was also rather bare—no portraits or tapestries on the walls, no rugs to soften the hard stone floors. I peered into a few rooms as we passed and saw nothing but dark leather furniture and heavy, blockish cabinets and tables.
The property seemed more like a hunting lodge than a family estate. The sort of place men would go without their womenfolk.