Astoria

f i f t e e n

Antony knocked again, slightly impatient. He was starting to acquire a headache, and had just managed to get Therese to go to her rooms for a while to familiarize herself with them for the simple reason that he could no longer take her company and found himself in a hurry to escape her.

Finally, the door opened.

"Oh, Antony!" His cousin took note of his irritation and then nodded gravely. "I see you've spoken to mother."

"Only for the entire breakfast, an entire castle tour that she begged from Fulton, the duration of lunch, and two hours afterwards in the library."

"I really am very grateful that you've distracted her for all this time, Antony," she said, hugging him. She pulled back and smiled. "I'll go face her now. I'll let her know I have a new lady's maid: a companion. That should make her happy. She's always wanted me to have one."

"With the mood she's in today, the only thing that will impress her is if that companion is of the male gender, with a large fortune and no wife," said Antony, drearily. "Good luck."

Isabella sighed and left the room, making her way obediently down the hall and towards her mother's rooms.

With a brief nod at the brunette girl who had appeared inside the parlor, curious, to watch Isabella leave, Antony also left, making his way out of the castle to the stables.

Meredith wished she had paid closer attention to the prince, but she had only caught a glimpse of him, a nod, and then he was gone. Isabella's cousin, soon-to-be-king, and all she had managed to notice from the brief glance through the half-closed door was that he had grown rather taller than she had expected.

She soon forgot about him, or anything else but what was before her. She held the silken fabric to her face and ran it over her cheek, marveling in its softness. She had bolts of the silken fabric in a soft, petal pink. There were swatches of tulle in the same color, and a white bow. It was all more beautiful than anything she had ever had in...years.

And she was going to a party.

The increased amount of free time she was going to have would enable her to visit Evan more often as well.

She pulled her new cloak off the hook and fastened it, deciding that there was no better time than the present. Evan needed to know about her new job anyways.

She looked at herself in the mirror, and put a hand to the pearls that he had bought for her.

Don't worry Evan, Mother. I won't let them change me.

Meredith arrived at the stable moments later and inquired about Evan's location from the supervisor. Apparently, her elevation in servant status had not gone unnoticed among the staff. Like any army, the news of one of their own traveled quickly among the army of staff at King's Palace.

When she arrived outside the stall Evan was cleaning, she wrinkled her nose slightly at the smell of manure, but leaned against the door and greeted him.

"Hello, Evan," she said.

He turned to look at her, his eyes a bit guarded.

"Meredith."

She knew he must have heard, and must be upset. She sighed.

"I took the job because it paid three times as much. It's more than I've ever been able to have to send home."

She felt guilty for leaving out the information that she had become friends with Isabella.

Evan regarded her carefully, before sighing and nodding.

"Of course you did, Mer. You always do whatever you can for Mother and the younger children. I should know that. I shouldn't be worrying myself about you."

Meredith nodded, the guilty feeling in her gut increasing slightly. Why should one ever have to lie about who one's friends are? But she didn't want to lose Evan.

"It's alright, Evan," she said, forcing her voice to stay calm. "I would have felt the same way if you had suddenly been appointed the Prince's personal valet."

He smiled a bit, then went back to spreading fresh hay on the stall floor.

"I'm sorry I was even at all suspicious of your reasons, Mer," he added.

This was too much.

She nodded, forced a smile, then...

"I've got to go," she hedged.

He nodded, and gave her a little wave.

She walked down the aisle between the stalls, her steps quickening, until she was fleeing from the stable, mumbling an apology when her path collided with something solid- someone- right outside the door. Tears blurred her eyes and she hurried back into the castles and back into the solace of her own rooms, where she hung up her cloak and flung herself on her bed, crying.

Oh, why didn't she just tell Evan the truth? That not all members of the House of Westerholme were terrible. That she had made a friend?

Antony had turned around after the girl, her hood pulled low over her face and her head down, had run straight into him on her way out of the stables. A small flash of anger...and then he reminded himself that it was simply his frustrations with Aunt Therese that were making him so irritable. It had merely been an accident.