Ladies, Lords, & Liars

Chapter Seven: The Girl in the Garden

   Aeric finally decided to give up on getting any sleep at all when he realized that he could see the faintest grey glow coming from behind the heavy curtains that hung over every window. It was morning, and he had only dozed off once before waking up again throughout the entire course of the night.

   He got dressed in the most casual thing he could find in the ample wardrobe that had been provided, and went out into the sitting room.

   He was surprised to find that tea had been delivered to his room, and it was still hot, which meant that it had been placed there recently. How had he missed that? And how did they know he would wake at that particular moment?

   He shook off his questions and sat down to slowly enjoy a cup of steaming tea and one of the tiny, berry-filled biscuits that came on a platter next to the teapot.

   The curtains in the sitting room were drawn back, and the light coming through slowly became brighter as the hour passed. He could see the balcony railing through the window, and decided to finish his tea outside.

   He got up and went through the balcony door, and into the open air. The sun hadn't risen quite far enough to warm the night chill out of the air yet, but it was far enough into the sky for the view to be fully bathed in light.

   He was at a vantage point where he could barely see a slice of the kingdom below, and most of his view was of the massive mountain cliff that encompassed the back of the palace. Directly downwards was a garden, which gave him the start of an idea.

   He would take a stroll before breakfast to clear his head. It might help him wake up, as well. He felt fully and painfully the fact that he hadn't gotten a single wink of sleep the night before, and it was sure to make him more prone to messing up his ruse. And he by no means intended to mess up now.

   He finished his tea and set the cup back on the platter that it had come on, then he went into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face in an attempt to wake himself up. He could certainly use all the help he could get, after all.

   He left his room and found himself in the entrance hall almost by default. Was he supposed to open those huge doors on his own? Would they even lead to the garden anyway?

   He peeked through a couple of the other doors lining one side of the hall and discovered several sitting rooms, a tiny room lined with bookshelves that might have been a library, a study, and though the last door, a greenhouse. He'd been in a greenhouse only once before, and this one had the same muggy, warm feeling that the other one had had.

   But what excited him about the room wasn't the many strange plants, or the exotic blooming flowers, but the door on the wall opposite the great hall. It had to lead outside, and most likely into a garden, if the contents of the room itself were any indication.

   He had a way out that he wouldn't have to ask someone to get to. He sighed in relief and rushed through the greenhouse and out the door.

  Just as he'd hoped, the sight of hedges, trees, and endless beds of flowers greeted him. Everything was just as he might expect a palace garden to be. It was all manicured perfectly, and every bush and flower was trimmed just so.

   It felt a bit unnatural that nothing had a single imperfection, but it was still a garden, and it was certainly outside. He could feel himself relax. He hadn't even realized he'd been tensing his shoulders until they went slack. He took a deep breath and started walking.

   He thought about the night before, and the dinner he'd shared with the king and queen. So far, everything seemed so... informal. He'd had thoughts in his mind of strict social rules that he would have to fumble over, and endless do's and don'ts he would have to memorize, but so far, he'd made many things he would have assumed to be mistakes, and no one had said a word. Maybe it had to do with the lack of any other important visitors.

   He turned a corner and tripped over something in the walkway, falling too hard and too fast to notice what it was before he was flat on his face.

   He sat there for a second before he pushed himself onto his knees and twisted around to figure out what, exactly, he'd tripped over. But what he saw was the last thing he ever would have expected.

   It was a person- a gardener girl to be exact. She was kneeling in front of a bed of tulips, trimming off dead pieces, and plucking out any unwelcome weeds. Her hands were bare but so filthy that he thought she was wearing gloves at first glance.

   Her hair was a complete mess, frizzing out every which way and falling in her face. And it was the curliest hair that he'd ever seen in his life.

   He was shocked into silence. Shocked yes, but his brain was also numb and probably fried from the lack of sleep.

   "Please forgive me, your highness." She inclined her head instead of curtsying, as she clearly couldn't do the latter in her position. He couldn't help but realize that she didn't add the "royal" in between your and highness.

   She stood up, and he noticed for the first time that she was wearing trousers. It shocked him for just a moment until he realized that doing garden work of any kind would be dreadfully difficult in a skirt.

   Then she shocked him yet again by offering him a hand, and when he realized that it was intended to help him to his feet, he remembered for the first time that he was still sitting unceremoniously on the garden path—definitely not a princely thing to do.

   He took her hand, ignoring the fact that it was caked with dirt, and she pulled him up, only for him to just stand there and stare at her, completely at a loss for what he might say in such a situation.

   "Are you feeling well?" she tilted her head ever-so-slightly and brushed away a strand of hair that had been blocking her eyes. He noticed now that they were the same sort of color as her frizzy hair. A muddy, brownish hue that was neither light nor dark, and almost fell into the same category as grey.

   "I didn't get much sleep last night." He blinked away his stupor and shook his head, trying his best to slip back into his persona.

   "You should go back to your room and try to take a nap. I'm sure they won't mind it if you missed breakfast, as you met them last night at dinner."

   "But I was to meet the princess, according to the queen." Even the thought made him sick, but he should act eager, if anything. After all, if he was truly playing the part of a foreign prince, then that would be one of the sole reasons for visiting. To court the princess.

   For whatever reason, what he said must have been wrong in some way, because her face twisted into a grimace for the shortest of moments before returning to normal. "Of course, how could I forget?"

   "Is there something wrong with the princess? Do you know why she missed dinner last night?" he tried to sound as nonchalant as he could, but he wasn't quite sure that he did a good job. Why should this gardener, who couldn't have much of any interactions with the princess, wince at just one mention of the girl?

   "I haven't the slightest." The girl shrugged. "But I should get back to work, and you should try and get some sleep."

   "Yeah, I guess it's goodbye, then." He sighed.

   She made a faint grunt of acknowledgment before turning back to her garden bed and crouching in front of it again, resuming what she'd been doing before he'd blundered into her.

   He turned and went back the way he'd come, finding his way rather easily, despite not having a clue which route he'd actually taken.

    It wasn't very hard to choose his path when the palace loomed so hugely above him, reminding him by the second of which direction he should head.