Plot Pieces

Princess and Pauper

Princess and Pauper

Possible excert from Ragged Royals: Valerie

Val had never felt more frustrated in her entire life. 

She couldn't remember agreeing to being poked and prodded for hours at a time as the so called Tutors educated her on how to behave properly. 

"If anyone suspects that you are anything other that what you claim to be then, the advisors will never agree to your union with Crowned Prince Edward."

Their words taunted her, and they constantly reminded her of the past. But it also reminded her that the man she had fallen for, the man who had fought so hard to be with her, the man who had comforted her through untold despair, was the future King of Alminia.

She kicked at the dirt beneath her silk covered feet and continued to stomp her way through the woods that surrounded her study. The Advisors had agreed, after Edward's threat to abdicate, to the union between the Crowned Prince and a mere cook. 

That agreement had felt so long ago.

They demanded that her upbringing, and her past remain a secret, not that there was anything for her to go back to. 

Val continued to stomp her way through the wood and was suddenly surprised by quickly she arrived at the main road. 

The study that the Advisors had locked her away in was nearly twenty furlongs from the main road. They placed her there as a last resort. If the Crowned Prince could remain unswayed by the Alminian gentry and still insist on marring her after the courting season ended, then they would be married at the end of August. 

Until then Valerie Hodge had to put all of her effort into learning how to appear to be a member of Society.

In her opinion she had done a rather decent job with maintaining her sanity, but she refused to be used as a pincushion. 

"What do we have here?" She heard a sickening sweet voice call out from in front of her.

Valerie looked up in startled and noticed that the voice that had spoken, was not alone. Two men sat confidently a top their horses in front of her. She could see from the look in their eyes that they did not have honorable intentions. 

Her heart dropped. Val knew that she didn't have the strength to fight the two men off on her own. Fear started to creep into her being. She contemplated her chances of fleeing, but then silently cursed the magnificently restrictive attire that she was recently stuffed into.

"It's mighty convenient that we found you ma' Lady." The first man's voice felt like a snake slithering across her skin. 

"Yes, You never know who you might run into in these woods." Snickered the other one, "There are sure to be robbers and bandits hiding everywhere."

Val wanted to retreat but her feet had become rooted in place.

She prepared mentally for what might happen to her, and took a deep breath as their horses inched forward.

"Lady Anne?" The voice of young woman called out from near by. "Lady Anne did you head this way?"

Her two assailants seemed happy to wait to see it the owner of the voice to discover them. "Lady Anne?" She called again, as she walked up from behind her.

Valerie wasn't sure who Lady Anne was, but from the gleam in the eyes of two horsemen she understood that the young serving girl that was searching for her mistress might be sharing Valerie's fate with her.

"There you are Lady Anne." The voice called happily as a small pale hand clasped tightly a hold of her's and tightly tugged her away from the two men that loomed before her.