The Wide-Awake Princess (12 page)

“So the next contest is horse back riding?” said Annie. “But none of those horses are saddled. Most princesses ride sidesaddle.”

Maud leaned close enough to whisper into Annie’s ear. “Prince Andreas wants a wife who can keep up with him, no matter what.”

A princess with dark brown ringlets lurched onto
her horse’s back and grabbed hold of its mane instead of the reins. “I see,” said Annie, thinking that she might have a chance after all.

“It seems they’ve found a horse for you to ride,” Liam said, gesturing toward the clearing.

Annie was pleased to see that they had brought her a pretty little palomino mare with a dance to her step. She had learned to appreciate horses from her friends in the stables and knew a good horse when she saw one. Leaving Liam with Maud, Annie crossed the grassy meadow. After taking a moment to pat the mare’s neck, Annie let the groom give her a hand up, deftly climbing onto the horse’s back. Taking the reins from his hands, she turned the horse toward where Prince Andreas was waiting. Some of the princesses were already there, facing the prince in a straggly row, but it took a few more minutes and the help of their grooms before the rest of the contestants joined them.

“I’d like you all to meet Princess Annabelle, who will be joining our contest,” the prince said when everyone was ready. “I’m sure you’ll all do your utmost to make her welcome.” The six princesses turned and gave her nasty looks, but the prince didn’t seem to notice. “The rules of this contest are simple,” he continued. “We will race around this field until I decide it’s time to stop. Whoever can keep up with me wins. Any questions? Yes, Princess Daphne?”

“This horse doesn’t like me,” said the princess with
the dark brown curls. “Would it be possible to get a different one?”

“I want the one she’s on,” said Sarinda, pointing at Annie. “That horse is better behaved. It isn’t fair that she gets the good one when she just got here.”

“Now, now, ladies, these horses are all well behaved or they wouldn’t be in my stable. If there aren’t any
real
questions... Good. When Lord Penbroken counts to three, we start.” Raising his hand, the prince gave a signal.

“One, two, three!” shouted Lord Penbroken.

Prince Andreas’s horse took off like a shot, leaving the other horses to snort at the dust cloud he’d left behind. Princess Sarinda kicked her horse, which reared, dumping her on the ground. Daphne patted her horse and asked it to move, but it refused to budge. While two other princesses milled around, trying to get their horses to go where they wanted them to, Annie and a princess in a lavender gown raced down the field after the prince.

Annie loved the sense of freedom riding bareback gave her. She’d often gone out into the fields where the horses were pastured, thrown a rope around a horse’s neck, and raced with the stable boys until it was time for them to return to work, and she to her duties as a princess. Annie had won more often than not, although she hadn’t had the time to do it of late. Now, racing with Prince Andreas, she let herself go in a way she never would have with anyone but her friends. It was fun, it
was exhilarating, and she hoped he wouldn’t tire of it soon and declare that it was over.

She was laughing from excitement, her hair whipping in the wind behind her, when the princess in lavender screamed and galloped past straight into the woods instead of following the curve of the field. “Princess Clotilde!” shouted a rider stationed at the edge of the woods. Seeing that the rider was already trying to stop the runaway horse, Annie urged her horse to go faster in an effort to catch up with Andreas. The prince turned his head to look back, grinning when he saw that Annie was gaining ground.

Together, Annie and Prince Andreas raced around the field once, twice, three times. Although Annie could have passed him, she remembered that Maud had said the prince wanted a princess who could keep up with him, which wasn’t at all the same as saying that he wanted one who could beat him. The palomino mare wanted to run faster, but Annie held her back, giving her a silent apology.

After two more circuits around the field, Andreas held up his hand and slowed his horse to a walk. They returned to Lord Penbroken amid the cheers and applause of the watching crowd, but Annie noticed that none of the other princesses had waited for the end of the race and had already returned to the castle. While Lord Penbroken announced that Princess Annabelle of Treecrest was the winner of the contest, Andreas slipped
from his horse and crossed to Annie’s, where he offered to help her down.

“Very nicely done,” said the prince, and kissed the back of her hand.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” said Annie, curtseying. She couldn’t help adding, “It was fun!” which earned her a guffaw from the prince.

“I’ll see you at the ball tonight.”

Annie looked dismayed. “There’s a ball? But I don’t have a gown to wear.”

“Don’t worry about that,” said Prince Andreas. “Once my mother hears that you won this contest, she’ll make sure you have twenty gowns to choose from!”

ANNIE WAS SHOWN TO A ROOM where she could freshen up. There she found a selection of gowns and a stern-looking lady-in-waiting named Lady Hillary. A long, narrow, hot water–filled wash tub awaited her as well. This alone was a luxury she hadn’t hoped to find, but she was even happier when she discovered a piece of soap that smelled of violets.

Before Annie handed her dirty clothes to Lady Hillary, she made the older woman promise that they would be washed and hung in front of a fire to dry so they’d be ready for her to wear after the ball. The lady-in-waiting bundled up the soiled clothes while Annie slipped into the tub and sighed as the heat drew the ache from her muscles. She took her time washing her hair and body with the violet soap, reveling in the scent of flowers and the feeling of finally being clean again.

Annie was putting on a cream-colored gown
embroidered with violets when she thought to ask the lady-in-waiting for something to eat. To her surprise, Lady Hillary shook her head and said, “I wouldn’t advise it. You’ll be dining after the dance. It wouldn’t hurt you to wait until then. I wouldn’t suggest eating right before you engage in vigorous exercise.”

“What kind of dance is it?” Annie asked. “Is it part of the contest?”

“I can’t say,” Lady Hillary replied in a way that Annie took to mean yes.

Annie nodded. “I see. Then I want to look my very best. Do you think you could find me some violets for my hair?”

For the first time since they met, the woman smiled. “I’m sure I can find something,” she said, and hurried out of the room.

Annie sank back into the warm water and sighed. She hadn’t seen Liam since the race, but she found herself wishing that she could talk to him. It occurred to her that it was odd, not just because he was a guard, but because she liked how open and honest he was with her, and how he treated her like an equal, which was the very thing her family would have hated about him.

She was still thinking about Liam when the lady-in-waiting returned with a nosegay of violets and the news that the ball would be starting soon. After tucking the flowers in Annie’s hair, Lady Hillary escorted her through
the castle to the Great Hall, where she left her with the other princesses.

“Look who’s here,” said the princess named Sarinda. The musicians were playing soft music as more people entered the room, but even so she had to speak up to be heard. “It’s the princess from... Where did you claim to be from?”

“Treecrest,” said Annie, pretending that the other girls weren’t looking at her as if they’d like to poison her food.

“The princess from Treecrest is reputed to be very beautiful,” said Daphne. “You can’t possibly be her. You’re not beautiful, or even pretty.”

Annie kept a bright smile plastered on her face. No matter how often she’d been spoken to like this, she’d never gotten used to it. “You’re talking about my sister, Gwendolyn. She’s the most beautiful princess in the world, present company included.”

Daphne turned to the other princesses. “It’s no wonder she entered the contest. Ordinarily no prince would ever notice her. Andreas’s contest is unique in that it has nothing to do with beauty.”

“Not so far,” Sarinda said. “We don’t know what the rest of the contests will be.” She turned to Annie and told her in an icy voice, “Don’t assume you’re going to win the prince just because you won that stupid riding contest.”

Daphne sighed. “I wish they would tell us what the contests will be so we could prepare.”

“That’s probably why they haven’t,” said Sarinda.

“Actually—,” Annie began.

“Shh!” Daphne said. “Prince Andreas approaches!”

Annie smiled to herself as the other princesses began to pat their hair and straighten their gowns.

“Your Highnesses,” said the prince, bowing to them all.

“You look very handsome, Your Grace,” said Sarinda.

“And you all look lovely,” he replied. “Princess Daphne, I believe this is our dance.”

Even as Prince Andreas led Daphne to the middle of the room, Annie knew it wasn’t going to be a traditional kind of dance. Most dances were done in lines with multiple couples, but no one else made a move to join them. Annie laughed to herself when the music began and she saw the surprised look on the princess’s face. Daphne’s expression turned to one of dismay when the prince put one hand on her back and took her hand with the other. Andreas pushed and pulled the princess around the room, roughly in time with the music. Within the first few minutes, he stepped on Daphne’s feet, shoved her so fast that she nearly tripped, and twirled her until she looked ill. It wasn’t until he twirled her into a wall with a loud thud and she walked away rubbing her head that she finally asked to sit down. Instead of looking sorry, the prince looked smug.

Princess Clotilde was his next partner. The music
was a lively country jig, one that Annie knew well, but the princess acted as if she’d never heard it. Although she tried to follow Andreas’s steps, he moved too quickly and she was unable to avoid his feet when he stomped on her dainty slippers. The second time he stepped on her foot, she excused herself and hobbled to the side of the room.

Andreas whispered into the ear of his next partner as they danced. Annie could see the princess becoming more and more uncomfortable. Her eyes grew wide as he talked, and she blushed a deep shade of pink almost as vivid as her flame-colored hair. The prince seemed to be enjoying himself, however, and he smiled broadly when she abruptly let go of his hand, slapped his face, and ran from the Hall. Whatever he had said to that princess, Annie resolved that she would take the conversation in a different direction.

When Andreas raised his hand to stop the music, Annie followed him to the table set up against the wall. There was an odd assortment of food, with bowls of garlic cloves and small red onions placed beside dainty pastries and sweetmeats. Annie hadn’t eaten since she shared the vendor’s meat pie with Liam, and would have loved to have helped herself, but she watched when Andreas took a handful of small onions and garlic cloves and ate them as if they were candy. No one was watching when Annie popped garlic and onions into her mouth, too.

The music was just beginning when Annie returned
to watch Prince Andreas. He didn’t even have to talk to his next partner before she made a terrible face—one whiff of his breath was enough. His wild steps and oniony garlic breath soon had her looking queasy and running from the Hall.

Annie thought the whole thing was funny and was laughing behind her hand when she noticed the last two princesses glaring at her. “Why are you laughing?” asked Sarinda. “You won’t do any better than they have.”

“We’ll see,” said Annie as Prince Andreas came to claim a partner.

The next piece of music was another lively one. The prince twirled his partner around and around until she was so dizzy that she couldn’t stand, and collapsed in a heap when he let go of her hand.

“I’m the best dancer in my kingdom,” Sarinda muttered under her breath, “but I can’t dance like that! He isn’t really dancing. He’s playing some silly game.”

“Exactly,” said Annie as the prince escorted Sarinda onto the dance floor. “And the winner will be the one who plays along.”

The prince’s dancing was even wilder with Sarinda than it had been with the others. She didn’t fall when he twirled her, and skipped nimbly aside when he tried to stomp on her feet, but when he danced her toward the raised dais at the end of the Hall and hopped up the two steps onto it, she faltered and nearly let go of his hand. Her face was flushed when she hopped up beside him—
then up, down, up, down... She tried to follow him as he hopped on and off the dais, but when he finally hopped down and started to dance across the floor again, her legs were so wobbly that they couldn’t hold her, and she staggered into a courtier watching from the side, nearly knocking him down.

The music started up again as Prince Andreas took Annie’s hand. It was a piece that had been played earlier, so Annie was ready when he tried to twirl her into the wall; she jumped out of the way so that he nearly bumped into it himself. When he tried to stomp on her feet, she skipped aside. Annie thought that she might have won when the first dance ended and she was still on her feet, but Prince Andreas wasn’t finished yet.