“Here I am!”
“You don’t have to be,” I said, reflexively trying to close the door as Leticia wedged her foot in. “Also, you’re the crown princess. You shouldn’t be so casual when announcing yourself.”
“Why? I grew up here!”
Well. Yes. True.
Reluctantly, I opened the door for her. Leticia chuckled and said, “Thanks. Sneaking out was really hard. I’m beat.”
“You sneaked out again?”
Ah, yes. There was Leticia, sprawled out on the couch like she owned the place. Indeed, this was the same woman who had done exactly that not so long ago. The crown princess. My husband’s little sister. A bit of a loose cannon who slipped out of the palace on occasion, yet still performed her duties admirably and presented herself well in public. Around those she trusted, however, she was very much herself.
“Surely you didn’t climb a tree to jump over the wall again, right?” I asked.
“No, not today,” she said. “I lassoed the wall and climbed over it that way.”
What sort of crown princess behaved like this?! Oh. Right. This one. I could only imagine the hardships her guards must’ve faced, trying to keep up with her ever-evolving escape tactics day in, day out.
“At least send word in advance, Leticia,” said Nadir, who sat opposite her and next to me. He was quite used to her antics by now.
“Send word, you say,” she mused. “I’d love to try, like, a smoke signal. Think that’d work?”
“Obviously not!”
There was no way we’d have understood a smoke signal.
“Damn,” she mumbled. “What about a cipher?”
“How about you send a message like a normal, sane person?” Nadir snapped. “You’re going to fry Ben’s brain.”
Indeed, I recalled one such time, when Leticia had sent us a blank letter. It had sent Ben into a tizzy. As it turned out, the paper had needed to be heated for the writing to appear. I wished she’d stop doing such things.
I nodded in agreement with Nadir, and Leticia pouted in disappointment.
“So, what do you want today?” I asked, certain that it was something trivial. Leticia hesitated, rubbing her palms together.
“Uh, so, I might’ve, you know, upset someone,” she stammered. “Maybe.”
“Meaning you did something wrong,” said Nadir. I quickly nodded in agreement. “Go apologize.”
“Wow, you guys are so mean,” Leticia whined. “Making assumptions like this...”
“It’s true, though, isn’t it?” I asked.
The princess hung her head. “Um, so, my handmaiden, right, Maria? I had her, you know, swap outfits with me. Just for, like, fun.”
What were you thinking? I wanted to interject, but I stayed quiet and listened patiently.
“I got a little carried away, you see, and I helped with some of her duties,” Leticia continued. “And apparently, well, that was a problem.”
Seriously, what had she been thinking?
“And then I, um, got a bit too friendly with the soldiers, and now Lord Clarke is mad at me, and, um, can I hide here?” she said, trying to persuade us with a sheepish little chuckle.
“So, uh, about that...”
Nadir and I both looked behind Leticia, and the color quickly drained from her cheeks.
“Lettie,” came a familiar, low voice, causing Leticia to jump and turn around in a jarring motion, like a rusty tin puppet. “I never said you could casually hold hands with a soldier.”
“I, um, I just wanted to have a look at his sword,” she explained shakily. “I didn’t mean to touch hands...”
Prince Clarke scooped the fearful, white-as-a-sheet Leticia into his arms, and she let out a high-pitched squeak. “Thank you for looking after her,” he said.
I felt bad for her, but she’d dug her own grave here. We couldn’t help her.
Nadir and I nodded at each other as we watched the two leave. “That girl’s like a summer storm,” I mused.
“She is,” he concurred. “I do wish she’d stop trying to use our home as a refuge, though.”
We both scoffed lightly and returned to sipping our tea, which was now cold. Oh, the humanity.
“While on the topic,” Nadir said, looking over at me. “I don’t like it when other men touch you either. Even Ben.”
Right. Come to think of it, he’d reprimanded me for shaking hands with the butler. And Nadir, unlike the prince, didn’t openly show his displeasure, so even if I’d accidentally touched a man’s hand, he wouldn’t have chased me down like that. But he had reflexively forced our hands apart.
So that had been a sign of possessiveness! I hadn’t noticed at the time, but thinking about it now, I was quite pleased to realize I’d been on his mind the whole time.
“Noted,” I replied with a smile. Content, Nadir returned it with a smile of his own.
Still, I did wish he’d show a bit more jealousy.