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stomach
fluttered, and she waved goodbye to him reluctantly.
     
    * * *
     
    After a long day, Grace returned to
her room, ready for bed. She’d spent the afternoon at the royal
banquet, seated by Prince William. Her friends and mother had been
ecstatic to hear about the trip, perhaps more than Grace. She
wasn’t sure how to feel. William was very handsome and charming,
but she felt like an impostor. She kept wondering if he actually
thought she was someone else, not Grace Ellengreen, the general’s
daughter.
    She kept thinking of Dar, too.
Comparing all William did to what Dar did. Wondering what Dar would
think about her on a trip with the prince.
    As a maidservant helped her with
her dress, she couldn’t help wondering about the man who warned her
at the tavern. When she was speaking with him, she’d wondered if he
was seeking her affection. Was it ridiculous to think that the
prince may have had something to do with it? How could Dar possibly
be dangerous? If it was just a ruse to get him away… now, she was
free of attachments, free for the prince to move in.
    She dismissed her maidservant and
pulled on her robe. She unwound her hair from its braid and started
to brush through it. A knock on the door interrupted her. She stood
to open the door, but it flung open before she reached
it.
    Her mother came in, a servant with
the royal emblem on his tunic following her. “The prince sent you a
gift!” She stopped in her tracks when she saw Grace. “Grace! Why
aren’t you wearing something proper?”
    “Why didn’t you wait for me to
open the door?” Grace said, closing her robe.
    Mother apologized to the servant
profusely, who shook his head and insisted it was all right. Grace
examined the package in the man’s hand—it was half his size, round,
covered with a canvas.
    “The prince sent you a gift!”
Mother beamed.
    The servant swept off the canvas to
reveal a birdcage. Grace gasped. A small blue and yellow bird
flitted around the cage, chirping as he saw light. It was the same
one she’d been looking at earlier when speaking with the prince.
“Oh, my goodness,” she breathed.
    “Prince William hopes you can
enjoy a new pet,” the servant said.
    “Oh, he’s beautiful,” Grace
exclaimed. “Let’s hang him by the window.”
    “It’s actually a female,
m’lady.”
    Mother called a servant from
downstairs, and they nailed a hook to the ceiling. The bird’s cage
hung next to the window. Grace poked her fingers through the bars,
and the bird pecked at her fingers.
    The servant held a pouch out for
Grace. “Prince William also sends birdseed.”
    She dropped some of the seed across
the bottom of the cage, staring at the small animal in awe. “Tell
the prince I’m so thankful.”
    “You must write him a letter,
Grace!” Mother said, tugging at Grace’s sleeve.
    It was the first letter Grace had
ever written to the prince. She wondered if she’d write him more.
The thought of a relationship with the prince made her stomach knot
up. She’d only just ended it with Dar—or more accurately, he’d
ended it with her. Those six months had been amazing, regardless of
their mysterious and abrupt end. She didn’t know if she could jump
into something with the prince. William was charming, though, and
she enjoyed herself around him.
    Father and Kyler came into the
room, also, to see the prince’s gift. “He must really like you,”
Kyler said, his eyes wide.
    “He’d be a fool not to,” Father
said.
    Mother grabbed Grace’s face and
kissed her on the cheek. “You blessed child! I’ll escort his royal
servant outside. Don’t go to sleep yet; I’ll be right
back.”
    Grace exchanged amused looks with
Kyler as their mother left. She’d probably keep Grace up for hours
giving her tips for the trip. Grace held back a yawn; she just
wanted to sleep. She glanced at Kyler and Father, about to ask them
to let her go to bed, when she had a thought. Her father had
visited Shyra only a couple weeks ago. He