too much in Eben’s discomfort. He was only a couple of years older than Lily and the closest thing they’d ever had to a brother. But he was still a royal guard.
With all the girls crowded into the secluded walkway, Lily had no worries about being seen. Gwen and Mara had them re-gowned in a matter of minutes, while the other girls stood around being poofy.
Lily sat next to Ivy and pulled on the green slippers.
“Azure!” Gwen said. “Your hands are yellow!”
Azure shrugged. “I wanted a golden goose.”
“You wanted—” Gwen shook her head. “Never mind. Here, put on my gloves.”
“They’re too big.”
“Better too big than too yellow.”
Azure’s diversions rarely surprised Lily anymore. And she’d already heard about the attempt to dye a goose. According to Melantha, the goose boy had been more amused than anything, and he’d even offered his help.
Lily stood and stretched her arms out. “Will this please Mother?”
“You look nice in green,” Junia said.
Melantha’s shriek and a splash brought Eben rushing back into the tunnel. His gaze found Lily first, and she laughed at the effort he put into keeping his eyes on her face.
“We’re decent,” she said. “Mel decided to use extreme methods to get the stains out.”
Even Ivy giggled. Hazel stood to the side, her eyebrows raised in disapproval, but her lips pressed together against a smile.
“Stop not-staring, and help me out of here.” Melantha held out her hand.
The girls made a path for him. He hauled Melantha and her sodden garments out of the pool. A small puddle formed at her feet.
“I want my gown back,” Lily said. It would be the perfect excuse not to attend the formal meeting with Prince Holic.
“No way.” Melantha squeezed water out of her hair.
“You can’t meet the prince like that,” Hazel said.
“I’ll go change and meet you before he gets to the front doors.”
“You know Mother doesn’t like tardiness.”
“I’ll run.”
Eben didn’t bother following her. If Melantha drew attention by running through the hallways, she would draw twice as much with a guard running after her trying to provide an unwanted escort.
“Walk with us?” Lily said. She’d rather not meet another potential suitor, but if she had to, she wanted Eben present to see that there was no competition. She wasn’t going to choose any of them. They might be highly eligible, but none of them was the one she wanted.
“Of course.” Eben didn’t offer his arm. A royal guard didn’t escort a princess in that way, not even when off-duty, but he did match his steps to hers this time. The girls followed, a few of them wondering aloud if the prince would be handsome. All anyone remembered was that he was the same age as Lily and liked horses.
*
The entrance hall bustled with activity. Despite Prince Holic’s arriving a day early, the household of the King of Ituria knew their places. Guards in black and gold stood at attention at the bottom and top of the double staircases. Maids lined the walls, and Pol waited with his hands on the doors, ready to heft them open for the dramatic entrance.
A handful of maids stopped Lily and the girls at the side door to arrange simple gold circlets on their heads. Lily’s held a single ruby in the center, a smaller version of Mother’s. With Father absent, The Firethorn Crown, with its gold leaves and ruby berries, would stay nestled in its velvet-lined box. Father had let her try it on once. All symbolism aside, she’d been glad the soldier-king’s grandson had decided to replace the crown of real firethorn branches. She suppressed a smile as a maid with an extra circlet and no princess received whispered instructions from Mara before retreating.
Mother stood at the center of the hall, and sunlight streamed through the windows, glinting off a thousand crystal drops in the chandelier and setting Mother’s silver-and-lavender dress ablaze. Silver ribbons held masses of curls in place atop