Read Princess at Sea for Free Online

mainmast. There would have been no way to make amends for that.”
    She laughed, though it was decidedly forced. It ended in a sigh, and I began braiding her hair, weaving silk rings into the plait as I went. I’d make her look like an angel. Alex didn’t have a chance, no matter what Jeck was telling him.
    Technically, Alex was my piece to play with, and Jeck shouldn’t be here, but there were only six rules to the game, and this situation wasn’t covered by any of them. Why did you let him come, Kavenlow? I thought, wondering if I was keeping Jeck busy while my master set other plans in motion. If so, it was a very dangerous game. “You know,” I said as I worked, “you shouldn’t be so harsh on Alex.”
    Her head dropped to pull the hair from my fingers. “He doesn’t like me,” she said.
    â€œYes, he does,” I answered. “That’s why he teases you.”
    â€œWell, I don’t like him.” Her lips pressed into a thin line. “I love Thadd.”
    Oooooooh, I thought, eyebrows rising and my fingers faltering as I finally understood the unending arguments of the last three weeks. Contessa liked him, and she had taken to being disagreeable in order to remain true to her first, childhood love.
    Deep in thought, I pulled her braid up and around, weaving it through the rings to secure it. I couldn’t bear it if Contessa’s and Alex’s paths turned against each other when there was the chance for a real marriage, not snatches of comfort taken from someone else in palace corners amid shame and fear of gossiping tongues. A royal marriage bound by love could create an empire. It had created an empire. And it could easily be sundered by the love of another man.
    My throat tightened in the memory of my parents. Forcing the lump down, I dropped my hands from her hair to arrange the lace about her collar. “Alex came into this knowing it was a marriage of convenience,” I said cautiously. “That you have no affection for him. Has he . . . Has he touched you? Is that why you’re so disagreeable with him?”
    Contessa flushed a red to rival the sunset. “No.”
    I remained silent for a moment, hearing the lack of completeness in her confession. “Do you want him to?” I finally asked.
    â€œNo!” she said, a shade too quickly. “I love Thadd.”
    My jaw tightened at the bitter tinge my thoughts had taken. I, too, had been worried about my husband-to-be when I thought I was Costenopolie’s crown princess. And I hadn’t the complication of a preexisting relationship to deal with. She had been raised by nuns, never knowing who she was and expecting a provincial life with an apprentice sculptor.
    â€œI don’t want to talk about it,” Contessa said abruptly, taking up the mirror and trying to see what I had done with her hair.
    â€œGive him a chance,” I whispered, my hands falling to my side. “He left his mistress behind when no one would have said anything should he have brought her with him. He has stayed silent about you and Thadd though you have shown a callous disregard for Alex’s feelings, flaunting your relationship. Alex doesn’t want a loveless marriage, and you’re trampling his feelings like flowers in the mud, ignoring that he’s trying to start a new one with you. He has accepted his loss and is showing more honor than you have a right to expect.”
    â€œI’m aware of that,” she almost snapped, and I knew I had struck a sore spot. The fiery woman sat with a stone-lipped stillness. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. I had only known her for a few months, and I had found that when she turned like this, she could do anything from burst into tears to tackle me and try to tear my hair out. It had happened before.
    Slowly, I reached up to my own simple topknot and pricked my finger upon one of the poison darts I had started wearing since