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“There’s no need for such frippery.”
    “Well then, we shall take her measurements. Marcus!”
    A young man pushed through the curtains that hung across the back of the room. I wish I could tell you exactly how he struck me on first sight; were this a different sort of tale, I might recall his soulful eyes or the crush of longing that weakened me upon seeing his face or some other foolishness. But I have vowed to tell the truth. On that day I noted only that he was a young man of about my own age, considerably taller than his father but far less effusive. He said nothing as he knelt before me and reached his hands toward my legs. I was so surprised by the gesture that I flinched backward and almost lost my balance.
    “Let the girl be seated first!” Hannolt laughed.
    He ushered me to a bench along the wall, then motioned Marcus forward. The boy cautiously pulled one of my feet out from under my skirt and slid off the slipper I had borrowed from Aunt Agna. I could barely feel the weight of his hands through my stockings as he placed my foot on a flat piece of wood, engraved with foot tracings of various sizes. He looked at his father and pointed to the line where my foot matched up, then took a thin leather strap from around his neck and wrapped it around my foot from bottom to top, then around my ankle. He removed the strap and nodded toward his father. Still he said nothing. I wondered if he was dumb. Or perhaps he had given up hope of being heard above his father’s prattling.
    “Done?” Hannolt asked. “Good. Now, about the color.” He waved his hand toward samples of leather hanging from hooks above my head.
    Agna scanned the choices and pointed to a dark brown piece. “That one.”
    I reached into the pocket of my apron and drew out one of the coins my mother had given me. “Will this do?”
    Agna took hold of my fingers and wrapped them around the coin. “This is my gift to you. A fine aunt I’d be, sending you off to the castle in those wooden shoes.”
    “The castle?” Hannolt’s eyes lit up with surprise. “Are you paying a visit, miss?”
    “She’s to be in service,” Agna said.
    “We’ll be going there ourselves in a few days,” Hannolt said. “One of the finest ladies at court buys her shoes from us, ten pairs at a time. Would that all my customers were so free-spending!”
    “Perhaps you could escort Elise when you go?”
    “It would be a pleasure. She’ll arrive safe and sound, you have my word.”
    I had thought my aunt would bring me to the castle herself, and I felt a stab of disappointment when she pawned me off on the shoemaker. How would I navigate my way through those massive fortifications without her guidance? Self-centered, as girls of that age can be, I never considered that Agna might have had a good reason for avoiding the place. Those who have once been servants can be sensitive about their formerly low rank, as I would one day know only too well.
    “Send word of your departure, and I’ll see she is ready,” Agna said.
    “You’ll arrive at the castle a lady,” Hannolt assured me. “Your shoes will be as finely made as any, though the queen, they say, has hers encrusted with diamonds. . . .”
    Following a loving description of the queen’s footwear, Hannolt continued on to a detailed examination of court fashion, ignoring Agna’s attempts to take her leave. I momentarily turned toward Marcus, and he smiled almost imperceptibly, just enough to make me notice his dark eyes, crinkled with amusement at his father’s chattering. Enough to make me think he might be more than a dumb shopkeeper’s son.

    During the weeks I spent with Aunt Agna, I wandered no farther than the shops nearest her house. On the day I finally accompanied Hannolt and Marcus toward what I hoped would be my new home, I had only the vaguest notion of what the castle looked like, based solely on the glimpse I’d seen during the ride into town.
    I expected it to be large and well fortified.