Chapter 5, part 1

“If the truth about you comes out, everyone will leave, and the magic will bind me to you. But who is going to believe the lie?”

“Your majesty,” Catherine whispered, her voice breaking off from fear. “Your majesty, if there is no other choice, then you will just have to try and hope for the best, wont you?”

“Hope? Ha! In battle, hope gets a sword plunged into your gut in moments! Hope never helped anyone do anything! Taking action is the only thing that will get a man anywhere.”

The energetic rage seemed to have left him again, and he sat down on the last chair left in the room, apart from the one Catherine had been seated in. She followed his lead and sat down.

“You speak too much, Catherine, that is the problem. As soon as you open your mouth, no one will believe you are anything but a farmer's daughter.”

Catherine wanted to correct him, but it did not seem to be the right moment for details.

“But then that might be the solution! If you do not speak, we might be able to fool them for long enough to forget about you. If you can last here for two or three weeks, they will get used to you.”

He stood up and went to one of the overflowing bookshelves. Catherine followed his indirect orders and kept her mouth shut. The prince looked through the pages of several large books, making small humming noises whenever he found something that seemed to please him. He put his fingers on a page and shouted out.

“Perfect! That is just so far away that no one will have heard of it! We just need to make up a few stories to cover up the family history.”

He grabbed a map off the table and came to sit next to her again, leather armour creaking and his hair a mess, pointing his finger to the paper.

“There is a small country quite far east from here, where I have a friend, a count, who has very few contacts outside his own house. You can pretend to be his daughter, I will send him a message to confirm if anyone asks. The place is tiny, so that will explain your lack of manners, and there is a tradition in the countries there for young girls to take vows of silence. It's very old fashioned, but then what else will anyone expect from a young lady from such a small family. We could even get you some older garments to go with the story. I am sure we have something.

“The vow of silence can be made for a number of reasons, usually to get some sort of wish granted. We could say your mother is sick and you want her to get well. Or that you will not speak before you are married or something. Maybe you want a horse. Nobody cares about these things. You will be considered childish and out of fashion, but there will be no reason for anyone to take offence at your status. I can even say it was an accident we met, because my friend did not know of my plans before it was too late. It is closer to the truth than anything else.”

Catherine nodded.

“You should still go by the rest of the things we covered, as much as possible. I am sure you can stay in your rooms today, but by tomorrow you need to be playing the part. Do you have any questions?”

“Well, sir, can I speak when we are alone?”

“How else would you be of any use. Just do not speak to any of the others, even if you are alone. It would seem very unconvincing if you were not serious about your vow. You need to gain the trust of these people, and tell me what they are up to, remember?”

“What do I actually do?”

“Well, try to get to know them. Do whatever it is you women do when you are alone.”

“I'm not sure what that is, sir.”

“What?” He furrowed his brows. “Well, I suppose you sit down and drink tea and listen to conversations about fabric and gossip.”

Catherine raised her eyebrows.

“Oh, just try to follow it, I am sure you will figure something out. Nod and smile, and try to look uninterested in anything that has to do with me. Make them think you are likely to refuse an offer of marriage from me, if they know you are here only because somebody wants you to be, they might be more likely to talk to you. The rest of the women here are present in spite of their families' expressed wishes. They must all be wanting someone neutral to speak with. Most of them are probably just very worried about their reputations and futures.”

“Why did you make them all come her, sir, if it's so bad for them?”

“I am not concerned with their reputations, they are. I never forced anyone's hand. And I do not see how this concerns you at all. But try to be alone with them, if they invite you to. Be patient, stay in larger groups for now.”

“How do I do any of this without speaking, sir?”

“You'll be surprised, my dear. It is an old trick to be silent and wait for your enemy to reveal himself. They will show you a lot about them selves just by what they assume about you. I'll make sure they all know about our story, no worries.”

“About the story, sir. Don't you think it's spread around how you came to get me? Someone must have said something?”

The prince laughed a little, then sobered.

“My unique position allows me to do such things with no large commotion. If you knew how often I had taken my men out and done something silly, you would be surprised. I doubt that anyone will pay any mind to one more rumour. Even if they do, it cannot spread to this end of the castle. I have made sure that all contact is minimised, and I have a way of knowing who I can trust among the staff.”



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