The Secret Princess: A Retelling of The Goose Girl (Return to the Four Kingdoms Book 1) by Melanie Cellier

Author:Melanie Cellier [Cellier, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Luminant Publications
Published: 2020-05-22T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

“Arvin,” I hissed. “What are we doing? Philip must think we’ve both lost our minds.”

Shush. Don’t distract me. You’ll see.

We wound between carts and other riders, their numbers increasing as we passed out of the Nobles’ Circle and into the Merchants’ Circle. I would have liked to see the shops we passed, or explore one of the marketplaces, tucked away off this main road, but we moved too fast to take in much of our surroundings, my attention focused on apologizing to people Arvin nearly ran down.

“Slow down.”

I can’t, he said shortly. We’ll lose her.

“Lose her? Lose who?” I scanned the streets ahead of us and after a moment picked out another rider whose movements matched ours.

The woman wore a riding habit that allowed her to ride astride, the material plain and sturdy. A matronly scarf covered her hair, although her bearing suggested she was still relatively young. Her horse was nothing remarkable, a little awkward in gait, but steady enough. In fact, nothing about her was remarkable in any way. But the longer I watched, the more certain I became that we were following her.

Before much longer, she turned off the road into the large, enclosed yard of a prosperous looking inn. A bright sign proclaimed it to be the Blue Arrow. Arvin followed without pause, although it meant closing the distance between us and our quarry.

Only once the woman was well within the walls of the inn did she turn around, allowing me a glimpse of her face. I started, clutching at Arvin’s mane to keep from sliding off in my shock. It was the princess.

“Harrison!” she exclaimed, tumbling off her horse and into the arms of a handsome man around her own age.

“Alyssa!” He embraced her back. “What are you wearing?”

I stared at them both in shock, trying to understand what I was seeing, until Alyssa spoke again.

“And how is Aunt Corilyn? Formidable as ever, despite everything?”

Harrison chuckled. “You know my mother too well to doubt it.”

Her cousin. I examined him again with the knowledge of their relationship and could see some similarities. Mostly about the eyes.

“What are you doing here all alone and dressed like that?” he asked her.

She frowned. “Max is worried, and so are his parents. I am too, of course. It’s been one thing after another, and now a murder in our own home. None of us are supposed to be leaving the palace, but I told Max I needed to get out, just for an hour or two to visit you. He made me promise to come in disguise.”

Harrison raised his eyebrows. “I’m surprised he didn’t send a squad of guards.”

Alyssa sighed. “He would have liked to, of course, but that would have attracted all sorts of attention. And we decided no guards and a disguise were safer than giving myself away with just one or two.”

Harrison, who had been gazing around the yard, stiffened, his eyes on me. “Alyssa, I think someone’s recognized you.”

I kicked myself for sitting there staring at them like an idiot.

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