Chapter 4
Rose hadn’t felt so nervous entering a formal reception in years—and she wasn’t even the center of attention this time. Her unobtrusive entrance hadn’t been noticed by anyone.
But she had also never entered an official function as just herself. She hadn’t realized that Princess Rose had been a shield to hide behind as well as a duty to fulfill.
She drew a deep breath and reminded herself to enjoy her freedom. She would only have it for a few days, and she needed to make that time count.
Natalie had arrived before her—Joanne wasn’t as good at arranging hair as Donna, and Rose had dallied over her preparations, not wanting to arrive too early—but Natalie had stalled near the main entrance of the room, stuck talking to a line of courtiers.
It was a familiar sight to Rose who had always needed to greet people and exchange civilities at functions.
Occasionally, if she had arrived late to a ball, she would go straight to leading the dancing.
But what she had never been free to do first was what she always most wanted to do…
Rose walked in a straight line toward the refreshment table. The selection of food smelled just as good as it always did in Arcadia, although some of the delicacies looked unfamiliar. Her mouth watered as she breathed in the aroma.
All too often at home she wouldn’t make it to the refreshment table at all, and someone else would gallantly bring her a plate.
She appreciated the thought behind the action, but she would far rather choose her own food—especially since no one ever loaded up her plate.
The kitchen staff at home always knew to expect a late night visit from the princess whenever she’d been at an evening function that didn’t include a sit-down meal.
When she was young, she hadn’t visited the kitchen alone, and Rose had loved the stolen moments with her amazing older brother. But then he had left, and she had been on her own with her worry.
He had returned, thankfully, but he had brought a bride home with him. Rose loved her new sister, but if Harry and Charlotte were eating late night snacks, they were doing it together, without Rose. And visiting the kitchen after an event only felt lonely once she was doing it alone.
She pushed away the melancholy thoughts. She wouldn’t need to go in search of late night snacks while she was Posey. She was free to choose her favorite foods from the refreshment table and fill her plate as high as she liked.
Several younger courtiers were grouped beside the table, and she smiled at them as she picked up her plate. Their curious gazes lingered on her in response, but none of them approached her.
Awkwardness swept over Rose, and she quickly began filling her plate to cover it.
For an unthinking second, she had been expecting the other guests to approach her, and that instinctive expectation only made an already awkward moment even worse.
Rose had never thought of herself as socially inept, but then she rarely had to take the initiative.
In Arcadia, there was always someone who wanted to talk to the princess.
But as she chose items for her plate, she calmed.
It was natural that she would feel a little awkward at first as she adjusted to a whole new identity.
She might not be used to taking the initiative, but she was perfectly capable of doing so.
For now, she didn’t even want to talk to strangers.
She wanted to focus on eating, and she was glad to be free to do so.
She filled the rest of her plate with determination, her only regret that it wasn’t larger.
“You’ll find the food here of the highest quality,” said a male voice beside her, and she turned, a smile already on her lips, glad that someone had approached her after all.
But as soon as she saw the young man’s face, her smile faltered. His grin was mocking, and his eyes lingered on her overfull plate.
“I suppose the food in the mountain kingdom is very basic,” he said with false sympathy. “You’ll have to make the most of your time in Lanover.”
Rose’s eyes narrowed. She had never visited the mountain kingdom herself, but Harry and Charlotte had told her stories about it, as had Natalie. And Rose had no doubt how Natalie would have responded to the young man’s words in her place.
“Oh, you needn’t feel sorry for me,” she said, with a sickly sweet smile. “I suppose you’re too far south to have heard of the famed mountain food, but I can assure you we have excellent food—and impeccable manners.”
The young man mumbled an apology, at least having the grace to look shamefaced as he hurried away. The rest of his group trailed after him, casting wide-eyed glances back at Rose as they went.
She bit her lip. From their expressions, she guessed the young man had been goaded into approaching her by his friends and was now scolding them.
She had successfully defended the mountain kingdom—as Natalie would have wanted—but her response had been more Natalie than Rose.
And now she was totally alone, despite the crowd in the reception room.
She wasn’t making much headway—either at being herself or at making friends without the assistance of her title.
Sighing, she turned back to her food and bit into one of the pastries. A grin spread over her face. At least the food tasted as good as it smelled.
She finished the plate more quickly than was decorous, not giving a moment’s thought to her appearance while she ate. It was exactly the type of moment she had pictured when she had suggested becoming Natalie for a few days.
But as she finished the last bite, she spotted Natalie moving in her direction with Prince Luca in tow.
Rose hesitated, but she had no desire to get caught in conversation with one of the Lanoverian princes, especially with Natalie present as well.
One of them was bound to get muddled and do or say something suspicious.
She moved quickly away from the table, only to realize she was still holding her plate.
As Princess Rose, there had always been a servant on hand to take her plate as soon as it was empty.
Embarrassment filled her as she realized she didn’t know what everyone else did once they had finished eating.
She glanced back at the table but couldn’t see any used plates abandoned there.
Her confusion mounted as she examined her surroundings as surreptitiously as possible.
She couldn’t spot anyone else with an empty plate in hand, but neither could she see any servants collecting them.
Now that she was considering the matter, she couldn’t remember noticing what others did back home in Arcadia either.
While there had always been a servant hovering near her, that couldn’t be true for every guest.
Two elegantly dressed young women her own age moved in Rose’s direction.
Was the plate in her hands getting larger?
The solid weight of its awkwardness grew heavier by the second.
Seized by panic, she thrust it into the base of a small potted tree and turned to stand in front of it, facing the approaching girls.
Hopefully her skirts were wide enough to conceal the abandoned plate from their notice.
She pasted on her best royal smile as they stopped in front of her. While she didn’t usually need to introduce herself, she knew it was the proper way to start an acquaintance, so she opened her mouth to give them her new name.
One of the other girls spoke first. “Why aren’t you with Princess Rose?”
The blunt force of her words hit Rose squarely, the sound of her own name and title throwing her off balance. She blinked.
“Ah, why would I be?” She glanced around for Natalie but could no longer see her.
“Aren’t you her lady-in-waiting?” the same girl asked, her brow wrinkling in confusion.
“Oh. No, I’m not.” Rose should have anticipated the mistaken assumption—it was logical given she had arrived in the supposed princess’s company. “I’m just a friend. I wanted to come to Lanover, and Princess Rose kindly allowed me to travel with her in her carriage.”
The girls exchanged looks that Rose couldn’t read.
“That was kind of her,” the first girl said. “But what are you doing here, in that case?”
Rose stared at them, her thoughts frantic. She rarely found herself at a loss for words—she had been trained to fill any awkward silences with ease. But that was when she inhabited her usual identity. She wasn’t used to being on the back foot in conversations with strangers.
Clearly she had severely underestimated how prepared she needed to be before arriving at an event as Natalie. She tried to force her mind to focus.
What was the girl asking? Was she questioning Rose’s attendance at the royal reception?
If so, Rose couldn’t think of a good explanation.
Rose had just assumed she was included and turned up, but if she was at the event as an extension of the princess’s invitation, shouldn’t she have arrived in company with her supposed royal friend?
Had attending been a misstep? Should she have stayed in her room?
Or perhaps the girl was wondering why Rose was being accommodated at the Lanoverian palace at all. And once again, Rose had no good answer. As Rose’s lady-in-waiting, her presence made sense, but as Natalie of the mountain kingdom, she was merely an uninvited intruder.
Rose’s training kicked in. If she couldn’t answer the question being asked, she needed to reframe it to one she could answer. She would assume they were asking her why she had come to Lanover in the first place.
Except she hadn’t prepared an answer for that either. And she could hardly give them Natalie’s answer. She didn’t want to imagine their reaction to that much honesty.
She had to say something, though. The longer she remained silent, the more awkward the moment became.
“I…I’ve always heard lovely things about Lanover,” she said, her face flaming. “I’ve wanted to visit for years.”
The two girls exchanged another look, and this time Rose could read it easily. They were unimpressed by her and bemused by her presence in their court.
She had never felt so lost and humiliated in her life. And she had no one to blame but herself.