Chapter 10
Rose paced up and down her room, but it was too small for the movement to be truly satisfying.
With a huff of frustration, she pushed open the door, striding down the corridor instead.
Her steps lead her deeper and deeper into the palace, but she didn’t stop.
Her mind needed the movement as she tried to sort out her thoughts.
She was letting herself get distracted. Already she had been Posey for longer than she’d intended, and yet she hadn’t used the time to achieve anything for Arcadia.
She hadn’t even managed to avoid Leo. She certainly hadn’t held up her end of the bargain and enabled Natalie to spend any time with the crown prince.
Distracted and moving too quickly, she walked straight into someone. Bouncing backward, she nearly lost her balance completely, only just managing to save herself from falling. Looking up, her apology died on her lips.
“Natalie?” The name slipped out before her brain caught up, and the other girl’s eyes widened at her slip.
Natalie shifted slightly. “I’m sorry,” she said in a rush.
Rose stared at her blankly. She’d been the one to walk into Natalie, and she’d also been the one monopolizing Leo’s time. Why was Natalie the one apologizing?
“I shouldn’t have forgotten myself and gone racing off like that,” Natalie said, and memories of the unfortunate incident at the beach came flooding back. Rose had been so focused on herself that she’d forgotten Natalie’s behavior.
Dread filled her. Had Natalie been looking for her? Was she about to say they needed to swap back? Rose wasn’t ready, but how could she justify disagreeing? She had been the one to lecture Natalie at the beach, telling her she was disgracing Arcadia.
Rose scrambled to think of something to say that would stop the next words before they came out of Natalie’s mouth. She failed.
“I’ll do my utmost to be more mindful in the future,” Natalie said. “I don’t want to do anything to embarrass you or your kingdom.”
Rose blinked. Oh. Apparently Natalie wasn’t going to insist they switch back after all. The tightness in her stomach unknotted, and she didn’t try to analyze the strength of her reaction.
“I’d already forgotten about it,” she said truthfully. “I think Leo smoothed things over sufficiently with the others.” She hesitated. “I’m sorry you haven’t had much chance to spend time with him.”
“I wasn’t sure if you’d noticed,” Natalie said glumly. “But he barely attends court functions, so there hasn’t been much I can do.” She sighed. “I suppose he has a lot of duties while his parents are away.”
Rose nodded sympathetically, still recovering from her momentary panic. “If there’s anything I can do to help…” she said vaguely.
Natalie only nodded acknowledgment, and Rose tried not to feel relieved. She would have liked to cheer the other girl up, but her one attempt to manipulate matters in Natalie’s favor had ended in disaster. She wasn’t exactly eager to rush back in.
What she really needed to do was stay in the background more effectively than she’d managed so far. Leo had to be looking for opportunities to start courting the supposed princess.
The two girls stood awkwardly for another moment before Natalie murmured goodbye and drifted away. Rose picked her own direction at random, choosing a path that would lead her away from the mountain girl. Natalie seemed like she wanted space.
Running over the short conversation in her mind, Rose barely noticed as she passed the dining hall and moved further into the servant’s domain. Only when the sound of raised voices penetrated her consciousness did she look up and take stock of her surroundings.
She hadn’t heard raised voices in the Lanoverian palace before, so she frowned toward the source of the disturbance. But whoever was venting their anger—a woman by the sound of it—was out of sight around a corner.
Rose hurried forward as the shouter continued to disparage her victim’s abilities, person, and even parentage.
She rounded the corner to find two women standing over a younger woman.
The object of their vitriol was cowering, her head down and her back to the corridor wall, reacting to their words as if to physical blows.
“Excuse me!” Rose strode forward. “What do you think you’re doing? There can be absolutely no excuse for such abuse!”
The younger woman kept her eyes lowered, but the other two turned to Rose, both their eyebrows shooting up.
“And who are you to be telling us what to do?” The shouter asked stridently. “It’s our job to train this new recruit. There’s some as need a firm hand—if they’re not to prove themselves a burden to the rest of us hardworking folk. I’ll thank you to keep your nose out of someone else’s business.”
Rose drew herself up. “I’m—” The words faltered and died in her throat.
As a visiting princess, she would have had no direct authority over these women, but they would still have respected her position and her words. As Natalie, she had no authority whatsoever.
The woman laughed. “That’s what I thought. And we’ve no more patience for meddlesome interference than we have for lazy maids.” She glared at the young woman.
Rose swallowed. The two aggressors looked on the verge of physically attacking their victim, and Rose couldn’t stand by and let that happen. But she was smaller than both the older women, and she doubted her ability to successfully intervene.
She looked around, but if there had been anyone else nearby, they had long since fled. Uncertainly, she stood her ground, not sure what to do but unwilling to leave.
The second woman eyed her and muttered to the other. “Come on. I don’t want to miss my hot meal for the likes of her.” She turned her glare on the young woman, but the poor girl’s eyes were still trained on the floor.
The first woman snorted but made no protest, allowing her companion to lead the way back toward the dining hall. Rose watched them go, not releasing her sigh of relief until both women had disappeared around the corner.
As soon as they had done so, she stepped tentatively toward the younger woman. “Are you all right?”
The woman finally looked up, although she appeared torn about whether or not to speak.
“Thank you,” she finally whispered. “But you shouldn’t get involved.”
Rose bit her lip. Was the woman worried on behalf of Rose or because she was concerned about potential reprisals from the other women?
“It’s not all right for them to treat you that way,” she said. “Have you talked to the housekeeper?”
The departed women might be more senior than the new recruit, but the palace housekeeper would be many steps above them all in the servants’ hierarchy. She and the steward were responsible for all the inside palace servants.
“Talk to the housekeeper?” The young woman finally showed some animation, looking up at Rose with big eyes. “How could I?”
“Of course you could,” Rose said firmly. “It’s her job to set the tone for how the palace is run and how the servants treat each other. She certainly shouldn’t be allowing that kind of bullying.”
She put a gentle hand on the girl’s arm, but it only made her flinch and pull away. A horrible thought occurred to Rose, and she seized the woman’s sleeve, lifting the material enough to reveal the start of a bruise.
She sucked in a breath. “Did one of those women do that to you?”
The younger woman winced. “No, they’re loose enough with their words, but neither of them get physical. This was my first trainer.” She gave a sad sigh. “I must be very bad at my job.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “But I can’t afford to lose it.”
“That’s appalling.” Fury burned in Rose’s chest. “You have to report whoever did that.”
“I did.” The woman looked back at the floor. “That’s why I got a new trainer.”
Rose relaxed a little. “And your abuser was kicked out of the palace, I hope.”
The woman looked swiftly back up. “Oh no. She didn’t hit me, or anything. Just grabbed me a bit roughly.”
Rose’s eyebrows shot up, her anger returning. “Roughly enough to leave bruises!” She took a calming breath, trying to gain control of her emotions. The woman in front of her hadn’t done anything wrong, and Rose’s intensity might upset her further.
“Is there no one else you can talk to?” she asked, more calmly.
The woman shrugged. “It’s not so bad. At least my new trainer only uses her words.” She cleared her throat. “I need to get to the meal too.” She left, not meeting Rose’s eyes and not saying goodbye.
Rose watched her go, her hands clenched into fists.
Some action had been taken on the woman’s behalf, but it hadn’t been nearly enough.
She claimed that it was only words, but she had flinched before the verbal assault as if it had been blows.
No wonder she couldn’t perform effectively.
How long before she crumpled under such callous cruelty?
Rose walked slowly back toward her room, speeding up as she passed the open door of the dining hall.
She had no desire to look at anyone inside.
How many of them were victims and how many aggressors?
If the culture of the palace was bad enough that such open abuse was happening, there had to be further abuse taking place where Rose couldn’t see it.
What sort of housekeeper allowed such behavior? What royal family permitted it? Did Leo know what was going on in his own palace?
Doubt gnawed at her. Leo himself had said his family were far more relaxed than the royals of other kingdoms. Relaxed enough to be careless of the well-being of those under their care?
But it was difficult to reconcile such an idea with the image of Leo.
His stories had been full of mischief but never cruelty or mistreatment of others.
And the locals in the city had seemed to respect—even love—their royals.
Surely they would resent them if the royals routinely allowed such terrible behavior to flourish.
There was only one thing to be done. Rose would have to raise the issue with Leo directly. If he was ignorant of what was going on, Rose needed to open his eyes.
Without her royal rank, she could do nothing directly. But she wasn’t totally powerless—she had access to the crown prince. She would have to hope it was enough. Because it turned out her new role could be as constricting as it was freeing.