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THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF Einish’s grand palace in their port city was nothing short of breathtaking.
Literally breathtaking, Rose thought, as she finally came to the top of the mountain trail. Over the last day, from climbing out of the Wandering Caverns to climbing up a mountain, she was already tired. But the high mountain air seemed to slow her breathing.
She was not the only one who suffered from the high altitudes. The terrain had been hard on her horse, so she had dismounted several hours before, leading her mare and her company on foot. With the others following her example, their pace had slowed, but they were still making good time.
The view of the city, lingering in the distance, brightened her mood. “We’re almost there,” she called back. “I can see it from here.”
Philip came up beside her, his horse nearly bumping into hers as he gazed at his home. “It’ll be only another hour,” he said. “The mountains around this part of the city are the last real challenge, and now that we’re at the top, it’s all downhill from now on.”
Rose grinned. “And then we’ll see Isra and my brother again.”
“Oh, yes, I’d forgotten your brother will be there.” Philip gave her an amused look. “I shouldn’t have to worry about him, right?”
“He’s here as your guest,” Rose said. “I’m sure he will be the one who is worried.”
“Is he the sort who gets overprotective of his sisters?” Philip asked. “Do you think he’s anxious to meet me? I know I wasn’t able to meet him when we were back in Rhone for your birthday.”
“I think he’ll only be worried for when you come,” Rose said, “because it will be harder to get everything that he wants.”
Philip laughed. “Oh, I get it. He’s probably making himself right at home then?”
“More than right,” Rose assured him. “He’s into his creature comforts, but he can be very charming. So your servants will be running around all night, but he will be running them around with a smile. Even your notorious mother I’ve heard so much about might have a hard time telling him no.”
“My only hope in this matter is that I have you with me, isn’t it?”
Rose grinned. “Well, that and that Isra is there. But she might let him do what he wants, under the pretext of keeping up appearances.”
“Well, then let’s hope I have a full castle and staff to get back to.”
“You mean your mother wouldn’t order them to stay?”
“True enough.” Philip kept in step with Rose as they continued on the path. He asked her more questions about Ronan and even some more about Isra, and that was when Rose confronted him.
“Why do you want to know so much about them so badly?” she asked. “You’ve met Isra, and you seem to know her better than I do some days. Ronan is not much like either of us, but there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t come to like you. You are a very likeable person.”
“Thank you,” Philip said. He smiled, and despite his thick beard, Rose was able to see the small dimple at the side of his cheek. “I’m glad you find me likable.”
“Of course. We have always been able to get along.”
“Not always. You didn’t like me much after I beat you in the joust back in Rhone.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “You should know by now I’m used to winning. I haven’t learned to be a good loser, and if that’s the one thing I’m never going to learn, I’m okay with that.”
Philip laughed. “Well, for what it counts, the feeling is mutual. I think you’re very likable, too.”
Rose felt her face turn red with embarrassment. “I do like you,” she said, “and I hope you know I consider us friends.”
“Of course.” He gave her a wink. “The best of friends.”
“Well, sort of. I don’t think as a future monarch we can have a lot of friends like our subjects can, but—”
“You know I don’t mean that,” Philip said. He took her free hand in his. “You know I mean that we are more than just friends.”
“What?” Rose stepped back. “No, we’re not.”
“Come on, Rose,” Philip said. “We’re going to be a part of each other’s lives for a long time. You might as well just admit what’s in your heart.”
“What’s in my heart?” Rose repeated.
“We’re going to be a big, happy family one day.”
Rose felt her embarrassment transform into fear. “No, we’re not.”
“Why not?” Philip asked. “You just said that we were friends, and I know for a fact we are more than friends.”
“If you were really my friend, you would stop prattling on as if we were going to get married one day.”
“Well, aren’t we?” Philip asked.
“No!”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not in love with you!” Rose glared at him. “And despite what you might think, you’re not in love with me, either.”
“Why aren’t you in love with me?” Philip asked, looking wounded. “Is there someone else?”
“No!” Rose asserted, as her cheeks turned hot.
Philip gave her a teasing smile. “I think there’s someone else.”
“No,” Rose reiterated desperately. “No there’s not, because he shouldn’t love someone like me, and I won’t let him.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, and she heard herself say them, Rose stilled. Anger, with fear, with sadness—all of it unleashed inside of her, as she realized she had revealed herself. She ducked behind her horse’s face as she continued walking, her steps suddenly much stiffer.
“Are you alright?”
“Please,” she said, loud enough Philip could hear her, “don’t talk to me about this anymore.”
“It wasn’t really that hard to admit, was it?” Philip asked gently. “I’ve known about it since we met in Rhone.”
She glanced back over at Philip, who was looking at her with a kind patience.
“Rose,” he said, “you know that there is a tradition in Rhone that a suitor must complete an assigned task to grant the right to marry into the crown’s family, right?”
Rose slowly nodded. “I hope you don’t think that coming with me to the Serpent’s Garden counts as a task,” she said. “The ruler is the one who is supposed to assign the task in question.”
“Well, Isra was the one who assured me that the task she gave me would count.”
Rose narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. “What makes you think I would give you my hand in marriage just because you came along with me and the rest of my crew? Isra can say what she pleases, but I won’t consent to marry you for embarking on this task.”
“I wasn’t really concerned about your hand,” Philip said.
“But why were you just—”
“My assigned task wasn’t specifically to come along with you, even though I ended up doing so,” Philip said. “I appreciated that Isra was happy to let me come, because I did want to have grand adventures on my own. It was hard to do that, you know, until my brother got married. When you meet my mother, I think you’ll find out why.”
“So you didn’t want to marry me,” Rose realized. “But why did you just do all that right now? With all the ‘we are more than friends’ speech, and how we’re going to be ‘one big, happy family’ one day?”
“Why do you think, Rose?” Philip asked. “It’s the same reason I’ve been provoking you and Theo since we left Rhone. My task was to get you to admit you were in love with him.”
“What?” Rose stopped short in her tracks. Immediately, she glanced around to make sure that they were still far enough ahead of the others that they couldn’t hear her panicked shrieking.
Philip nudged her along. “Come on, keep moving. This is just as awkward for me as it is for you. Theo’s already looking like he’s trying to find an excuse to get up here so he can cut in on my flirting. Of course, he never does, if he doesn’t think you’ll find his excuse believable.”
Rose glanced back at Theo, only to see Philip was right. When Theo saw her look at him, he turned away, but not before she saw the frustration on his face.
“Next thing you know, he’ll look for an excuse to throw me off the mountainside.” Philip tugged on his horse’s reins again. “I can’t say I blame him. I’d probably do the same, if you were mine.”
“I’m not his.” Rose looked down her nose at Philip. “I don’t belong to anyone.”
“Well, he’s certainly yours,” Philip said. “I’d hate to think what he would do to me if he wasn’t my friend, too.”
“You’re crazy,” Rose said. “He knows, of all people, how I feel about love.”
“And he is the one person, of all people, who is determined to get past the barriers you have in your heart.”
Rose shook her head. “He won’t.”
“Well, I did get you to admit that you didn’t have someone because you would never let him love you,” Philip reminded her. “So there’s that.”
“Don’t you see?” Rose asked. “I’m not going to marry anyone.”
“Don’t you see?” Philip countered. “If it wasn’t for the curse, you would be free to do what your heart wants. And that includes admitting you love him.”
“You said this was supposed to be awkward for you, too,” Rose said, trying to ease out of the topic. “Tell me this. If you didn’t come with me as your task, and if your task was in fact to get me to admit I was in love with ... someone else ... then why did you do it?”
“Why else?” Philip asked. “I’m in love with a princess of Rhone, indeed, Rose, even if it’s not you, and I will happily set to accomplish what I can to make her happy.”
“Isra.” Rose rubbed her forehead. “Really? Didn’t you just meet her what, nearly seven months ago? And weren’t you only with her for two days? Who falls in love after only two days?”
“I can’t explain it,” Philip said. “I met her, and then ... then everything just came together. We knew each other so well, and we’d only just met. It was like a dream.”
“If it was a dream, how do you know it’s real?” Rose retorted.
“That’s how I know you’ve yet to let yourself fall,” Philip said. “When it comes to love, you don’t always know it’s real outside how you feel. But sometimes you have to have faith in something before you see it. And then, all of sudden, you can see it.”
“So you really do love her?”
“She stole my heart the first time we danced,” Philip said. “Sometimes, when I have trouble sleeping, I relive that moment. I felt my heart slip out of my chest and fall right into her hands.”
Rose briefly recalled how talented Philip was as a poet and, despite her concern, smiled. “And Isra loves you, too? So much that she sent you out on a special task to earn her hand?”
“Well, she was more like you about that,” Philip admitted. “She told me about the tradition of the task, and told me if I wanted to prove myself true to her, she would give me a task to carry out.”
“So she gave you the task of humiliating me,” Rose muttered. “Nice.”
“She loves you, Rose, for all she doesn’t understand you.” Philip reached out and patted Rose’s shoulder. “I have no doubt that she wanted me to succeed, but it would also give me some time to prove myself worthy of her in other ways.”
“Your letters.” Rose shook her head again. “I thought you were pushing me to write to her more often just to annoy me and gain support from her. But you actually set out to please her.”
“Yes. I want to make the engagement official.”
“You might have to talk to King Stefanos about that,” Rose said. “He’s still the ruler of Rhone.”
“It was your blessing I wanted,” Philip said. “Despite all the trouble I have given you.”
“Well, you have my blessing,” Rose told him. “Really, you are my blessing. You had my respect early on. I think if you can earn that, you have a good chance of winning Isra’s heart. She’s the only one who should be free to give it to you. So if you are sure—”
“I am.” There was no hesitation in Philip’s voice. Rose felt the hard reality of jealousy, though more for Philip’s certainty than for his constancy.
She smiled. “Well, if she is sure, I will sign the official engagement papers while I am here.”
“Really?”
“Yes. But you will have to wait until she is older. She’s only sixteen yet.”
“I’m so grateful, Rose.”
Rose laughed. “Don’t look so surprised. I want someone who will be able to protect Isra from Magdalina and any other trouble, and someone who will love her more than anything else in the world. If what you say is true, and I have no reason to doubt you, then I should be fortunate you want to marry her.”
“Thank you, Rose.” Philip reached out and kissed her hand. “You are a wonderful sister.”
“Only if my wonderful sister is eager to make it so,” Rose reminded him.
“You said it yourself; if I can earn your respect, I can win her heart.” He glanced behind him. “What about you? Are you going to tell Theo?”
“We’re talking about you right now,” Rose said, determined to keep away from that topic. “After all, we’re almost to the castle. You should have some kind of speech or poem ready for Isra when you see her. I’ll be happy to help you with that.”
“Come on, Rose.”
“Come on, Philip.” Rose smirked. “I’m not that terrible at poetry, and hearing you put all my sister’s charms into stanzas might let me see just how much you know her, and just how much you love her.”
“You’re a tough opponent, Rose,” Philip said. “I don’t envy you. You have to fight yourself a lot, don’t you?”
It was a light jab, but Rose felt the sting of truth inside of it. Rose frowned at him. “Stick to poetry for now, Philip. Consider that your first piece of advice from your new sister.”