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I was busy in the morning, helping Mari and Cathy pack. Cathy was used to packing, and she quickly got her things packed and ready. Mari was a little more difficult and she tried to throw a fit, thinking it would get her out of packing. It got her a lecture and a timeout for acting childish and she still got to pack her things. I handled this because Charlene was nowhere to be found. I assumed she was angry over last night. I made sure to avoid Martin as well, my mind still in a flurry.
I was only able to avoid him for so long, since I still had to ride with him. I focused on getting Mari and Cathy ready for the ride. Charlene looked absolutely livid when she found out that she was in the back, but Mari was with me and we were at the front of the group. However, Charlene seethed silently because she could tell that no one would put up with her today.
Martin was silent but calm as he readied for the trip. In the end, somehow, I ended up next to Martin with Mari on my right, Cathy next to Mari, and Randall next to Cathy. He’d moved up next to us, to help us guard Mari, since he was a senior guard. He looked tired, and so did everyone else. Liam was fighting yawns thick and fast, and so was Remy. Both of them had stayed all night with Alan and Florinda, to guard them, and I figured they’d gotten maybe three hours of sleep. I dug in my bag and pulled out a container of coffee, tossing it to Liam. He peeked inside the container, smelled the coffee, then gave a grateful smile and drained half of it. When Remy got it, he climbed off his horse and walked over to give a full out bow. I laughed and accepted the empty container from him.
“Just for them?” Randall asked, giving a mock scowl.
“You didn’t get any coffee?”
“The kitchens were off-limits to us. It’s a shame when the royal guard can’t even get a cup of coffee.” He sent a scowl to Remy and Liam, who both looked perked up a little, but not the least bit regretful.
I smiled and pulled a second thermos from my bag. Eyes lit at the coffee smells, and I laughed. “Here, Dad, I didn’t forget you.”
Randall didn’t hesitate in taking it. “May I ask how you got this?” he asked sternly.
“My date last night has connections.”
“And how much coffee have you had?” Larson asked accusingly.
“None. Randall’s drinking mine.”
“Then why aren’t you as tired as the rest of us?”
I smiled serenely. “I guess I’m just not as old as you.”
A groan went up from those around me at being called old. Cathy laughed.
“How does she do it?” Neal asked Cathy. “I’m only here because I was dragged out of bed.”
Cathy shrugged. “She’s always like this. She’s a morning person.”
“You don’t know what tired is,” I told him. “This is a piece of cake compared to raising Cathy.”
“I wasn’t much of a problem!” Cathy protested.
“Honey, you were a baby,” I told her. “There are always problems when raising a baby.” I helped her on her horse. Mari was already sitting on her horse, pouting. I would have to keep an eye on her to make sure she didn’t cause any problems. She wasn’t used to a lack of sleep, and she hadn’t liked not getting her way.
After a few minutes, Martin gave the order to move out. We left, past the Linson royalty, the staff, past the guards lined along the path, and as we left the entrance, past Samson and Quinn. Quinn smiled briefly, breaking out of his stance to give a small bow and to wink. I gave a small finger wave and saw Martin stiffen slightly as Quinn smiled more fully. Then we were out of the castle and its grounds, and into the sunlight. I leaned my head back and sighed as the wind rushed over my face, noticing the same serene expression that was probably on my face on Cathy’s.
Mari continued to pout, sullenly picking at her bridle. It hadn’t helped that there had been no time for her to practice shooting arrows. Her mood didn’t improve as time passed, and neither did the silence between Martin and me.
We stopped for lunch, and as we dismounted, Martin was instantly beside me. “Joan,” he said quietly. “Can we talk?”
I couldn’t say no to him, and after a reflex check to make sure someone was going to watch over Mari and Cathy, I let him lead me off the path a decent distance away from everyone.
He took a deep breath and let it out. “Joan, I told Charlene we were through. I don’t know if you saw or heard, but that’s what happened. I wanted to tell you because you said Charlene couldn’t be in my life, and now she isn’t.”
I flashed on Quinn’s face, but all I could think that this was what I wanted so much to hear.
He wasn’t done yet. “I once said that anyone who walked away from you was a fool, and I am the biggest kind of fool for walking away from you, but I want to fix that.” He held my hands. “Please?” he said softly. “Give me a second chance.”
I was on the verge of saying yes when something caught my eye. A cloth, pure white, except for the lipstick, as if somebody had kissed the cloth. I reached for it slowly, pulled it out of his jacket pocket, and knew by the look in his eyes who it had come from. I closed my eyes, pulling away as I let go of the cloth. “I guess you’d better attend to Charlene. Remy says she’s real snippy when she’s not being paid attention to.”
“Joan, wait!” Martin pleaded.
“You have lipstick on your neck. And it sure isn’t my color.” He’d said she was gone, but apparently she wasn’t, not by the guilty look that had flashed across his face; the look that said he’d made a mistake and now he was getting caught. I’d seen it too many times with Mari and Cathy to not be able to recognize it. If he was done with Charlene, her gifts would have been returned or they’d have disappeared. I pushed my hands in my pockets and left him in the clearing with the token from his girlfriend and lipstick on his neck.
*
MARTIN WAS INCREDIBLY tempted to burn the cloth with the lipstick kiss on it. Trust Charlene to be able to ruin his apology. It was as much his fault as anything. He’d forgotten that Charlene had put it there. The moment she’d reached for the cloth, he’d known that something was wrong. He lashed out at a tree, snapping the limb in half, remembering the hurt in her eyes.
When he appeared at camp, Joan was with Cathy, her back bent and turned so she couldn’t see him. Cathy seemed upset as she sat by her sister, her arms around Joan. She was clearly trying to comfort her sister and he wished again that he hadn’t messed up in the first place.
“What happened?” Liam asked, walking over.
He shoved the white cloth at him. His neck was sore from rubbing the lipstick off. Apparently it hadn’t all gotten off last night.
Liam looked slightly exasperated. “Got any more of these you need to get rid of? It’s bad enough she’s upset, but I’d like you to be in a better temper too.” He stuffed the cloth in his pocket.
“Then you try getting back in Joan’s good graces,” Martin snapped.
Liam snorted. “If you think I’m going to get on her bad side, you’re sorely mistaken, my friend. I know better. Look, if you need some help fixing this,” he gestured to everyone eating, “we’d be more than happy to help. We’re really tired of Charlene. She’s in one of those snitty moods again.”
Martin didn’t say anything, just watched Joan and dug his hands in his pockets. Liam clasped his shoulder before walking off.
*
“HE’S A JERK,” CATHY said, trying to comfort me.
“I know,” I said tiredly, the emotions wearing me down faster than the lack of sleep had.
“You don’t need him; you never need anybody.”
I wrapped my arms around Cathy. “I need you.”
“Do not,” Cathy said, teasing.
I wasn’t teasing. “Of course I do. You’re the only person I’ll always have.”
Cathy recognized how heartfelt I was and hugged me tighter. “I’m glad I have you too,” she said.
I managed to get Mari cheered up over the lunch break, staying busy with the two girls until Randall came to get me. Now that she was happy, she was chatting away, pointing at everything, laughing, eagerly looking for my reactions. I gave her my full attention, when I wasn’t checking for more attackers, and my mood slowly improved as well.
We had to stop again, and I knew it, but I still slumped slightly when the order came to halt. I tried to get away, but I didn’t make it. “Joan?” Martin asked. “Can I...?”
“No,” I interrupted before he could get anything out. “I’ve had all I can endure today, Martin.”
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
I brought up anger to push my sympathy away. “The next time you want to try to apologize, make sure you’re telling me the truth, and make sure that you’re not going to give me a reason to say no, because I’m not going to play this game. Get rid of her and don’t make me any promises until you do.”
He looked like he knew he deserved that. I turned away, going to Cathy. It was lunchtime. Charlene was trying to get Mari to eat, without much success. When she finally gave up, frustrated, I waited until she stalked off before moving next to Mari. “Eat.”
Mari glared up at me stubbornly, her good temper gone because of Charlene, caught my warning expression, then sullenly took a bite. “I don’t like peas,” she grumbled.
“You did until Cathy came,” I said evenly. “Eat them all.”
Mari ate all her peas and everything on her plate before Charlene came back. Charlene opened her mouth and I glared at her, daring her to even try me. It looked like she was about to make a biting remark when Remy cleared his throat. Charlene glanced at him, scowled, snatched her plate up, then stalked away again.
I nodded thanks to Remy and grabbed both girls’ hands. “Come with me.”
“Where are we going?” Cathy asked.
“We’re all going to calm down a little.” I pulled them away from most of the people, to a meadow. “Mari, pick targets for us.” I handed Cathy a knife and pulled out my green one.
Mari brightened a little. “Any target?”
“Something we can hit.”
She pointed. “The tree with all the moss on it.”
I let Cathy go first, then I threw my knife. We sank our knives in the center. Mari went to retrieve them. “The lowest branch!”
Again, our knives struck it. My knife actually went through it and Mari flew to retrieve it. We kept going for at least twenty minutes, until Cathy was smiling, Mari was laughing happily, and I was at least calmer.
“Can I try?” Mari begged.
I handed her the knife my father gave me and positioned her in front of the trees. “Do you remember how?”
She nodded. I stepped to the side, after making sure no one was nearby, and watched as she flung it. She wasn’t as good as Cathy or I, but we couldn’t match her in archery either. Her knife went into the side of the trunk, but she hit. I corrected her stance, letting her throw until she hit the center.
“Good job, Mari,” I praised her. “Wonderful shot.”
She beamed and ran to get the knife. I retrieved my whetting stone from Cathy, tucked the knife back in its sheath, then showed Mari how to sharpen the knife she’d used. When she finished, I noticed everyone headed for their horses and sent them back, soon following.
As I was prepared to climb into the saddle, I noticed something lying across it, and stopped. A flower was wound around my saddle horn, soft pink petals tipped with white. I was careful not to smash it when I climbed up. I knew who the flower was from; I smiled softly anyway.
It didn’t make riding next to him any easier for the miles until we reached the border to Pailio, however. Just like at Linson, the Captain of the Guard and some of the guard was there to escort us, more of a formality than protection here, since we encountered no danger.
When we arrived at the castle, we went through the formal introductions, and the next night we had another ball. I wore orange that night, and I went without a date. I noticed that Martin went without a date as well and instantly felt a little better, although not much when I noticed that Charlene was claiming as many dances as she could.
After I finished dancing with the crown prince of Pailio, I turned and saw Martin. He bowed and offered his hand. “My lady?”
I hesitated for a moment, then went into a slow curtsey and took his hand. After the end of the dance, he kissed the back of my hand. “Thank you for the dance, my lady,” he said softly. Then he pulled the orange flower from his jacket and slid it on my wrist before letting go and disappearing.
I stood at the edge of the dance floor, stunned, looking at the flower. It was an orange lily; my favorite flower.
“My lady?” a man said. I focused on him, recognizing his uniform that marked him as the Captain of Pailio’s Royal Guard. I accepted his hand and danced a waltz with him, but I couldn’t help but see the lily on my wrist again and again.