To the untrained eye, it may have looked like Allegra was avoiding the Archakis. The truth was that she was merely steeling herself for the inevitable storm that was sure to follow now that the King had dropped his revelation. She could not begin to fathom how she was even supposed to explain to all this to her friends, family and acquaintances. Something told her the words ‘sorry, wrong brother’ would not cut it. The Princess would be pleased, of course, perhaps even her father. She tried not to think too much about the fact that all she was in her parents' eyes was a means to an end.
So busy was she wallowing in her misery that the sound of the door handle turning was the only warning she had to dive back under her covers. As she listened to the soft brush of fabric against carpet and t
