Part 3
679 Words
THREE
When Bianca left Kun's cottage, she found her guards had gone. Her mare stood outside where she'd left her, along with the packhorses carrying her belongings, but no one else. When Bianca looked askance at Kun, the old woman just grinned.
"Like I said, princess, you are safe here. There is no need for guards, while you are on the grounds of the Summer Palace."
Bianca looked around nervously. "But I do not yet know where the Summer Palace is," she said.
The old woman cackled. "Neither did your guards, for none of them have been allowed to go further up the road than my cottage." She eyed Bianca. "Simply follow the road. It will lead you to your destination."
"Is it far?" Bianca asked, hating the tremor in her voice. Her instincts told her to turn her horse in the opposite direction and urge it to a gallop until she was as far away from this place as possible.
"Less than an hour's ride, I am told. But that depends on just how eager you are to reach the palace."
Bianca swallowed. Perhaps Kun truly could read her mind.
Bianca found that for a less than eager princess, on a tired mount she had no desire to kick into a faster pace than a walk, it was indeed less than an hour before the palace loomed into view. Much smaller than the women's palace in the capital, she would not have called it a palace at all, if not for the decorative stonework that marked it as a noble's residence. Her father's seal on the gate left no question as to her destination. Small though it was, this was the Summer Palace, and her home for the foreseeable future. But not, she vowed, the rest of her life.
Servants ran out to greet her, to take care of her horses and see to her things. None of them dared raise their gaze to meet the eyes of a princess. That was as it should be, Bianca supposed. Then why did she feel such a strong burst of fear from them all? Perhaps she only imagined it.
"Princess Bianca, I presume?" a booming male voice rang out, preceding a richly dressed man who bowed low before her. "I am Efe, cousin to the queen, and the steward of the Summer Palace. The king wouldn't trust anyone less with such treasured jewels from his harem such as yourself and your sisters."
A crow cawed loudly with what sounded like laughter as it took flight from the roof above.
Bianca drew herself up to her haughtiest height, which sadly fell short of this odious man's shoulder. Nevertheless, she was a princess and the king's daughter, not merely some distant relation of the queen's. "No, he would not trust a lesser noble then yourself," she said sweetly. "After all, guard duty for a group of women who are used to living a protected life in the palace is hardly a job for someone the king values highly."
The steward's nostrils flared. Her barb had indeed landed. "I would not expect such a sheltered princess as yourself to know anything of the dangers outside your father's palace in the capital." His vulpine grin said what his words did not: that he hoped Bianca would fall afoul of some of these dangers, for he would enjoy her misfortune.
Bianca suppressed a snort, for such things were unladylike. She was no ordinary princess, but let the man believe what he liked. She had learned politics from her very infancy, for no girl survived long in a harem otherwise. Let him do his worst. She would be prepared. Bianca bowed her head to hide her smile.
The steward seemed to take this as submission. More fool him. "I shall take you to your quarters, and to see your sisters." He waved her inside.
For a moment, Bianca hesitated on the threshold. Even in the evening light, it seemed much brighter outside the confines of the Summer Palace. But such fears were silly, she told herself. Taking a deep breath, she strode forward with her head held high.
- Writer
