A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas Page B

“I have to tell you something, Princess,” she said eventually. “The queen asked me to lock your door at night. For your own protection. You—you understand that, don’t you?”
    Of course, the door had been mysteriously unlocked for the second morning in a row. After the previous day, Betsy was sure to have double-checked the lock before she left for the night. But she did not sound accusing or reproachful. Just . . . warning. Concerned. Aurora felt a jolt of guilt. But she could not stop sneaking out now, not when she still had so much to see. Not when Tristan was waiting for her. “Yes,” she said. “I understand.”
    Half an hour later, after Aurora was dressed and Betsy had left for her other duties, Rodric positively bounced into the room. A grin filled his normally pained, blushing face, and everything about him, from the tips of his hair to his footsteps on the stone floor, seemed to laugh in excitement.
    â€œI had a thought!” he said, as though this were a rare andcelebratory occurrence. “I think you’ll like it. I—” He looked at her face, and he paused. “Are you all right, Princess? You look tired.” There was that distinctive pink flush again. “Not that you don’t look lovely,” he said. “You always look lovely. Even when you are tired. But you do look tired, Princess, if you don’t mind my asking about it—”
    My name isn’t Princess , she thought, and suddenly she felt tireder still. But what was the point in explaining? “What was your thought?”
    He hesitated, all the excitement lost in the moment’s interruption. “It’s a silly idea, really,” he said. “I understand if you don’t want to.”
    â€œI’m sure it will be wonderful,” she said. “What is it?”
    He smiled again, if a little cautiously. “Would you like to come and see my sister?”
    Rodric’s sister. Aurora knew nothing about her, except for that brief glimpse of a young girl, soon after she awoke. “Yes,” she said steadily. “All right.” When Rodric continued to look unsure, she added, “That would be nice.”
    â€œShe might not say much,” Rodric said, “but I know she’d be excited. She’s read your story many times. It’s one of her favorites.”
    Of course. Even now, she was to be paraded about. Come and meet her for a gold piece. Gain affection from your siblings with her strange delights. What if, after years of appearing in the girl’s storybooks, she was a disappointment?
    Rodric knocked on a door on the far side of the castle, several floors above Aurora’s own. Beyond the wall, Aurora heard a rather stern, pinched-sounding woman pause in her lecture. Rodric eased the door open.
    â€œMrs. Benson,” he said. “I am sorry to trouble you. I wondered if I might speak with Isabelle for a moment.”
    â€œWe’re in the middle of a lesson,” Mrs. Benson said. “With all due respect, your sister’s education is of the utmost importance—”
    â€œI thought,” Rodric said, “that the princess and I might take her into the gardens. Only a short break. I wish my—I mean, I wish for the princess and my sister to become acquainted with each other.”
    â€œPlease!” said a soft, high voice from inside the room. “Please, Mrs. Benson. I’ll concentrate hard afterward, I promise.”
    The woman sighed. “All right,” she said. “But be quick about it. And don’t you even think of getting your new dress dirty, young lady.”
    â€œI won’t!” the girl said. “Thank you!”
    Feet scurried across the floor, and then a small girl ducked around Rodric. Isabelle had brown hair, pinned at the back and then running straight down to her waist. Her face was thin, like her mother’s, but she clearly also had her brother’s