Part 24

Bethany had left after finishing up with my hair, leaving me and Lionel in the guest room with my lunch, or maybe it was brunch? I was having trouble telling the time apart anymore. These past few months had felt either like years that dragged on or minutes that flew by too fast to remember.

“Would you like to have lunch by the window again?” Lionel was smiling as he crouched next to me. He was a lot bigger than I had remembered or thought of him.

I was still staring at my father’s sweater sleeve, playing with the fabric. I still wanted to see their things, their rooms, the room that I shared with my brother. I wanted to see the stars and the garden.

Looking out the window I could see that the sun was still in the sky, too early to look at the stars.

“Can… Can I eat in the garden?”

“The garden?” Lionel looked at the tray of food, the small china plate still steaming from the heat of the fresh pastry, before glancing out the window. “The one outside?”

Were Not all gardens outside? Maybe he was asking if I meant the exterior one that the guests could use or the interior one that was for the royal family.

I shook my head softly, “The inside one.”

“The inside one…” Lionel looked more confused but still nodded slowly. “Of course. The inside one. Let me just ask them to… um.”

He stood quickly and poked his head out of the door, speaking hushedly to the guards stationed outside of it. I could hear the two men, the ones from this morning I think, talk back and forth about it for a while.

“The inside gardens?”

“I don't think we have a garden inside the palace… Do we?”

“Does she mean the greenhouse?”

“Those are down by the barracks and wells though, I don't think she was ever allowed there.”

“She might have been with one of her uncles. A few of them lived there for a while.”

“I'm pretty sure all of our gardens are outside.”

“But His Majesty loved flowers, maybe the princess’s father had an interior flower garden quilt for him?”

“That does sound like something he would do.”

“Yeah, he was always doing grand romantic gestures. It was sweet.”

“I think we would have heard of it though, wouldn't we? We were his guards. We would know if it was a thing.”

“Maybe it was in the works before… ‘it’... happened? What if it was a surprise she was in?”

“Could be… but I still think we would have known about it. The prince was always making grand gestures for his husband but he was never good at being sneaky about it.”

“Good point.”

“So what inside gardens could she be talking about then?” Lionel interrupted them, “She specifically said ‘the inside one’ when I tried asking which garden she meant.”

“We could ask one of the handmaids.”

“Yeah, they would know. They spent a lot of time with her.”

“And where are they?”

“Can I go and find them?”

“I would prefer if you two stayed here and sent someone to find them.”

“We’ll do that then.”

Lionel ducked back inside the room while I heard one of the guards call over someone else to send them looking for Bethany again. I doubt she went far, she was only just in here after all.

“Just give us a moment princess! We’re working on getting the garden set up for your lunch!”

“I meant the interior one.” I tried to help him out, I knew now that he hadn't meant the exterior garden.

He deflated a little, sighing “You heard all that?”

I nodded.

“Well I'm glad it amused you a bit at least.” he smiled at me “It's good to see you smile, I don't think I've seen you do it before.”

Was I smiling? I suppose the exchange outside of the door was funny, so perhaps I was.

“So the interior gardens. Where are those?”

“Near my room.” My voice was starting to hurt again, hopefully, he would understand what I meant before I had to stop speaking again. Though I could always write down what I wanted to say. I looked at my hands, they were shaking if I held them off of my lap for too long, so perhaps that wouldn't work just yet.

“These?” He pointed out of the window, I shook my head.

“My bedroom.”

“Your bedroom… but not this bedroom?”

The braid Bethany had done bounced as I nodded a little.

“The royal gardens, the ones in the interior ring of the palace?”

I nodded again, He had gotten it.

“Ah. The inside ones.” he shook his head, smiling bigger than before. “It's too cold to eat outside in the gardens. You can eat by a window that has a view of them if you would like?”

Soon enough I was by the large floor-to-ceiling window of the family foyer that looked out to the garden. The foyer was at ground level and was framed by two massive Mongolian trees, blooming bright pink throughout the winter.

Lionel had brought over one of the lounge chairs and set it up next to a small end table in front of the window for my lunch.

“I didn't know there was such a nice garden in the interior palace. It looks very well maintained.

“Mother took care of it.”

“I see. It's very lovely. I didn't know some things could blossom in the cold.”

“He wanted there to always be color near our rooms, so he got a lot of things that would bloom in every season for us.”

Lionel let me rest my voice throughout the last of my meal. The sandwich was a simple one that my mother would often make for me, chicken and curried rice on thick pieces of dark bread with a simple soup on the side. The party was one of the ones that the chef would make nearly daily, the ones that my cousins and I would pull off elaborate plans to get before tea time when they were fresh out of the oven.

When I started to eat the pastry Lionel told me, “The chef said that if you wanted any more of those just let him know, he mentioned something about you not having to pull off any secret plans and sneaking about for them?”

I must have smiled again because Lionel beamed brightly at me. Out of the corner of my vision, I could see him pump his hand in victory. He reminded me a lot of my uncles, he and them were similar in many ways. The little victories they celebrated over my behavior, the smiles, the clumsy movements as they rushed to and fro to get things. My uncles had been knighted by my father or grandfather at some point, to give them fancy titles one of the younger ones had explained.

I wonder if all knights are like this, or if it's just the good ones.

Sitting in the family foyer by the garden reminded me of what I had wanted so much just a few days ago. My father's letter, his sweater, my mother's book of flowers, and the clothing from his culture.

I wanted to stay in their room tonight.

I could feel my eyes start to droop shut as I watched the snow start to fall into the garden. I was sipping my tea, having to use both my hands to hold up the little cup without it shaking. My throat felt better but I didn't want to talk much more, perhaps just one last thing before I fell asleep again.

“After you finish lunch princess it would be best if you got some rest. You hurt your head fairly badly last night and you need to recover more of your strength.” he was looking me over, frowning a little when he saw the bruise on my head again, “The doctor said you should be fine, but after this morning I think it's best if you take it easy for a bit longer. Speaking of last night, what exactly happened?”