Chapter 3

He must have forgotten.

Back when I took those blades for him, he said, "Bella, if you weren't so tough, I wouldn't have made it."

Funny how he never minded my strength then.

Just then, Luna spoke up, her tone dripping with condescension. "Let it go. I won't lower myself to her level.

"But she is just a country girl, after all. She doesn't understand how things are done here. If you wish to keep her, Your Majesty, you'd better have someone teach her proper decorum."

So Emerson ordered me confined to my quarters for a month, and Luna sent a stern governess to drill me in palace etiquette.

I couldn't make sense of it. Ever since we returned to the palace, Emerson stopped putting me first, stopped praising me like he used to.

That night, nursing my bruised pride, I had three plates of food. I was so stuffed that I was still hiccupping when Emerson walked in.

"Bella, I'm not trying to make things difficult for you," he said. "But if you want to stay by my side, you have to learn to be a real lady."

"But... hic... Emerson... hic... you never told me you already had a Queen," I managed between hiccups, sounding pitiful even to myself.

Emerson's expression tightened briefly.

"Bella, there's nothing between Luna and me," he said. "But her father secured my throne, so her position is non-negotiable.

"My heart, however, will always be yours."

I wanted to say, "Who wants your heart? I want what you promised me. Now that you have a real wife, I don't get a claim to anything anymore."

But the hiccups kept interrupting, and I couldn't get a full sentence out.

Emerson, ever the charmer, patted my back gently. "Just bear with it a little longer, Bella. Once you've mastered the rules, I'll make you my honored consort. So, what title would you like?"

I shoved his hand away. "Get lost! Hic..."

Emerson's face flushed with embarrassment. "Bella Sommers! This isn't your backcountry home. When you've learned some manners, you can come and apologize."

I started to regret my outburst, because I really did want to see Emerson, to ask if he even remembered his promises to me.

Forget the money. He had to keep his word.

But the chamberlain said the King wouldn't receive me until I'd mastered proper etiquette.

On the first day, the governess made me walk with a bowl of water balanced on my head. No spilling, no tilting.

I ended up breaking over thirty bowls, and for that, my palms were struck more than three hundred times.

My hands swelled so badly I couldn't hold a fork, and my palms were crisscrossed with angry red welts.

The next day, that same governess made me attempt the harp, with my hands still swollen and bleeding.

I knew she was trying to break me, so I gave her a taste of the paddle myself.

But the guards restrained me and delivered ten hard strikes with a cane.

Those blows tore open the old wounds on my back and side, and by nightfall, I was burning with fever.

Daisy wept, begging anyone who would listen to send for help.

I heard Emerson come to the door, but Luna intercepted him.

"She's only been learning decorum for two days. After I had her palms, she turned around and beat the governess so badly that she couldn't leave her bed.

"And today, after just a few light strokes with the same training cane we all endured as children, she's pretending to be at death's door.

"Your Majesty, if you indulge her just because she's playing the victim, you're only encouraging her defiance."

Daisy cried out, "That's not true! Bella is burning up, and you won't even call a physician."

Luna retorted sharply, "Your Majesty, just look at this. Even her maid dares to raise her voice to me. Anyone would think you're the one spoiling her."

Emerson frowned. "Daisy, tell your mistress not to take my favor for granted."

I remembered how, on the road back to Sterling, the wound on my back grew infected, but we had no money for medicine.

Emerson held me through the night, his eyes rimmed with worry. He said, "Bella, if you pull through this, I'll give you anything you want."

Burning with fever, barely conscious, I told him I wanted to find my mother.

Emerson soothed me, "If you recover, I swear I'll move heaven and earth to help you find her."

I wanted to ask if he even remembered any of that, but he didn't bother to step inside.

Thankfully, I was as stubborn as a mule. After two days of fighting through it, I pulled through on my own.

Daisy had been crying nonstop. "Bella, let's just leave. What's so great about this gilded cage anyway?"

Clutching the keepsake locket my father gave me, the one I kept close to my heart, I told Daisy, "Just wait a little longer."

Once I was back on my feet, I stopped caring about those stupid etiquette lessons. All I wanted was to see Emerson, just once. But he still refused.

Mary shot me a cold, mocking glance. "The King isn't someone you can demand an audience with whenever you please.

"Right now, our Queen is the only woman recognized in this palace. Naturally, the King spends all his time with her."

I just nodded and said I understood.