#midcin louis

At least a few of the King’s council were won over enough by Lettie’s declaration that they more than just deigned to speak with her. The interrogation continued outside the King’s chamber with several councilmen well past the sunset. Lettie made her way quickly through halls, thankful to find them mostly deserted after the chaos of the day. Theo was certainly home by this hour, their neighbors probably filling his head with stories about being spirited away by the Chamberlain. He must have been worried sick.

She slipped into a stairwell well hidden for use by the servants that Nico had shown her. Exhausted and balancing carefully in heels, Lettie ran her hand along the plain stone wall as she made her way down. Flatter footsteps echoed but from which direction she couldn’t tell. It wouldn’t do for anyone to find her there. Lettie whipped around the bend of the stairwell too quickly, the heel of her shoe skidding to the side. The toe of her other heel tipped over the stair and Lettie felt her stomach drop, but she only tumbled over into something rather than down the stairs.

The figure braced against her, holding her there firmly. “And where would Her Royal Highness be going?”

Any relief of being caught was gone at that voice. Lettie stepped back and saw the man who had insulted her, put his hands on her, and then questioned her credibility in front of the King. Falling down the stairs might have been preferable.

His light blue eyes should have been sweet, but they betrayed nothing going on behind them. There was only the faintest hint of a smile on his lips. “After that impressive performance in the King’s chambers I hadn’t expected you to leave so soon.”

Lettie huffed a hot breath and gave him only silence in return as she slipped back into her shoe. He had made it abundantly clear he considered her beneath him, a common peasant.

He continued anyway, “Not that I object to your decision to quit. In fact, I’d be more than happy to assist your escape attempt.”

Was he trying to be funny? Everything felt so foggy since she was invited to the castle. Lettie crossed her arms, “I am coming back. I have something to attend to.”

“Alone?”

“I am accompanied.”

“Not by any knights though. Or the Chamberlain.”

Lettie couldn’t actually tell what his point in talking to her was. His features were smooth but rigidly so. Maybe it was just amusement at her expense. She had promised the King and his council transparency, but not her extended attention. Especially not this one.

She sighed. “My brother is home by now. The Chamberlain would have him spirited away here like he did to me. I won’t accept that. He will hear about this from me, in our own home.”

Then Lettie continued past him, only making it down a few stairs before she heard him follow.

“He has no idea?” The nobleman asked.

“He cannot.” Lettie answered, her back still to him. “He has been gone at school for the season.”

“Then…” The nobleman’s composed tone faltered, “You’ll tell him, and then what?”

“Return here with him. And then I can fully devote myself to this new role.”

His voice took on that icy sharpness again, “I doubt you truly understand what that role is.”

Lettie could have felt her hair curling in frustration had it not been neatly fastened up on her head. At the bottom of the stairs, a simple wooden door had been left unlocked for her by Nico. The nobleman was standing on the second step, inspecting her as if he were looking for something.

“Good evening, sir.” Lettie was sure as soon as they parted ways he would tell the first person he saw about the new Princess escaping into the night.

A moment passed but he didn’t leave. There was a slight twitch in his thin, arched brows. Then he shuffled on his feet like he was unsure of what to do with himself. “Why would you come back here?”

He sounded more disappointed, sad even, than angry. His blue eyes were shiny with emotion like they had been when they met in the palace courtyard. Like an emotional child holding back tears.

Lettie ignored it and turned her back on him again. “You would not understand the mind of a servant. Or a woman, for that matter.”

She heard his sharp intake of breath before he moved past her decidedly. “You’re a fool, and beyond saving as well.”

His grip on the door handle was rough but he opened it gracefully, bowing politely for her to exit first. How long would the bastard hover around her just to patronize? Lettie kept her head high as she walked through the door towards the discreet carriage where Nico was waiting.

Nico’s brows raised at the two of them together before he bowed, “Oh, Good evening, Duke Howard.”

So he was the Duke of Howard. He had enough power and influence to make her life very difficult. Pressure was building in Lettie’s temples. Giles had expressed to her the importance of being liked. But if he hated her from the moment they met for how she was born, what was she supposed to do about it?

The Duke did not acknowledge Nico, only continued on to open the carriage door as well. “You’d better hurry. If Giles discovers you missing, you’ll be the one to suffer the consequences.”

He might as well say he was off to tell Giles himself. Lettie’s lip curled. The Duke offered a smooth, unblemished hand to her as if to assist her into the carriage. If this was how nobility showed their contempt, she could do better. She made a show of daintily lifting her skirt above the ankles and stepped out of the heels, planting both feet flat on the ground. Then she bent at the knees, taking both heels in one hand. Head still high, Lettie turned away from the Duke and stepped into the carriage on her own, letting the soles of her shoes dust his open palm.

Nico stifled a small laugh, and the Duke finally acknowledged his presence with a harsh look. Lettie settled into the compartment only for her uninvited company to follow again. He huffed at her, “Move over.”

Lettie stumbled over her words of protest but his frame all but pushed her further into the carriage. She gave him an incredulous huff back when he sat properly across from her, their knees almost touching. Nico stood in the open door, looking to Lettie for instruction.

“Are you ready to go then, my Lady?” He asked cautiously.

This bastard wasn’t going to make her any later to see Theo. “Let’s not waste any more time.”

When the carriage lurched forward the Duke continued to survey her with displeasure. As if she had inflicted her company on him and not the other way around. His cupid’s bow lips were turned downwards, a temporary imperfection caused by her severely imperfect presence.

She let her own displeasure be known,“Why are you following me home?”

The Duke answered in a flat tone, “You shouldn’t go out alone. Your attendant isn’t prepared to protect you.”

“It’s a bit late to be a gentleman. Duke Howard, is it?”

“Louis Howard.”

She crossed a leg widely over her knee in the cramped space, hoping some of the dirt from her feet rubbed off on him. “I am surprised to hear you wouldn’t have preferred misfortune to find me on my way.”

“Don’t be stupid,” he snipped back with a deepening scowl. “Of course I don’t wish harm upon you.”

She muttered, “You have a funny way of showing it.”

“I’d hoped to see you stay home. The palace is no place for a girl like you. It will only end badly for you.”

Lettie uncrossed her legs and leaned closer to him, mimicking his icy tone. “You tell me you don’t wish harm upon me but you seem to try and intimidate me at every turn. You’d get your point across if you spoke plainly.”

Louis leaned towards her as well, his voice low. “If you can’t figure out someone’s true intentions, you have no business becoming Queen.”

They were glaring at each other again. This creature was definitely foreign to her, cherubic in appearance however unknowable in nature. The Duke was almost shiny he was so pristine; and Lettie was speckled, had dirt on her feet, and eyes so black they were not moved at all by his light.

Louis withdrew first. “Are you sure you’ve been entirely honest now? How is it a witch sends her charge to a boarding school, anyway?”

Lettie sat back as well. “Theo goes to Maisons, they offer scholarship every five years. He’s brilliant, but I also was lucky to help someone who introduced me to a very kind tutor.”

He hummed in vague acknowledgment then turned his head away and went quiet. She couldn’t help watching his expression from the corner of her eye. For a full minute his eyes gradually narrowed until he was glaring at the door. Why bother asking her anything if everything about her would only vex him further? Several more minutes of very loud silence stretched between them. Then Duke Howard stuffed his hand awkwardly into his coat pocket with a heavy exhale, like giving a great effort.

Lettie leaned away when he held something out in the space between them. It was a bookmark with a white flower pressed between glass panes. The Duke’s attention remained determinedly fixed on the door. Whatever he meant to do it was difficult for him, his porcelain skin flushing. He wasn’t so pretty with his features twisted, but she still might have preferred him that way.

After another very long, very quiet moment the Duke looked up at her. He bristled at her confusion and said abrasively, “I’m giving it to you.”

“What?”

“Your brother’s in school, isn’t he? It’s a bookmark.”

She knew that much. Lettie wasn’t sure what to say. The pressed flower looked almost like the one now sitting potted in the King’s chamber. Maybe that was the idea. She said more calmly, “Thank you.”

Louis Howard’s behavior was the least of Lettie’s concerns, just another question rattling in her exhausted mind. She finally turned her suspicion away from him and watched the streets pass, waiting for them to become familiar again. What was most important was finding someone to take up the work she was leaving behind. The thought left a bittersweet, dry feeling in her mouth. The number of people Lettie would actually consider a friend were few. She didn’t even like most people, but she knew the people in her neighborhood intimately. Tended their fears and grief with charms, helped deliver their children, prayed during their loved one’s dying moments. But she was no real doctor and they deserved proper care. Had she been able to tell herself in the past what kind of opportunity she would have, she would probably be angry at herself for hesitating.

How could she not though, when she still had to think about Theo? Taking on this new life would severely limit her own freedom for the foreseeable future, potentially longer. Giles had assured her that only she would have any say over Theo’s life but she would have to limit any of the nobles’ access to him. It would be harder for him to see his friends. If it was safe at all. Her eyes drifted back to Duke Howard. No one else had reacted as severely as him to her introduction as the Princess Elect.

Outside the window the buildings they passed became more narrow and the carriage swayed side to side on uneven streets. The carriage Nico had taken was nondescript enough that anyone they passed barely paid it notice. As they approached a crowd of people the horses slowed.

Lettie didn’t hesitate to get out, several people in the crowd gasping and shouting at the sight of her. She owed them all an explanation, but Theo would be first. Nico was quick to jump down from the street and follow her, but the Duke remained unseen.

“Let me through,” Lettie shouted over the questions and shocked recognition.

They parted, and Lettie saw him. Theo was sitting on their stoop surrounded by friends and their neighbor Madame Dubois. His eyes went wider when he saw her, taking in her dress and the emeralds around her neck. Nico bumped into Lettie’s back, her feet stuck in place.

“Etta?” Theo’ voice was just loud enough for her to hear.

Lettie shook the haze off her thoughts and moved for him quickly, pulling him up by the arm and towards the front door. Nico followed just behind her heels, the bell on the door clanging as she opened it. She tried to swing it closed just behind her. It didn’t shut all the way, stuck on Nico’s foot.

“I’m not supposed to leave you, Lettie.” His dark tone gave her pause, he looked more serious than she had ever seen him before.

She pushed his foot back with her own, “Wait here then,” and shut the door.

Theo lit the sitting room lamp, the crack of a match and the smell of smoke filling the room. The dim light made the apprehension in his dark eyes that much more apparent. “Who was that?”

Her throat went tight at the emotion in his face. The weight of her choices dragged on her heart and her lips, and Lettie covered her mouth to hide it. She cast her eyes to the floor, but the familiar cracks in the wooden planks made her vision blurry with tears. It hadn’t even been two days, everything she had worked for was still right where she had left it.

“Etta, what happened?” Theo’s voice wavered.

Sometimes when she looked at him, he still looked like a small child. She crossed the space between them quickly and pulled him into a hug. “I made a decision I can’t take back, and it wasn’t fair to you.”

The two of them sitting at her worktable, Lettie tried to wipe her eyes so Theo wouldn’t see her tears. She explained everything to him but said nothing as to why she thought it was right. She needed his genuine thoughts, not acceptance for how she had uprooted his life. It was always clear to see when he was thinking. As he listened a question would cross his mind, but as was often the case he seemed to answer it himself after another moment of thought.

He did this several times before he finally spoke slowly, all the pieces coming together. “You could help a lot of people. A lot more than just the people here.”

Lettie nodded and Theo continued. “It’s the right thing… to try. Isn’t it?”

She had no idea what the right thing was. If she would fail, would trying in the first place still be the right thing? Did her intentions make it right? Could she make anything she did right with the power she would have? Lettie didn’t like to let Theo see when she wasn’t certain but she didn’t like to lie to him either.

“I think so,” She decided.

They were both looking at each other across the table, neither sure what to say. She put her hand over his, ready to remind him that as smart as he was he was still only thirteen. “You know you’re coming with me, right?”

“Of course I’m coming with you.” He said quietly. It didn’t hide the hesitation.

“I’m going to do everything I can to keep you separated from all of this. But even so, there may be times I… I may have to limit you more than I have before. For your safety.”

His eyes went blank. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not even supposed to be here. If I become a target, you could as well. There will be times you can’t go out alone, I don’t know how soon you’ll be able to see your friends again,”

Theo tapped his fingers under Lettie’s hand, the gears in his head turning again. He didn’t always get along with the other boys at school. Having friends at home he had more in common with was always good for him. His eyes went to the door, where everyone they had known for years was still waiting.

“What do you think Mom would say?” He asked.

Lettie had to think about it for a moment. She always found herself unconsciously acting so much like their mother that she had hardly thought to ask herself that question anymore. The first time they had to leave their home, after she died, Lettie used to ask herself constantly.

She took a deep breath and answered truthfully. “Mom would probably say not to play chess with pigeons. It will strut about like it’s won either way. That you cannot win the game from inside.”