Chapter 9 - Off to the Capital (1/2)

”I'll write to you,” I promised Edmund as we hugged each other goodbye.

He would be away at school for another year and a half. Out of all my siblings, he would be the easiest to contact once I ran away since the earl and countess wouldn't be around to spy on his mail.

”Find yourself a good husband, Katie. Charles seemed to like you, you can't really do better than him!” he said with a wink.

I was horrified. Charles?! Duke Orla?! Putting my disgust aside, I managed a sweet smile. ”I don't think he was really THAT interested, Eddie.”

”Oh, he was. He talked about you quite a bit on the ride back to the academy. He fully intends to look for you at your debut,” he said cheerfully.

Fantastic. Just what I was worried about. The last person I wanted to be shackled to was a known villain's accomplice.

I laughed awkwardly and tried to brush him off. ”Don't tease me, brother. Travel safely.”

”And you. Be sure not to trip in front of the queen,” he said with a wicked grin.

I stomped my foot. ”You're the worst, Edmund du Pont!”

”Yeah, but you love me anyway!”

And those were the last words I heard from my brother before his coach headed in the opposite direction of the capital. Why did I like him again?

”We best be going as well,” Percy said with a sigh.

He hated traveling by coach, far preferring to ride on horseback, but the countess insisted it was too far of a ride and it would be undignified. So into the coach he went.

It was crowded with four people and horrible awkward. The capital was four hours away and those four hours of silence were among the longest of my life. I used that time to think about what was waiting for me.

Catherine du Pont was gorgeous. What if I had really pushy suitors that tried to snap me up before I could get a job at the bakery? Would anywhere else accept a girl without references that obviously looks like a noble?

There would be a rough few months ahead of me. I had been living pretty well up to this point, mostly relaxing around my home, but now I was heading into a battlefield.

I very well might meet more people involved in the plot of this novel.

I'd already met Duke Orla—it was impossible to think of him as Charles, he was too intimidating. At the very least, I'd see the crown prince since he would most likely accompany his parents at the debut.

What about the other main characters? Marcy Grandin, Prince Alpheus, Sir Luken Marino the royal guard, the diabolical archduke…I'm sure there were more I wasn't remembering at the moment.