A Posse of Princesses Read Online Free Page A

past.
    The word ‘inn’ was misleading, Rhis decided
when she saw the huge building with its numerous windows and fine
columned archways. A great many well-dressed people strolled about,
and for the first time she was glad of her entourage when they
rolled up the carriageway to the splendid courtyard. Nothing in Nym
was this fine! People stared so when she emerged from her carriage,
but no one smiled.
    She walked inside quickly, glad to follow
Mistress Ranla, her father’s courier, who was the leader of the
entourage. A brief glimpse of a spacious area full of fine
furnishings and handsomely dressed folk strolling about was all she
got before she was conducted up a grand, sweeping stairway to
another storey, and then to a suite of huge rooms where nothing was
made of stone. The walls were smooth wood painted a warm cream
color.
    She sank down onto the nearest chair, as
servants and retainers curtseyed and moved about arranging things.
A few moments later a girl her own age approached with a cautious,
uncertain step. She was much shorter than Rhis. She had a round
figure, a moon-shaped face, and the honey-brown skin common to
their end of the continent, with a rosebud of a mouth. Her hair was
a rich chestnut brown, glinting with red highlights, and it had
natural wave that made long bouncy curls that Rhis envied at once.
Her gown, light green trimmed with pearls and dark green ribbons,
was at least as fine as the finest of the gowns in Rhis’s trunks,
and it made her brown eyes look greenish, contrasting delightfully
with her reddish hair.
    She gave a correct nod as Rhis rose to her
feet. “Princess Rhis?” Her voice was high, with a slight lisp.
    “Princess Shera?” Rhis said, giving the same
nod.
    “My parents bid me welcome you to Gensam,”
Shera said in a carefully modulated voice. “I trust our journey
together will be pleasant.”
    Rhis knew what to say to that. “Thank you. In
my turn, I am to convey greetings and thanks from my parents to
yours, and from your honored sister, Princess Elda, as well.”
    The conversation proceeded like that for a
short time, each girl admirably formal and dignified and very, very
proper. Rhis was glad of her lessons with Elda. At least she wasn’t
making a fool of herself. But by the time a quiet servant had
brought in hot chocolate and biscuits, Rhis was feeling the strain
of so much dignified, formal conversation. At the thought of two
more weeks of it, she found herself wishing that she would be alone
after all.
    When next Shera spoke, it was to praise the
inn’s garden. Rhis half-listened to the slow, lisping voice
enumerate the fine early blooms and important plants that she had
found in her five days’ stay while waiting for Rhis’s arrival.
Since very few flowers grew in cold, high Nym, Rhis didn’t
recognize half the names she heard, and she couldn’t help her mind
wandering.
    She was choosing her fourth biscuit—she
wasn’t hungry, but at least it gave her something to do with her
hands—when she happened to look up, just as Shera started to
yawn.
    The princess closed her jaw at once, her eyes
watering slightly.
    “If you are tired, Princess Shera, it will
not discommode me if you wish to retire to rest,” Rhis said
politely, hoping to get rid of her for a time.
    Shera’s round face went bright pink. “I’m not
tired—” she said quickly, then she turned even redder.
    Rhis stared. Was it possible that Shera was
as bored as she was? How to find out, without making some terrible
mistake in etiquette that would disgrace her family—her entire
kingdom?
    “Not tired?” she repeated in her most polite
voice.
    “Well, a little, maybe. There was music last
night, and perhaps I stayed awake too long to hear it,” Shera said,
just as politely.
    “Do you, ah, like music?” Rhis asked, even
more politely.
    Shera’s eyes widened slightly, an expression
of surprise and delight, but then her face smoothed into blankness,
and she said very formally, “Fine