A Posse of Princesses Read Online Free Page B

music is a very appropriate
diversion.”
    Rhis almost choked on her biscuit. Elda had
often said that, in just the same voice: Fine music is a very
appropriate diversion —meaning, of course, that ballads and the
like were most definitely not ‘fine music’ or ‘appropriate.’
    “Princess Elda says that often,” Rhis said
slowly, watching Shera’s face.
    At the mention of Elda’s name, Shera’s little
nose wrinkled slightly, then her face smoothed and she languidly
picked up her hot chocolate cup, her fingers held precisely in the
approved position.
    Rhis took a deep breath. “I,” she said
bravely, “happen to like ballads. And I know that those are not
considered fine music.”
    Shera hastily lowered her chocolate cup. She
gulped once or twice, her eyes tearing again, and Rhis clapped her
hand over her mouth in an effort not to laugh.
    “Ballads?” Shera squeaked, her big
greeny-brown eyes going wide and round.
    Rhis nodded firmly. “Love them. All of
them.”
    “Do you . . . know . . . Prince Aroverd
and the Snow Woman ?” Shera asked, her voice high, and not at
all modulated.
    Again Rhis nodded firmly. “All twenty-seven
verses. And I know the older version—”
    “— The Snowlass and the Toadfield ,”
Shera breathed.
    The girls stared at each other.
    “My favorite part is when she turns the
invading army into toads,” Shera said.
    “I like that part, but my favorite is when
she pushes the evil Red Mage into the swamp and stops the prince’s
runaway coach before it sinks—”
    “Oh, I love that part, too.” Shera gave a
fervent sigh. “I used to pretend I was the Snow Lass, going on
adventures, and having princes wanting to marry me.”
    Rhis dared one more thing. “I can play it on
the tiranthe,” she said quickly.
    And again Shera’s eyes widened in delight,
but this time she forgot to smooth out her face. Instead, she
clasped her hands together. “Oh, I do envy you,” she said.
“We could never learn to play anything.”
    Rhis grinned. “Elda told me that only
entertainers play. A princess might strum if a boy professes to
like music, but only to look decorative, and that proper princesses
summon entertainers when they want real music. But proper
princesses don’t ever want ballads. So after I learned the chords
from a tutor, and she sent him away, I learned in secret from the
cook’s nephew, who comes home every winter from his group of
traveling players. Of course I wasn’t allowed to pack my tiranthe
for the trip.”
    Shera grinned back. “Shall we call for
one?”
    “Let’s,” Rhis said, adding, “I’ll buy it for
the trip, and teach you what I know!”
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
    Within a very short time the girls had
established a good understanding.
    “My letters,” Rhis said apologetically. “Elda
had to read them before she would let me put them in the courier
bag.”
    Shera grimaced. “And my governess had to read
mine. But when Elda wrote to me, it was always to tell me how much
you were learning, and how grateful you were for her lessons, and
how I ought to work hard to be just like you.”
    “That’s what she said to me about you,” Rhis
exclaimed.
    “Mama is always twitting me about my
behavior.” Shera curled her legs beneath her in a fashion that
would have caused gasps of dismay from Elda. “I guess I take after
my Uncle Kordey, who Mama always calls that frivolous,
dream-touched, undutiful brother of your father’s when no one
else is around. Try as I might, I just couldn’t measure up to Mama
and Elda.”
    “In your letters, all you talked about was
your garden,” Rhis said cautiously.
    “It was the only place I could be alone,”
Shera explained. “Planning elaborate gardens is now fashionable, so
I could write about it. But actually I left all the planning to the
head gardener, and I really spent as much time as I could there to
dream and sing,” Shera admitted with a quick, merry grin.
    “I have a tower,” Rhis confessed, liking