Princess without a Palace: A King Thrushbeard Fairy Tale (21 page)

Relieved to finally have a plan, she
then extinguished the candle and with nothing else to do, returned to her bed.
She was surprised by the peace she felt and quickly drifted back to sleep with
the faintest of smiles gracing her lips.

Yes, she was sure of it, she drowsily
assured herself one last time. Her father would know what to do.

Later that day, Hilda marched into
Liesel’s small room and thrust a tiny piece of cake toward her.

“Taste it,” the old woman ordered.

Liesel’s brows rose at the woman’s
strange request, but she obediently accepted the morsel and popped it into her
mouth. Her face immediately transformed into a grimace. “That’s disgusting,”
she said, spitting it out into a nearby napkin. “What’s wrong with it?”

“I think you forgot the sugar,” Hilda
answered with her hands on her hips. “You’re lucky I had to skim off the top of
the cake to level it or we wouldn’t have realized your mistake until it was
served at the ball.”

Liesel buried her face in her hands and
shook her head. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know how I forgot that.”

The old woman folded her arms and looked
at her with a mixture of sternness and concern. “You seem like your head is
somewhere else today. Is anything wrong?”

“No … yes … no …” Liesel finally looked
up at her and honestly answered with a shrug, “I don’t know.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“No,” Liesel answered, but her
uncertainty must have been apparent.

“Are you sure? I don’t think I can
afford for you to ruin another cake today.”

Liesel’s shoulders slumped with a sigh.
She looked down and fiddled with her apron as she tried to decide whether or
not to say anything about her current dilemma.

“Yes?” Hilda prodded, her patience wearing
thin.

Liesel looked up and timidly began, “You
and Albert have both spent time working in the castle … you as a cook, and
Albert as a soldier … Do you ever wish you could be one of the royal members
living in the castle, instead of just serving them?”

“I’d be lying if I denied it. But I’m
happy where I am.”

Liesel nodded and then quietly asked,
“Are you happy with Albert?”

“I wouldn’t trade him for anything …”
Hilda responded in a tone only a woman who had loved for decades could match.
“Not even for a chance to live in this castle,” she added, her eyes twinkling.

Liesel smiled and answered softly, “Thank
you, Hilda.”

“Strange questions … But if that is all
you want to ask, then I’ll be returning to the kitchen,” Hilda responded, moving
toward the door.

Liesel reached to retrieve the bowl of
unfinished cake batter at her side and assured, “And I promise I won’t ruin any
more cakes.”

“See that you don’t,” the old woman
warned, looking back to point at her briefly. “I can’t have my kitchen
disgraced.”

Liesel nodded and made sure she added
the sugar to the bowl as soon as Hilda had exited the room. She didn’t want to
chance making the same mistake again.

Over the course of the afternoon,
Hilda’s words about not trading Albert for anything repeated over and over
again in her mind as she continued mixing batters for baking. Liesel tried to
think if there was anything she could positively say she would rather have than
Roderick … But by the time it was dark and she began walking home, she still
hadn’t thought of anything.

When Liesel returned to the barn later
that night, she couldn’t deny feeling a twinge of disappointment that Roderick
wasn’t already there waiting for her. After all, she was sure he couldn’t still
be harvesting when it was so dark outside.

Releasing a sigh, she walked over to one
of the barn’s shuttered windows, and even though the air was frightfully
chilly, she pushed the shutters open so the light from inside the barn could be
easily seen from the hut. Perhaps Roderick was waiting to come to the barn until
he was certain she was there.

She then turned toward her corner and
rifled through the straw until she had unearthed the canvas Roderick had gifted
her. Leaning back against the blankets of her bed, she listened to the horses
chomp on their evening meal while she tried to decide what she should paint.

After at least ten minutes had passed
and Roderick had still not arrived, she set the canvas aside and tried to busy
herself arranging her paints. But even after the paints had been categorically
lined up in several different ways, Roderick was still absent and Liesel
frowned. She wondered what could possibly be keeping him.

Pushing herself to her feet and grabbing
her shawl, she decided she would just march over to the hut right then and find
out. There was nothing to be gained by remaining alone in the barn.

She knocked on the door to announce her
presence and then walked inside.

Her eyes quickly scanned the room, but
the only person she found was Maria folding laundry near the fire.

“Yes,” Maria prompted in her haughty
way.

Liesel clasped her hands tightly in
front of her and forced a smile. “Have you seen Roderick tonight? I expected to
see him by now.”

Maria set the shirt she was folding back
down on her lap and looked at Liesel with an uncharacteristic amount of
sympathy. “Didn’t he tell you? I suppose he must have completely forgotten he
had anything planned with you. He left early this afternoon,” she explained and
then returned to her folding.

“Where did he go?” Liesel asked, feeling
panic rise inside. Such behavior was quite out of character for Roderick. “Is
anything wrong?”

“A dam broke in the northern part of the
kingdom,” Maria answered, briefly looking up. “I suppose there’s just been too
much rain these last few days for the dam to withstand it all. Roderick was
summoned to help.”

“I heard about that at the castle … But
I didn’t realize Roderick would need to go.”

Maria shrugged one of her thin
shoulders. “There aren’t many people in the northern part of the kingdom. I’m
not surprised at all that he was drafted to help.” Silence ensued and Maria
reached for a paper lying nearby. “If you don’t believe me, you are more than
welcome to read the letter he left me.”

“He wrote you?” Liesel asked, blurting
the question more out of surprise by her own lack of correspondence.

“Yes, I was attending to a few errands
when his summons came, but he left a letter for me so I would know where he had
gone,” Maria replied before her face transformed into a look of sympathy again.
“Oh … Did he not write you?”

“I … I suppose I haven’t really checked
my belongings to see …”

“There now,” Maria replied with a smile.
“I’m sure if he cared to let you know, there is a letter waiting for you in the
barn.”

Liesel’s eyes narrowed briefly, but she
quickly concealed the look. She did not appreciate Maria’s implied doubts of
Roderick’s devotion to her, but since that was really none of Maria’s concern,
she didn’t want to give her the gratification of a reaction.

Ready to escape, she took a step back
toward the door and excused herself, “I apologize for imposing on your quiet
evening.”

“Not at all,” Maria replied with a
smile. “I’m glad I could be of service to you.”

Liesel nodded and then walked out into
the cold, dark night. The wind caused the door to slam behind her more
forcefully than she intended, and the startling sound made her jump. Securing
her shawl more tightly around her shoulders, she then stopped to glance back at
the hut one more time, unable to deny a troubling warning brewing within her.

She tried to bury the feeling, but
couldn’t.

Maria’s smile would haunt her dreams
that night. She was sure of it. The woman’s charade of kindness felt even more
threatening than her customary hostility.

But even more troubling was Roderick’s
sudden disappearance. She couldn’t believe that he would have left without at
least a small note. Not when he claimed to care for her as he had.

Maria leapt in her seat when her door
slammed shut. Stifling a growl, she forced herself to inhale several deep,
calming breaths while she listened until she was sure she had heard the barn
door finally open and close in the distance.

Piling her folding into the basket at
her feet, she then walked to the window and lifted a corner of the curtain so
she could peer out into the night without detection. She stood there,
transfixed, as she watched Liesel walk back and forth throughout the barn,
leaving no straw unturned. After she had seen enough of the princess’s futile
efforts, she let the curtain fall and turned back to gather her basket of
laundry.

She had much to do this night and
couldn’t afford to spend time worrying over Liesel when there was a significant
amount of packing that needed to be done. Such energies would be wasted. Liesel
would flee from her life soon enough if everything went according to plan.

Maria clasped her hands together and
looked around the room, contemplating where she should start the great gathering
of her belongings, but when her eyes passed over the fire, her gaze swung back
to the ashes smoldering under the flames, and she couldn’t help but smirk.

Liesel could search the barn as long as
she wanted, but she was never going to find the letter Roderick had left her.

F
or
the first time in a week, Liesel awoke the next morning after the sun. Light
filtered through the cracks in the wooden slats of the barn and Liesel rubbed
her eyes to chase away the last traces of sleep. She pushed herself onto her
elbows and glanced around, wondering how much of the morning she had wasted
away sleeping.

If she hadn’t already devoted so many
hours to working in the kitchen this week, she would have felt frantic waking
up so late in the morning. But after staying awake through most of the night,
she was grateful for the rest. And she was pretty certain Hilda would
understand.

After she had finally given up her
search for a letter from Roderick the night before, she had sunk into the pile
of straw, sick with worry. She hoped Roderick would be safe. A broken dam was
no trifling matter, and she prayed he would be able to return quickly and
unharmed.

Finally, needing some way to distract
her mind from pondering over Roderick facing such perils, she had pulled out
her paints again.

Liesel rolled to her side to look at her
completed painting and smiled. The painting looked even better in the sunlight.
It was a great personal achievement to have painted such a fine picture and she
considered it a masterpiece. The painting looked just like him.

She hadn’t realized how much she must
have studied Roderick’s face during the last few weeks to be able to paint it
so accurately, but considering what a fine face it was, she wasn’t surprised.
He was the most handsome man she had ever met.

Studying his face now, her heart filled
with hope. Roderick was quite strong and capable. He would be safe and he would
return for her. And she was sure there was a very good reason he hadn’t written
her before he left. She just knew it.

Hearing the faint sounds of Maria singing
in the nearby garden, Liesel’s face twisted in annoyance. For all she knew, it
was likely Roderick had written her and mischievous Maria had probably just
hidden it somewhere. She wouldn’t be surprised at all by Maria doing such a
thing.

Liesel gingerly picked up the canvas,
careful not to touch the drying paint, and stared at his likeness. The frantic
worry she had felt during the night when she had considered him leaving and
something happening to him to prevent him from ever returning made her realize
just how much she cared for him.

In fact, she was pretty certain that she
loved him.

This undeniable realization took her by surprise.
Was she really ready to promise him forever? She looked back at her painting of
him and her heart swelled within her chest.

It was true. Like the way Hilda felt
about Albert, there was nothing she wanted more.

And now it appeared that she had some
time before he returned to think of the perfect way to tell him.

Realizing she couldn’t keep lounging the
day away, she set the painting aside and pushed herself to her feet. She
couldn’t spend too much time right now consumed by how to tell Roderick that she
loved him. She was late and needed to get to the castle before Hilda sent
someone looking for her.

Grabbing her purple shoes, she started
slipping them onto her feet, but immediately froze, her gaze arrested by the
sunlight reflecting off of the large, silver buckles.

These shoes had plagued her since she
had stolen them. Roderick had teased her about their prominent buckles, the
purple hue had given her away to Prince Cornelius’s men, and they were a
disaster to walk in when it rained.

But a smile spread across her face as
she looked at them now.

Perhaps they could finally serve a noble
purpose. Perhaps stealing the shoes hadn’t been such a mistake.

She hastily finished pulling them onto
her feet and ran out of the barn.

She would hurry as quickly as she could
to the castle, but first she needed to find Albert.

The castle’s kitchen turned out to be
quite a chaotic scene when Liesel finally arrived. The ball was only one day
away, and with so much still to be done, everyone dashed to and fro around the
fireplaces and ovens as Hilda shouted off a never-ending supply of orders.

When Hilda slipped into Liesel’s small
room to check on her progress, Liesel turned to her proudly and announced, “I
just finished kneading my twenty-fifth loaf of bread and have passed along six
cakes for baking!”

“Well done,” the old woman commended
with a nod of encouragement before she walked back into the bustling kitchen.

Liesel turned back to her bread,
releasing a quiet, tired sigh, and wiped the back of her flour-dusted hand
across her forehead. She was exhausted, but she felt too fidgety to sit still
and rest. How grateful she felt that it was such a busy afternoon so that she
could keep herself sufficiently occupied while she waited for Albert to arrive as
he had promised.

Although she had already looked out the
window more than a hundred times that day, she couldn’t resist peering out just
one more time before she started her next loaf of bread. She didn’t know if she
could expect Roderick to return that day, but if he did come back, she prayed
Albert would be the first of the two of them to return.

She bit her lip in excitement. Roderick
was going to be so surprised when she saw him next. And she could hardly wait.

As she kneaded her next loaf of bread,
she listened to the servants in the adjoining kitchen chat eagerly about their
great happiness to finally have their princess returning home. Rumor had it she
was expected to arrive by the end of the day, and there no shortage of
speculation as to how much more beautiful she must be after having been away
for an entire year. Liesel smiled to hear their joy. Although she did feel a
fragment of sadness settle in her heart since she knew that she would never
have such a happy homecoming in her own kingdom, she could not begrudge the
princess of Brenhausen her celebration when she was obviously bringing so much
happiness to others.

Besides, Liesel had her own bright future
with Roderick to look forward to now. Her heart soared just thinking of it.

Near the end of the day, Liesel began to
grow anxious when Albert had still not arrived. But just as the sun touched the
horizon, he burst through the kitchen and into her tiny room.

“I’ve done it!” he declared with no
small amount of pride, setting a sizeable bag of coins onto the table before
her.

Liesel’s heart accelerated at the sounds
of the clinks and chinks of the coins. Pulling the purse open, she gazed into
the pile of bronze pieces, and exclaimed, “This is perfect, Albert.” She looked
up at him, eyes shining. “I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

“Oh, it took a few exchanges for me to
trade until I had enough coins. Otherwise I would have come sooner. Bronze bits
are the smallest denomination we have so that’s the best I can do. But are you
sure you’ll be fine walking in those shoes now?” he said, nodding at her feet.

Liesel glanced down at her ragged,
purple shoes which now sported round, gaping holes on the tops from where she
had ripped off her silver buckles. She merely shrugged. “I’d rather have holes
on top of my shoes than on the bottoms.”

Albert laughed and Liesel clutched the
purse of coins to her chest. “Thank you, Albert. I do believe I will be able to
fill my savings jar now. Thank you for being such a dear friend to sell my
buckles and to exchange all of my silver coins for me.”

The old man blushed at her praise, but
quickly waved it aside. “Ah, I just know Hilda would much rather have you help
here in the kitchen than me. I’m glad I could do this for you so you could help
her here.”

“I agree,” Hilda said, leaning in
through the doorway. “Excuse the interruption, but Liesel, the servants need
help collecting platters from the dining hall. Would you mind lending them a
hand? We need them cleared before we can start laying out supper.”

“Of course,” Liesel answered and then
turned back to Albert. “And thank you again for helping me.” She held the bag
up, her face radiating pure joy. “This is truly more than I had even hoped
for.”

Liesel tucked the purse away in her
apron pocket, not daring to leave such a precious possession behind. She hummed
softly to herself as she strode through the kitchen and into the dining hall.
She couldn’t remember a time in her life when her heart had been filled with so
much joy. Truly, she was wishing away the time until she could pour her purse
of coins into the savings jar and present it to Roderick. Then he would know
that she loved him—that she was ready to marry him.

Arriving at one of the long, oak serving
tables, she gracefully hoisted a large silver platter littered with crumbs onto
her shoulder and then turned around to return to the kitchen. Looking across
the room, she tripped and then her feet skidded to a halt when a group of women
entered the hall hovering around a tall, raven-haired woman.

Liesel blinked. She prayed her eyes were
only deceiving her.

The dark-haired woman was Maria.

She felt the blood drain from her face
and she clutched the platter to prevent it from falling. How could this be?
Surely Maria was not …

She couldn’t even bear to finish the
sentence. Not even silently.

She looked down before she could be
noticed. She had to escape. She couldn’t stand to hear what she now suspected
spoken aloud.

Tears filled her eyes, and she rushed
toward the kitchen with her head still bowed. Escape was within her reach as
she approached the entrance to the kitchen, but unfortunately, in her haste,
she collided with another servant entering the room. 

The crash of the silver platters
colliding and tumbling to the ground echoed throughout the enormous hall and
Liesel could feel everyone’s eyes in the room turn upon her as she fell to the
floor to help clean the scattered food.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so terribly sorry,”
she whispered to the other servant as she helped the young man return the
fallen vegetables onto his tray.

“It’s nothing,” he answered, smiling
kindly, obviously more than willing to forgive her

She forced a smile in return and would
have felt at ease by his generous response had she not heard footsteps
approaching from behind her.

“Liesel, there you are. I was hoping to
find you.”

Liesel squeezed her eyes shut and tried
to rally her courage. She then inhaled a deep breath and resigned herself to
the confrontation. She opened her eyes to see the young servant’s face full of
sympathy. He must have noticed the look of dread on her face. She tried to
smile reassuringly at him, and he offered a small smile in return as he helped
her to her feet.

Forcing her hands to hang calmly at her
side, she turned to face Maria with her back straightened, and her chin held
high.

“Why, Maria. What brings you to the
castle?” she asked, pretending ignorance.

The women around Maria gasped, and one
elderly woman declared, “You are speaking to the royal princess, miss. Please
address her with respect.”

But Liesel just arched an eyebrow, and
didn’t say anything.

“Thank you, Genevieve. But you mustn’t
trouble yourself scolding this young woman. After all, she is a stranger to our
lands and isn’t acquainted with our noble ways,” Maria answered, her eyes never
leaving Liesel.

“If you will excuse me, I am needed in
the kitchen,” Liesel said, moving to walk away, but Maria stepped to the side
to block her path.

“Actually, I would like to have a word
with you,” Maria replied. She then looked at the women around her and then
finally at the young male servant and added, “Alone.”

The group dissolved as the servants
scattered away and Liesel was left standing all by herself facing Maria.

“You’re a princess?” Liesel asked
incredulously when no one else was around to hear. Although she had been
tempted not to ask the question since she knew Maria wanted the satisfaction of
answering it, Liesel had to do it. Now that she saw that things were not as
they seemed, she needed to hear the words. She needed the words so she could
force her mind to see that the life she had grown accustomed to during the last
few weeks was not actually real.