Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale Read Free Book Online Page A

the carving, will be so happy to hear you had it installed. Thank you, Your Majesty.”
    Katar kicked Miri under the table. Should she not have spoken? But it would have seemed rude not to acknowledge the kindness.
    Though perhaps not as rude as kicking someone , Miri thought, rubbing her ankle and glaring at Katar.
    The king frowned, his beard bristling around his lips, and he waved a spoon at Gummonth. The official stooped and whispered to Miri, “You are not to address His Royal Majesty. Ever.”
    Miri felt the heat of shame burn her face. She watched the king dribble fish broth in his beard and wondered for the first time if Danland actually needed a king.
    After breakfast, the academy girls accompanied the king and queen to the chapel for services and then to the palace theater. On a stage, a troupe of actors in extravagantly colored costumes enacted a play about forbidden lovers: a noble girl and a bandit king. Miri knew her mouth hung open, and she did not care. It was the most enchanting thing she had ever seen.
    I hate bandits , she reminded herself.
    But she could not help cheering the bandit in the story, with his expressive eyes and lavish words. She squeezed her arms, anxious for the lovers to triumph over evil.
    When at last the noble and her reformed bandit wed, Miri had to stifle a happy sob. She spied the royal couple in the first row. The queen stared at some point above the stage. The king snored.
    Britta came to find Miri at the end of the play.
    “I’m sorry this has been so formal and dull—”
    “Dull? That play was … was …” She exhaled grandly, lacking better words.
    A tall boy with dark hair and a square chin came up beside Britta, his arms behind his back, his face impassive.
    “Speaking of formal and dull …” Miri shook her head. “Now, Steffan, don’t tell me you’re working on your imitation of a stone column again.”
    “It’s good to see you, Miri,” he said, his mouth finding a smile. “I hope you’ve been keeping out of mischief. For once.”
    “None to be had in Asland,” she said, playing at a haughty tone. “This place is just so boring.”
    He knocked her with his shoulder, and she knocked him back.
    “Let’s get into mischief together, shall we?” Britta said, hooking arms with Miri and Esa. “I’ve been dying for the week’s end so we could finally—”
    “Lady Britta?” An official in a green dress approached. “If your ladies are available, then we should begin fitting you for your trousseau.”
    “That is mischief I’m not fit to tackle,” said Steffan, nodding farewell as he departed.
    “Trousseau?” Miri whispered.
    The official started to walk and clearly expected the girls to follow. “Lady Britta will need a ball gown, a chapel gown, and a marriage gown, as well as receiving gowns …”
    In Britta’s chamber, the seamstress unrolled fabrics and went over the styles of sleeves and trains and skirts and bodices. The Mount Eskel girls stared. How could there be fourteen different kinds of skirts?
    “Traditionally, the ladies of the princess do the lace-work on the marriage gown,” said the official.
    “Um, we’ll be helpful if Britta needs a stocking darned,” said Miri.
    “Or a block of stone quarried for her wedding,” added Esa. “But lacework …”
    The seamstress clicked her tongue.
    “Then we won’t take up any more of your time,” said the official. She ushered the girls out. Miri caught Britta’s forlorn expression just before the door shut.
    “What is lacework?” said Frid.
    They’d started back to the girls’ chamber when Katar pulled Miri aside.
    “Learn anything?”
    “Not yet,” said Miri, “but I met someone who might help me.”
    “Hurry. If enough commoners are serious about making change, who do you think they’ll come for after the king? The delegates, that’s who. And then the rest of the nobles. If the commoners will succeed, Mount Eskel needs to side with them right away, or we’ll be taken for