The Rat Prince by Bridget Hodder Read Free Book Online Page A

down the front of a pink satin gown. “Rose, over here!”
    â€œSister!” I ran down the hallway and threw my arms about her. “You’ll never believe what your mother told me!”
    â€œQuiet—I don’t want her to find us!” She drew me behind the curtains and pulled me down onto the red-upholstered window seat. It was after seven o’clock and the sky outside was finally drawing down into dusk, but a brace of candles upon the window ledge flickered an unsteady light. “What did Mamma say? I heard from Mrs. Grigson that you’d been summoned, so I brought a book up here and waited.”
    â€œI’m going to the ball tomorrow!” I exclaimed. “Your mother has changed her mind. I can’t believe it. In fact, I shouldn’t believe it.”
    At first I’d been suspicious as to why Wilhemina would suddenly allow me to leave the manor, after all these months of keeping me confined here. However, she’d shown me the king’s invitation with my name on it and said she was worried about awkward questions were I not to attend. Her begrudging tone had seemed quite genuine, and I was convinced.
    At last—an opportunity to further my family’s interests.
    Jessamyn bounced up and down on the cushions. “Oh, Sister! Do you mean you have gotten over your reluctance to venture forth from home?”
    I flinched at this reminder of Wilhemina’s falsehood but decided to let it pass. “I do still mourn my mother, yet I am quite ready to emerge from this long isolation and see people once more,” I assured her. And though it was not the full story, this was true enough.
    Jessamyn clapped her hands. “We’ll meet the prince together!”
    â€œA dream come true,” I whispered, though it was not romance I was thinking of. If my parents’ old friends were at the ball, I would finally be able to explain my father’s plight and enlist their aid.
    And even if Sir Tompkin and Lord Bluehart proved uninterested, I could still catch the ear of either Prince Geoffrey or Good King Tumtry. Surely, after all the faithful service the Lancastyrs had given the Crown over the centuries, the prince or the king would be willing to find my father a physician and keep my stepmother from plunging us into ruin.
    Jessamyn kissed me. “The prince will fall instantly in love with you. How could he not? You are the prettiest girl in the kingdom.”
    â€œThank you, my little flatterer.” I laughed in spite of myself. “Beauty may inspire interest, but that is not the same as love. And speaking of beauty, did I ever tell you I saw Prince Geoffrey once, long ago? It was when I went to the royal palace for my debut and met Queen Monette.”
    â€œYou met Queen Monette before she died?” Jessamyn breathed, her face aglow. “Oh my! Was she nice?”
    â€œVery. But she was aging and looked unwell.”
    Jessamyn paused for a moment. But she soon recovered and asked, “What does the prince look like?”
    â€œHe doesn’t have dark hair like the prince of my dreams, but he’s magnificent nonetheless.” I closed my eyes, the better to remember. Then, ignoring my own wise advice about beauty that I had just dispensed to Jessamyn, I said in a swoony voice: “He has golden hair and golden eyes … Perhaps they are evidence of a golden heart.”
    I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to dance with such a man. To feel the warmth of his smile dawn upon my face, to be aware of his touch on my back as he guided me through the steps of an allemande or a minuet, swaying to the music of a royal orchestra.
    Aloud, I said, “It would be lovely to take to the floor with him.”
    â€œI’m too young to dance, but I do not care,” Jessamyn commented. “I can listen to the music, and I can eat! And I’m to wear a brand-new gown made of sky-blue peau de soie , with a necklace