Chapter 1
Eleanor’s pov
I finished the last stitch just as the church bell struck at six. I held the dress up to the fading light, checking the hem one last time. It wasn’t mine, of course. Nothing this beautiful ever was.
Mrs. Bellamy would collect it tomorrow morning, and I would be paid for another day’s work.
If my stepmother didn’t take it first.
I kept everything well before heading out, then headed home.
By the time I reached the end of the street, the town was already whispering about the royal convoy coming to Bellmere our poor countryside being visited by the richest kingdom.
I paid it no attention.
I had no reason to believe the King of Valoria had anything to do with me.
I kept walking home as the evening settled over Bellmere, my fingers still carrying the faint sting of a day’s work. As I turned onto our street, I saw my stepmother standing on the front steps, waiting.
She said nothing as I approached.
I lowered my gaze and walked past her, hoping she would let me get inside before beginning whatever conversation she had prepared.
She followed me through the door.
“Eleanor.”
I stopped.
“Yes?”
“How much did you make today?”
My hand instinctively closed around the small purse tucked beneath my shawl.
“Enough,” I said quietly. “We need to pay the rent.”
She held out her hand.
“I’ll take care of it.”
I stared at her.
“We need food too.”
“I said I’ll take care of it.”
I knew that tone.
And I knew exactly where the money would end up.
The tavern.
The cards.
Another evening of watching my stepmother wager away what little we had left.
I looked down at the purse in my hand.
“There won’t be enough for the rent if you take it.”
Her expression hardened.
“Do not tell me what to do with money that belongs in this house.”
“It belongs to both of us.”
The words left my mouth before I could stop them.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
My stepmother stepped closer and held out her hand again.
“Give it to me, Eleanor.”
I should have refused.
I should have hidden it somewhere. Kept it for the rent. Kept it for myself.
But I knew what happened when I challenged her.
So I placed the purse in her palm.
Her fingers closed around it immediately.
“Thank you,” she said, as though I had done something kind.
I said nothing.
She turned toward the door.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
She glanced back at me.
“Out.”
Of course.
The door shut behind her.
I stood there listening to her footsteps disappear down the road, until the house was quiet again.
I looked around the little room we called home.
Two years had passed since my father died.
Two years, and somehow I still found myself waiting for things to become different.
Perhaps that was the foolish part of me.
I still hoped that one day she might look at me and see more than the girl her husband had left behind.
I wished she would see her daughter.
Even if she had never truly thought of me as one.
Outside, the church bells began to ring.
Seven o’clock.
And somewhere beyond Bellmere, in a kingdom I had never seen, the people of Valoria were preparing for a royal season that would soon change my life forever.
I just didn’t know it yet.
I sighed and turned back toward the kitchen.
There was hardly anything left to make for supper.
I opened the cupboard anyway, hoping that perhaps I had forgotten something.
A few potatoes.
Half a loaf of bread.
Nothing more.
“Wonderful,” I murmured.
I set the bread on the table and began preparing what little we had.
It was quiet inside the house, but outside, Bellmere seemed unusually restless.
Voices drifted through the open window.
I heard laughter first.
Then whispers.
Then someone called from the road.
“Did you hear?”
I paused.
Another voice answered.
“The royal family is coming.”
I frowned.
The royal family?
I moved closer to the window.
Two women stood outside their house across the road, speaking in hushed excitement.
“From Valoria,” one of them said. “They say the royal carriage will arrive within the week.”
“Why would they come here?”
“I heard they’re looking for a bride.”
I nearly laughed.
A bride?
Here?
I shook my head and returned to the table.
Valoria was a world away from Bellmere. A kingdom of grand palaces, fortunes, jewels, and people whose names I would never have a reason to know.
Whatever business brought them here had nothing to do with me.
At least, that’s what I believed that night.
By morning, the whole town seemed to know.
I heard about Valoria before I had even finished my breakfast.
Mrs. Bellamy mentioned it while I was fitting a sleeve onto a dress.
The baker mentioned it when I stopped for bread.
Even the old men who gathered outside the tavern had something to say about it.
Apparently, the royal family was searching for a bride for King Adrian.
I tried not to listen.
It was difficult when everyone seemed determined to talk about nothing else.
“Do you think she’ll be beautiful?” Mrs. Bellamy asked.
“She’ll have to be,” another woman replied. “A queen cannot be ordinary.”
I kept my eyes on the fabric in my lap.
There was something almost amusing about hearing them speak as though a queen were some distant creature, born beneath a crown.
I had never understood why people believed royalty was so different from everyone else.
They still ate.
They still slept.
They still argued.
Surely they must worry about things too.
The thought made me smile faintly.
Then the shop door opened.
A young girl rushed inside, breathless.
“They’re coming!”
Everyone turned.
“Who?”
“The Valorians. The royal convoy. They’ve already crossed the northern road.”
The room erupted.
People abandoned their work and hurried toward the windows.
I remained where I was.
I had no reason to care.
No reason at all.
Until I noticed the strange excitement in everyone’s faces.
Something was happening.
And somehow, I had the unsettling feeling that Bellmere was about to become a very different place.
By noon, the streets of Bellmere were nearly impossible to cross.
Everyone had abandoned their work.
Children climbed onto walls for a better view, shopkeepers stood in their doorways, and even the usually quiet market square had become crowded.
I stayed near the edge of the crowd, wondering what could possibly be so fascinating about a line of carriages.
Then the bells began to ring.
Not the church bells.
The great bells in the town square.
Everyone fell silent.
A black carriage appeared at the end of the road, followed by another, and another.
The horses moved slowly beneath the Valorian crest.
I had never seen anything so grand.
“They’re really here,” someone whispered beside me.
I watched the first carriage pass.
For a moment, I wondered what kind of people lived behind those polished windows.
People who had never worried about rent.
People who had never counted coins before buying bread.
People who probably couldn’t imagine a place like Bellmere.
I turned away.
I had no business staring at royalty.
I certainly had no idea that, before the day was over,
They were looking for me!
