By Request Collection Part 3. Robyn Donald

of the nation.

      Yet, to his astonishment, Raul registered a purely personal satisfaction at the prospect.

       CHAPTER SIX

      ‘I COULDN’T have done a better job of botching that if I’d tried.’ Luisa grimaced as she followed Lukas through a maze of corridors to her suite.

       She’d do better in future.

      Her skin crawled at the memory of censorious eyes on her: an upstart foreigner, not only gauche but clumsy.

      ‘Nothing of the sort, ma’am. You carried it off with great composure.’

      Luisa smiled gratefully. Lukas really was a nice man. Surprisingly nice for someone in the Prince’s employ.

      ‘Thanks, Lukas, but there’s no need to pretend. I saw the way they looked, and their impatience that I wanted to read what I signed.’

      ‘It’s true some of the advisers are rather old school.’ Lukas cleared his throat and gestured for her to precede him down another wide corridor. ‘I’m sure His Highness wouldn’t mind me saying that’s been one of his challenges in running the country as a modern state—bringing them along in the process of reform.’

      Luisa’s eyes widened. It hadn’t occurred to her Raul would have difficulties. With his take charge attitude and formidable determination she couldn’t imagine it.

      ‘You talk as if he’s been in charge of the country a long time. I thought the King only died recently.’

      A hint of a flush coloured Lukas’ cheeks. ‘That’s correct, ma’am.’ He paused and then, with the air of making a sudden decision, added, ‘But His Highness was in many ways responsible for running the country long before that. The previous king … left a lot in the Prince’s hands.’

      Luisa’s mind snagged on Lukas’ words, trying to read the subtext. There was one. Something he skated around rather than spelling out. It was on the tip of her tongue to press for an explanation, till she read his discomfort.

      ‘And is it still difficult?’

      Lukas shrugged. ‘The Prince has made his mark and even the more old-fashioned courtiers see the benefits. But there are some who resent change. Some who’d rather vie for personal power than cooperate in a national effort to modernise.’

      Her steps slowed. Lukas’ assessment echoed Raul’s words. She’d half dismissed that as a smokescreen, veiling the fact he simply coveted the crown. Though lately she’d wondered. Seeing him with others, she’d caught glimpses of a reasonable man, even a caring one.

      Was there more truth in Raul’s words than she’d thought? He claimed he acted for the country as well as himself. Was it possible? It was tempting to hope so.

      Yet nothing excused Raul’s behaviour towards her.

      ‘As for today, ma’am,’ Lukas said, ‘I know the Prince was very pleased with your first official appearance.’

      She just bet he was! She’d signed his precious documents. Yet she hadn’t missed the way he’d hovered, eager for her to sign and be done with it. If she was truthful, it wasn’t just the habit of reading legal papers carefully that had made her delay. A tiny part of her had wanted him on tenterhooks, wondering if she’d go through with it.

       As if she’d had a choice! Besides, she’d given her word.

      Her heart plunged at the implications of what she’d just done. No turning back now.

      ‘Lukas, I’ve changed my mind. Can you show me the way to the gardens? I need some fresh air.’

      Forty minutes later Luisa felt less claustrophobic. Wandering through the courtyards she’d found a gardener. They’d discussed the grounds with enthusiasm and sign language since her Maritzian was sparse and Gregor, the gardener, spoke a particularly thick dialect.

      They’d toured the terraces and rose garden, where Luisa recognised the names of gorgeous old roses her mother had mentioned. They’d visited an orchard in the moat, a walled garden with fountains and arbours and the kitchen garden where Luisa struggled to identify the rarer herbs.

      For the first time in days she felt as if she’d stepped out of her nightmare and into the real world, with the scent of rich soil and growing things around her.

      She breathed deep as she climbed the spiral staircase in the battlements. Gregor had said, if she understood right, that she’d see the parterre garden from here. She’d read about such gardens, with their intricate patterns laid out in plants and gravel paths, but the view from the ground didn’t give the full effect.

      She could have seen it from the castle. But she didn’t want to meet any of the disapproving VIPs who’d witnessed her accession to the title of Princess of Ardissia.

      Princess! Her stomach curdled, thinking about it. Or was that because of the tower? She didn’t have a head for heights and the open window beside her gave a dizzying view to the city below.

      Luisa pressed a damp palm to the wall and kept moving. Soon she emerged at a low opening looking towards the castle. Someone had been working here and she side-stepped a pile of tools. The opening was so low she felt safer on her knees, her hands on the stonework.

      The garden was spectacular, though overgrown. She made out the remnants of the Maritzian dragon, the one flying on the flag from the topmost turret, laid out in the hedges below. Shrubs with gold foliage denoted its eyes and a straggling group of red-leaved plants might have been its fiery breath. Its tail was missing and a path cut through one claw, yet it was still magnificent.

      Enchanted, Luisa leaned a little further out.

      She’d inherited her mother’s love of gardens, though she’d had little time to indulge the interest.

      Movement caught her eye. She looked up to see a familiar figure striding through the garden. Raul. Instantly, absurdly, her pulse fluttered.

      He saw her and shouted something as he raced forward.

      Instinctively Luisa recoiled, feeling as if she’d been caught trespassing. She pushed back and again that dizzy sensation hit. Only this time it wasn’t just in her head.

      To her horror, the wall beneath her hands shifted. Instead of rising up, her movement pushed her further out, the stone sliding forward with a terrible grinding noise.

      She scrabbled back but her centre of gravity was too far forward. With a loud groan, the old sill tumbled out of her grasp to fall, with dreadful resounding thuds, to the ground below.

      Luisa lurched forward, spreadeagled over jagged rock, her arms dangling into space and her eyes focused disbelievingly on the sheer drop below. Masonry bruised her ribs but she couldn’t get breath to try inching back. Fear of another fall, this time with her in it, froze her.

      She couldn’t see Raul now and the staccato beat of blood in her ears drowned every sound. Her throat closed so she couldn’t even yell for help. Swirling nausea made her head swim.

      Her breath came in jerky gasps as she tried to crawl backwards, only to slide further forward as another block tumbled with a reverberating crash.

       Any minute now, that could be her.

      ‘It’s all right.’ The deep, soothing voice barely penetrated her consciousness. ‘I’ve got you.’ On the words strong arms slid beneath her waist.

      ‘No!’ she gasped, terror freezing her muscles. ‘Keep back. It’s too dangerous.’ Surely Raul’s weight with hers on the unstable wall would send them both plummeting.

      ‘Don’t move. Just relax and let me do this.’

      ‘Relax?’ He must be kidding. Luisa squeezed her eyes shut as