“But, Highness, you will be surrounded by highborn young men!” the maid protested indignantly. “Your Highness cannot possibly wish to appear the hoyden—”

Great good gods! What part of “battlefield” doesn’t she understand? Selenay suppressed a groan, and wondered, what demon had possessed her to accept this foolish woman as her personal servant.

Because Uncle Lord Orthallen sent her to me, of course. And now I can’t dismiss her, because he’d feel as if he’d let me down. And I did need a proper lady’s maid, one that knows about hairdressing and all that sort of thing…

Unfortunately, the creature did not know about Heralds, nor did she care. She cared only about the trappings of rank, the care of gowns, the importance of self-importance, and she could not seem to fathom that there was another set of duties of the Princess and Heir that went far beyond looking handsome, finding a husband of suitable rank, and following the appropriate court etiquette. Yes, she was sheer genius when it came to dressing well and looking exquisite. But that was all she was good for. On the whole, the woman was far more hindrance than help, especially now, and finally Selenay sent her on a fool’s errand into the attics just to get rid of her, knowing that she would be packed and gone long before the woman got back.

Then she did something she would normally never have done. She pulled out everything the maid had packed, and tossed it out, all over the furniture, the floor, wherever it happened to fall when she dumped the packs. The maid could do something useful for a change when she returned; she could pick it all up, see that the gowns were pressed and brushed, sort out all the hairdressing nonsense and cosmetics, and put it all away. Selenay could braid her hair by herself very well, and the only “cosmetic” she was likely to use “out there” was soap.

With the maid out of the way, it took just over a quarter of a candlemark for Selenay to pack. It wasn’t difficult, she’d learned how to pack for the field long ago, and had watched her friends as they packed up to go out countless times. Wistfully, she had watched them then; she had known it wasn’t possible for her to go, but she had wanted to, so badly.