It was like the stone had disappeared. Five full minutes later, she was still searching under the bench for the missing stone when hurried footsteps crunching down the path startled her out of her thoughts. Jaya saw a flash of red through gaps in the hedge, then heard the sound of someone breathing heavily. She sat quickly back down on the bench. “No, stop.” The voice was full, round, every syllable like ripe fruit. She’d heard it only a couple of hours before—Daphne Elizabeth McKinley. “I told you, Alaric, it was a summer-only, messed-up thing. We shouldn’t even be out here talking.”

Alaric? Could it be the same Alaric from the library?

“Then let’s not talk,” a smiling, husky, familiar male voice said. Yes, definitely the same boy from the library, although he was being much nicer now (for obvious reasons). His accent was a mixture of American and something else, hard to place, but Jaya thought it might be German. All she could see were his polished black shoes. Jaya considered clearing her throat or sneezing. She didn’t want to take part in any inadvertent snooping.

There was silence for a moment. Jaya braced to step out and announce herself when she noticed their shoes moving closer and closer together.

Oh, fantastic. She squirmed—quietly—on her seat.

It wasn’t hard to work out what was happening. Isha had sneaked innumerable Harlequin romances from their governess’s room—and Jaya had once peeked at one, her young curiosity changing quickly into shock. Plus, palaces came with their share of drama—cooks with maids, bodyguards with village women, governesses with older, visiting cousins (now that one had been interesting). If past experiences had taught her anything, it was that her best move was probably to stay here, quietly. Hopefully their… moment… would be over quickly so she could get back to her daydreaming. She wished she had a book to while away the time.

“Look, I can’t do this, okay?” Daphne Elizabeth again. “You made your choice when you decided not to break up with her. I can’t be your booty call when Caterina’s not around.”

Jaya sat up straighter in spite of herself: intrigue. She may be a royal, but she was only human.

“Daphne—”

“I’m serious. Just leave me alone.” But her voice wobbled, and Jaya didn’t think she really meant it. Not all the way down, where it mattered. Her expression must’ve been fierce, however, because shiny-shoed Alaric didn’t argue.

Jaya heard retreating footsteps, counted silently to ten, closed her eyes and sighed in relief, and stood.

She found herself face-to-chin with the willowy Daphne Elizabeth. Clearing her suddenly dry throat, Jaya looked up to see shock mingling with anger on Daphne Elizabeth’s freckled face, like ink spreading in a cup of water. “You! Were you… spying on me?”