Beautiful Torment *Book One of the Beautiful series*

31) Not the Prince

Lucy looked around the sprawling courtyard, cast in a mix of light and shadow from the mounted torches that lined the stone walls. Overhead, the midnight sky was a milky purple-blue, dotted with stars that looked like winking eyes. She stepped out from the cover of a statue of Morgath--one of the early kings of Espen--and turned slowly about the empty yard, her eyes scanning with her to be sure she had not somehow overlooked the Prince in her awe of the courtyards beauty. It was a laughable thought, nothing held a candle to the man she found herself falling for. Not the purest marble or most beautiful veil of night sky.

His absence made her heart quicken. Was it possible he forgot about their lesson? That did not seem right, not after the anticipation she had witnessed on his face when he whispered the word midnight before Scarlett helped to get her ready for bed. The hem of her trailing white nightgown dragged across the stone floor as she neared a fountain at the center of the courtyard, peeking behind it for good measure. It's waters ran crystal clear and cold, inside yellow and orange fish with long swishing tails danced by each other. Lucy dipped her fingers under the flowing streams cascading down from the top and sighed as it cooled her uncomfortably warm skin.

"The crown prince will not be joining you tonight, girl." The feminine voice rang full of disdain and menace, chilling Lucy to the bone. She turned from the fountain, heart drumming in her ears, to find the queen lingering just outside the shadow of arched doorways lining the far side of the high walled courtyard.

"Your grace." Lucy curtsied so low her thighs burned and cast an innocent look around the empty space, feigning ignorance. "I am sure I do not know what you are talking about. I could not sleep, the fresh air soothes me."

The queen of Espen made a highly unladylike noise from the back of her throat, nothing like the soft spoken creature Lucy had witnessed thus far. She stepped forward into the light. No longer cloaked in shadow, Lucy could see that her golden evening gown matched the shade of her hair almost perfectly.

"Do not play the fool with me, Princess Luciana."

The way she sneered as she hissed the words made Lucy's title sound feeble and fake, which it was, but the queen was not supposed to know that. When she saw the flash of confusion cross Lucy's face, her sneer only grew to that of a rabid dog. "My eyes and ears are everywhere. Nothing gets by me, even if my insolent step son or dear old husband wish it so. In fact, especially if that is the case. You are looking at the only one who is any good at keeping secrets in this godforsaken palace." She moved down the stone pathway, walking sleek and surefooted as a panther intent on it's prey.

Disappearing for a moment, she rounded the ivory fountain, not a single hair on her head or a thread on her dress was out of place. "I know who you really are, Luciana Clèment."

At the use of her real name, Lucy froze, ears ringing.

"That is right." A menacing smirk pulled at the corner of the queen's perfectly painted lips. "The bastard to some Forged temptress at Granston Manor," she stopped a meter or so in front of the fear stricken maiden. "I know she put the prince's Flame into you." Leaning in close, she nearly brushed Lucy's nose with her own powdered one, "You want the crown because your whore mother could not get it herself."

Lucy's jaw tensed, forcing out her response between clenched teeth, "Now I really do not know what you are talking about. I am a princess of Relan. Ask the king." Taking a step backward, just to keep the woman from actually touching her, she had not been about to clarify that the vile woman knew half the truth.

"Drop the act," the queen scoffed, throwing her head so her mane of blonde hair swayed dramatically. "I know that beggar you found is really your mother." She released a dark glare that should have slain Lucy where she stood. "The woman who tried to steal the crown from the king's first bride." She left the stone path, beginning to circle Lucy. "Once she realized she could not have it, she made sure her daughter would."