Chapter Twenty-Nine:

The Opportunity Presents Itself

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It had been almost two days since Clara last saw Frederick and with every passing hour, her nerves over the situation worsened. What had the king said to him? Did he convince Frederick to agree? Was Frederick avoiding her for that reason? All of those thoughts swirled around her head endlessly and she could barely keep her siblings from noticing her anxiousness.

Harriet seemed to have caught on and was constantly pestering Clara over the last day to tell her what was wrong, but Clara had denied it when asked. She didn't need to worry her sister by telling her about the encounter with Frederick and the King. In contrast, Amelia was a perfect angel, doing her best to help Clara with absolutely anything, seemingly more than happy just to sit quietly and give Clara her silent support.

Clara had never been more struck by how different her siblings truly were until that moment. She had always seen Harriet and Amelia as two peas in a pod, but now that they were away from Linette, she could see it was something else entirely. Amelia was quiet, sweet, and incredibly perceptive about what people were feeling, while Harriet had the subtlety of a sledgehammer when it came to talking to people about their worries, was louder than the bells from the palace church on Sunday mornings, and had a scowl to rival her stepmother's.

Her scowl had definitely been demonstrated a lot over the past few days, that was for sure. Clara couldn't help but notice that every time Leopold was in the room with them Harriet glared at him the entire time. Leopold, to his credit, didn't seem phased, instead smiling sadly at Harriet every time he caught her eye.

Thankfully, her brother was neither as quiet as Amelia or as loud as Harriet, but he certainly had been energetic over the past day. He had been given a clean bill of health by the doctors and had spent all of his time in the stables with Leopold, absolutely loving the chance to be near to so many different horses.

Clara heaved a sigh, smoothing out the skirts of her lavender dress as she furrowed her brow at her own reflection. Now that James was feeling so much better, Harriet had insisted on demonstrating her skills properly outside with Mark Greenfellow, one of the stable hands who had become what could only be described as her partner in crime.

Clara turned away from her reflection without a second glance, not wanting to keep Harriet and the rest of her siblings waiting. Harriet had been absolutely itching to show her family everything she had learned and so Clara didn't want to prolong it any longer.

On the one hand, she was very happy that Harriet had found something she loved, on the other, Clara wished it was just a little less. dangerous. Harriet was still a slight-figured wisp of a girl who stood at barely over five feet tall. The thought of her handling a sword and fighting other people who were also holding weapons made Clara's stomach clench, but she knew that she couldn't stop Harriet.

Harriet would never forgive her if Clara told her to stop training to be a knight, and Clara would never forgive herself if somehow her younger sister actually agreed to stop. She could never get in the way of Harriet's dreams when she knew they were so close, if only Harriet worked hard enough.

Clara walked briskly towards the part of the grounds that Harriet had insisted on practicing on, a little area of grass close to the stables. As she got closer to it, the sounds of children's laughter reached her ears and she couldn't hold back a smile.

Rounding the corner she saw Amelia, James, Harriet, and Mark Greenfellow all laughing and talking in the middle of the grassy patch, seeming to be perfectly comfortable with each other.

"Clara, you're late!" Harriet said as soon as she saw her, "We were about ready to start without you!"

"Sorry! I got a bit distracted," Clara replied. She did get distracted, to be fair, but it was more distracted by her own thoughts than anything else. "So what will you two be doing?"

"We'll be using practice swords to demonstrate a little bit," Harriet said, motioning to the sword dangling at her hip. Clara's brows creased.

"Are they terribly sharp?"

"Not really, Frederick hasn't let me use a sharp full-size one quite yet. I have to build up my skills first."

"Prince Frederick," Clara corrected, causing her sister to grin at her impishly.

"No, Frederick. He's told all of us to call him that, even James." Clara couldn't help but be more than a little shocked at this news. Was there a reason why he had abandoned all propriety?

"I see, and Mark, have you been training to be a knight as well?" She finally decided to ask instead of interrogating her sister over the exact circumstances that Frederick told Harriet to use his first name.

"Yes, your ladyship," Mark said, shifting from foot to foot as his ears colored with his embarrassment.

"Oh, you don't have to call me that. Just Clara is fine," she hurried to say, trying to shake away the flashbacks of calling her stepmother the same thing. Mark nodded. "How long have you been training?"

"Not too long. The Queen just told me I could start training to become a knight two days ago. She had a meeting with the head stable master and everything! You see, normally they don't let servants become knights," Mark explained, and Clara's eyes widened in realization. That must've been the meeting that the Queen had been referring to!

"That's wonderful," she said, hiding the sudden pang of worry. Harriet had been learning how to be a knight for barely a week, and Mark had been doing so for only a day or two. However, she did her best to shake the feeling away. She had to trust Harriet and allow her to make her own mistakes.

"Alright, ready Mark?" Harriet asked. The red-haired boy nodded. "Okay, go!"

The next moment the air filled with the sound of metal clashing on metal and Clara fought a wince. From the point of view of a worried family member, this was probably the most dangerous thing Harriet had ever done, and so throughout the entirety of the practice demonstration, Clara grit her teeth in order to not show how worried she was.

She was happy for Harriet, truly, that she was following her dream, she just wished the dream was a little more on the tame side. At several points, Clara desperately wanted to look away, as she was far too capable of picturing her sister getting seriously injured by being on the other side of certain moves, but she held fast, wanting to be able to show Harriet that she was happy for her.

By the time Mark and Harriet had finished their demonstration, both of the red-heads were sweaty and out of breath, their colored faces almost matching their hair in hue. However, despite both of their obvious states of fatigue, the two of them were grinning from ear to ear, and when Harriet turned to Clara for her reaction, Clara did her best to match their smiles.

She could almost see why Harriet enjoyed it so much. It was clearly something that would take a lot of work, but seeing her sister demonstrate what she had learned, Clara had a feeling that Harriet was more than determined enough to stick with the activity in order to become good, or even great, at it.

"That looked great!" She complimented them, pleased to see that Harriet seemed to brighten considerably as soon as she voiced her approval. "You'll have to do it again sometime for us to see, or better yet, show Mrs. Landon next time you see her. I'm sure she would be very proud."

"You think so?"

"Definitely," Clara replied. "Now is there anything you want to do now? I'm sure you must be tired or hungry after working so hard." Harriet nodded.

"Actually, I need your help finding something. Frederick lent me a book called Codex Wallerstein and I've misplaced it." Harriet said, looking up at Clara sheepishly with a strange look in her eye. However, Clara didn't quite know what to think. She knew that look. That was the look that Harriet always wore when she was up to something, but what could she possibly be planning that involved telling Clara she had lost a book?

"I'd be happy to help, do you have an idea of where you left it?"

"There are a few places," Harriet said, her eyes darting over to look at Mark. "If we split up, I'm sure we'll find it. Why don't you check the tea parlor by the East tower and then the East tower itself, while I check the library and the stables? I know I still had it somewhere around there."

"Okay, I'll meet you in your room once I find it," Clara promised before going on her way towards the East tower. It was in a fairly abandoned part of the palace, as it didn't house any of the important rooms of the palace.

It was a good place to go if you didn't want to be disturbed, and Clara could see why Harriet might've gone there to read. The tower room was bright and almost always cozy. It was the kind of place that one would willingly curl up with a book in. However, she had to go to the parlor close to it first.

Clara climbed the back steps of the palace, smiling gently at the servants that she passed. Most of them smiled back, while some of them just nodded, but all of them looked back at her hesitantly as if waiting to be the butt of a joke.

That was one of the strange things about the servants in the palace, whenever someone was nice to them they seemed to expect for the kindness to end abruptly and change to scorn. She could oddly sympathize with them. It was hard to work in a place where you had come to expect scorn and anger more than kindness and thankfulness in response to your actions.

She couldn't help but think as she passed a small servant girl no older than Adelaide, that the treatment of the maids and servants was something she wanted to try and change if she ever got a chance to, that is. No one deserved that kind of treatment.

As she got closer to the parlor, she shook that thought of her head. It was no good to dwell on dreams and forget to actually live. Clara would never be able to help them if she left the palace, and without having heard from Frederick, she was still unsure of whether or not she and her family would be staying.

When she reached the door to the parlor Clara knocked on the door, waited for an answer, and when she heard nothing in response, pushed the door open. The parlor near to the East Tower was much like the room of the East Tower, it was hardly used but kept dust free by the palace servants.

It was decorated in soft hues of pale yellow, matching perfectly the golden sunlight that was streaming through the windows. Unlike the Queen's parlor, the decorations were not of a lavish quality, instead, they were more of a delicate and homely quality. Instead of detailed statuettes and gilded picture frames that held the work of famous artists, the room was decorated simply. A vase of fresh flowers sat on one of the side tables, and the only decorations were two landscape paintings from artists that Clara had never heard of.

Due to the simplicity of the decorations, it was rather easy to scan the room for Harriet's lost book, but upon searching, Clara did not find it. There wasn't a single book in the room with the title Codex Wallerstein, and the only books present were novels. Clara frowned, taking a final sweep around the room, before closing the door behind her. She would have to check the tower.

She walked to the archway that lead to the tower without paying attention to her surroundings, climbing the stairs quickly. Once she reached to top of the stairs, Clara left the door open, doubting that she would find the book in the tower.

The tower room was as sunny as the parlor, and along with three bookcases, there was also a single telescope in the middle of the room, pointing towards one of the windows. Close to another window was a pair of armchairs as well as a small side table, but as Clara searched for the book, she couldn't find any of the same novel.

She was browsing the titles of the books on the bookcase when all of sudden there was a loud noise coming from the left of her. Gasping she turned from her search, to look for the source of the noise, frowning when she realized it was the shutting of the door. Shrugging, wondering if it was just the wind, Clara walked over to the door to open it back up.

However, as she pulled on the handle it wouldn't budge. She tugged a little harder on it, but all it did was rattle slightly. Clara then pounded one hand against the door.

"Hello? Is there anyone there?" She called. "Could you please unlock the door?" She waited a moment but got no answer. Clara backed away from the door, starting to feel a little uneasy.

What was it with her and rooms and being locked in them? The East Tower was high enough to remind her slightly of her attic bedroom and she couldn't help but acknowledge the irony of the situation. She had escaped from one high locked room, but yet she found herself once again in another. Shaking her head, she turned away from the door, heading towards the armchairs.

She had just reached them when there was a loud screeching noise as the door behind her was thrown open. Clara whirled around in time to see Frederick stumble into the room. There was a single flash of curly red hair in the space between the door and the doorjamb before it was slammed shut, clueing Clara in on exactly who had locked her in the room. Both Frederick and Clara stared at each other for a moment with wide eyes, before both of them moved to the door.

"Harriet! I know it's you who has shut us in here! Let us out!" Clara called her head against the door, begging her sister to open the door even in her thoughts. She, of course, wanted to talk with Frederick, but in each other's own time. She didn't want to be forced into anything.

"No! Not until you're done!"

"Done with what?" Frederick called through the door, laying his head close to Clara's.

"Done with beating around the bush! Hurry up and kiss already, and then I'll let you out!"

Clara had never turned so red in her life and flushed further as the sound of her sister's footsteps faded away, leaving Clara and Frederick locked in the room alone.

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Surprise update! I couldn't bear waiting any longer! :) Anyway, do you think they'll do what Harriet has told them to? Any ideas of what they might talk about while they are locked in there?

Fun fact: the book, Codex Wallerstein,  is a real book. It is an old medieval fencing manual written in German, that has been translated into many different languages, English being one of them.