Ardisia looked healthier than she had the day before. She was still small for her age, and far more plain than Hedith or Laureline had been at that age, but she looked better. The stranger thing was that she was at the center of the maze. She had always been scared of getting lost, and after her bad experience, she had barely stepped out into the garden. In the end, it appeared she had chosen the worst time to overcome her fear.

The queen looked in interest at the little girl who was more a miniature of Wright than Hedith. Where Laureline was golden, Ardisia was sable. But at least now, there was a nice rosy hue to her cheeks. She looked healthy, and Hedith only hoped that her good health and humor would last until the royal family departed.

Ardisia executed a perfect curtsy and greeted the queen. The maid beside her was holding a handmade bouquet of roses, and Ardisia handed them to the queen.

“I heard you say you liked the flowers, your majesty,” she said, looking down.

The girl in front of her could not be her daughter. Ardisia was not charming or sweet. She could not yet curtsy properly, didn’t have the intelligence or awareness to come up with the idea of gifting the queen flowers. Laureline possessed that kind of charm. Ardisia was dark and dour and constantly ill. She was like a walking reminder of childhood mortality, and Hedith could not reconcile the daughter she knew with the hopeful waif in front of her.

The queen took the offered bouquet with a smile. Hedith didn’t have to look at Laureline to know she was scowling. Now, the attention was not shared. The queen’s gaze was solely on Hedith’s younger daughter.

“Thank you, child,” the queen said. “What is your name?”

“Ardisia, ma’am,” Ardisia said. “You can call me Sia if you’d like, though.”

“Ardisia!” Hedith scolded her. The girl had made a mistake, just as she feared. Her majesty wasn’t a simple ‘ma’am’, and to address her as such was an insult. “I apologize, your majesty. She is young, and does not properly know etiquette yet. I will make sure that she is taught better in the future, to address you properly.”

The queen laughed. “No, Lady Kaldor. She has been taught well. It is perfectly allowed to call royals in the manner that your daughter did, after the initial greeting.”

Hedith had not known. Her own etiquette teacher hadn’t known. No one expected the Kaldors to ever grow wealthy enough to entertain royalty, and her lessons had anticipated that she would meet a duke or duchess if she was lucky. Somehow, her daughter had known. Now, it was not Ardisia who was the fool in front of the queen, it was Hedith and Laureline.

For the day, Ardisia looked better, and Hedith saw the queen’s thoughts in her eyes. The younger a child was, the easier they were to mold. Ardisia looked healthy for the moment, and the queen would think of her as the intelligent younger daughter. She might not possess Laureline’s beauty, but Hedith realized for the first time that the queen was not beautiful either. She was an elegant woman, and carried herself with dignity, but her demeanor distracted from her plain face.

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Such a woman would think it better to choose a sensible girl as a partner for her son rather than a pretty one. Compared to Ardisia’s quiet consideration and gift, Laureline might appear loud, brash, a bit too precocious. The queen stepped forward and took Ardisia’s hand.

“Why don’t you show me your favorite parts of the garden?” she asked.

Ardisia hesitated. “Would you like to see the rockery, ma’am?”

Hedith imagined she heard Ardisia emphasize the last word, as if to reiterate Hedith’s own stupidity. It had to be her imagination. Ardisia was too young to be so conniving, and from the beginning she had been rather simple-minded. The knowledge was probably something she gained from reading her story books. It could be nothing more.

“The rockery?” the queen asked.

Hedith and Laureline were left behind as Ardisia took the queen to the rock garden, a remote part of the manor that Hedith herself detested. It was Wright’s favorite place, and no matter how many times she had tried to convince him to get rid of the dismal thing, he had never relented. It was the ugliest part of the manor, in Hedith’s opinion.

She followed behind the queen and Ardisia, a few steps behind.

“Why is the rock garden your favorite?” the queen asked. “Surely, a pretty young girl like you should like flower bushes and vines more.”

Ardisia paused for a moment, looking around at the curated flowers and hedges they were walking by.

“The rockery will survive,” she said. “The flowers die if there’s too much sun, or not enough. They die if the gardeners don’t take care to use the proper fertilizer, or if they get too much water. They take too much work. The rockery doesn’t need anything. The rockery survives even though the gardeners pay it very little attention.”

“You like it for that reason?” the queen asked.

“I’d rather be strong, ma’am. I’d rather be able to take care of myself than depend on others. I think people take care of pretty things, and they grow fragile and dependent on that care.”

The queen looked back at Laureline, and Hedith started to feel a pit forming in her stomach. More and more, she saw her dreams of being related to the royal family slip away. Ardisia was driving the queen away from Laureline. She was painting her beauty as something vapid and powerless, and Hedith could not stop her. Whether the girl was doing it knowingly or not, she was dooming their family to the same namelessness they’d had for generations. Ardisia might have temporarily caught the queen’s attention, but Hedith knew such girls were not memorable. The queen would leave, and she would forget their family. She would find some other young girl, of a higher rank, who lived closer to the capital city, and make her the crown princess.

“Ardisia, I believe it is time for your lessons,” Hedith said. She could still salvage the situation. Laureline was saying nothing, and that frightened her too. Laureline was good at getting her way. She could be pleasing and sweet when she wanted to be, but when things did not go her way, she behaved like a child. She grew petulant and ill-spirited, and Hedith knew a tantrum would soon arrive. The queen had not said a single word to Laureline since Ardisia’s arrival.