"You're late," Heidel said. "I almost told them to start without you."

"Sorry. I was in the middle of something." Maelyn gave Heidel a look full of meaning and Heidel answered with a short nod. They would talk later.

"Well, sit! The bread's not getting any warmer." Heidel waved at Maelyn's chair. The rest of the princesses were already seated, four on each side of the long table. As eldest, Maelyn sat at the head. In her mother's old place.

They said a short prayer and the princesses fell back into the small conversations they had started before Maelyn's arrival. Only Arialain, the youngest, turned her large green eyes on Maelyn, questioning. Arialain knew about the message, and who it was from.

Maelyn accepted a bowl of raspberries passed by Heidel on her right corner, placed a handful on her silver plate, and handed the bowl to Briette on her left. They always sat in the same places, though with no predetermined order. Certainly not birth order, since they were all so close in age. Rather, the sisters had fallen naturally into small bonds of two or three, always sitting near the ones they felt closest to. For Maelyn, that was Heidel and Briette.

"Sorry. No milk this morning," Heidel said in a dry voice. "Ari dropped it. The whole pail."

"I didn't mean to!" Arialain cried. "I just stumbled."

"Where?" Maelyn asked.

"Outside, on the grass," Arialain said.

"How does someone trip over grass?" Heidel asked.

Maelyn waved a hand. "Let her be. I'm sure the pail was very heavy." She offered a reassuring smile to Arialain. Heidel, dissatisfied, flipped her thick red braid behind her shoulder and tore her bread roll in half.

Maelyn raised her hand, calling for her sisters' attention. No point in delaying unpleasantness. "I just want you all to know: I had a message this morning. From Uncle Jarrod."

A chorus of groans greeted this, as Maelyn had expected. Only one sister looked unperturbed: Coralina. Coralina had always liked Uncle Jarrod. Perhaps because she was the only princess that he liked.

"What's he want now?" Heidel asked, annoyance pinching her freckled face.

Maelyn sighed. "He's heard about the servants."

A long silence followed, finally broken by Lace, sitting at the far end. "Well... he was bound to find out eventually, wasn't he? Couldn't stay a secret forever."

"No," Maelyn said wearily. "But I hoped it would be longer."

"All right, so he knows." Heidel shrugged. "Why should we care?"

"He's coming," Maelyn said. More groans followed this.

"Why?" Arialain asked.

"He said he wants to look into the matter. And decide what must be done about it." That had been the worse part of his message for her. I will decide what must be done. And he would – with no consideration for anyone, least of all Maelyn.

"Tell him to mind his own mudsucking business," Heidel said.

"Heidel!" Maelyn cried, though some of the sisters giggled at her use of the crude word.

"What? Uncle Jarrod has never cared if we were dead or alive. Why should it matter to him if the servants are gone?" Heidel asked.

"We don't need them," said Briette on Maelyn's left. "We're faring perfectly well."

"Are we? Are we faring well?" Coralina asked in a challenging tone.

Maelyn was in no mood to hear Coralina's opinion. "It doesn't matter at all what we think about it. All that matters is what Uncle Jarrod thinks. He's going to see this as a sign of our incompetence."

"You mean your incompetence?" Coralina said, poking a raspberry into her mouth.

Maelyn turned hard eyes on her least favorite sister. "Mind your tongue, Coco, or I'll un-invite Prince Luxley from the late spring ball."

Coralina rolled her luxurious eyes but said nothing more. Maelyn hated to admit that she often felt intimidated by Coralina's beauty. They were all beautiful - so their parents had always said - and nearly every shade of hair and skin was reflected in this room. But Coralina, brought in from the tropic kingdom of Bella Reino, could be called the most exotic. And she was well aware of it.

"When's he coming?" Heidel asked.

"He spoke of next week - 'if that would suit me.' Which of course, means nothing at all. So we have to get ready. Heidel, you'll make sure the kitchen is well-stocked?"

"I'll feed the fat ox," Heidel said.

"Briette, you'll see that his chamber is clean?"

"It's clean now," Briette said. Naturally, a speck of dirt did not live to see the sunrise with her.

"We'll need something to amuse him. A banquet, perhaps, or maybe a tournament. Although that's very hard to put together in a week's time."

"Oh! I know exactly what we should do. He'll love it," Coralina said. "Tell him to come for my next play. He loves the theater. It'll put him in good humor."

"The play?" Maelyn considered this. "But that's not until next month."

"Exactly. Ask him to wait. Tell him I'd particularly love it if he came to see it. Would be such an honor, blah-blah-blah. I'm assuming you won't mind the delay."

No, Maelyn would not mind the delay one bit. Uncle Jarrod did enjoy theater and would probably not refuse. It would give her a full six weeks to plan for his arrival.

"It's a good idea," Maelyn said, hating to agree with Coralina. "If I can convince him that we're not in urgent need, he might agree."

"Are you going to write the reply today?" Arialain asked anxiously. "The messenger will be coming back for it."

Maelyn nodded. "Directly after breakfast."

She felt some relief now. And more hopeful. A bit more time was all she needed. Not just to prepare the castle, but prepare her mind. Plan how she might speak to him. Although even the idea of responding to his letter was more communication than she desired.

The princesses resumed their breakfast without further discussion of the matter. They took most of their meals in the small dining chamber, known as the Winter Room. The theme had been given to encourage the royal family to savor a warm meal. Murals of white hills and snow-frosted pines drifted across the walls. Morning sunlight melted through stained glass windows depicting a wintry forest with slender deer picking through the drifts. Silver lace dripped from the white tablecloth, matching the silver dishes that glittered like ice.

"Want me to write it?" Heidel asked at the end of the meal. Maelyn noticed Heidel was lingering at the table, not bouncing up to gather the plates as she normally did. She watched each sister's departure, seeming slightly impatient.

"No – thank you!" Maelyn smothered a laugh. If Heidel wrote the reply, she would not be intentionally rude with her words, but the flavor would be there. She couldn't help it.

"So! Tell me," Heidel said when the rest of the princesses had departed. "You're looking like a cornered mouse. Did he say something else?"

Maelyn shook her head. "It was brief. But he said enough: he's coming to take care of it. Have you thought about what that means?"

Heidel shrugged. "At the very worst, he could force us to hire a new body of servants. Or hire them himself, which I wouldn't like. But I don't see...."

"No," Maelyn said. "That's not the worst he can do. After Father died, Uncle Jarrod spoke to me, stressing how 'defenseless' and 'protector-less' we had all become. He thought he should take us to live with him in Grunwold."

Heidel's eyes snapped wide open. "I'd rather die in a barrel of rusty nails!"

"And I know – I know – what would happen next," Maelyn said. "Nine quickly arranged marriages, probably to the lowest-ranking nobles he could find. He'll have us separated, married off, out of his hair, gone. You know that's what he's always wanted."

"I hate to think of what he'd do with Ivy," Heidel said with a pained face. She looked at Maelyn. "Well, we have six weeks.... Maybe we should just hire some servants? Uncle Jarrod will come, see the castle is fully functional, and we'll be fine."

Maelyn looked down at her plate. "I don't know. I'm frightened by what happened. No one has seen any of the servants since they disappeared - not one. Are they all dead? If we hire more, will the same fate befall them?"

"Why would they be dead? You think Uncle Jarrod killed them?" Heidel asked.

"Maybe," Maelyn said. "To weaken us."

"He can't hate us that much!" Heidel said loudly. "That's crazy – we've done nothing to him! We're just not royal born."

Maelyn shrugged. She thought that was enough.

"And who would he put in here anyway? To rule?" Heidel went on. "His only son will inherit Grunwold and he's got no other children. This is false fear, Maelyn. We're fine! Uncle Jarrod will see that we're fine. Stop worrying about it."

Maelyn nodded. She would try. But she couldn't help remembering that when her parents fell ill, the first thing the healers had said was not to worry.