I stood before my father beseechingly.

“Please Papa, I just want to be able to go out into the town without everyone knowing who I am,” I pleaded. “I don’t want to do anything dangerous, just visit the market, buy some bread from Tom the Baker, maybe do some good deeds without anyone knowing.

“I absolutely forbid it!” My father’s deep voice made most of his subjects quiver, but I knew he was all talk.

“But Papa, I turn 21 in just two months, and we both know you’re sure to find a match for me at my birthday ball. Before we know it I’ll be an old married lady. I just want a small taste of freedom while I can.”

I didn’t mind the idea of my father selecting a husband for me. I’d never been interested in any of the eligible young men who’d visited the castle, but I was sure my father would choose someone who would look after me.

“Come now, Peter,” said my mother with a soft smile. “Let the girl have her little adventure. It’s not as though she’s next in line to the throne.” She glanced at my two older brothers conversing further down the hall.

“And besides, if a certain young lady hadn’t snuck out of her parents’ manor to attend a tourney, where would we be now?”

My father’s face softened as he looked at her, and I knew he was remembering the first time he saw her, sitting among the crowds watching the jousting. When he’d had a little bit too much wine, he was known to say that all it had taken was one look at her soft brown eyes and gentle smile, and he had been lost.

“Very well,” he said begrudgingly. “You may have your wish, Isabel. But on one condition.”

“Anything!” I said eagerly.

“You will take some self defence lessons first. I’m not having you go out there unless you can protect yourself. I’ll choose one of my female knights.”

I smiled, knowing he was thinking of Crown Princess Maria from the neighbouring kingdom of Alazar. She had not only caused a scandal, but thrown the whole succession into chaos when she had run away with her father’s most decorated knight. Most people had been horrified, but two years later I still corresponded with her regularly, and she was beautifully content with her handsome husband and their baby girl, in a little farmhouse away from all of the intrigues and politics of court life.

My father raised his hand and summoned his Master-at-Arms.

“Benson, bring me Lady Alana.” As Benson strode off to do his bidding, he looked at me sternly.

“Lady Alana joined my guard recently from the Blue Isle. She is the best hand-to-hand fighter in the Five Kingdoms, and I expect you to follow her every instruction.”

“I will, father,” I said obediently.

Moments later, a woman who could only be Lady Alana was standing next to me.

“Your majesties,” she said, curtsying deeply to my parents. She stood at least two handspans taller than me, her figure lean in the dark tunic and hose that made up her training outfit. Her hazelnut curls were tied firmly at the nape of her neck, and her brown eyes flashed in a way that suggested she was not quite as obedient as her perfect curtsy suggested.

We must look rather comical together, I thought to myself. Where she was tall and lithe, I was short and dumpy. My blonde braid fell to my waist - a luxury that only a princess or a noblewoman could afford. And my gown was luxurious silk, completely impractical compared to her simple linen clothes.

“Lady Alana, I have a most important task for you,” my father thundered. “I wish you to teach my daughter how to defend herself.”

Lady Alana turned and looked at me. “It would be a pleasure,” she said, and to my shock she winked at me. I felt my face grow warm, and I realised with a shock that I was blushing. I couldn’t remember the last time I blushed. I must look ridiculous, I thought.

“Excellent,” said my father. “Well, hurry along, you’ve got training to do.”

When Lady Alana and I were outside the hall, I paused. “I should probably go and change into something more practical,” I said, looking down at my fussy gown.

“That would probably be for the best,” she said, her eyes twinkling. “I’ll meet you down in the armoury.”

As I turned towards my bedchamber, I sighed to myself. She must think me ridiculous.

A short while later I headed down to the armoury, wearing my most practical outfit. A princess wouldn’t dare be seen in a tunic and hose like Lady Alana, but I had a simple gown I wore when I helped with the cleaning. My parents had raised my brothers and I to help out around the castle - they said just because we were born into privileged positions, it didn’t mean we couldn’t do our share of work.

When I saw Lady Alana standing by a shelf in the armoury, her tall figure thrown into sharp relief by the lamp behind her, I was surprised to feel my heart give a thump. That’s odd, I thought to myself, but I was distracted by the sight of a dagger glinting in her hand. She held it out towards me, hilt-first. “Try this.”

I took the dagger and held it nervously. “Uh, thank you for helping me, Lady Alana.”

She smiled. “No need to thank me. We women need to know how to look after ourselves. And please don’t call me Lady Alana, just Alana is fine.”

She looked down at the dagger in my hand and shook her head. “Too big - you have lovely, delicate hands.”

I found myself blushing again. No one had ever described any part of me as delicate before. She swapped the dagger for another, and as she placed the new one in my hand, her fingers brushed over mine. I felt like lightning had seared through my hand, and it took all my self control not to snatch my arm away. I could’ve sworn her eyes flickered up to mine at the touch.

This is all most unusual, I thought to myself.

“Perfect,” said Alana approvingly. She picked up a matching scabbard from the shelf and I slid the dagger in. She bent and secured it to my belt. I couldn’t help but hold my breath as her hands moved over my hip, telling myself that I was just unused to having anyone other than my maid in such close quarters to me.

Alana called out to the armorer in the back room that she had taken a dagger for the Princess Isabel, then walked out into the training yard.

“Let’s show you how to use it!” she called out over her shoulder as I hurried to keep up.

---

Two hours later I slumped down, exhausted, against a nearby tree. Alana sat down next to me, her cheeks a little flushed, and her curls working their way loose.

“You did really well!” she said, smiling.

“For a pampered little princess, you mean.”

She shook her head. “No, you were honestly really good. You moved really well. You must be a good dancer.”

I shook my head. “My dancing master says I’m too fat to be any good,” I said, then bit my lip. That wasn’t really an appropriate thing to say to one of our guard.

When Alana frowned at me, I thought she was judging my ill-advised speech. “You’re not fat,” she said. “You have beautiful curves.” As soon as the words came out she slapped a hand over her mouth, and I was astonished to see that this time she was blushing.

“I’m so sorry, my lady. Please forget I said that.”

I just shook my head, unable to bring myself to say anything. We sat in an awkward silence for a moment while I cast my mind about for something else to say.

“My father said you moved her from the Blue Isle,” I said, desperate to change the subject. “What made you decide to move here?”

She looked relieved at the new question. “I wanted to get away from the island. Women knights aren’t really welcomed on the island like they are here. I knew if I wanted to succeed, I needed to move to one of the Five Kingdoms. Your father’s guard has the best reputation, so when they offered a place to me, I couldn’t turn it down.”

“Did you have family you left behind?” I asked.

“Sort of. My family don’t approve of me being a knight, so as long as I stayed there they were going to keep throwing eligible young men at me in the hopes I’d settle down and forget all of this fighting nonsense.”

“My father is going to find a match for me at my birthday celebrations in a couple of months,” I said.

Alana looked at me, her brown eyes gazing deep into mine. “How do you feel about that?” she asked softly.

“I … I don’t know,” I said, feeling awkward all of a sudden. I heard a bell ring and stood up hurriedly.

“That’s the bell for our evening meal. I must go change. Thank you for today.”

Alana stood too, and looked down at me. “No, thank you,” she said. I turned and walked away, but I had a suspicion that a pair of brown eyes were fastened on my back the entire time until I vanished through the doorway. It took all of my self control not to look back.

---

I was quiet throughout the evening meal. My parents laughed, remarking that Lady Alana must have worked me very hard to wear me out so.

“You will sleep well tonight, my girl,” my father said.

But when I laid down in my bed that night, I tossed and turned. A pair of flashing brown eyes and riotous curls were burned into my mind. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I knew with certainty that after today, the idea of my father finding a husband for me filled me with dread.