Page 27 - RotalTutor

toward her parents. As she approached her carriage to leave, there was little emotion expressed by either her or her father. Her mother had tears streaming down her face, but was careful in what she said. Her father softened slightly, but she brushed him off as he tried to kiss her goodbye. She stepped solemnly into the carriage, her ladies-in-waiting already there, and, with a command to the driver, they were off. They were followed by a contingent of the Royal Guard, two heavily-laden wagons carrying everything her mother insisted she needed, and two supply wagons for the trip. The caravan hadn’t traveled more than a half-mile down the road when her tough exterior melted away, and she started to sob right in front of her ladies-in-waiting. They tried to comfort her, but she told them to leave her alone. They rode most of the day in silence, broken only by her own sniffling and the quiet tearfulness of her attendants. She hadn’t stopped to realize that they were being taken away from their own homes as well. She gave them a charge that her parents were not to hear that she was upset about leaving. She kept to herself for most of the two and a half weeks they journeyed north. It normally would have taken only half as long, but they were slowed by the wagons. When they finally arrived at Denville Castle she was sullen, dirty, and temperamental. There to greet her with a warm smile were Duke Reginald and Lady Margaret. This 25