Born to Rule

surface. She was sputtering and gasping, but she felt quite pleased with herself. Aunt Molly never did this! she thought. So ice!
    “Hooray! Hooray!” Myrella, Gundersnap, and Kristen were now clapping. Princess Alicia smiled. How curious, she thought. She had heard cheering crowds before. Whenever she and Mum and Pop and her sisters marched in a parade, the citizens of Belgravia would applaud them. But this was somehow different. She was now being cheered not simply for being a princess, but for being a wet princess—a princess who had accomplished something! How curious indeed. She felt a strange, wonderful new feeling of confidence.
    “Congratulations, Alicia.” Kristen came up and gave her a hearty slap on the back that jostled Alicia’s bathing tiara more than the dunking had.
    There was a sudden cool breeze, and everyone’s teeth began to chatter.
    “Oh, my stars and Saint Delphine’s corset, I swear it’s autumn coming on again!” cried Lady Merry. “Come, Princesses, out of the water before you catch your death of cold.”
    Lady Gussie was tweeting her whistle and waving her arms from the stone lifeguard chair. “Everyone out of the water!”
    “Who’s Saint Delphine, Lady Merry?” Gundersnap asked as a bathing maid was drying her off.
    “My patron saint, the saint of ample ladies. She was about the size of that turret over there.” Lady Merry pointed toward one of the smaller turrets.
    “No!” all three princesses said at once.
     
    The princesses returned to the South Turret. When Alicia entered her chamber, Gilly was setting out her clothes. “I think you’ll need your fur-lined underclothes. It’s getting cold, and it’s been a long day for you,” she said as she bustled around the room. “Let’s see, how many seasons since morning—at least two, because it wasn’t summer when you were with Duchess of Bagglesnort, then it was summer, and now it certainly looks like winter will be setting in. And you’ve been swimming. Oh, it tires me out just to think about it.”
    “How can that be, Gilly? You must be much more tired. You dressed yourself, and then you dressed us and brought our food.”
    “Oh, I’m used to it, milady,” Gilly replied with a smile. She then paused in her bustling and looked at Alicia. She had known a lot of princesses, but there was something special about Alicia. She seemed exceptionally sweet and kind, and not at all snooty. She didn’t take her royalty for granted as so many other princesses did.
    “I think it will be coziest, Your Highness,” Gilly said, “if you take your supper in the turret this evening. Everyone is quite exhausted. No sense having to get dressed for dinner.”
    “That is a good idea, Gilly. Can we wear our nightgowns, night cloaks, and cut slippers?” Alicia asked.
    “Absolutely. Listen to the howl of that wind straight over the plains of Wesselwick. That’s always the coldest wind.”
     
    After their supper, and after Lady Merry had excused herself, the girls played Parcheesi in front of the fire as they sipped cocoa.
    “In Slobodkonia,” Gundersnap was saying, “we play this game using servants for pieces.”
    “What?” exclaimed Kristen.
    “Yes, Empress Mummy had a huge Parcheesi board made from big tiles in the central courtyard of the castle. We have the servants dress as pieces and then direct them where to go.”
    “How appalling,” Alicia said.
    Gundersnap blinked. “You think so?”
    “I most certainly do. Servants should be servants. They are people, not toys.”
    “You are very smart, Alicia.” Gundersnap turned to Kristen. “And you are too. I am glad that I have you as turretmates.”
    “Me too,” Kristen and Alicia both said at once.
    “Let’s make a pact,” Kristen said. “Let’s promise always to be mates in the South Turret through every session.”
    In the South Turret? Alicia wondered. But she did not hesitate. She thrust her hands into the center of the circle and held on to the others’ until there were six hands clasped in what was known as the Royal Hand Pact. This meant they would always be friends and allies and always come to one another’s aid wherever, whenever, and for whatever reason—in love, in war, in sickness, and in health.
    When they withdrew their hands, Alicia looked slowly at her mates. “Princesses, I have a very serious question.”
    “Vot is it, Alicia?” Gundersnap leaned forward.
    “Do you believe that there really is a ghost in the South