Free Exile by Anne Osterlund

rescued Aurelia from boredom during endless hours of etiquette training. Who had stood guard and made up stories to excuse her best friend’s escapes from the palace. Who had laughed at the ancient royal suitors and dared Aurelia to find someone who moved her heart instead.
    None of that mattered now.
    “Is it true?” Aurelia murmured. “Is my mother actually here?”
    The hug tightened, then released. “Yes.”
    Then you knew. The bitter thought replaced the warmth. How could one’s closest friend harbor a secret like this?
    Daria must have read the anguish in Aurelia’s eyes, because explanation spilled forth. “I only found out when Thomas brought me here, upon my arrival. And I was sworn to secrecy. It’s a condition for living on the estate.”
    A true friend would never take that oath.
    “Of course, that is no excuse for not telling you .”
    The admission cut a rift in Aurelia’s turmoil.
    “But I did not dare write!” Daria declared. “I did not want your stepmother to intercept the message. Or your father.”
    Aurelia took a step back toward the barren hearth. There was so much her father had known and not told her. She had feared that her mother’s location might be another fact he had chosen to withhold. “Then my father doesn’t know my mother is here?”
    Daria blinked, stretching out her fingers toward her friend. “No, of course not. Why do you think Lord Lester never returns to the palace? And why else would he hire this many men to defend his estate? It’s all for your mother’s protection.”
    Protection?
    Daria’s empty hand dropped, along with her gaze. “It’s hard to know how your father would react. There might be ... well, there might be repercussions.”
    Aurelia staggered back, her side grazing the sharp corner of the mantel. It had never occurred to her that her mother might be in danger, having left the palace, or that she might have been in danger living there when her husband clearly preferred another woman.
    But if the assassination plot had taught Aurelia anything, it was that the palace was unsafe. Even if her father had no intention of harming her mother, he could not be relied upon to protect her. Daria was right.
    “She hasn’t come,” Aurelia said.
    “Lady Margaret never comes.”
    Margaret? Her mother’s name was Marguerite. “What?”
    “She never leaves her quarters.”
    That made no sense. Surely Daria was exaggerating, trying to defend her best friend from reality. Aurelia had no interest in excuses. “Of course she does.”
    “No.” Daria shook her head. “Lady Margaret has a single space at the end of the hall on the third floor, one flight up, her own private residence known as the Blue Room.” Private. Meaning no one is allowed to enter without permission. “She never leaves. Ever.”
    Aurelia struggled to take in the implications. But how could she? If the past three hours had proven anything, it was that she knew nothing about the woman upstairs. “She has not sent for me.”
    Daria’s voice wavered. “It must have been a shock. Your arrival. I do not really know her ... but I know she has been like a talisman to the people here. They would defend her with their lives.”
    The people have always loved my mother. But she has never loved me. Aurelia backed away until the hollow of her spine hit the edge of a glass table along the wall. Her elbow jostled a vase of dead flowers.
    Porcelain tumbled, and white shards sprayed across gray stones.
    Daria pulled her friend away from the shattered pieces. “I know it’s not fair, but if you wish to see her, then you must go to her.”
    “I can’t.”
    “Why not?”
    Because I am a coward. Because I’m not who I was before the forest. Or maybe I am. Maybe that dark cavity inside me was always there. “She left me, Daria. Not just my father— me. And I don’t ... I don’t understand why.”
    Her friend’s voice remained calm. “Then why don’t you ask her?”
    As if it were that