Palace of Stone (29 page)

“It is a big deal. But I’m certain about it. About you. Even if I’m a little scared too. We don’t have to get married for years and years if we don’t want, you know. You’ll have time to change your mind.”

“I won’t.”

“But you could—”

“I won’t,” he said again.

Miri’s eyes stung, but she did not feel the need to look away.

“Miri, I want to live on Mount Eskel. Is that what you want?”

“Yes.” As she said it, she held the stone beneath her, just in case that word split the linder in two and dumped them on the ground.
Yes
felt mighty.
Yes
was the most powerful idea in the world.

“I believe you,” he said. “And yet, it doesn’t seem fair. You want to keep studying at the Queen’s Castle.”

“And you want to keep learning from Gus. Mount Eskel is home, but I don’t want to have to choose only one or the other forever.”

“Are we supposed to talk about this stuff out loud?” he said. “I thought, you know,
relationships
or whatever can’t be planned. They just happen or they don’t, like a laugh. Or a kiss.”

Miri smiled, because she guessed that he said “kiss” because it was on his mind, and sure enough, he leaned forward and kissed her. She still felt a little nervous along with the glee, and that was all right. Her hand was on his chest, and she could feel his own heart beating even harder than hers. It made her smile.

“I can’t kiss you when you’re smiling,” he said. “It makes me want to laugh.”

She giggled and then controlled herself, because she did want to kiss him. Kisses were like words, she thought. They meant many things, their meanings fickle, dangerous even. Kisses could be lies, or they could be promises. She could feel the truth of Peder’s kiss in her ribs, in her heart, in the breath held in her lungs. She believed his kisses.

It was later than late when he offered to walk her back. The palace waited to the north, the same direction as Mount Eskel. Miri turned toward it and, smiling, breathed in the night. She did not want to sleep yet. She still had a letter to write. She would not take it lightly. From all she’d seen in the libraries, letters and diaries preserved history. And her letter to home would be one of the very first written pieces of history in all of Mount Eskel.

Timon was wrong; history was more than names on a page. History was stories, like Queen Gertrud and the Castle, Dan and the Blackbird, the Princess’s Ladies and the Charter. And stories were as plentiful on Mount Eskel as rubble rock—both true and fanciful, told and sung. She wanted to listen to the stories and memories of the villagers and write them down. To be a keeper of memories, like the linder itself. A writer of history. What a wonder.

Would she go home or stay?
Both
.

A person can be more than one thing
, she thought, and wondered how she had not thought of it before. She could be a historian, a scholar, and a teacher. A daughter, a sister, and a friend. A princess’s lady and the betrothed of an apprentice stone carver. A citizen of Asland and a girl of Mount Eskel. She need not decide every moment of her life now. There would be years and years to learn and act and make mistakes, to travel and to stay. She did not know all the future, but she knew what to do next. She took Peder’s hand and walked toward home.

Spring Week Four

Dear Pa and Marda,

It makes me happy imagining you two inside our little house. Marda is sitting at the table, reading this aloud. Pa is standing by the window, looking out while he listens. And now Marda is smiling, because I have described the moment just right.

None of the letters I wrote these past months seem true anymore, but I will send them anyway. I no longer feel like the lost girl who wrote them, but I was her once. Perhaps you will like to see where I was and where I am now.

I worry that reading my words will make you sad because you miss me. And I miss you too. A lot. The ache of the missing fills my chest, yet it does not hurt. It almost feels good, because it reminds me I have a family I love and that I will see you again.

Yes, Pa, I will come home in the fall. Asland is more wonderful than I could have imagined, but it is not home. Esa has learned doctoring, Frid can make an iron lever, Gerti’s lute plays like springtime formed into sound, Peder’s carvings are as beautiful as mountains, and my own head is full of questions, numbers, and words. All these things we learned, what would they matter if we do not return?

Some say we are what we do, not where we come from. I say we are both, because I will always be a Mount Eskel girl. I want to milk the goats, teach in the village school, have you accept my betrothal to Peder, and write our province’s first history. Someday
other Eskelites will study at the Queen’s Castle, and I want them to find a book about home in the library. Maybe I will even be there to show it to them.

Because I will return to Asland, so I can be a friend to Britta and Katar and continue to study. I hope you will still love your girl now that I am of two places. Whenever I leave, I promise I will always come home again. Home will always be Mount Eskel. And I will always be

your Miri

Acknowledgments

Many people supported and inspired this novel, including Dean Hale, Victoria Wells Arms and the wondrous folk at Bloomsbury, Barry Goldblatt, Kindra Johnson, Kayla Huff, Bonnie Bryner, Max Hale, Kira Janke, Hannah Wengersky, and my childhood friend Molly Orange Richardson, who first introduced me to ethics.

While doing research for this novel, I particularly enjoyed
The Days of the French Revolution
by Christopher Hibbert.

Writing this story made me even more aware of how many people in this world cannot meet their basic needs. My family and I decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from this book to LDS Humanitarian Services to aid their millions of projects worldwide, such as cleanwater access, immunizations, neonatal care, and food production.

A hearty thank-you to the many readers of
Princess Academy
who wanted to hear what happened next. I’m the luckiest writer in the world. You are a joy to write for.

ALSO BY SHANNON HALE

THE BOOKS OF BAYERN

The Goose Girl

Enna Burning

River Secrets

Forest Born

Princess Academy

Book of a Thousand Days

GRAPHIC NOVELS

with Dean Hale

illustrations by Nathan Hale

Rapunzel’s Revenge

Calamity Jack

FOR ADULTS

Austenland

Midnight in Austenland

The Actor and the Housewife

About the Author

SHANNON HALE

is the award-winning and beloved author of numerous books, including the Newbery Honor book
Princess Academy
; its sequel,
Palace of Stone
; the Books of Bayern:
The Goose Girl, Enna Burning, River Secrets,
and
Forest Born; Book of a Thousand Days
; and two highly acclaimed graphic novels,
Rapunzel’s Revenge
and
Calamity Jack
, which she co-authored. She is also the author of three adult books:
Austenland, Midnight in Austenland
, and
The Actor and the Housewife.
She lives near Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband, the author Dean Hale, and their four children.