The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince

Title: The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince
Author: Robin Hobb
Published: 2013 by Subterranean Press
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 184


I found this pretty thing in a used books shop just around the time I was reading the Farseer Trilogy. I think. My memory is not so very good. This is apparently a Deluxe Hardcover Edition, illustrated even! Read it after finishing Fool's Errand and before starting the Golden Fool.

The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince tells one of the legends of the Six Duchies: the story of the Witted prince Charger and how he came to be. Told by Felicity, the nearest and dearest handmaiden to the Queen-in-Waiting Caution, AKA the Willful Princess, the honest account illustrates how, in the span of just two very short generations, the Wit-magic goes from an uncommon but accepted trait to a detested thing. Felicity is painfully truthful in her telling of the tale, and it sheds light to the Six Duchies of generations before any of the book series. A lovely yet sad story.


   From that day forth, all noticed a change in the Queen-in-Waiting. There was a glow to her cheeks, and she took to riding out very early in the morning with only the Stablemaster in attendance upon her and me trailing along behind. The wrath of the king over this was nothing to her. As always, they began their ride with a spirited gallop, at a pace my horse could not hope to sustain. But in those days, I did not catch up with them as easily as I once had. Often I did not see them again until they came riding back to find me. Then Queen-in-Waiting Caution would be pink-cheeked and laughing at my worries and saying they must put me on a fleeter mount the next day.
   But they never did.