Had she known of his thoughts about her speaking, Ella would have sent a prayer of thankfulness to her mother, and her thorough lessons. At least Ella had not truly been a servant until she was ten.
"I am sorry for him then...perhaps I could-," she quickly and smoothly changed tack, "have one of the cooks bring him a restorative. My stepmother often felt quite out of sorts, and I know of a few recipes that she always preferred at that time." A princess did not linger in the kitchen, even though Ella had always found it the least troublesome of her duties. In fact, she would not admit it yet, but she had made some friendly inroads with the cooks. "I know you enjoy riding out."
As she turned back and he handed her the book, Ella did not disguise the interest that lighted in her eyes. "Oh, this is quite what I was looking for," she admitted, opening the cover with nimble fingers. "I have been wending my way through some of the historical works, but my reading skills are....rusty," she admitted, with a quirk of her lips, although she was looking at the pages and not at him. Was it a shame to point that out? She could not be sure, but it was said. "And legends and stories have a kernel of truth, do they not?"