Page 56 of His Princess Brat
I stood there, stunned, but if I thought anything that had just happened had instantly made anything better between Azid and me, I was sorely mistaken. I was smiling when I looked at him. He’d just punched out a prince for me. Surely that had to mean something good, right?
But when he looked down at me, he wasn’t smiling back. God, I hate regrets. I hate the very sight of it, especially when it was all I could see staring back at me from behind his eyes.
“I’m batting two for two, aren’t I?” he said softly. Shaking his head, he turned and walked away.
Chapter Sixteen
Pita
I felt wilted. Nothing had turned out the way I’d wanted. Azid loved me, but not enough to marry me. Osiris had fled Mazi’s court with a broken nose; I doubted there’d be a wedding proposal from that corner any time soon. Which suited me, frankly. I doubt I could live in the same country with that man, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to have children with him. I was back to square one, and it was depressing. The only good thing to come of any of this was that Bethany had been sent from the court in disgrace. It would be a while before she recovered from the embarrassment enough to face the gossip now following her.
Still, that momentary happiness didn’t last through the night. And by morning, all I could think about was how much I loved Azid, and how miserable it was going to be to have to spend the rest of my life without him.
I needed me time.
Me time consisted of spending most the next morning in my bed, pretending I didn’t hear either of the times when Ayo entered, first to bring me breakfast, and then again to lecture me on my unbecoming princess behavior.
“You are a future queen,” she told me, trying to rip me out of the burrito I’d made of my blankets. “Stop sulking. Do something so you can be seen and silence those wagging tongues downstairs!”
I only burritoed myself that much tighter in my bed and stubbornly waited for her to give up.
“You need switching!” she finally declared, but at last she stormed out and I was left in peace.
She was right though. A princess could not simply pout about in her room for the rest of her life. No one could. Whether I liked it or not, life had to go on and it was determined to take me along with it.
Still sad, I made myself get up and get dressed, and then I did what I always did when I was sad. I went out to the stables to pour my wounded heart out to Adofo. The way all my relationships have been going lately, I’m sure he was only in it for the carrots, but still... he was a great listener.
I encountered three groups of people on my way to the stables, and all three fell silent from the moment they saw me until I’d passed them by. Then their whispers and titters followed me. If they thought they could make me cry, they were mistaken. That would never happen, at least not where they could see.
I reached the stable and immediately dismissed the two stable hands. On my way to the far stall where I could hear Adofo softly nickering in welcome, I got my first surprise.
No longer was Adofo the only horse in here. Pachysaurus Rex had been moved out, and in its place was the most perfect mare on the face of the planet.
“Sanaa,” I gasped, hardly believing my eyes. Surely, it couldn’t be, and yet there she was. Strolling up to the stall door, she hung her head out and let me touch the velvety softness of her nose. “How did you get here?”
“I brought her.”
