Page 15 of The Prince and His Stolen Groom
No attack came.
Slipping inside the rest of the way, I found the front room empty. “Hello?”
A moment passed, and then footsteps rushed down the stairs. I jumped out of the way so Brandan wouldn’t run into me, clutching the dinner plate for dear life.
He looked past me, hope and excitement apparent on his face, until he saw the firmly closed door. His shoulders slumped, giving him the woeful appearance of a kicked puppy.
My heart clenched and I scolded it firmly tostop it. “I uh”—my voice cracked, and I cleared my throat self-consciously—“I brought you dinner?”
He looked about to refuse it out of sheer stubbornness, then yanked the plate from my hands and muttered, “Thank you.” He took it into the kitchen and sat at the table, his back to me.
“So, uh, we should probably—”
“You can go,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“Right, sorry.” I touched the doorknob, then turned around and asked, “Have you ever readThe Bride’s Revenge?”
He glanced over his shoulder, his brow furrowed. “What?”
“It’s a book. A romance. It’s one of Franny’s favorites.”
Turning fully to face me, he asked, “If I read the book, will you let me out of the tower?”
I flinched and said, “That’s not … It’s not about a trade. I’ll let you out as soon as I find another solution.”
“And how are you going to find that solution?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Dissatisfied with my answer, he turned his back to me and all I heard from him were the soft clinks of fork against plate. I waited another minute to see if he would say anything else, then slipped out the door.
Chapter Seven
I slept like shit last night because of a dream about the upcoming wedding. In it, Fran lifted her groom’s visor like a veil, revealing not the prince, but a clown with garish makeup. He laughed at all of us and then ran around the wedding, tearing apart decorations and hitting everyone with a fake hammer. When I finally caught him, his paint smeared off, revealing my own face as he continued laughing like a madman.
The wedding guests surrounded me, yelling about me being a terrible person. Somewhere along the lines, I lost my clothes, leaving me to defend myself only in my underwear.
That’s when the evil mage on a horse made of fire burst in and declared he was going to take over the world.
At breakfast, I slumped in my chair, pushing food around on my plate. I could feel the weight of the bags under my eyes and would have curled up under the table like a cat if I thought I would actually get any sleep.
“Are you alright, Frederick?” Mother asked me for the hundredth time.
“Yes, Mother,” I said, again.
She looked even less convinced than the last time. “Why don’t you join us for this morning’s court session?”
I had no good excuse not to, so I agreed, thinking we’d be done by noon.
Except after the court session, she dragged me to every other damn meeting she could think of. The Good Wizard was scheduled to arrive a few days before the wedding, and I had to sit through conversations with the head chef and head of housekeeping on all the special preparations for his stay. I spent hours locked away in stuffy offices, listening to arguments on halibut versus cod or the best interior design style for a magical guest.
The afternoon was well on its way before I escaped my mother’s watchful gaze to finally check on Brendan.
Though he hadn’t attacked me yesterday, I still couldn’t let my guard down. As I opened the front door, I flinched automatically, expecting a sneak attack. Nothing happened. Stepping fully inside, I found him sitting on the couch, sniffling loudly as he balanced a book in one hand and vigorously wiped his eyes with the other.
Alarmed, I rushed to his side. “Are you okay?”
He yelped and the book went flying, hitting me in the chest before tumbling to the ground. I blinked and picked it up, reading the spine:The Bride’s Revengeby Lucy Merriweather. He’d probably found it on the shelf somewhere. Franny was always giving me books to join the cramped library in the tower. I read maybe a tenth of them and had no idea what my own collection held. When I’d told him about this book, I hadn’t expected him to find a copy and start reading it immediately.
