Page 4 of The Prince and His Stolen Groom
Something about her phrasing made me pause. She hadn’t said ‘a husband Idon’tknow,’ which would have been understandable. Franny and the prince had been engaged practically since birth, but they’d never actually met.
She also hadn’t said ‘a husband Ididn’t choose.’ As the spare, I’d been mostly left out of our parents’ machinations. To carefully manage the royal bloodlines, the second generation of marriages for the spell had all been planned out a long time ago. Princes from Gloom and Calamity married twin Princesses from Misfortune—thank the gods that seven straight generations had produced twins—and so Woe and Bane had been paired up by default. I’d never dealt with the burden of an arranged marriage, but I could imagine how it must feel to have your fate decided for you before you could even walk.
But Franny had simply said ‘husband.’ It wouldn’t matter if she’d known the prince her whole life, or if she’d personally chosen him from a wide selection of potential grooms. The problem would always come down to the fact that he was a man.
I glanced at Marnie and said, “Someone is probably looking for you.”
She looked to my sister for instruction and received a small nod in response, then scurried out of the room on wobbly legs.
“If I could take your place …” I trailed off. I’d never actually considered it before. By the time I was born, everything had been settled. No one ever suggested ‘Well, maybe we could arrange a marriage for Rick instead.’ I was probably as enthusiastic about having a wife as she was about having a husband, but I’d do it if necessary.
Franny was my big sister, she’d been there for me ever since I could walk. Our parents were busy ruling the kingdom, and although we wereonly five years apart, it was enough distance for her to seem wise and experienced. She taught me how to talk, how to ride a horse, how to climb down the trellis without breaking my arm—after the first two unsuccessful attempts, she finally figured out what was going on. Even when others turned against me, I never felt truly alone because she’d been by my side. I’d never before been in a position to repay her.
She’d never needed me like I needed her—until now.
I didn’t even know if taking her place was an option. “Is there aPrincessof Bane?”
“Not that I’ve heard of.”
I hardly knew anything about the Prince of Bane, only what I’d learned from a mix of gossip and information from our parents and tutors I’d barely paid attention to. Half the time, I couldn’t even remember his name. I’d seen him once at a party, from behind, but then he ducked out of the ballroom with a lady on his arm. I honestly wondered who had seduced more women—Franny or her groom. From the rumors, I suspected the prince, but who knew how many other skirts Franny had been under.
“I wish you didn’t have to shoulder this burden,” I whispered.
“Oh Freddy,” she sighed, and dammit, I’d really hoped to avoid that. She raised her hand to cup my cheek, but I remembered where those hands had been and scooted out of her reach. Bashfully, she hid them behind her back. “I will do whatever I must for our kingdom.”
The only way to continue protecting our kingdom was the defense spell. The spell required their marriage. I knew how important their wedding was and I had always just assumed that Franny would find a way to be happy. But the wordtrappedkept bouncing around my brain and now I wasn’t sure that would ever be possible.
Long after she left me to finish her rendezvous with the maid, I still stood in her empty office. There had to besomehow… I had to dosomething… there must besomeother solution … Whatever it was, standing around, succumbing to the spiral of doom wouldn’t help anyone. I slapped myself across the face, shook off my misery, and set off to save the princess.
Chapter Two
I found my father in his office, hiding from the chaos behind a towering stack of books and paperwork. I hesitated in the doorway, afraid to interrupt his work, until I glimpsed the corner of a tea service half hidden behind one pile. His head jerked up, crumbs scattered through his beard and mustache, eyes wide with alarm. When he saw it was just me, he relaxed, washed down his cookie with a mouthful of tea, and said, “Close the door, Freddy, before someone catches us.”
I closed the door and sat in the visitor’s chair, only realizing after I’d settled in that I couldn’t see him over the books. He started to rearrange them and instead toppled one of the piles onto the floor. “Gods dammit!”
Sighing, I picked up my chair and shifted it to the left so we could see each other. Except he’d ducked down to pick up the books on the right side and was swearing mildly under his breath.
“Father.”
He craned his neck and peeked over the edge of the desk. “Son.”
“We need to talk about the wedding.”
Father grimaced and sat back in his seat, leaving the scattered books on the floor. “I know exactly what you want to say.”
“You do?” Maybe Franny had told him about our conversation.
He nodded solemnly. “And you have my full support.”
My shoulders slumped in relief, and I smiled at him. “That’s great. I was afraid it wouldn’t work.”
“Well, you should probably leave before your mother finds out.”
“Finds out?” I asked, ricocheting between confusion and understanding and back again with enough speed to make my head hurt. “I’m not trying to hide anything from her.”
“You probably should,” Father replied solemnly. “She wouldn’t understand.”
“I know this marriage has been arranged since Franny’s birth—”
