Page 62 of The Prince and His Stolen Groom
Brother.The word hit me like a gut punch and bile rose in my throat. As far as everyone knew, Brendon would marry Franny tomorrow. I still hadn’t found the best way to bring up ‘hey, do you want to marry me instead.’ After bonding in the maze, I felt a little more confident that his first reaction wouldn’t be violence or ‘what the fuck, did you forget you kidnapped me,’ but it still needed to be an actual discussion.
It wasn’t like I could just show up at the altar wearing Franny’s wedding dress. A quick image flashed in my head of a wedding night, Brendon’s hand trailing up my leg, pushing the skirts up. They’d be so much easier to navigate than pants … I shook my head, forcing myself away from that mental pathway. Cross-dressing once was a clever deception, twice would be a habit, and I already had enough kinks.
We arrived back at the castle just as Franny was leaving it. She’d only made it halfway to the stables before spotting us. “Brendon!” she exclaimed, her face alight with joy. “You’re back!” She ran over to us, her dark curls picturesquely fluttering behind her, and threw herself at Brendon.
They collided with an ‘oof,’ a clang, and then a heavy thud as her weight sent them tumbling backwards. Kit probably could have braced herself in time, but Brendon lacked her muscle mass and any reason to believe Franny would throw herself at him.
Both Mother and I had to help them untangle. Once they were both on their feet, they looked at each other awkwardly. The past few days, Franny had gotten to know Kit posing as Brendon, and now she was face to face with her real fiancé and had no idea why his demeanor had suddenly changed.
I cleared my throat and asked, “Can we go inside? I’m still in yesterday’s clothes …”
Franny gave me a once-over, her wary expression turning to concern. “Freddy, is that blood?”
Startled, I looked down at myself. It took me a while to realize she was looking at the bloodstains on my gray pant leg. The Good Wizard had patched me up so well that I no longer needed a bandage, but evidence of yesterday’s chaos remained. “Nope,” I lied, twisting my stance to hide that leg behind my other. “I spilled some … wine yesterday.”
Brow furrowed, she tried to skirt around me. “That certainly does not look like wine.”
“Well, it is. See?” I pulled my pant leg out of my boot to show her my unmarred calf. “Nothing to worry about. Now can we go inside?”
“Yes, that would be for the best,” Mother agreed, gesturing for everyone to leave the courtyard.
Franny grabbed Brendon’s hand and tugged him along. “I was so worried about you last night,” she explained. “Youmusttell me what happened.”
If she took him now and monopolized his time the same way shehad with Kit, I’d never get a chance to talk to him about tomorrow. “Actually, Franny, I need to talk to him first—”
My mother’s hand rested on my shoulder. She smiled at Franny and said, “You two go have fun. I have something to discuss with Frederick.”
Franny pulled Brendon in one direction, and my mother pulled me in the other. I watched his retreating back until a corner separated us.
Mother dragged me to her office and didn’t release me until I sat down in the chair across from her desk. She took the other seat, folded her hands, and looked at me sternly. “Frederick, your behavior the last few days … the last few years, if I’m being honest, has greatly concerned me.”
I shrank back, slumping in the chair. “I’m sorry, Mother.”
“A tradition where you drink to wave goodbye to bachelorhood?” she repeated, eyebrows arched in disbelief. “Do you really think I’d believe something so ridiculous?”
“Mother, I—”
“You were going to lock him in that tower so he couldn’t attend the wedding, weren’t you?”
I snapped my mouth shut.Fuck, how was her guess so close?Though technically, I had just let himoutof the tower.
She sighed and rubbed her brow. “This is exactly why I didn’t want you to be alone with him.”
“It’s not what you think—”
“When we purchased the tower for you, I thought you wanted somewhere you could be yourself. I didn’t expect you to cause so much trouble there. After what happened last time, I should have asked your father to demolish it.”
“Last time wasn’t—”
“Well, I have always said it’s never too late to fix your mistakes. I’ll speak to your father about it after the wedding.”
I straightened, panicking. “Wait, you can’t—”
“Don’t worry, we’ll move all of your books and things from it first, and we’ll find another way to grant you your privacy. One that isn’t quite so … questionable.”
“But—”
She raised her head, her dark eyes sharp. “This isn’t a discussion, Frederick, I am informing you of what’s going to happen. Or can you honestly tell me that you had no plans to lock him away?”
