Page 20 of Better in Black
But even as she wrote his name, the ink bled together, then reconstituted itself into an entirely different set of letters. Lucie’s eyes widened in horror. But she could only watch the story write itself.
A great royal wedding was planned for her and Lord Hawke, her first love—and so, of course, her true love.
Cruel Prince James had no idea. It fell to Manfred to inform him. “These are guests on their way to the royal wedding,” he said. “Lord Hawke is to marry the Beautiful Cordelia.”
Cruel Prince James felt his heart plummet to his feet. He was not sure why marrying a lord entitled anyone to a royal wedding, but that really wasn’t at the top of his concerns.He did not know what it would mean for Cordelia to marry someone in this strange realm, but he felt certain it could not be good. “We must away to the palace and prevent the wedding from happening!” he cried, leaping upon the loyal white stallion that was always by his side. Even if sometimes he inexplicably failed to notice it for a long stretch of time.
“Standing in the way of a royal wedding tends to be the kind of thing that gets cruel princes executed,” Manfred reminded him. “Along with their manservants.”
But Cruel Prince James paid no heed to danger. He was driven only by love. Seizing the reins of his beloved horse, he set off at a gallop, leaving Manfred behind.
Meanwhile, at the castle, Ajatara was dragging the Beautiful Cordelia—now wearing a floating, spangled gown of silk and tulle—down a long stone corridor and into the palace’s throne room.
Here stood two grand golden thrones, in the center of a hexagonal room filled with mirrors. Before the leftmost throne stood Lord Hawke. Lord Hawke had dark hair and a chiseled jaw and was dressed like a mundane bridegroom, all in black and white. He gazed fiercely upon Cordelia, his eyes blazing. “My love,” he said. “At last you are here.”
He’s nowhere near as handsome as James, Cordelia thought. In fact, I don’t like the look of him at all. Oh dear. Lucie, what in the world are you doing? Are you even in control of the story?
Lucie perked up. The words had written themselves, but for the first time, they did seem completely like something Cordeliamight actually think or say. She held tight to the pen as more words spilled feverishly across the page, waiting for a moment for the narrative to slow, into which she might slip some sentences of her own design.
“Oh look,” Ajatara said, clearing her throat loudly. “It’s your true love, waiting to take you in his arms. And from the sound of those trumpets, I’d say wedding bells are shortly upon us. Very shortly, hopefully.”
“The Beautiful Cordelia! Looking even more beautiful than when I last saw you.” Lord Hawke bowed. Then preened. “And I? Do I look more handsome?”
When she did not answer, Lord Hawke took off his hat, revealing a magnificent head of chestnut hair. “How about now?”
“Oh, yes,” the Beautiful Cordelia said, to be polite. “Much more handsome.”
“How much more, would you say? Measuring from one to ten?”
“It’s a beautiful thing to see soulmates reunited,” Ajatara said impatiently. “Now, to the wedding chapel?”
“Ah, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen Lord Hawke,” the Beautiful Cordelia said, craftily. “And he’s been on so, so many adventures. Please, tell me of them!”
Ajatara shook her head and clamped an iron grip on the Beautiful Cordelia’s beautiful shoulder. “Wedding first, stories later—”
But Lord Hawke never turned down an opportunity to regale an adoring audience. “There were indeed many, many moments of derring-do,” he said. “And I was very dashing during all of them, I must say.”
“Yes, you must. And say more,” the Beautiful Cordelia said. “Much, much more.”
“Well, as you know, I fell captive to pirates! Then came the derring-do. By which means I was able to free myself. Only to be fallen upon by bandits!”
“No, no, this won’t do,” the Beautiful Cordelia said. “A good story needs concrete sensory details, none of this summarizing. I want to be able to see it for myself. Start again, tell me what the pirates looked like. What their ship smelled like. Tell me slowly.”
Lord Hawke was only too happy to enlighten her about his many feats of bravery. In great detail. He told her of fleeing the fashionable ice goblins of the north, only to fall into the clutches of a gang of highwaymen who hoped to marry him off to their evil landlady in exchange for free rent. He told her of rescuing several fair maidens from their cruel fate at the hands of mustachioed villains determined to steal their fortune and imprison them in dungeons or towers or the like. Each time he set one of these innocent, helpless beauties free, he told her, they begged for his hand in marriage. Never had they met a man as bold, as charming, as handsome as Lord Hawke, but every one of them was cast aside, heartbroken. For none of them could hold a candle to his first love, his true love, the Beautiful Cordelia.
As he droned on about her beauty, and what a great complement it would be to his own—in very specific detail—the Beautiful Cordelia stopped listening. She noticed that her demon companion was nearly tearing her hair out in impatience.
“Why are you doing this?” Ajatara whispered. “You knowperfectly well I can only keep this pocket dimension open for a limited time. We must have an ending!”
“You said it had to be a satisfying ending,” the Beautiful Cordelia whispered back. Lord Hawke had now turned his back on both of them and was examining himself in a large mirror, describing, for the Beautiful Cordelia’s benefit, the smoothness of his skin. “If I marry Lord Hawke now, it won’t be satisfying. I don’t even know him. Nobody likes a romance where the hero and heroine don’t take time to get to know each other. Nobody would really believe I loved him!”
“But you don’t love him,” Ajatara reminded her. “He’s a fictional character.”
Quickly, Lucie wrote:
The Beautiful Cordelia thought it wise not to point out to the demon that not loving a man was an excellent reason for not marrying him.
“You said the story had to have a happy ending,” said Cordelia. “If I married this idiot, that would not be a happy ending. I think you know that.”
