Chapter 135

I’ve got an adult mind and I’m doing a lot of adult things, but nothing reminds me that I’m very much still a kid in this world than now. The skirt is laced up thankfully, but it is utterly blasphemous that a man has trespassed into the space where women typically touch up their makeup, change, and rest themselves.

He’s giving me a lecherous look that makes my stomach do backflips of disgust inside of me. I’m 11 years old in this body and this man is in the latter half of his twenties. Broad, thick brows sit over eyes that look at me the way I’d look at a tasty piece of fried chicken.

“Certainly a member of the royal guard would know better than to trespass into the lady’s room,” I say, taking a seat as if I’m not terrified to my bones.

The odds of someone showing up anytime soon are low, not to mention I deliberately went to change somewhere further than the appointed lady’s room for the banquet is. As a girl, this is one of those situations that you pray will never happen to you.

“You are friends with my wife, your highness?” Sir Jasper is rude and not a man of many words. He bites his nails while maintaining eye contact with me, a savage through and through.

“Yes,” I reply stiffly. He shifts positions on the door he’s leaning on, taking keen pleasure in the way I flinch when he moves. I know Emma would slap me upside the head for not bringing the short blade she told me to always carry around. But I could never take on that mammoth of a man with the itty bitty knife Emma cleverly named Sparrow. Heck, Sir Jasper probably uses knives like that to sharpen his teeth.

“Then I can assume you are responsible for her wish for a divorce then,” he says. It’s not a question.

.....

“What?” I sputter, doing my best to look indifferent.

Sir Jasper shrugs. “I asked all her maids who could have put such an idea in her head. She does nothing but run her little shop, you know? It took some time but they always sing when I make them.”

I swallow, my sweat going cold on my forehead. I can understand perfectly well he means that he tortured them. With such a likeness to Empress Katya, it is no surprise that he has been able to impress her so.

“Why are you here?” I ask, fighting to take the offensive.

“Why are you here, your highness? For us to meet in this clandestine manner, it is exciting for me. Almost fate, perhaps,” Sir Jasper smiles gleefully.

He steps towards me and I can no longer keep my cool.

“Stay right there, good sir!” I bark out. I intentionally raise my voice even though I know it’s probably futile.

“Good sir?” Sir Jasper chuckles at my attempt to be polite even in the face of his onslaught. “Me, a good sir? No one has ever called me that before.”

He curiously eyes me but doesn’t take another step, that beady gaze I so hate looking at me like I’m a new toy for him to break.

“You told my wife to divorce me. Is it because you want to marry me instead, princess?”

I’m so flabbergasted I don’t even know what to say. I open and close my mouth like a fish, not knowing how to handle this situation.

“That’s good,” he continues without caring if I’ve said anything. A sick, dreamy look overtakes his face. “I want to marry you too.”

“Marry me?” I scoff furiously. Despite the considerable danger I’m in, I still point a finger at his face. “Dream! On!”

What is it with everyone and their mom trying to marry me?

“Yes. You’ll endure my affections much better than Arabella.” He’s already nodding his head, probably imagining something inappropriate that could get him locked up for twenty years in my world.

I clench my teeth so hard my jaw clicks. “The day you marry me would be the day you die,” I promise him. No matter what morals I’m trying to cling to, I’d abandon them without a thought if such an occasion were to arise.

“I’ve faced worse odds,” Sir Jasper says without a care. “Out in the eastern provinces, I killed a dragon. That’s why I’m at this banquet. That’s why I’ll be able to ask for your hand.”

First griffins, now dragons. The books I’ve read said they were instinct, but clearly, they aren’t. Arabella’s father killed one several years ago, hence his unimaginable fame and the noble title he was awarded as a common knight. But this time, Sir Jasper’s already a nobleman. When it comes to what honors might be piled on for such a feat, it chills my blood to realize that marrying a princess is not that much of a far cry.

“What’s so great about killing a dragon?” I murmur. Aside from besting such a fearsome foe, I cannot fathom why there are so many rewards bestowed for the feat.

Jasper smiles at me, a wide toothy thing that looks more like a robot trying to mimic a smile. “Many, great things, your highness. Many, many things.”

“So you do realize that I am the daughter of your emperor, the sovereign to whom your sword is dedicated,” I thunder out, unable to stand his lecherous stare. In the vows to officially become a knight of the royal guard, there is indeed a line that says such.

“Very much so.” He’s nonchalant, but not for long. Something thumps on the door, startling us both. He crouches like a predator about to lunge on its prey, lowering himself to my level.

“Let’s go see who is interrupting our special moment, shall we?” He boops my nose. The feeling of his hand on my skin makes me want to sanitize my skin with bleach ten times over.

Before I can think of retaliating, he’s crossing the space between me and the door, slamming it open with enough force to rattle the walls. Fear chokes at my throat.

As much as I desire salvation from this situation, being seen by the wrong people could very much ruin my reputation. Was this all a plot to do just that? I can hardly think.

“To think someone else swooped in for a conversation before I could. As a prince, I am ashamed that I was so slow to arrive,” Amir says, leaning against the frame. “And who may you be?”

He tosses that last bit over his shoulder, hardly paying Sir Jasper any mind as he walks towards me. The emerald sash across his tunic only further brings out the green in his eyes, which are staring deep into mine.

“The foreign prince,” Sir Jasper spits out. He turns ready to shut the door behind him, but another foot blocks the way. A curious head pops in.

“Winter? Are you decent?” It’s Elias. The whole circus has arrived, it seems. All that is left is for my brothers to arrive for this show’s cast to be complete. But frankly, they could not have chosen a better time to interrupt.

“Not quite,” I call out, somehow managing to sound normal.

Amir’s smile flatlines, his stare towards Jasper far less friendly than anything I’ve ever seen on him.

“In my culture, ’tis improper for a man and a lady to remain alone together in such a situation. What are you doing here?”

“Just exchanging a few words with the princess. I will take my leave.” He quails immediately, a little bit too quickly so that it is obvious he doesn’t put Amir in his eyes. With one last unfavorable grin in my direction, he sweeps out the door, nearly hitting Elias who has just rolled his wheelchair inside.

“Did he misread the sign on the door? This is the lady’s room after all,” Elias asks as the door slams shut behind him.

“You could say that,” I reply with a bitter smile. I glare sharply at the door, my mind’s eye still seeing the terrible figure that had suddenly appeared behind it.

“Now, now, the door didn’t do you wrong, did it?” Amir’s hands are on my shoulders, guiding me to take a seat. Elias’ eyes follow his actions avidly, glittering more brightly than they ever have before.

Meanwhile, I fantasize about somehow wrapping my hands around Sir Jasper’s throat until he’s sorry, until he cries like a little baby and tells me he will never even breathe in my direction again. The violent mood takes ahold of me completely by surprise. Perhaps there is more of my father in me than I thought.

“What of the custom you spoke of, your highness? I did not hear it properly when that knight had been here,” Elias cuts in, his gaze trailing to the lingering hands that weigh upon my shoulders.

Even in my turbulent mood, I can understand the undertone of his words and appreciate him for allowing me my personal space.

Amir unwillingly relinquishes my shoulders but quickly takes a seat beside me. Elias sits in front of us, unable to move from his wheelchair to a seat without aid.

“Most untoward was the behavior of that knight just now. In Aidel, such insolence would have been answered for with his life.” His voice sounds airy, but there’s a hidden steel belying his true emotions underneath.

“Too bad I will never be Aidelish I suppose,” I joke, reminding him that I still do not wish to marry him.

“Unless such an action were to be done by you, it is rather meaningless to bring it up right now.”

Elias lazily leans his head onto a hand, staring at Amir in a way I’ve never seen before. His bright nature seems to have been snuffed, leaving behind a far more sarcastic version of Elias than I’ve ever seen. It must be puberty, he is 12 now after all.

“At least I’m capable of doing such actions,” Amir retorted with an insincere chuckle.

“That’s rude,” I snap at Amir, unhappy with him poking fun at Elias’ wheelchair-bound state. “And unnecessary. Save a fight for another time.”

Amir exhales sharply, an obvious sign of displeasure, but he lets the situation go with an unsavory glare in Elias’ direction.

“But still, will you not do something about that knight. What was he doing in the lady’s room with you? How could he dare to enter the presence of the princess without consent?” With every word, Prince Amir grows more incensed. “Nonsense. I ought to go to the emperor and beseech him to punish that man.”

He jumped up from the chair, ready to storm out, but I grab his arm.

“No! No. Even in the off-chance my father was to punish him, people would wonder why the knight who has just performed the impressive honor of killing a dragon was punished instead of rewarded. It would chill the hearts of the people and rumors of what happened tonight could be spread and ruin my reputation,” I blurt out in one breath.

“Wow, a dragon?” Elias whispers to himself in surprise. He taps his chin in excitement.

The prince from across the Moor stares at me incredulously, ignoring Elias. “So you would have him go free after today?”

“I have no choice.”

“There is always a choice.”

He’s not willing to budge and neither do I, our gazes locked in a fierce competition like two bulls fighting for dominance. Elias had been a spectator, watching us argue but now he cuts in like a matador carrying a bright red cloth.

“I agree with him!” Elias chimes in. I suck air into my teeth and cut a glare at one of my oldest friends. Et tu, Brutus?

“Not 100%, more like 50%!” Elias adds before it’s too late, using one of my often used modern phrases to soften the blow. “Even if your father can’t punish him now, there could still be other ways he could get revenge for you. Don’t underestimate His Majesty.”

He says the last line like it’s an inside joke, but if it is, it is one that none of us are privy to.

I let out a long sigh, the wind leaving my sails. I’ve been humbled, for lack of a better word. Power equals respect and clearly I haven’t attained enough of it if any old knight from the royal guard can waltz up to me and tell me he wants to marry me.

“Do whatever you want. I’m done here.” I shove past both boys and get ready to storm back to the banquet.

“Wait!” Amir yells.

“What?” I bark over my shoulder.

“The laces of your skirt, there aren’t fully tied up yet. Would you allow me the honor of tying it for you?” Is this the ancient equivalent of being caught with toilet paper stuck to your shoe?

Even amidst the embarrassment, his words serve to remind me that from the moment Sir Jasper arrived, that clever-handed maid had disappeared without a trace.

“Strange,” I muse. If you tried to convince me that something big isn’t afoot here, I would laugh in your face. It seems I have some homework and light detective work in the near future.

“Strange, indeed. Shall I?” Amir hops eagerly forward but I smack his hands away.

“Let the traitor lace me up,” I mutter dryly to Elias. “You will, won’t you?”

“Of course. For you, there are not many things I wouldn’t do,” Elias pledges like the good friend he usually is, doing up the last laces with great ease. His hands are practiced and steady, just like his temperament despite being a young lad.

“Be wary of your words. Otherwise, I will look forward to making you prove that someday, Young Lord Wolfe,” I warn playfully as I start to get over my previous anger.

“But I look forward to such a day, too, Winter,” Elias swears, his hands finally relinquishing me from his grasp.

.....