“You’d be surprised,” he said ominously.
Our arrival was greeted with the same wonder and awe I’d had before the demon incident. Apparently, yesterday’s food shipments and Leith’s presence today had reestablished my awesome reputation. Dorian seemed to have an effect as well. As we dismounted and walked through the village, the residents’ eyes followed both of us, filled with admiration and wonder. Glancing at Dorian, I could understand their feelings. He strode through the dusty town just as he had my castle, confident and majestic, even after a hot and wearying ride. He looked like, well, a king, and even I couldn’t help but admire his good looks. Beside him, I felt frumpy and insignificant.
Then, I tried to pull back out of my glum thoughts and imagine what we must look like to these people, both of us tall and red-haired. We looked good together, I knew. I was in jeans, but I’d cleaned up this morning, and my hair was down. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see where the sun lit it up, giving the red a golden hue that complemented Dorian’s truer red. My tank top was blue, a good color for me, and I had on my usual gemstone jewelry. Perhaps most importantly, we carried our titles as king and queen, and to these people, I realized we were probably the equivalent of a Hollywood couple on the red carpet.
“Your majesty! I’m so glad you could-” Leith had come running up to us and came to a total standstill when he saw Dorian. After a few stunned moments, he made a polite bow to the Oak King. “Your majesty. Also a pleasure.”
I could tell Dorian was delighted to have ruined Leith’s plans for a romantic interlude. “Well, I hated to part from Eugenie this morning, so I thought I’d come along and see what’s new.”
I had to restrain myself from elbowing him. His wording implied that we’d woken up together. Our former relationship was no secret, and Dorian had pitched his words loudly, so that some of the gathered villagers would hear. No doubt this would be all over the Otherworld by tonight. Leith looked even more dismayed than before, and I tried to smooth things over.
“Why don’t you show us the project?” I asked him. “I don’t think I can thank you enough for what you’ve done.”
Leith brightened and eagerly led us forward. As we walked, Dorian murmured in my ear, “Believe me, he’s more than sure you could thank him enough.”
“How come you can allegedly do things for me without ulterior motives but no one else can?” I hissed back.
Dorian only grinned as Leith headed toward the village’s edge and showed us his handiwork. There was little to see of his irrigation system at this point. Mostly people were digging and laying out the foundation. Leith did his best to explain what it would develop into and even showed us blueprints-quaintly written on parchment. I followed them a little but could tell they were gibberish to Dorian, despite his polite and confident smile.
Zealous or not, a prince of the Rowan Land was not about to do manual labor, and once the tour was done, he sat down with Dorian and me at the mayor’s house. Davros seemed only too happy to keep offering his home as my hangout and eagerly served us wine before leaving his esteemed guests to discuss whatever it was royalty talked about.
“This is only the beginning of what we can do,” Leith said, positioning himself so that Dorian wasn’t in his line of sight. “I’d love to come visit and discuss more ways to work through this. I’ve got some ideas on how to construct buildings that will reflect light better. Have you ever considered redesigning your castle?”
“Yikes,” I said. “No. That’d be a big feat.”
“Not as big as you think. Not with the right help.”
I shook my head with a smile. “Let’s just focus on the people first.”
Leith smiled back. “Sure. But I will come by some day to show you some palace ideas-just in case you change your mind. Or, better yet, you should come visit us. Mother would love to show you the hospitality of the Rowan Land.”
“Or, better yet, you should throw the Thorn Queen a party,” said Dorian, deadpan. “I’m sure she would love it.”
This time, I did elbow Dorian. Leith didn’t notice. Dorian knew perfectly well I dreaded Otherworldly social events-particularly when the focus was on me.
“Really,” I began. “That’s not-”
“Of course!” said Leith. “We haven’t had a grand ball in quite a while. We could invite hundreds of people….”
I decided then that elbowing wasn’t severe enough. It was with great restraint that I didn’t actually kick Dorian. He placed his own elbow on the table, resting his chin in his hand, appearing quite entertained.
“You’d have to outdo Maiwenn’s party, to truly show Eugenie honor,” said Dorian. “That’s going to be hard to do. Of course, Maiwenn has an unfair advantage with her maternal glow, eh? Eugenie was just telling me on the way here how all this baby talk is kindling longings of her own.”
I choked on my wine.
“I love children too,” Leith told me. “I can’t wait to have some-once I find the right woman.”
I was spared more of this when one of Leith’s workers came in, anxious over some mishap. Leith looked devastated at the thought of abandoning me-and also embarrassed over me witnessing a flaw in his grand plans. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I hate to leave you. I’m sure this will only take a moment.”
“Actually,” I said, rising. “We should probably get going as well.”
“Must you?” he asked, face falling further.
“I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”
“Yes,” agreed Dorian. “You should get moving on that ball. Or maybe I should just throw one for her….”
Leith totally fell for the baiting. “No, no. I would be more than honored to.” He swept me a bow, and I let him kiss my hand. “I’ll have news for you soon, I promise.”
I smiled and expressed my thanks and allowed him to kiss my hand again when he insisted. As soon as he was gone, I turned on Dorian. “Are you trying to push me into his arms or away?”
“Ironically, doing one causes the other.” He stretched and stifled a yawn. “Were you telling the truth? Are you ready to leave?”
“Yeah, I think so-”
“Your majesty?”
Davros stuck his head into the room, wearing his usual apologetic look. His eyes flicked nervously from Dorian to me. “I’m so sorry to bother you…I know you must be busy and…”
“What is it?”
“She’s been found, your majesty. The missing girl? Her parents tracked her down last night but were afraid to tell you…she seemed so distraught. I only just found out myself. I told them you’d want to know-”
“Of course, I do.” I was already moving toward the door, Dorian fast on my heels. “Where are they?”
Still bobbing his head in obeisance, Davros hastily led us to a small home on the opposite side from Leith’s construction. He beat impatiently on the door. “Open up! The queen is here.”
Almost a minute passed before the door opened. The woman who had accosted me on my first visit peered out, eyes wide. “Your majesty,” she said humbly, inclining her head. She didn’t seem to recognize Dorian. “We-we didn’t know you were here.”
“I want to see her,” I said impatiently. “Let me talk to her.”
The woman hesitated, fearful of me but also fearful of something else, apparently. Davros was undeterred. “This is the Thorn Queen! Let her in.”
With a gulp, the woman stepped aside. I found myself in a small but clean cottage, dimly lit thanks to all the curtains being drawn, though all the windows were open to allow a breeze. The woman’s husband met us as we walked through the kitchen, his face pale and afraid.
“Your majesty…forgive us. We were afraid to tell you. We were afraid she’d run away again.”
“I’m not going to hurt her. I just want to talk to her.” It was a bit depressing, between Ysabel and this family, knowing everyone was terrified of me. Ironically, before I’d known about my gentry heritage, I’d been proud of the fear I inflicted on Otherworldly inhabitants. “Please take me to her.”
I felt Dorian’s hand on my shoulder and his breath warm against my ear as he whispered, “You do not need to say please.”
With a quick exchange of looks, the couple led us to the back of the cottage, into a tiny bedroom. It too was
