“So, Princess, tell me of yourself,” Prince Anders said, pushing his blond hair back from his face.
“What would you like to know?” I asked, a bit shyly. He really was handsome, the kind of man Taryn and my other ladies-in-waiting would giggle about when they thought they were out of my earshot.
“Anything,” he said. “How do you fill your days? My two younger sisters are accomplished at dancing and embroidery.”
“I learn those things as well,” I said. “But my favorite thing is magic study. My tutor says I’m quite proficient at it.”
Prince Anders made a choking sound. I thought he was trying to stifle a laugh, and I relaxed, thinking I had found a kindred spirit. Over the table, my father glared at me and shook his head ever so slightly. I looked again at the prince. He wasn’t laughing. In fact, his gentle face had turned stormy.
“As Rothschan is a land of military might, not magic, we do not trust something so illogical and esoteric,” Prince Anders declared. “I understand Calians are born with this ‘gift’ — if it could even be thought of as such. Personally, I don’t think anything so unnatural could be a good thing. It is abhorrent, and not an acceptable thing for a princess to learn.”
I gasped at the insult. My father rushed in to smooth things over.
“I completely agree, Prince Anders,” he said. “After twenty years in this kingdom, it’s refreshing to hear such truth spoken. I’ve often despaired at being a good ruler when my heart disagrees with something the people consider inherent to their happiness. But you are right. It is a disgusting, unbecoming custom here in Calia. That is why Jennica will no longer be studying such things. I have already dismissed her magic tutor. I will have her magic books burned tonight.”
I gasped again, this time at Father. Studying magic was the one thing, of all my lessons, that I actually enjoyed and excelled in. While my father wasn’t indulgent of me, he had never interfered in most aspects of my upbringing.
Until now.
“But, Father, why — ”
My father cut me off. “A girl — no, a woman — of nineteen hardly needs something as repulsive as magic. It’s about time you represented your station well.”
“But — ”
“Don’t fret,” Prince Anders interrupted smoothly. “When you’re my wife, you won’t need such frivolities to amuse yourself.”
“What?” I recoiled from the prince. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s all set,” my father informed me. “It will be a perfect political alliance.”
“Rothschan looks forward to uniting with Calia,” Prince Anders said, inclining his head toward my father.
My mother’s eyes flashed between worried and sad.
“I can’t believe this!” I cried. “No one told me any of this! When is this to happen?” I looked at my father, who had that smug look from earlier back on his face.
But instead of my father, it was the oily voice of Prince Anders that answered me.
“Soon, Princess. In one month’s time, you shall be my bride.”
Chapter Three
I SPENT A MISERABLE hour crying. I didn’t think there were any tears left in my body. But all I had to think about was the prospect of marrying Prince Anders, and I’d start all over again. My eyes were puffy and my head was fuzzy, but I couldn’t stop. My bed was a rumpled mess, a testament to the fact that I had tried to muffle the sounds of my crying.
After Prince Anders had announced our upcoming wedding, Father had taken one look at my face and dismissed me from dinner immediately. He couched it under the guise of, My dear, you look unwell, perhaps you should lie down. But I’m sure he was worried I would embarrass him, or worse, somehow threaten his pact with the prince. I was glad to get away, even though escaping from dinner didn’t mean I was escaping my fate.
A tentative knock sounded at my chamber door.
“Come in,” I said thickly, sitting up. I needed a handkerchief badly, but instead had mopped my eyes and face on my dress. My red dress. The dress that was, “of course,” the prince’s favorite color.
How could I have been so stupid? I walked right into that trap.
The door opened, and Taryn entered with a tray carrying a cup and a pitcher of water. She closed the door carefully behind her, then set the tray down and filled the cup with water. Handing it to me, she studied me carefully as I drank the whole thing without stopping.
“Thank you, Taryn,” I sniffled. I put the glass on the bedside table.
Taryn sank down in a nearby chair, across from me still sprawled on the bed. Intensity radiated from her, in a way I had never seen from her before. She opened her mouth to speak, then changed her mind about whatever she had been about to say. “If I may, Your Highness...” she started.
“Please, speak frankly, Taryn. You know you can always be honest with me.”
“How do you feel about marrying the prince?”
I fought the tears that threatened to come back. “I don’t know what happened! Father and I have had our differences, but I never thought he would just marry me off without even discussing it with me first.”
“But do you want to marry Prince Anders?”
“No,” I said readily. “I don’t know him, but the little I learned of him tonight seems horrible. A life without magic! I couldn’t give it up.”
Taryn nodded, as if what I was saying was the correct answer. She stood up and extended her hand to me. “Come, Your Highness.”
“Where are we going?”
“We are going to see Queen Melandria.”
“Now? It’s getting late, I don’t want to disturb Mother.”
“You won’t be. She told me to bring you to her tonight, as soon as you were ready.” She grimaced at my tear-streaked face and messy dress. “I honestly wasn’t sure how long that would be.”
I sniffled, laughing through my tears, and got up from the bed. I walked over to my
