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Paige’s jaw dropped open for a moment before she pressed her lips firmly together and shook her head. “Henry, this is a terrible idea. Just let us go. We don’t have time for this!”

“Well, it should be resolved quickly.”

“Good,” Paige said with a nod. “When will you speak to your father?”

“He expects us to wed in two days’ time.”

“Except we’re not going to wed, so when will you tell him that?”

Henry bobbed his head around, indicating his uncertainty. “I’m afraid there will be little other choice.”

Paige set her jaw and stamped a foot on the floor. “I’m not planning on marrying you, and I certainly don’t plan to spend my life rotting in this cell.”

Henry lifted his chin and shook his head. “Oh, no, of course not. If we do not marry in two days, you will be beheaded.”

CHAPTER 20

“Beheaded,” Paige choked out, her nose wrinkling and her lips forming a grimace.

“Yes. Both of you.”

“Henry,” Paige shouted. “You’ve got to do something! We can’t be beheaded! And we can’t get married.”

Henry shrugged a shoulder. “There’s nothing I can do. My father has decreed it.”

“Tell him no!” Paige said. “Surely, there must be someone you like. Another girl you prefer to marry.”

“Not really. And as I said, you’d make quite a nice wife, I think.”

Paige squeezed her eyes closed, biting her tongue from saying something that might result in her beheading sooner rather than later.

“At any rate, think about it. I shall return later to discuss the matter with you further.”

He spun on his heel and stalked away, disappearing up the stairs.

Paige stared after him, her jaw hanging open. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Dewey winced as he hung on the bars separating them. “Looks like Prince Charming won’t be of any help.”

“This is ridiculous. I cannot believe he wants to marry me.”

“Oooh, that’s a little self-deprecating, isn’t it? I mean, you’re a catch, Paige. You’re smart and funny. Brave. Also pretty.”

Paige glared at him, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

“Whoa, that’s the first time I’ve complimented a woman and they’ve been mad about it.”

Paige let her arms fall to her sides as she paced back and forth in the cell. “I’m not mad. I’m just…frustrated. I don’t care how much of a catch I am. I can’t marry him. We need to get the bark and get home.”

“Right. We have to give up on the dream of being fed peeled grapes while a lady-in-waiting fans us and massages our feet.”

Paige screwed up her face and stared at him.

“Sorry, I just… For a minute, I thought it would be cool to be the loyal servant of a princess.”

Paige shook her head at him before she approached the bars. She searched for a weakness, pulling them, pushing them, trying to break them. She attempted to find a way to release the hinges.

After twenty minutes of struggling, she smacked her hands against the bars and squealed. “Stuck.”