Page 2

Chapter Two

“Y ou’ve hardly said a word since Prince Brown Eyes left.”

I look over at Acorn, the hedgehog who has adopted me as his family since I rescued him from a hawk three years ago. He sits on a bundle of green fabric he has wedged between bottles of dried ingredients I’ve accumulated from plant roots, petals, and stems. The wing of a moth hangs out of his mouth as he finishes consuming it.

After hanging my fliers, I retreated to my wagon I’ve covered into a mobile shop. I’ve set up my wagon on the edge of the market square, beside one of the few grass patches where my trusty donkey can nibble while I work.

“How did you know I saw him? You weren’t with me.”

He tilts his head. “You smell like him. And now you’re sad, and you’re only this kind of sad when you see him.”

“I’m distracted by everything I have to prepare for today and then the rally.” I reach up above the counter to a shelf I’ve added to my wagon.

“You only get quiet when you’re thinking. Or sad.” Acorn’s little nails clatter across the countertop to reach me.

“There’s just a lot to do.” I crouch to get everything off of the shelves to set out on display so when the time comes, I can pull up the fabric on the side of the wagon and sell right out of here instead of setting up tables.

“You got all of your fliers hung?”

“Almost all of them. I would have liked to add more out on Canal Street, but there were just too many people and...” I sigh.

To be honest, I wasn’t so excited about the rally anymore once people flooded the streets, vibrating in excitement for the royal wedding. And I couldn’t get Kai’s words out of my head that he couldn’t do anything to change laws or help my mother until he is king. Does that mean he is marrying this princess just to become king?

The first basket I set out is a basket of painted rocks. The children in town love the colorful dots I paint on whatever flat stones I can find, and they line up with handfuls of coins, in spite of their parents’ fears I’m an evil bog witch. My single purple eye doesn’t help with this fear.

Acorn twitches his nose. “Just think. In a few days, you might have some people to sign your petition. Considering how much you talk about this, I’m betting you’ll get...oh...twenty signatures? Do you think that will be sufficient for the king to rewrite the law?” I don’t miss the sarcasm in his tone.

I lean on the counter and place a fist on my hip. “You’re such an optimist.”

“I’m sure the whole event is going to go well.” He nods. “How many soldiers do you think he’ll send to stop you?”

I scowl down at the hedgehog. “Rallies aren’t illegal. People hold them all the time.” I refocus my attention on my wares.

“Yes, well, they don’t have a king who outright dislikes them either.” He has a point, but it’s moot. “You’re lucky he doesn’t arrest you outright for merely selling enchanted things.”

I have to be careful not to outright advertise enchanted items. I frequently have young ladies ask for a necklace to help them catch the gaze of a suitor. While I could perform an enchantment to help someone fall in love, I personally feel that is cheating and people should fall in love because they want to. So I usually put some sort of sparkle charm to make them stand out a bit more, but they have to rely on their own personality from there.

A farmer once asked for an enchanted log to keep away pests, which was so successful I got a line of farmers begging for their own. That one is what got me my second fine. One more fine means jail time, and I’m not ready to risk that yet.

Acorn tilts his head at me as he leans it over the edge of the counter. “It sounded to me like he wants you to help him escape his wedding. That would give them a reason to arrest you.”

I adjust the basket of rocks to keep my hands busy. “Acorn, you know how I feel about him. Considering how much you love our life, I’m shocked you want me to help him. If I get arrested, what becomes of you?”

“What’s stopping you from just snatching him and marrying him instead?”

“Acorn! Enough! I won’t forgive him! Besides that, Kai is a prince. I’m a witch on the brink of getting arrested just for existing.”

He squeaks. “That’s true. I mean.” He turns in a circle. “You forgot to mention you’re poor.”

“Thanks for pointing that out too,” I mutter. “At least I’m surviving.”

“Yep.” His head bounces up and down. “Selling tonic water to help bald men, or a bundle of sage for someone completely inexperienced to banish what they think is a ghost haunting their barn.” He waddles his spiky body over to a basket of polished rocks and grips the straw edge with his little fingers. “And you’ve even resorted to selling rocks.”

“Those aren’t just rocks. These rocks are enchanted .” I point out the runes I’ve carved into them. They aren’t pretty.

“Ah. Of course they are,” Acorn replies sarcastically and slowly nods his head in a pathetic attempt to show honesty. Though I’m not sure he’s actually trying to hide his attitude. He’s never been good at that, and he’s on one today.

I hold up a rock with a three-ring swirl with a line through it. “This symbol means good fortune.”

“Are you certain?” he asks. “Because I believe that may be the cursed symbol for drought.”

In a moment of doubt, I pull out my mother’s grimoire from my pouch—I’m never without it—and flip to the torn page signifying the beginning of the section on charms. I flip two pages, set the green leather-bound book down, and point so the pessimistic rodent can see it. (Don’t ever tell him I called him a rodent. He insists he isn’t.) “I can read well enough to know this means good fortune.”

“Well, it looks an awful lot like the curse,” Acorn counters, not offering an apology. He falls back down on all fours. “I hardly call this a good use of your magic, and it is a pathetic way to make money. Can you really enchant a rock?”

I shift from one foot to the other, close the book, and fumble to shove it back into my pouch. “Well, yes.”

“But?”

“Admittedly, the enchantment, once summoned, only lasts a short period of time.” I place my hands on my hips.

“Why?”

“Regular stone has little earth-granted energy and barely holds on to any enchantment or curse. I should use crystals or other energy-driven materials, but I haven’t had the time to find them. Today is the prince’s wedding and the crowds will be out in full.” I lean one hand on the counter. “People who buy don’t need to know they won’t last.”

“You? Lying?” He reaches out and puts his tiny hand on mine. I swear he’s smirking. “I’m proud of how much you’ve grown.”

“I have to live somehow.” I turn away from him to assure all has been set up. “It makes them keep coming back. That’s good business, wouldn’t you agree?” I’m not sure Mother would be proud of me. She had built her reputation on kindness, honesty, and generosity. But I’m trying to survive, and right now, the lines of honesty can do with a little blurring so I have money for what I cannot make.

“I think you should go to the wedding.”

I blink as I face him. “What?”

“No one is going to be here for hours.” His nose twitches. “If you don’t take me, I’ll go watch myself.”

I roll my eyes, imagining a tiny hedgehog trying to make his way to the castle. Knowing him, he would find some way to disrupt the festivities by getting under someone’s feet, eating the bouquet, or some other thing to initiate the kind of adventure he constantly talks about.

“Fine,” I mutter. “I’ll take you. But I don’t know that I’ll stay the whole time. We leave when I’m ready.”

“Agreed!” he squeaks with excitement.

Picking him up, I climb out the back of the wagon.

Have I mentioned how much I despise crowds? It looks like the entire kingdom of Arcoren has shown up for Prince Kai’s wedding, and they crowd the streets so tightly I can barely move. I keep to the edge as much as possible until I work my way to a tree near the gates away from a majority of the crowd pushing to look through the front gates. A cluster of boys sit in the boughs.

One beams down at me. He’s missing his top two front teeth and has just lost one of his bottom—he told me yesterday when he bought a red painted rock. “Ellie! There’s room for you too!”

“Can you climb up?” another asks.

“Of course I can,” I state. “I’m a tree-climbing expert.” I hesitate only because I’m wearing my new dress, the only one I own without a hole. It’s a beautiful, deep shade of lavender and matches my slightly pointed purple hat.

I pull the back of my skirt between my legs for some level of modesty and tuck it into my belt before I grab the lowest branch with my hands, plant my foot on a ridge in the trunk, and pull myself up. I shift so I’m sitting on the thickest part of the branch nearest the trunk, careful not to tear my dress.

“This is definitely a much better view,” I say.

“Yeah! We can see over the wall!” He points, completely oblivious to the guard in the archer’s tower to his right.

I manage to make eye contact with that soldier and he pats his crossbow. I nod at him, acknowledging the warning.

I stretch up a bit higher to see over the wall a bit better. We have a clear view of the mighty castle doors, but there isn’t a crowd, priest, or guest anywhere to be seen outside, only the soldiers standing all across the grounds, watching for anyone who may be a threat.

I recall Kai’s expression as he walked with me that very morning. I was so focused on my own anger toward him, I didn’t pay much attention to his tight smile and darting eyes. He had been afraid. He didn’t want to get married. He had come to see me and I had pushed him away. Rightfully so, of course, but...

Now he is somewhere within the walls of the castle, holding hands with a princess he doesn’t know, preparing to vow a life of allegiance to a complete stranger and her kingdom.

For what?

I don’t know whether his loyalty to the throne is his fatal flaw or redeeming quality.

The castle bells jar me from my thoughts so suddenly, I’m grateful I have a grip on the tree, or I would have fallen.

“We present to you Prince Kaison and his betrothed, Princess Genoa!”

Acorn wiggles in the pouch and his voice is muted. “Are you going to let me see him?”

Reluctantly, I reach in and lift him out.

The front doors open and a woman in a glittering gold dress steps into the sunlight. The top of the gown fits every perfect curve and is lavishly adorned with gold and silver beads, and pearls. It flares out just above her knee, where there is a slit to show off her pure-white heels and irritatingly perfect legs. She’s literally sparkling in the late morning sun.

Her face?

Well, even that is perfect. Her skin seems to glow and she has a narrow chin, tiny little nose, and bright blue eyes. She’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. Her blonde hair is braided into two braids coming up the back of her head until they reach her ears, where the braids drape back down behind them. Her long, pointed ears.

My brows pinch.

A fairy?

Kai is marrying a literal fairy?

She wears a headpiece that dangles a ruby pendant onto her forehead. Her smile is just as radiant as everything else, and she waves perfectly manicured fingers at the screaming crowd. Her wings are a dull orange.

My attention shifts to Kai.

Prince Kaison.

Soon to be king, I suppose.

I suddenly don’t feel so bad for Kai anymore. He didn’t tell me she was a fairy. Maybe there’s a reason he kept it all secret. The kingdom hasn’t exactly been on good terms with them for decades. Perhaps this marriage isn’t about him becoming king so much as securing some kind of alliance with the banished race.

Kai wears a white uniform with a gold vest, which is adorned with all of his military pins. He wears no cloak, and his boots are new and nearly reach his knees. The high collar of the shirt almost touches his clean-shaven jaw. He is the ideal complement to his bride. His raven hair has been trimmed to below his ears and oiled back. He looks like everything a prince and king should be.

But he doesn’t look like the Kai I know.

The Kai I know has muddy boots and dirt under his nails, his messy long hair tied back, and a loud laugh. He’s not even smiling the way Kai smiles. His lips are too tight and the muscles in his jaw are clenched.

My heart suddenly aches.

I should have tried harder to talk with him about how I feel. How I felt he had abandoned me when I needed him the most. Maybe we could have worked through all of this. Maybe he wouldn’t be here beside a stranger.

Who am I kidding? As Acorn mentioned earlier, I am not suited to marry a prince. I’m the bog witch, living in a cottage stuffed with plants, selling pathetically charmed or enchanted items to have just enough money to buy bread. This princess has an entire kingdom to give Kai, armies to add to ours, and incredible beauty. She will give him what he needs. The things I could never provide.

I know better.

He’s a prince. I am not a princess.

I live in a cottage in the woods with a leak in the window.

He lives in a castle in the center of Parshen.

Kai’s copper eyes somehow meet mine. I don’t know how in the five winds he managed to see me up here in the tree when there is a throng of people waving at him. I suppose that it’s because this isn’t the first time he has found me in this tree and he was hoping I would be here.

I want to yell at him that there is still time to escape, but I try and smile instead.

The corner of his lip lifts ever so slightly and he tilts his chin to me. Acknowledgement that he feels the same hollow feeling building in my chest? A final apology? Goodbye?

A stupid gust of wind blows a stupid particle of sand into my eyes and tears immediately fill them. I drop down from the tree before Kai can mistake my tears for feelings toward him. I have to get back to my wagon and open it for when the crowd begins the day of celebration. And I can’t bear to sit up in that tree while Kai returns to the castle to officially marry the woman at his side.

If it weren’t for Acorn, I would have no one.

When I get back to my mobile shop, I swallow the lump in my throat, grab the rope, and pull it to roll back the fabric on the side of the wagon to expose my wares. What I need right now is distraction.

Feelings are so overrated.