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Chapter Nine

Peter

Two Months Before Present Day

“ Y ou have to hurry up with this because Lady Gwendolyn Darling will be arriving soon.”

“Yes, of course, and I would never want to interrupt your special time with your lady,” William said, raising his eyebrows up and down.

“Would you stop that? The rumors at court are already spreading, and I am sure it makes Gwen uncomfortable.” I had heard a few rumors from some of the nobles of the court about the possibility of a union between Gwen and I.

Gwen had become one of my dearest friends, even more dear than William, at that moment , when he continued to press and pester me about her .

“See, you call her ‘Gwen;” a term of endearment, clearly, you like her—”

“Of course, I like her. She is one of my dearest friends.”

“And, perhaps, more dear than only a friend ,” he said again, doing that irritatingly maddening eyebrow wiggle.

“William, I am going to leave in one minute if you do not tell me what you want.”

It made me uncomfortable whenever someone suggested there was more going on between Gwen and I.

Even if I do like her, and I am not saying I do, but if I ever wanted to court her, I could not–would not do that to her–because my curse would ruin everything.

Lady Gwendolyn Darling was very fetching. Any man would have been blessed to wed her. However, I could not wed anyone, not until I broke my curse; I had always told myself that.

Lately, we did not spend our entire time reading. We often conversed more than we read, and I continued to have more of a desire to stay at home than to go explore. I could not lose her as my dearest friend. I was sure that she could marry and even have a family, and yet we could remain friends.

Did I think about the logistics of such a thing? No, but I would worry about that if I needed to at a later time. In the present, she was my friend.

“Fine, but mark my words, one of these days, you will realize how mad you are for the lady. ”

“I am leaving.” I began to walk away, but he pulled me back.

“Okay, I am done. Here, look. I have now canned some blueberries, strawberries, and peaches.” He handed me a few jars. They looked like partially translucent-colored leather.

“These always look so foul.”

“Well, give it a try; it’s chewy and sweet. You’ve had something similar before. I am only perfecting my recipe. It is preserved. I took the water out, dried it up.”

I uncapped a jar and took out a Strawberry smelling strip. It smelled divine. Strawberries were, perhaps, my weakness. I took a small nibble, and a sweet, but somewhat tart, flavor burst through my mouth. I crammed the whole thing inside.

“My! These are incredible! Even better than before! It tastes like a sweet.”

“Exactly, but it is just fruit. It will stay preserved for quite a while if kept dry in these jars.”

“You have something here, but I must go. I am taking these with me. Gwen loves strawberries,” I said, taking the red jar, too.

“And you love her!” He called to me, but I was too far down the hall to shout back and made my way to the front of the castle to welcome Gwen, which was my favorite part of every day .

As I stood there with a smile on my face, I had no idea that on that day, my storyteller would not come.