Page 25 of The Prince and His Stolen Throne

The collar closed around her neck before I finished speaking. Two pointed ears sprang up from the fluff of her hair and her tail uncurled behind her. “The truth is, I’m a cat!”

I fell back to my seat, defeated, and waited for everyone’s reactions.

The silence stretched on as the others stared at Delilah, taking in every detail of her changed appearance. Then a sharp, nasty laugh broke the standstill. “You’re insane!” Angelica looked around the room and demanded, “We’re all thinking the same thing, right? We can’t go on a quest with her! We won’t beheroes,we’ll beoutcasts,if her delusions don’t lead to our deaths.”

Delilah exposed her shiny new fangs and half-hissed, half-growled in displeasure.

“She isn’t insane,” I argued. She was my irritating little cousin.Icould think she was weird because I knew her.Icould insult her because she had enough ammunition to insult me back. Everyone else could fuck right off. “She’s different, but she’s also brave and cunning and well … she can—” I waved my hand vaguely “—rip out throats. That’s useful. More useful than snide comments have ever been.”

“Unless we need to offend a monster to death,” Fitz muttered.

Angelica scoffed and looked around the room, her confidence faltering when no one rushed to agree with her. “Am I really the only one who thinks this is a problem?”

“Yes,” Maximus said. Even without standing, his presence loomed over us, making Angelica shrink back in her seat.

“In fact,” Fitz began, adjusting his ever-slipping glasses, “it could be an asset. Can you reduce your size at all?”

Delilah settled back in her seat, ears flat against her head. “No, I only have a few features. For now.”

“Hmm, that’s a shame. If you could become a cat in truth, we could use you for scouting missions.”

Her eyes widened in excitement.

“That’d put her in too much danger,” I blurtedout.

She pouted and whined, “Don’t ruin this for me, Trey!”

“You’re not trained in espionage!”

How am I supposed to protect you if you become a cat? You’ll be so small, and you won’t be able to talk to me. Anything could happen to you, and it’d be my damn fault for dragging us all on this quest!

“Just something to consider,” Fitz said.

“Excuse me,” Angelica gritted out between her teeth. “Why am I the only one who has a problem with this?”

“Because you’re a bitch,” I said.

A quiet, almost imperceptible snort came from the other side of the room.

New mission for this quest: make Maximus laugh out loud.I frowned at the thought. Mymissionwas to destroy the defense spell. If I let myself forget that, the old man would give me a nasty reminder.

Fitz stared Angelica down and said, “If it bothers you so much, leave.”

A muscle ticked in her jaw. “You know I can’t. I’m the only representative for Calamity. If I’m not involved, my kingdom will be excluded from the spell.”

“And she’s the only representative from Woe, so you’ll have to learn to work together.”

A knock at the door delayed any further arguments. Fitz opened it, gesturing for the attendants to wheel in their large, food-laden carts. “After lunch, we’ll each narrow down the quests to our top picks to present to the Good Wizard.”

I froze, hand on the back of my chair. “You want us each to choose one?”

“Yes, I think that’s the only way to guarantee one of them meets the requirements. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if we called the Good Wizard all the way here, and he told us we’d gone about the task all wrong?”

With that, he’d ripped away all my excuses. I’d have to present them with the quest to the Grimnight Forest.Maybe they won’t like my suggestion. Maybe something else will sound flashier, better, easier. Or maybe the Good Wizard won’t approve.Or maybe I’d ended up leading the royal champions straight into the Lord of Grimnight’s clutches, just like the old man wanted. I wouldn’t just be a bystander, someone tossed into a plot I couldn’t control.

I’d be the reason they failed.

Chapter Nine