Page 41 of The Prince and His Stolen Throne

By the time the smoke settled, and we confirmed no one had choked to death, the Good Wizard was gone. We were alone, five royal champions who had gone from ‘well prepared’ to ‘fuck, what do we do?’ in less than an hour.

Fitz coughed a few more times, spewing purple spittle. “We”—cough, cough—“ugh, couldn’t he use a less hazardous method to disappear?” He cleared his throat and announced, “We need to leave today. Right now, in fact.”

Chapter Thirteen

Although Fitz had declared we would leave immediately, the practicalities of travel planning and a hoard of concerned parents waylaid us. Angelica refused to leave without the clothes we’d ordered yesterday, which weren’t delivered until the afternoon, and Fitz’s mother insisted on sending us off with a good meal. Between settling our parents’ nerves, a drawn-out meal with too many pleasantries, and packing our bags, we couldn’t set out until the evening.

“Who’s ever heard of beginning a quest in the evening?” Fitz complained as we gathered in the courtyard.

“You’re right,” his mother said, smoothing his hair back. “It’ll be dark before you even reach the boundary. Why not wait until morning?”

Fitz allowed her to fuss over him. “Mother, I told you, the Good Wizard gave us a deadline. We need to use every minute we have available to us.”

“We never had a deadline,” Angelica’s father grumbled. “Took us all how many years to get married?” He glanced between the parents before guessing, “Twelve? Fifteen?”

“Because we were all engaged,” Maximus’ mother said. “That satisfied the spell until the final wedding.”

“The spell did thin when you interfered,” Father murmured in Dad’s ear, only loud enough for me to overhear.

A blush darkened Dad’s bronze skin and he muttered, “We agreed that wasn’tmy fault.”

Queen Davina sighed deeply. “I wish the Good Wizard had stayed to explain himself.”

“Maybe he had another timeline to visit,” Dad said.

Her brow furrowed as she gave him an odd look, but she didn’t ask for clarification. Probably for the best—my dad’s reasoning didn’t always fit with conventional thought.

A carriage pulled up beside us. We could travel in it to Hud, the closest town on the edge of the Grimnight Forest, and walk from there.

Angelica was the first to bid her father goodbye and climb into the carriage, claiming a large section of the seat just for her skirts.

Fitz pulled away from his family next, grumbling as his sisters called out teasing taunts that turned his ears red.

Maximus’ mother reached up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. When he hugged her, she disappeared in his massive arms. Her sweet laughter followed him as he climbed into the carriage.

Dad hugged Delilah, telling her, “Your parents love you, and they are so proud of you.”

“I know,” she whispered, blinking tears away.

I stared at the carriage like it was the mouth of a beast everyone expected me to willingly walk into. This was it. The first real step of the quest. Another step toward completing the mission I’d spent the last twelve years preparing for.

“Trey?” Father placed his hand on my arm, frowning in concern.

“I—”

I did not want to go on this fucking quest. I wanted to stay with my fathers, for nothing to change and for my life to really bemine, not stolen from some non-existent prince. The geas prevented me from voicing my real fears. All I could manage was a strained, “I’ll miss you.”

He wrapped his arms around me in a tight, secure hug. “We’ll miss you, too.”

I’d barely released him when Dad took his place. “Next time we see you, you’ll be returning as defenders of the land!”

My heart clenched so tight it felt like all the blood in my body had stopped flowing. “Yeah,” I agreed, my voice barely above a whisper.

Angelica cleared her throat pointedly.

I flipped her off, but she was right. It was time to go. I released Dad and finally climbed into the carriage, Delilah following me. She shoved me into the middle spot next to Angelica, claiming the end for herself.

As soon as the door closed, the carriage rolled away. All five of us leaned against the window for one more look at our families.