by Morgan Hawke
I pulled on my gray buckskin frock coat, double-checked the set of my throwing knives and pistol butt for quick access, then stepped up into the saddle. At a light canter, I went to meet my prince at the castle gate.
* * * * * *
I approached the broad stone bridge leading to the castle’s arching gate, and was dutifully impressed. Swanstone castle was a sprawling collection of buttressed white-stone halls and towers with red tile roofs and flying pennants of bright blue. The water-filled moat that surrounded it was broad and placid with blooming lily pads and elegant swans. The whole thing looked light and airy, very unlike the dark and gloomy gothic monstrosity the prince and I called home.
Coming out of the forest on the other side was a golden-haired man wearing a robin’s egg blue frock coat encrusted with gold thread, riding a snow white gelding.
My prince had arrived.
I set my heels to my gelding’s sides to meet him at the bridge.
A second rider came from the forest on a mount the color of dark honey with the scraggliest mane and tail I’d ever seen. It almost looked like broom straw. That’s when I noticed that the rider was sitting side-saddle in an indecently short black gown with far too many stiff petticoats.
I frowned. A woman...?
A stray beam of sunlight struck her abundant curls, revealing that they were very nearly the color of blood. A wicker picnic basket was tied to the back of her saddle.
I blinked in shock. I knew only one woman with hair that unnaturally red. I hurried to catch up to them. “Gabriella...?” The prince and I had crossed the ocean in Death’s coach to arrive here. How the hell had she done it?
She lifted her head stared straight at me, and drove her mount close to the prince’s right side. She leaned close to him and said something I couldn’t hear.
My prince lifted his head and narrowed his green gaze at me. “There you are, peon. Any luck yet?”
I reined my gelding to my prince’s left side and blinked at him. “Luck...?”
My prince scowled, his hands tightening on the reins. “Finding a unicorn, you dolt!” His white mare danced under him, tossing her mane. “You were out here all night. Didn’t you even look?”
“Of course I searched!” From my seat in front of the campfire. “No, my prince, I didn’t see one.” I lifted my brow at him. “Are you sure there is one to be found?”
Alberic froze, his eyes widening. “Good question.” He stopped his mare at the foot of the bridge, forcing us to stop too, and turned to face Gabriella. “Well, are there any out here?”
Gabriella blinked. “Hmm... Let’s see.” She turned to the wicker basket behind her, opened the lid, and lifted out a snow-white kitten. “Hey, sweetie, you up for a flight?”
I stared at the kitten. Flight...?
The kitten yowled, and a pair of snowy owl’s wings unfolded from her sides. The slender cat’s tail abruptly sprouted white tail feathers.
My mouth fell open. Holy crap...a flying cat...?
Gabriella smiled. “Okay, we just want to know if there’s a unicorn in the area.”
The kitten yowled again.
Gabriella dropped a kiss on the kitten’s head. “Thank you, my treasure.” She tossed it into the air.
The kitten flapped its wings and soared off into the trees.
I couldn’t help but stare after it. I’d known that she used cats for spying, err, gathering information, but I’d had no idea that they were flying cats.
Gabriella cupped her mouth and shouted, “We’ll be waiting!”
My prince nodded. “Good.” He spurred his mare forward.
I followed my Prince and Gabriella across the bridge, through the portcullis, and into the cobblestoned inner bailey within the castle walls.
Grooms came running to take our horses.
Gabriella slid from her saddle and lifted her palm toward the groom. “No need for that!” She turned to her odd horse and whispered in its ear. Golden sparkles erupted from it. The horse melted away into a heavy-handled broom crowned with a carved horse’s head and tailed with thick straw bristles.
The groom’s eyes widened and he stepped back.
I blinked. A broomstick...? I rolled my eyes. Well, that answered my question as to how she’d crossed the ocean.
Alberic snorted and crossed his arms. “I’m impressed. You actually got a spell to work right.”
Gabriella whirled to grin up at him. “Does this mean I get a kiss as a reward?” She puckered up her lips and closed her eyes.
My prince turned away. “It means you don’t get the boot this time.”
Gabriella’s eyes opened wide, and she scowled.
I bit back a smile. She never gives up.
Gabriella narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you laughing at me, Julian?”
I coughed to cover the chuckle that almost escaped, turned my gaze away. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” I turned on my heel to follow my prince.
Growling things I knew I didn’t want to hear, Gabriella stalked after me.
A well-dressed servant in a royal blue coat appliquéd with a white swan with its wings upraised led us across the broad lawn and up the marble steps of the soaring white palace. After a few arching hallways lined with slender Corinthian-topped pillars and stained glass windows, we were led into a high-ceilinged and completely glass-enclosed sunroom simply crammed with potted flowers, fruit trees and courtiers. Lots of courtiers.
We walked to the very center of the monstrous sunroom marked by a grove of potted orange trees in full blossom. It damned near crawled with handsome and not-so-handsome nobles, from penniless dukes and pauper kings to second and third son princes. It seemed that anyone with even a whisper of nobility was there.
At the very center of the sweet-scented and heavily thorned orange trees was an ornately carved and gilded loveseat upholstered with red velvet. Sitting upon it, side by side and holding hands, were two of the loveliest princesses I’d ever seen.
The one on the right had green-gold eyes and fiery red curls that cascaded to the seat cushions. She wore a shimmering emerald green gown embroidered with red roses. The princess on the left had sky blue eyes and pale blond hair that flowed straight down to pool at her knees. She wore a pale ice blue gown embroidered with white snowflakes. Both had sweetly rounded faces, pink cheeks, and perfect Cupid’s-bow smiles.
I stared in awe. Snow White and Rose Red, indeed.
Prince Alberic swept forward, cutting right through the noble crowd without a single apology. Before the two princesses, he dropped gracefully to one knee.
The eyes of both princesses opened wide.
The sudden silence was deafening.
Alberic leaned forward to whisper to them.
Despite straining my ears, I couldn’t hear a thing. I just hoped to the Fates that he hadn’t said anything too offensive.
The princesses exchanged narrow-eyed glances, then turned back to the prince and smiled, showing dimples in opposing cheeks. They nodded enthusiastically and held out the hands they didn’t have clasped together.
Alberic took their offered hands, completing a three-way circle of enclosed hands, and inclined his head regally. “I am at your service.”
I nibbled on the inside of my cheek. My prince was being exquisitely charming for once, as though he actually liked them. It looked as though there might actually be hope in saving my virginity. However, there was a strange tightness in my throat, an ache in my chest, and a prickling in my eyes.
Suddenly, a flash of silver white caught my attention, drawing my gaze from the princesses to the thorny orange trees behind them. A man wearing a silver-gray coat heavily embroidered with white silk roses was standing directly behind them. His hair was purest white and parted to one side. It fell unbound in long waves to his waist.
Abruptly, he lifted his head. His face was surprisingly youthful and rather handsome for such white hair. He had a strong jaw, high cheekbones, and full lips. He looked about, then his gaze met mine. His eyes were
the exact shade of blue-green as mine. His gaze narrowed on me, and he frowned.
My heart suddenly gave a strange and rather unpleasant lurch. I winced and pressed my hand to my chest.
The white-haired man’s eyes widened briefly, then they narrowed again, only this time he smiled with very white teeth.
It gave me the chills. I looked away.
Gabriella was staring at me from less than an arm’s length away. Her gaze narrowed and she set her hands on her hips. “You’re in love with him.”
I jerked back as though I’d been slapped. “Who?” The white-haired man?
Her red brow arched upward over one blue eye. “You look like you’re about to weep.”
I choked. Weep...? I waved my hand. “Not at all.” I rolled my eyes as dramatically as I could. “Actually, I think I’m getting a headache.” I rubbed my brow for good measure. That’s when I noticed that I really did have a mild headache.
Gabriella abruptly dropped her hands to wring them together. “Okay...” She tucked her chin and her bottom lip protruded. “Maybe you’re not, but I think I’m about to.” Her eyes glistened with pooling moisture.
I blinked at her in open-mouthed astonishment. Talk about your mood swings. “Gabriella?”
She pulled a lace-trimmed hankie from her immense bosom. Don’t ask me where it actually came from, because I really had no idea how anything could have fit in her miniscule bodice with that mountain of cleavage. Gabriella dabbed at her eyes. “I do love him, you know.”
Oh, she meant the prince. I turned to see what my prince was up to.
Alberic was still on bended knee and smiling sweetly at the princesses. They were smiling right back, and appeared to be utterly charmed.
Status, normal.
I turned back to Gabriella.
The red-haired witch was still dabbing at her eyes with her hanky and sniffing. She looked utterly miserable.
I wasn’t quite sure what I should do. Pat her on the back? Offer her a hug? I settled for a soft, gentle smile. “I know, Gabriella, I know you love the prince.”
She blew her nose into her hankie, loudly. “Even though his eyes follow your ass more than my boobs.”
I flinched back. “What?”
Her gaze came up and she scowled fiercely. “And I just can’t have that!”
I barely kept my mouth from falling open. Oh, bleeding Fate, another mood swing? Was it that time of the month for her? Maybe if I got her a headache powder and some chocolate...?
She took a step toward me, her lip curling, baring her teeth in something that wasn’t a smile. “I won’t compete with you for my prince, Julian.”
“What? Me?” I stepped back from her and waved in the direction of the princesses. “I’m not the one he’s going to marry!”
She waved her damp hanky and shook her head, tossing her red curls. “That is entirely beside the point.” She pointed her long index finger at me, the soiled hanky dangling from her hand. “No man is more woman than me! You and your ass are going down, Julian.”
Oh shit! I did not want her pissed off at me. She was a pretty damned powerful witch. Her spells didn’t always work properly, but that wouldn’t actually matter if she decided to curse me. Properly cast or not, a curse was still a curse. I threw out my hands. “Gabriella, please...! You’ve got it all wrong!”
Gabriella set her hand on her hips and snarled. “Don’t you lie to me!” She stomped her booted foot. “He told me, last night!”
My eyes widened. She still thought I was a guy, so he wouldn’t have told her about the kiss, would he? “He told you...what, exactly?”
Her voice dropped down to a low growl. “He told me that you were his love-slave!”
I froze in utter shock. “He told you...what?” My temper boiled to the surface and I turned to glare at my prince. “That son of a bitch!”
Gabriella walked in an agitated circle, wringing her hankie. “All this time, I thought they were just rumors.”
I frowned at her. “Rumors? What rumors?”
She abruptly stopped and leaned close, her nose practically bumping mine. “Is it true that you’ve been sleeping in his chambers since you were children?”
I leaned as far away from her as I could. “Well, my room does open on his, but that’s because I was his playmate, and now I’m his valet. I have to be there to take care of his personal needs.”
“His personal needs?” Gabriella tore her hankie clean in half.
Eyeing the torn hankie, I stepped back. “Y-yeah... I change his linens, care for his clothes, bring him his meals, dress him, attend him in the bath...”
Gabriella stiffened, her hands clenching tight around the torn bits of her hankie. She bared her teeth, and growled, “You dress him? You bathe him?”
I inched back farther. I did not like the way she was glaring at me one little bit. “I kind of have to. He won’t let any of the other servants touch his clothes or shave him.”
Smoke began to rise from Gabriella’s fisted hands. “You...!”
As though conjured, Alberic stepped between us and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Julian, this is no time to play with Gabriella. We have work to do.”
Gabriella’s gaze locked on Alberic’s hand resting on my shoulder, then her gaze lifted to mine, igniting with dancing flames. No seriously, there really were flames in her eyes.
I wasn’t merely doomed; I was damned.
~ Ten ~
Alberic hustled Gabriella and I down a small side corridor and into an intimate sitting room with potted palms framing the windows on the far wall. A white marble fireplace was centered on pale green wall on the left, and bookshelves took up the right. In the very center of the room, on a very expensive Arabian carpet in gold and green, was a small golden oak oval table beyond which was a green velvet loveseat flanked by a pair of matching wing-back chairs. The floor to ceiling paned windows along the back wall opened on an exquisite view of the palace gardens.
Alberic closed the door behind him quietly. There was a click.
My brows rose. He locked the door?
Alberic turned to face us, rubbing his palms together. “I have it on excellent authority that there is indeed a unicorn in these woods.”
I grinned. “Great!”
“However...” Alberic lifted a finger. “It only appears after the first snowfall in winter.”
It was early spring.
“Crap.” I slumped into the left-hand wing chair. “Now what do we do?”
Alberic dropped into the right wing chair, and folded one knee over the other. “Supposedly, this beast is not only highly intelligent and capable of speech, but also a personal friend of the princesses.”
I leaned forward in my chair. “Oh! Then, we might be able to talk the creature into allowing us to take him to them...?”
Alberic’s brow lifted. “If we can find it.”
“Wait...” Gabriella folded her arms below her more than ample chest. “Does it have to be this unicorn in particular, or can it be any unicorn?”
Alberic shrugged. “I doubt anyone knows about this particular beast but the princesses.”
I shook my head. “But the princesses’ unicorn is the only unicorn in these woods, isn’t it?”
Gabriella looked at me with narrowed eyes and smiled. It wasn’t pretty. “Not necessarily.”
Alberic looked over at Gabriella and lifted his brow. “What did you have in mind?”
Gabriella smiled ever so sweetly at Alberic. “I’ll make one!”
Make...? I frowned. “You mean, like you made your broom into a horse?”
She glanced at me from the corner of her eye and her smile widened. “Something like that, yes.”
My frown deepened. Gabriella was definitely up to something, and I had a bad feeling that I wasn’t going to like it one bit.
Alberic nodded at Gabriella. “How soon can you have the spell ready?”
“Yes!” Gabriella bounced on the loveseat cushions. “Tomorrow by dawn.”
/>
“Good.” Alberic rose from his seat. “We’ll meet on the far edge of that garden.” He pointed across the room and out the window. “Tomorrow, one hour before noon.”
Gabriella’s brows rose. “But it’ll be ready at dawn.”
My prince curled his lip. “I do not get up at dawn.”
“Pfft!” I covered my mouth and hunched my shoulders to hide the snickers trying to escape. No, my prince did not get up at dawn, ever. Not even to kick a lover out of his bed. That was my job.
Alberic lifted his hand. “And you...!” He pointed straight at me. “Make preparations for my appearance at tonight’s ball.”
I leapt from my chair in utter shock. “A ball, tonight...?” Did he even have something fancy enough to wear to one? I quickly ran through my memory of what my prince had brought with him. Yes, he had one whole outfit in forest green and gold that might work... “I’ll have to brush out the velvet, iron the silks, and starch all the lace...” I think I actually had some starch in my bags. I looked at my prince in a panic. “Did you remember your curling irons and the good razor?”
Alberic headed for the door. “I never leave home without them.” He turned back and smiled. “You know that.” He stepped out into the hall.
Gabriella’s eyes widened. “He uses curling irons?”
I snorted and headed for the door after my prince. “What? Did you think those golden curls he sports at formal functions were natural?”
She curled her lip and followed me. “Mine are.”
I rolled my eyes and followed my prince out into the hall. “Must be nice.” I didn’t have big romantic curls either, merely black waves.
Alberic marched up the hall at a quick pace, waving his hand imperiously. “Come, peon! I expect perfection from you tonight! Perfection...!”
I trotted after him. “Yes, my prince. Of course, my prince...”
* * * * * *
The ride through the forest back to my prince’s hotel lathered our horses and us. I paced the entire ride up the elevator going over everything I’d need to get my prince ready. He watched me with a small smile on his lips.
As soon as his door was unlocked, I ran right past him to start the bath for my prince. When I came back out, I dropped my coat and my knife harness on one of the lounges and rolled up my sleeves. Moving swiftly from long practice, I scurried around to gather everything he’d need for the ball. Once I had everything set out, I stoked a small fire in the fireplace to heat the pair of curling irons and the flatiron for his silks.
