Ellie might have cried at the beauty of that declaration, if it hadn’t been Cambren’s turn. The third prince was about to be presented with his own terrible choice.
It would hurt him to reject her. Ellie knew that as well as she knew her own name. Cambren was kind and loyal, and he would never willingly cause pain to anyone.
But Dauntry had passed. Even though he had failed the second test, he had passed the first and the third. Eldrick had passed the first two, but failed the third. If Cambren failed as well, there would be no clear choice. Dauntry might yet prevail, and the more she saw of him, the more certain she was that he should never be given the chance to rule. The depth of his commitment was clear, but so were the lengths to which he would go in the name of sovereignty.
And Cambren now had a clear chance to be king. There was so much good he could do, so many ways he could make his kingdom and his people better. She hoped he wouldn’t hesitate to seize the moment, not for her sake. After all, he’d already warned her that if he became king, he was unlikely to have friends. She’d expected their relationship to end, and wished now that she’d told him so.
But surely there was no need. No one would give up a kingdom for the sake of a frog.
“Cambren?” the king asked somberly.
Prince Cambren broke the silence with a sigh, holding Ellie up to his face, where they could look at one another eye to eye. “They want to know if I would like to be king,” he said, the corner of his mouth curving into a smile. “What do you think I should say?”
“Whatever makes you happy,” she replied promptly.
“And if it made me happy to say that I never wanted to see you again?”
“Then you’re a terrible friend and I’d probably defame your character outrageously,” Ellie answered, winking one enormous eye. “But that’s not what this is about, and we both know it. Whether we see each other again or not, you have the opportunity to choose to do good for your people. There’s no reason to walk away from that if you wish to accept the burden. I could never be angry with you for choosing it, and you shouldn’t either.”
“What would you advise me to do?” His eyes were warm and intent.
“Toss me into the nearest pond and never look back,” she said seriously. “You’d be an excellent king, and I wouldn’t want you to cast that aside because of me.”
“Thank you,” he said sincerely. “It means a lot to me to know that.”
He lifted his gaze to the king and lowered Ellie to carry her close to his chest. “No,” he said.
“No?” the king echoed. “You would give up your right to the throne? Choose your frog over your kingdom?”
“Eli isn’t just a frog, Father,” Cambren said politely. “You asked me to bring a friend, and I did so. The best I’ve ever had, no matter what shape he wears. And yes. The frog believes I would be a good king, but I would have to forfeit too much of myself in order to prove his theory. I could never accept the sacrifice of a friend for the sake of my own advancement. I may not have much in the way of honor, but I will not compromise what little I have for the sake of a crown I’ve never wanted.”
Cam let out a sigh of relief as soon as he’d finished speaking. He hated to disappoint his father, but in truth, he was deeply disappointed himself. He’d never expected his father to demand such a thing of his sons, and definitely not in such a cruel, public fashion. Whatever his father wanted from him, he simply couldn’t bring himself to give it, and the sooner he was allowed to escape back to his horses and his books, the better.
“Thank you, my sons, for your answers and your honesty,” King Lorne said, and the sad smile on his face made him look more like the father Cam knew. “You have been tested indeed, and I have learned what I needed most to know.”
Glancing over at Eldrick, Cambren felt a surge of happiness when he saw the contentment on his brother’s face. Eldrick, at least, seemed to know exactly what he wanted, and it wasn’t a throne or a crown. Cam hoped he and Korine would find a way to be happy, despite the difference in their stations.
“Prince Dauntry,” the king said, “please step forward.”
Dauntry approached the throne and knelt at the king’s feet.
“My son, I love you so much,” the king said unexpectedly. “I have always loved you, and wanted the best for you. So it is with a heavy heart that I have finally come to a conclusion—I very much regret that you will never rule Anura in my stead.”
A ripple of shock stilled every tongue in the room, and Cam’s most of all. Dauntry had passed the test. Hadn’t he?
“You failed,” the king said softly, addressing Dauntry’s bent golden head. “Perhaps I set you up too well, but I needed to know how far you were willing to go, and in the end, it was too far.”
The king looked up, and Cambren was close enough to see the tears in his father’s eyes. “A friend, a steadfast and loyal friend, is truly the most valuable thing a man can possess. There is no crown, no throne, no kingdom, that can outweigh the trust and loyalty of another human being. I was so fortunate as to have gained the love of my queen, Luna, who was the best and truest friend I have ever known.” His voice began to quaver. “Throughout the long and painful days,” the king continued, “and sometimes longer nights, she was the one thing I never doubted. Her counsel, even when it was hard, was wise and generous, and I would have been a far different sovereign without her warm and peaceful presence in my life.”
The entire assembly was crying now, freely and unashamedly. Cam’s own face was wet, both with memory and with shame. He’d misjudged his father badly. As Dauntry rose and slipped away through the crowd, unable to bear the weight of his disgrace, Cambren looked at his father with different eyes, and wondered what else he might have missed.
“Eldrick, Cambren,” the king said. “You have shown me that you value love above power and position. You have proven yourselves worthy of the crown that must now pass to one of you.”
“You promised not to let me be squashed,” the frog wheezed from where Cam clutched it close to his chest. “But considering this nervous habit you have of clenching your hands, perhaps you could put me back in your pocket until all this is decided.”
“Sorry,” Cam whispered, relaxing his grip and taking a deep breath. Surely his father wasn’t going to choose him.
“Cambren,” his father said, and Cam’s heart pounded with horror. “I am sorry, my son, but I feel it is my duty to first offer the crown to your elder brother.”
Cam began to breathe again.
“Eldrick?” King Lorne smiled warmly down on his middle son. “What is your answer? Will you accept the burden of kingship freely, to guide and protect the people of Anura until such time as you are no longer able to serve with a whole heart?”
But Eldrick did not answer immediately. He turned instead to the woman beside him and grasped both her hands in his. “Kori,” he said softly, hopefully, “is your father here?”
A gruff, bespectacled man in a simple but perfectly fitting suit emerged from the crowd to stare disapprovingly at the young couple. “I am here, Your Highness,” he said shortly. “What do you wish of me?”
“I wish to marry your daughter,” Eldrick said steadily. “I’ve wished it for a long time, and you’ve refused me, because you believed I would prove faithless when faced with a better opportunity. But today, I am offered the chance to be a king, and I say that I will not accept it if it means losing Korine. I love her, and I would ask her to be my wife.”
Ward, life-long tailor to His Royal Highness, folded his arms and looked over his spectacles at his daughter. “And what of you, Kori? What is it you want?”
She looked up at her prince and smiled. “I want to marry Eldrick, Papa. I don’t think I want to be a queen, but I’ll accept it if that’s the only way I can be with him, because I love him too. I always have.”
A ringing cheer went up from every corner of the room, and Eldrick appeared uncharacteristically stunned.
“You mean it
?” Cambren saw him mouth to his beloved, and when she nodded, he took her by the shoulders and kissed her, in front of the king, the entire assembly and her not-quite-approving papa.
“Well, I suppose I have no choice but to consent now,” the tailor said once the hubbub had died down, but he didn’t seem entirely displeased. He even unbent so far as to bow, shallowly, and grant the couple his blessing.
“My son,” King Lorne called out, with a smile on his face. “Eldrick, you have not yet answered my question.”
“Oh! I’m sorry, Father,” Eldrick said, blushing furiously. “But yes, I accept the responsibilities of your office, to guide and protect my people until such time as I can no longer serve with a whole heart.”
“Then accept my blessing also,” the king said, “on both your reign and your marriage.”
The crowd erupted all over again, and this time the jubilation seemed unlikely to abate. Anura had a new crown prince and an unexpected crown princess, and they were determined to celebrate.
With one last sigh, Cam eased back into the press of people, making his way slowly through the room until he was able to escape to the relative freedom of the hall outside.
When he could once again be heard, the frog interrupted Cam’s contemplation of his brother’s newly engaged state with a wry chuckle. “You’d better find Eldrick later and thank him profusely.”
“Yes, I should,” Cam admitted. “Do you suppose he has any idea how badly I was hoping he would say yes?”
“At the moment, I doubt he cares what you want. He seems a trifle preoccupied.”
“I’m just glad it’s over,” Cam said, feeling a deep and glorious sense of relief as he headed back to the barn and his freedom. “Eldrick will do a fine job, and I don’t have to worry about being king, ever.”
“Very true,” the frog said. “You’ll probably never have to be king. Your next task is more likely to be a state marriage.”
Cambren almost dropped him, but the frog went on talking.
“I’m sure once all the princesses learn that the next king has been chosen and he’s already taken, they’ll be descending on Anura with designs on the next available candidate.”
“Then they can have Dauntry,” Cam said with a groan.
“Would you really wish Dauntry on an unsuspecting princess?”
“Don’t you know anything?” Cam retorted. “He’s handsome, brave, and self-sacrificing. Princesses love that sort of thing. Perhaps he can transfer his willingness to sacrifice himself onto the altar of marriage. It’ll make him an excellent husband and his wife will adore him for it.”
“Well, I really don’t know much about princesses,” the frog replied, “but if they appreciate attractive, self-sacrificing princes, you’re going to have difficulty remaining single.”
“Hah!” Cambren scoffed as he emerged from an outer door onto the garden path. “You say that, as I beat a hasty retreat from all responsibility and return gratefully to my books and my horses where I will never be bothered again.”
“No, I’m serious,” the frog said. “I know you didn’t want to be king, but I also know you thought about the throne, and you were worried about handing it to Dauntry. But no matter why you said what you did, in the end, you chose to be loyal to a frog.” It coughed, as if trying to clear its throat. “I guess what I’m trying to say is thank you. I never expected your loyalty, I don’t deserve it, and I’m ever so grateful, Prince Cambren, for your friendship, for your kindness, and for your willingness to see me as just another person.”
“Well, you’re welcome,” Cam said, “except you’re wrong about a few things. I…” He broke off when the frog began to wriggle furiously. “Hey now, stop thrashing, or I’m going to drop you…”
The frog didn’t seem to hear him. It continued to flail until Cam lost his grip on its slippery skin and the poor creature plummeted towards the cobbled path below.
Cam shut his eyes tightly, expecting to hear a horrible, wet squelch and the pained exclamations of an angry amphibian.
But he heard nothing. Not even a yelp of outrage. Had his friend been knocked unconscious by the fall?
Fearing the worst, he opened one eye, but there was no frog in sight.
There was only a young woman, sitting before him on the path amidst a tangle of brown robes and long auburn hair.
With shaking hands, she parted the curtain of hair covering her face and peered up at him with oddly familiar green eyes.
“Cambren?” She clapped a hand over her mouth as Cam’s eyes went wide with shock.
“Elisette?”
Chapter 10
Oh no. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening.
“I… um… hello,” Cambren said tentatively.
Elisette held up a hand in front of her face. She turned it over, front to back, and peered at her fingers from between the disgustingly tangled locks of her hair. She counted: one, two, three, four, five. Five human fingers. They came to rest in her lap, on the billowing folds of her brown librarian’s robe, and she could no longer deny the truth.
The spell was broken. She was human. And she was an utterly humiliated human because Cambren now knew everything.
“Are you all right?” The prince hadn’t moved, but he was watching her rather anxiously, and started to put out a hand as if to help her rise.
Ellie bolted to her feet, tripping for a moment over her robes until she recalled the appropriate way to operate human knees and ankles. Once she gained her balance, she ignored Cambren’s outstretched hand and retreated as quickly as possible into the garden, determined to put as much distance between them as she could.
“Wrong way,” Cambren called out.
Ellie groaned under her breath and clenched fistfuls of her robe but she didn’t look back, just swiveled on a heel and marched off in another direction.
She could hear him following her. The path she was on led her to a gate, and after yanking a few times on the handle—which proved to be quite frustratingly locked—she whirled around and found him standing behind her, watching her with a worried look in his familiar gray eyes.
“Elisette, please stop.”
“I have to go,” she mumbled, looking fixedly at the ground and wishing he didn’t have to be so stupidly nice. “I don’t want you to look at me.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m embarrassed,” she snapped. “Why do you think?”
The prince’s face fell and he retreated a few steps. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think. But everyone is inside still, so I’m sure no one has seen us together.”
“What?”
“You don’t want anyone to see you with me,” Cam said, clasping his hands behind his back. “I understand and I promise to stay away, but I really am glad your spell is broken. I hope you’ll be able to return to your family and find whatever it is you’re looking for in life.”
“Cambren—” Ellie blushed hotly as she realized her mistake. It was one thing for a frog to forget her manners, but she no longer had that excuse. “I mean, Your Highness, stop being absurd. I’m not embarrassed to be seen with you, I’m embarrassed to be seen by you.”
“You are?” Cambren’s eyes widened and he ran a rather nervous-looking hand through his sandy hair. “Er, why?”
“Why? Because we’ve spent most of the last six days together!” Ellie declared, feeling as though she could drown in mortification. Did he really require an explanation? “You’ve carried me around, fed me, dropped me, thrown me, read to me, let me sit on your chest, and I’ve even seen your brother without a shirt! All of which would have been highly improper if I’d been human. But now you know that I’m human and I know that you know, and I can’t stop knowing, so it’s completely humiliating to imagine what you must be thinking about my behavior.”
“Oh! That.” Cambren shoved his hands into his pockets as his cheeks began to turn a little pink. “Well, it doesn’t bother me all that much. If it helps, I’m very sorry about the dropping and
the throwing. And the shirtlessness. If I’d known you were a girl frog, I might have given more thought to the proprieties.” He paused, and tilted his head curiously. “Come to think of it, why didn’t you tell me who you were?”
“Because I didn’t want you to know,” Ellie muttered from behind her hair.
“What was that?”
“I didn’t want you to know!” She pulled back her tangled locks and glared at him fiercely. “I hoped I’d be able to break the spell before you found out, so you wouldn’t ever see me as a pathetic, helpless, slimy, green…”
“Wait.” Cam’s head came up and his eyes brightened. “Why did you even care how I saw you?”
“Because,” she mumbled, hiding behind her hair again, “as princes go, I felt that you weren’t entirely horrible and I didn’t want you to despise me.”
A quick glance revealed that Cam appeared to have been hit over the head with a solid object.
“I wouldn’t have minded seeing you again,” Ellie went on, “but I was rude to you and wanted a chance to make a better impression. Then I got turned into a frog by my wretched fairy godfather and you found me and were unbelievably kind to me and I just couldn’t tell you the truth.”
“You thought I would have treated you differently?”
“Well,” she challenged him, “wouldn’t you have? If you had known your friend the frog was really a beautiful woman under a spell?”
When she saw his puzzled look, Ellie couldn’t help trying to explain. No one else had ever understood, but maybe with Cambren there was a chance.
“Look,” she said, “I know it sounds vain to call myself beautiful, but my fairy godfather gave me the gift of beauty when I was born. It’s not something I can escape by pretending it’s not there, because pretending doesn’t do any good—I’ve been treated as a thing to be gawked at my entire life. When I asked my godfather to take his gift back, he didn’t understand why I was complaining, so he got angry and called me ungrateful.” She dropped her chin and folded her arms tightly over her chest. “Everyone seems to think I ought to be grateful for my looks, but I just want to be accepted for who I am. For what I’m capable of. Not for some stupid magic that makes it harder for anyone to see the real me.”
A Beautiful Curse Page 12
