by K. M. Shea
Puss leaned back in her arms. “You are scoffing at my intelligence? Good heavens—what little cleverness you had has been beaten out of you. Coming here alone? What were you thinking? Now hush. We must flee and regroup. We’ll take the ogre out when I grace us with a fresh plan. Angelique, have you successfully pin-pointed that vile creature’s location?”
The beautiful Lady Enchantress who had taken Puss to heal him, Angelique, walked gracefully through the smoke. “No. I must have performed the spell wrong.”
Puss slipped from Gabrielle’s arms and joined the enchantress. “What has you drawing that conclusion?” he asked.
Gabrielle consciously beat down envy as she watched Puss twine his tail around the Lady Enchantress’s dress. Yes, they must be very good friends.
“I can’t find a sign of him anywhere,” Angelique said.
“You won’t be able to. He’s dead,” Gabrielle said with complete nonchalance. She smiled in satisfaction when Puss whipped around to address her.
“What?” Puss thundered. “How?”
“I tricked him into becoming a mouse, and your feline lady friend ate him,” Gabrielle said, retreating to her chair and picking up the orange-colored stray.
“You’re certain the ogre perished?” Angelique asked.
“Oh, yes,” Gabrielle said, feeling a little green around the gills as she sat down, hard, still holding the orange cat. “I heard her crunch on his bones.”
“Are you well?” Puss asked, sitting down next to Angelique.
Gabrielle’s throat tightened, and sadness joined envy in plaguing her heart. Puss was alive, and he was back, but it seemed Gabrielle was no longer his beloved “Mistress.” She cleared her throat. “Of course. I just…I haven’t gotten much sleep for the past two nights.”
Puss meandered up to Gabrielle’s chair. “Beat it,” he hissed at the orange cat before jumping onto Gabi’s lap. “Ugh—you smell like you’ve been cavorting with fox cubs.”
Gabrielle crushed him to her chest in a tight hug.
Angelique politely looked away, and Puss didn’t even squirm as Gabrielle clung to him. “It’s alright, Gabrielle. Angelique fixed me up quite nicely, even if her bedside manners are poor,” Puss said, his voice gentle.
“Now I remember why Master Evariste and I always left you behind,” Angelique said.
“How do you two know each other?” Gabrielle released Puss, uncertain whether she wanted to know the answer to that question. Their banter made it difficult to breathe. She forced herself to stand, again. I will take this change graciously. Or at least, I’ll try to.
“She was my original mistress,” Puss said, leaping from Gabrielle’s grasp. His words froze Gabrielle momentarily.
“Master Evariste—the Lord Enchanter to whom I serve as apprentice—gave him to me for my birthday many years ago,” Angelique said.
“You were her pet?” Gabrielle asked, ice forming in her chest.
“Assistant!” Puss snapped. “I was given to her because Angelique has the focus of a child being lured with a sweet.”
“Magic cats of any age are hard to come by,” Angelique said, “but Master Evariste somehow found Roland…er…Puss when he was still a kitten. He was supposed to be a companion and a reference, as he is quite knowledgeable in casting magic—even charms that are beyond his abilities.”
“You must have been expensive,” Gabrielle said to Puss.
“Yes, but that man squanders money on Angelique all the time,” Puss said, swatting at the orange cat when it ventured too close.
“I see,” Gabrielle said, miserable because she didn’t. She didn’t know who this Master Evariste was, nor did she understand Puss and Lady Enchantress Angelique’s relationship as reference and apprentice. Their history made her feel like an outsider.
“Where have all the humans gone? I haven’t seen any scurrying about—mind you, Angelique and I blew through the city, so I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“They’re hiding,” Gabrielle said.
“Perhaps we should find them and inform them of their new master,” Angelique said.
“Their what?” Gabrielle said.
“Their new master. They have a right to know the despot-ogre was ousted and to be given a chance to follow you willingly. Though, mark my words, if they refuse to acknowledge your leadership, they deserve to be chopped up into mincemeat!” Puss said, padding from the room.
Gabrielle took a staggering step towards the wrecked doors. Exhaustion made her feel weighty and clumsy, but Puss was right. The citizens—and not just the castle servants, but all of those held captive in Carabas—deserved to be notified that they were free. “Why would they follow me?”
“Because you’re the new Marquise of Carabas,” Angelique said, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. She joined Puss.
“No, I’m not.” Gabrielle followed the enchantress and magical cat down the empty hallway.
“Save your breath, Angelique. Gabrielle can be as stubborn as a mule,” Puss advised.
“So you’ve met your match then? I can see how you enjoy yourself,” Angelique laughed as they opened a set of doors and slipped outside the inner building.
“It has been a refreshing change,” Puss said.
Gabrielle held the door open so the orange cat could follow after them, and wavered between responses. She could argue her case against becoming the new marquise later, but she couldn’t deny the camaraderie shared between Angelique and Puss, and it stirred up questions…and worries. “What made you two decide to part ways?” Gabrielle began as they walked across the courtyard.
“We didn’t decide,” Puss said. “It is more that our lives were torn asunder.”
“Oh?” Gabrielle asked, her voice polite even though her heart cracked again. Will I lose him again, even though I just regained him?
“There was an attack,” Angelique said, her voice shadowed with sorrow. “Late this past winter. Master Evariste and I were home—”
“Which was something of a rarity,” Puss inserted, although his voice lacked its usual impudence and know-it-all tone.
“And we were attacked,” Angelique said.
“Two enchanters were attacked,” Gabrielle repeated.
“In Master Evariste’s home—perhaps one of the best guarded places on the continent,” Puss said, his voice soft as they reached the outer circle of the castle.
“The attackers tried to…to capture me,” Angelique said, speaking the words with obvious difficulty. “They would have gotten me if Master Evariste hadn’t thrown me halfway across the continent with a transportation spell. I wasn’t able to return home until spring and…” She raised a hand, unable to find any more words.
Puss jumped on a windowsill and peered inside before he nodded at the door. “They ransacked the place and carried Evariste off. I don’t know where to—I was thrown unconscious before they left. It was no matter; I couldn’t have done anything. Angelique had placed my silencing collar on me earlier in the day, cutting off my means to cast magic.”
Gabrielle opened the door and slunk into the empty building, her companions behind her.
“I’m sorry,” Angelique said, her exquisite eyes brimming with tears.
“You couldn’t have known,” Puss said, his voice the most warm and gentle Gabrielle had ever heard. “I left, hoping to track down a mage. I never found one—although I narrowly missed the craftmage Rumpelstiltskin when I met Gabrielle and resolved to embark on an adventure with her,” Puss said, giving Gabrielle his version of a cat smile.
She returned a wan smile, but her heart twisted in her chest a bit as she asked, “You thought we would eventually run into a mage, and then you planned to return to Lady Enchantress Angelique?”
“I hoped to find a magic user, yes, but that wasn’t why I chose to travel with you,” Puss acknowledged, failing to address the second half of Gabrielle’s question.
Faced with Puss’s non-answer, Gabrielle fell silent as they started down the hallw
ay, their footsteps echoing.
“As I have already alerted the Veneno Conclave to Master Evariste’s capture, and located Puss, I am free to follow my leads,” Angelique said, some of her joy returning to her.
“So…you will travel with the Lady Enchantress now, Puss?” Gabrielle asked, her heart aching.
“What? No!” Puss said, glaring as the orange cat rubbed her head against him.
“I would understand, if—” Gabrielle said, the words stabbing her throat before they spilled from her lips.
“I have my own free will, Gabrielle. I choose with whom I stay,” Puss said, sounding quarrelsome.
“Yes, but if you were a gift to the Lady Enchantress—”
“Please, Lady Gabrielle, you don’t understand,” Angelique said, placing a warm hand on Gabrielle’s shoulder and stopping their progress forward. That, combined with the gentle smile Angelique wore, were enough to addle her wits. “Roland—Puss, that is—has been, and will continue to be, my dear friend. But it is clear you are his true mistress.”
Gabrielle shook her head.
“No, you must listen to me, ogre-defeater,” Angelique said. “Seeing Roland with you, hearing him talk about your adventures? He is happier with you than he ever was with me. And he has chosen you.”
Gabrielle blinked rapidly to keep her tears from falling, but one or two fell anyway. She bent over and picked Puss up, cuddling him close.
“Ugh, you really do reek,” Puss said as she hugged him. Gabrielle choked on laughter and tears. “Angelique is my friend, Gabrielle. But I will follow you until the day one of us takes our last breath,” Puss said.
“Thank you, Puss,” Gabrielle said, the tension in her body easing. “And thank you for saving him, Lady Enchantress. I was so worried.”
“It was my pleasure.” Angelique stepped back and frowned at the hallway. “I mean to leave soon to renew my search, but first I will help both of you settle into Carabas. Our tour has made it apparent that it is quite neglected.”
“It is, but I think Gabrielle will have the funds to renovate it,” Puss said. “Phew, after she bathes, that is.”
“What? How?” Gabrielle asked.
“By crawling in a tub filled with hot, soapy water,” Puss said.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“The funds? The answer is easy—the ogre has been hoarding wealth and treasure since he first thundered his way into Carabas. He must have quite the treasury by now,” Puss said.
“How do you know that?” Angelique asked.
“I read it in one of Evariste’s correspondences,” Puss said, his black tail twitching.
“You read his mail?” Angelique said, planting a hand on her chest in horror.
“Yes.”
“You sneaky—”
“I already said I’m not going to be the new marquise,” Gabrielle said.
“Of course you are. You’re the lost heir of Carabas—or at least King Henrik promised to let us pretend you are,” Puss said, his voice smug and pleased.
Gabrielle stared at her cat. “When did he agree to that?” Gabrielle asked, her voice tight.
“That time Prince Steffen accidentally peeped at you,” Puss said. “I had an excellent conversation with King Henrik in his carriage.”
Gabrielle groaned. “I can’t keep up with you.”
“I believe I will start with some repairing spells—though it will take me twice as long to cast as it would a full enchantress,” Angelique said, tapping her lip as she stared down the hallway, her eyes fixed on a smashed pillar.
“I will begin designing Gabrielle’s letterhead. Your crest will, of course, include a cat,” Puss said.
“I give up,” Gabrielle muttered.
“It’s always the wisest course to bow to my superior intelligence,” Puss said. “By which I mean to say, you could begin by taking a bath.”
“Oh, go roll in some Essence de Fox,” Gabrielle said, muttered, stomping off.
“What?” Angelique asked.
“Essence de Fox,” Gabrielle repeated.
“Do you know what’s in that?” Angelique asked.
“She doesn’t want to know,” Puss was quick to say. “Come, Mistress. While Angelique gets started with her magic, we should continue searching for your new subjects.”
“But what—”
“Hush. We’ve already wasted hours, and the residents of Carabas deserve to learn that they’ve been set free!”
Chapter 13
Marquise of Carabas
Steffen popped his gold circlet off his head, relieving some of the pain of his headache.
“Don’t do that; we’re no longer a matched set,” Nick said, plopping down in the seat next to him. “How can we be the tiara brothers if we aren’t glittering like fairies together?”
“If you want to match someone, go find your twin.” Steffen tossed his circlet on the table, exhausted from the endless discussions the family summit had created. They had started early in the morning when Erick finally arrived, and they hadn’t yet reached a conclusion about the ogre—or Carabas.
Steffen leaned back in his chair and eyed his family. All seven of his siblings milled about, socializing with one another. Erick was discussing his hopes for expanding the college with Elise—as he had unsuccessfully for the last two seasons. Rune was laughing with King Henrik, and Falk was brooding in the corner—alone and antisocial as usual. Gerhart, the youngest, was pouting—the special family meeting had ended his holiday in the south. Spoiled brat.
Steffen was disappointed. He had hoped other members of his family would show signs of wear after their grueling morning discussion. (Although now that he pondered it, perhaps it was grueling solely for him. He, Rune, and Elise were the only royal children in favor of trying to kill the ogre, and it was Steffen who spent most of the meeting trying to convince his opposing siblings it was necessary to reclaim Carabas.) Instead, it seemed most of them were disgustingly peppy and bright-eyed, happy to be gathered together for the first time since their mother’s funeral.
Steffen rolled his neck and tried to relax. He would begin his campaign against Carabas again when they rejoined in the afternoon. “We have to kill that ogre,” he grumbled.
“Why?” Mikk—Nick’s twin (though opposite in temperament) asked.
Steffen held in a jump at his sudden appearance, wishing his brother hadn’t heard that utterance. “I just spent an hour giving you reasons. If you can’t remember any of them, I’m going to adjourn this meeting for the rest of the day,” he said.
“No, why are you taking this matter so personally?” Mikk asked.
“It’s not personal. As the country’s future monarch, I’m merely concerned.”
“No,” Nick said. “Mikk is right. You don’t get concerned. You’re the stiff who can lie with a smile and treat the world like a master chessman. Aside from your dazzling smiles and perfect manners, you’re even more impersonal than Mikk. You could mingle with anyone.”
“Except the ambassador from Sole,” Mikk added.
“You promised you wouldn’t mention that again,” Steffen reminded Mikk. Then he noticed their youngest brother creeping for the door. “Gerhart—no.” He glared, sipping his wine.
“This is about Gabrielle, isn’t it?” Nick asked.
Steffen choked on his wine. “How did you hear about her?” he asked when he could speak again.
“Rune mentioned her,” Nick said.
“I see,” Steffen said, tapping his fingers on the table.
“Next time,” Mikk told his twin, “don’t reveal your source.”
“Why?”
“If you don’t keep your mouth shut, Steffen will murder all your informants, like our soon-to-be-departed brother,” Mikk said.
“You have a point,” Nick said. “And I like Rune…a bit anyway. Hm. Steffen, I lied. Little Gerhie told me,” Nick said, pointing to their youngest, sulking brother.
Mikk ignored his twin and returned his quiet but intense att
ention to Steffen. “She left for Carabas again.”
“WHAT?” Steffen rocketed out of his chair. “Did she survive? Where is she now? That little idiot!”
“Don’t you care about his source?” Nick complained.
“My source left the area after she made her exit, but I’ve received messages from other agents assuring me Lady Gabrielle is doing quite well,” Mikk said.
“But what is the definition of ‘quite well’?” Steffen asked. He was surprised when Dominik scurried through the door, making a beeline for Mikk. The young guard whispered in the prince’s ear.
“Dominik was your man?” Steffen said, shocked. “I thought it was Moritz.”
“He does make a good red herring,” Mikk said. “You had better tell everyone, Dominik.”
Dominik bowed and spoke to the group. “Your Majesty?”
“Yes?” King Henrik asked.
“There is a lady here to see you. She has important news for you.”
“Send her in, then,” King Henrik said.
“As you wish, Your Majesty. The Marquise of Carabas,” Dominik announced, returning to the door to open it and allow a lady to enter.
“What?” Steffen shouted when the “lady” stepped into the room.
Gabrielle’s honey-crème-colored hair was pulled back in an artful braid and nestled in a gold netting studded with pearls. Her dress was a beautiful green creation that shimmered whenever she moved, and at her throat was an enormous emerald set in gold. Because it was Gabrielle, she wore arm guards that started at her wrists and ended before her elbows. Both of these leather bracers had golden script on them that glimmered and spiraled around the armor in an endless spell. She still wore a sword belt—although the weapon was absent—and she was as lovely as a summer day.
But once his eyes locked on to her face…he almost forgot how to breathe.
“Lady Gabrielle, allow me to welcome you to Castle Brandis. These are my children—you already know Rune, but I believe you did not meet Elise whilst in Jagst. The two by Steffen are Nick and Mikk. Falk is back in the corner. This is Erick, and your young admirer is Gerhart,” King Henrik said.
