by Becky Biggs
“Of course not, darling,” King Spruce conceded. “Filari, where are those scones?”
“Right away, sire.” Filari had been frozen by the fireplace watching the exchange between King Spruce and Raina in horror. Now he scrambled to put several scones on a plate and dish up a pot of cream before delivering the food to the table.
Emerald could feel her stomach churning. She couldn’t believe she’d run away from an arranged marriage only to be forced into another one—and this one with an evil king who was old enough to be her father!
“What makes you think I’ll marry you?” Emerald asked shakily.
“Oh, I don’t think I’ll have too much trouble convincing you,” King Spruce said, taking a bite of scone. He flicked at a few crumbs on his shirt and grinned. “I’ve put some, shall we say, reassurances in place. I have an army of giants marching toward your kingdom right now. If you don’t marry me, they’ll crush their way through and take the castle by force.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Emerald asked, trying to sound braver than she felt.
“Well, for one, I never lie about something like that,” King Spruce said, “but I thought you might say that, so I have another small thing that might convince you. Filari!”
Filari scurried over to a blanket-covered lump in the front corner of the cottage that Emerald had dismissed as a pile of clothes or linens. The imp pulled off the blanket to reveal a young man who was bound hand and foot. His head drooped and he looked seriously ill.
“Porter!” Emerald exclaimed. “What have you done to him?”
“Me?” King Spruce answered innocently. “Why nothing other than take him hostage. We found him and your little imp friend camping near Ortland. She got away somehow, but this one was too sick to move. Seems you’ve done a good job poisoning him.”
“Poisoning him?” Emerald was incredulous. What happened after she left Maple and Porter?
“Yes, poisoning him. Tallyweed doesn’t appear to work in humans the way it does in magical creatures. In fact, it looks to have the opposite effect. Your young man is dying. And I’ll let him unless . . .”
“Unless?” Emerald asked, though she knew what his demand would be.
“Unless you marry me tomorrow in a double wedding with Raina and her prince.” The king smiled at her in an utterly horrible way.
“Daddy! That’s my wedding,” whined Raina, stamping her foot and pouting.
“It is, darling,” King Spruce said soothingly. “We’ll just be a small, uh, addendum to your ceremony.”
“As long as it’s just an ad . . . ad . . .” The spoiled princess frowned faintly as she struggled to get the word out.
“Addendum?” Emerald suggested helpfully.
Raina glared at her. “As long as I’m the star,” she huffed.
“And my dress has to be prettier.”
“Of course, darling.” King Spruce put a fond hand on his daughter’s face. “You’ll be the most beautiful and special bride there ever was.”
Pacified, Raina stood up and wandered over to a trunk at the foot of the bed where she pulled out a gorgeous white gown that must be her wedding dress. She held it up to herself and began swaying to some music in her head. King Spruce looked at his daughter with love in his eyes then turned his glance back on Emerald.
“Not thirsty, my darling fiancé?” he asked.
Emerald shuddered. “No, not right now,” she responded, looking down at the tea with distaste.
“It’s not tallyweed, you know,” King Spruce said. “I wouldn’t want my future queen getting sick before her big day.”
“Of course,” Emerald murmured. She stared darkly into her tea. Things were getting out of hand. Get a hold of yourself, Emerald, she thought. Focus on your goal. Get some information about the stone. Be discreet. She was desperate to turn the situation into a positive.
“How did you get the stone back anyway?” Emerald suddenly blurted out, taking the king by surprise. Emerald cringed internally. So much for discreet.
The king regarded Emerald for a long moment and she got the sinking feeling she had lost her chance to learn more about the stone. Finally, however, he cleared his throat and responded.
“Just as they should never send a child to do a man’s work, they should also never send a troll to do a witch or wizard’s work.” He chuckled. “The troll always had a soft spot for my daughter, especially after her mother died. I sent a pigeon to him with a message that Raina was sick—I didn’t know if she would pull through. I figured he would do anything to save her, particularly if I told him he was our only hope.” He looked off into the distance and murmured, “Sentimental fool.”
“So, he came to help you . . . and brought the stone with him?”
“Ah, yes. Harry had to carry it with him wherever he went. It was supposed to prevent the stone from falling into the wrong hands. Raina played her part perfectly. A few rotten berries and some spoiled milk can make almost anyone look like they are on their death bed.”
Emerald looked over at Raina who had laid her gown on the bed and was now humming as she brushed her long golden hair. Emerald got the impression that Raina was rather self-absorbed and possibly not that intelligent.
The king went on. “Harry was so distraught to see Raina so desperately ill that he didn’t pay attention to me. A quick hit to the head with a log and whoops, little Harry was pretty much dead to the world. I found the stone in his pocket.”
“You killed him?” Emerald asked, dread and sadness somersaulting around each other in her stomach.
“No, of course not,” the king replied and Emerald sighed in relief. “He may be a fool, but he’s a talented fool. I can use his kind of magic. Now, if you’ll excuse me”—he pushed away from the table and stood—“I have a few last-minute wedding details to work out. Filari, please tie Emerald’s hands back up. I don’t need a runaway bride.”
Filari came up behind Emerald and pulled her arms behind her back. He wound rope around them tight enough that she couldn’t move, but loose enough that they weren’t cutting into her skin. The king came over and planted a kiss on the top of Emerald’s head, making her almost vomit.
“I’ll see you soon, my future wife,” he said before turning to Raina. “Darling, Daddy will be back. He’s just checking on a few things to make sure your big day is perfect.”
Raina lifted a graceful hand in acknowledgment but didn’t bother to turn and look at her father. She continued brushing her hair without missing a beat.
Emerald felt like weeping. Porter was dying, her kingdom was in peril, she had no idea where Maple was, and she was going to have to marry the evil king. For someone who was supposed to be a hero, all she’d done so far was mess everything up.
Chapter Nineteen
WEDDING GOWNS AND GIFTS
Emerald was still despairing a few hours later when the king returned from whatever he’d been doing.
“Oh, darling,” he said to Emerald upon reentering the cottage, “I’ve invited your parents to our wedding. I figured they’d be proud to know their daughter had picked a husband and was so eager to marry him she wasn’t going to wait any longer.”
Emerald felt even worse, if that were possible. She was sure this was a trap for her parents. After all, King Spruce couldn’t rule Medina with her parents still alive.
The king ordered Filari to prepare a hasty dinner before ordering everyone to bed.
“Tomorrow is a big day,” he grinned. “Both of you brides need your beauty sleep.” Raina smiled prettily at this and Emerald turned pale. “Good night, my darlings,” King Spruce said.
Filari helped Emerald to a pile of old potato sacks on the floor on which to sleep. He kept her hands and feet bound, though. Emerald lay down but wasn’t the least bit sleepy. Once she could hear soft snores coming from the king, she shifted herself to get a better look around the cabin. As she did, her eyes settled on the little imp who was curled up in the corner across from her, watching her wit
h big dark eyes.
“Filari,” she whispered. He shot a frightened look toward the king before looking back to Emerald. “Come here, I won’t hurt you.”
Filari crept slowly and carefully toward her until he was next to her. He kept glancing fearfully over his shoulder at the sleeping king.
“You’ve got to help me escape. I’m here to help you—to save the kingdom,” Emerald whispered.
Filari shook his little head vigorously. “Filari can’t, Princess. The master, he cursed Filari. If Filari defies him, Filari will grow a wart.”
“Grow a wart?” Emerald wondered how that, other than not looking great, could be all that bad.
“Yes, Filari will grow a wart and then the master will know Filari betrayed him. He’ll punish Filari severely if he betrays the master.” He shuddered.
“But you tried to warn me—” Emerald started.
“Shhh,” he hissed. “Filari will pay for that, he will. Filari is scared, Princess. Scared and a coward.”
“You are no coward, Filari. I’ll prove it to you.” Emerald considered him carefully. “The king didn’t order you not to talk to me, right?”
Filari shook his head, then nodded, then shook his head again in confusion as he tried to figure out the right answer.
“Well, then maybe you can tell me a bit more about him and Raina,” Emerald suggested. He nodded again slowly, but his eyes were still dark with fear.
“Let’s start with something easy. Tell me about the prince who is supposed to marry Raina,” Emerald began. “What did the king do to him and his family?”
“It was very bad, Princess.” He swallowed hard. “The master turned the king and queen into stone and put the prince under a spell.”
“Why hasn’t the wedding happened yet?” Surely the king hadn’t been waiting for Emerald’s arrival to marry his daughter to the prince.
“Raina isn’t so smart, but she’s very vain,” Filari said, looking a bit guilty. “She wants the biggest, most glamorous wedding ever seen. Everyone in Eseland has been pulled into working around the clock to get things ready.”
“And the king bends to her will that easily?” Emerald asked, though she already had a sneaking suspicion that Raina might be his weakness.
“Yes. She’s the only daughter of the master’s one true love. The master may be evil, but he really loved Raina’s mother. The master’s never forgiven himself for her death.”
“So, Raina is all he has left of her,” Emerald said, more to herself than to Filari.
“Yes. The master would do anything for her. I think she’s the only one who has power over the master—not that he would admit it,” Filari said. He was sweating and kept turning his hands and arms this way and that, peering at them. “Do you, er, see any warts on Filari?”
Emerald looked the imp over, but in the dim light of the moon shining through the cracks in the shutters on the window she didn’t see anything.
“No,” she reassured him. “It looks like you are fine. Now go back to sleep. I won’t ask you any more.”
The little imp gratefully scampered back to his corner and turned his back to Emerald after settling down.
Emerald had to come up with a plan to stop the evil king, and it sounded like her solution lay in his spoiled daughter. She looked over at Porter who was still unconscious in his bindings on the floor. Fortunately, she could still see the rise and fall of his chest in the moonlight. She hoped she had enough time to save him.
As dawn broke the next morning, Emerald was still pondering how she could exploit King Spruce’s love for his daughter in order to defeat him. When the first golden rays of the sun began to creep through the shutters, King Spruce stretched and rolled out of bed. Emerald pretended to be sleeping as he rose and shot a sharp glance at his captives, but she kept her eyes open just a crack to see what he would do.
King Spruce stood over his sleeping daughter’s bed for a moment and tenderly brushed a strand of hair from her face. Raina was actually rather pretty. She had the golden hair of the princesses in the stories Emerald read as a child. Her skin was smooth and her cheekbones high. Her mother must have been very beautiful.
Breaking his gentle moment over his daughter, the king turned and strode over to where Filari was sleeping on the floor. He towered above the imp and cleared his throat sharply. Startled, Filari’s eyes flew open and he snapped to attention, jumping quickly to his feet.
“Breakfast,” demanded the king. “And make sure my daughter has hot water for a bath.”
The little imp bowed and scrambled quickly to the fireplace where he began to rouse the fire from its banked state.
“Wait,” the king said sharply, peering closely at the back of Filari’s neck. “What is that?”
Filari’s hand flew to the back of his neck and his eyes grew wide. There was a wart, and not just a normal wart. This was big and bulbous—it could be seen from across the room where Emerald lay.
“You betrayed me, didn’t you, you filthy little creature. What did you do?” The king pointed his wand at the little imp who was shaking like a leaf and backing slowly into the corner.
“F-F-F-ilari d-d-d-oesn’t k-k-k-now!” Filari stuttered weakly. The king raised his wand high over his head.
“Wait!” yelled Emerald, doing her best to push herself into a seated position. It was very difficult being bound hand and foot, and she was only able to shift herself into an awkward, leaning pose. “It’s probably my fault.”
The king turned and regarded Emerald skeptically.
“Oh yes? How so?”
“Well, last night after you went to bed I asked Filari for a bit of scone.” Emerald was quite impressed that she was able to come up with a lie so easily. “I was hungry. He didn’t want to, but I said I’d scream and wake you up. That you’d be even madder about that than if he just let me eat. So, he brought me some scone . . .” Emerald trailed off, hoping the king didn’t know how many scones should have been left after yesterday’s tea.
“Is that so?” The king turned to the imp. Filari nodded weakly. The king didn’t look convinced, but he dropped his wand. “Very well. I’ll let it go this time,” he said generously.
“I can’t have my bride fainting from hunger on her wedding day.” He turned and added sharply to Filari, “But if I ever find out you have betrayed me, I’ll make that wart grow until it consumes your entire body. Now get breakfast ready.”
Filari quickly bent over his work preparing the morning meal. The king, meanwhile, walked over to Emerald and lifted her into the seated position she had been trying to achieve.
“Sleep well, my beauty?” he asked coyly. “It’s our big day. What say I untie your arms and legs, eh? You won’t run away now, will you?” The king looked pointedly at Porter as he said the last sentence.
Emerald shook her head but let King Spruce help her to her feet. “You sure know how to woo a woman,” Emerald muttered sulkily, trying to sound like a defeated prisoner.
The king’s smile only grew in delight of her misery. “I didn’t peg you as the romantic type. Still, if it’s romance you desire . . .” The king put his hand behind his back and brought it back out again with a bouquet of blood-red roses, which he presented to Emerald with a flourish. She eyed them suspiciously.
“Go on, take them,” he insisted. “They won’t bite!”
Emerald hesitantly took the bouquet from his hands. As the stems touched her fingers, the flowers shriveled up and turned into dust, crumbling onto the floor. The king laughed at the shocked look on her face.
“Filari, get over here and clean up this mess,” he barked, still laughing. He lifted Emerald’s chin and stared into her eyes coldly. “I don’t have to romance you to make you mine.”
Emerald shivered as he walked away. She had to come up with a plan—and fast. There was no way she was going to marry this malevolent man.
Roused by the noises being made or the smell of bread baking on the fire, Raina slowly stirred and got out of bed herse
lf. She stretched lazily then suddenly jumped excitedly to her feet.
“It’s my wedding day!” she exclaimed.
Her father hurried to her side and embraced her, saying,
“That it is, my princess, that it is.”
“Daddy, it is going to be the biggest, most beautiful wedding anyone’s ever seen, right?” She looked up at her father with big, expectant eyes.
The king smiled and nodded. “Yes, my darling. It will be a wedding that is talked about for centuries to come,” he promised. “Now why don’t you eat something and get ready. We have a wedding to attend!”
Raina hugged her father and squealed excitedly. She then hurried to the table where Filari deposited a couple of bowls of oatmeal and two steaming cups of tea.
“Filari, I’ll take my breakfast outside so the brides can get ready,” King Spruce instructed. “Fill the tub with hot water and then bring Porter and the food outside.” He then walked over to the trunk at the foot of the bed and pulled out a simple but pretty white dress. “This is for you,” he said, turning to Emerald.
Raina looked at the dress suspiciously, but apparently satisfied that it couldn’t compete with her own extravagant gown, turned back to her oatmeal. He brought the dress to Emerald who took it cautiously, expecting it to crumble or turn into something else after the king’s little stunt with the flowers.
“Don’t worry, this isn’t a trick,” King Spruce said. “I want my bride to look like a bride on her big day. Now eat and get ready.”
With that, he left the cottage. Filari quickly poured hot water from the kettle on the stove into a small silver tub sitting near the fireplace. He grabbed a third bowl of oatmeal and took that outside before returning to drag a barely conscious Porter out the door. Porter’s clouded eyes briefly met Emerald’s on the way out, but she couldn’t tell if he actually recognized her.
The two princesses ate their breakfast in silence. Emerald was very hungry by now and figured she could use a big meal to help keep her on her toes today. If she was going to win Raina to her side, now was the time to do it. After they finished their meal, Emerald offered to help Raina get ready. The princess looked suspicious but accepted Emerald’s offer. She wanted a little pampering on her wedding day.
