“You lie!” the fake prince yelled, pointing to his ruffled chest. “I am Prince Iver Daring!”
Jon shook his head, his expression full of sorrow as he clapped the fake prince on the shoulder. “Nay, Jon. There is no reason to play the part any longer. You had us locked in a cell to keep us from the inevitable happening. I know it was your fear that made you respond as such. You somehow found out about our arrival, and you did not want to risk being exposed. Was that not the way?”
The prince waffled, his face, so identical to Jon’s going red, but he remained silent.
“’Tis as I thought. But now we must tell the truth, Jon Doe. Would you lose Resplendant, the love of your life for all time by pretending you are something you are not? Do riches mean more to your heart than true love? Do you wish to be wed to someone you do not love? Isn’t that how this whole adventure started? Because I did not wish to be wed to someone I did not love.”
The prince waffled, his eyes straying to the king and queen in guilt, but he didn’t appear to be backing down. He was staying in character to the bitter end. “He lies, I say! Guards, arrest him!”
The slice of steel in the air as the guards drew their swords made Toni scream, “No!”
An old woman from the far corner of the room, wearing a magnificent coat in red crushed velvet lined with white fur and a hood shadowing her face, pointed upward, her wrinkled finger aimed at Toni. “It’s her! Price Iver’s one true love!”
The crowd gasped again, followed by murmurs and whispers behind their gloved hands.
She watched as Jon’s eyes flew upward to meet hers, his face a mixture of relief and guilt and more relief.
But she wasn’t having any of it. He’d lied to her. Boy, had he lied, big time.
She narrowed her gaze in his direction and jabbed a finger in the air. “Oh, Jon Doe or whoever you are, are you in for a rash of shit from me! All this time you had me believing you were some simple reindeer farmer and you’re a prince? What was it you asked me just yesterday? If I could stay here with you, would living with a poor farmer make me happy? Yep! That’s what you asked me, Reindeer Whisperer. Was it some kind of test to see if you could get someone to fall in love with you if you were poor? You lied to me, buddy, and you owe me an explanation!” she called from the balcony as she raced toward the first few steps of the staircase, only to have the guards stop her.
Nina pushed her way from the edge of the throng of people and ran up the steps. “You hurt one little hair on her red head, I eat you!” She leered in the face of a guard, who shrank back from the flash of her fangs.
Jon moved from the crowd, but the guards grabbed his arms, too. “You know ’tis not true, Toni. I have been gone from the castle for nigh on a year now. This plan was set in motion long before I knew you. Just ask him,” he said sarcastically, thumbing his hand at the prince—who wasn’t really the prince.
Oy.
“Silence!” the king roared upward, shaking his gold scepter, his jewel-encrusted crown rocking on his dark head as guards grabbed Toni’s arms, thwarting her descent. “You will all be silent until I command that you speak!”
Jon stopped straining against the guards, as did Toni, but the second she got the chance to give him a good tongue lashing, he’d better take cover.
“Now, I would ask that you offer me an explanation,” King Dick said, peering at Jon. “Who are you and how dare you use this sacred night for such deceit?”
Yeah. How dare ye!
Jon looked to the king, remorse in his sapphire eyes, but he lifted his jaw high with clear pride. “I did not plan it this way, Father. I ask that you hear my story before you judge, and then you may do with me as you see fit. But in the process, I ask that you spare the real Jon Doe your wrath. He is not guilty of this caper. ’Twas I who convinced him.”
The king crossed his arms over his gold-and-white jacket, his lips, so like Jon’s, thinning. He rolled his hand. “Carry on,” he ordered curtly.
Jon shrugged the guards off to stand before his parents. “I did not wish to marry Resplendant, Father. We are all wrong for each other. Still, I knew the merger you made with her mother was important to you. So one day, whilst in the woods pondering thus, I met Jon Doe. Neither of us could believe how uncanny ’twas that we looked so much alike. As we talked, I came to discover he and Resplendant were deeply in love. Yet, Queen Angria would not hear of a peasant marrying her royal daughter. They hid their love, and I saw the pain in his eyes. The timing was, as one would say, exceptional and uncanny. So we struck a deal to switch places…”