She placed an arm around my shoulders. “Yes. You see, that love at first sight you hear naive princesses go on about is not real.”
Wow, two talks in one day. This must be a record. But as long as it got me what I wanted, I’d bear it.
Her voice turned soft. “True love is a lot like those lilies you favor. At first glance, it can be prickly and ugly. But with time and care, a precious blossom can grow. Unfortunately, we have neither at the moment.”
I wasn’t really sure where this was going. “So just to be clear, you don’t expect me to fall crown over heels for one of these princes I just met?”
“Correct. But civility and an open mind make a very good start.” The queen spun me around until I faced a young man with blue eyes. Not sapphire, like the stalker’s—this color blue was much colder. Like ice water. The rest of his expression looked frosty to match.
“You!” I stomped toward him. He’d changed his clothes and combed his hair a bit, but I was still definitely staring down the gardener from before.
“Yes, and most unfortunately you as well.” He sighed and crossed his arms. “After meeting you earlier, I’d hoped you had a twin sister with a better temperament.”
My mother’s cough sounded an awful lot like a laugh. “I see you’ve already met Prince Kato. That should make this a lot easier.”
“Or harder,” Father mumbled.
“Did you all drink the punch? Just look at him. This guy is no royal. Unless he’s Lord of the Stableboys or something.” I corrected my previous judgment and wrinkled my nose since, up close, he smelled more like animal musk than dirt.
The air around him cooled, and with almost no movement, his posture changed. He hadn’t grown an inch, yet the prince towered over me with a wry smirk. “Then you’d better get used to being Lady of the Stableboys.”
I turned to my mother, hoping for an explanation, but knowing I wasn’t going to like it.
She sighed heavily and held her head like she was getting a migraine. “Perhaps you understand why I tried to do this earlier in a more private setting.” She turned her glare at Kato. “The king and I had hoped to gently let everyone come to terms with the idea—”
“That would change nothing,” the prince said, daring to cut the queen off. “The wedding is in one month and I will return the day before. She has that much time to get used to it.”
I couldn’t breathe. “Wedding…month?” I managed to wheeze out.
No way. I would rather lick a toad. I would let a wicked old hag bake me into gingerbread before I married this son of a basilisk who had the gall to look amused while I hyperventilated.
Kato motioned to a nearby footstool. “You should sit down before you fall over and embarrass yourself further.”
My palm was in the air before I had even made a conscious decision to smack the smug off his face.
But it never landed.
His grip felt strong around my wrist. His hand was chapped and rough—from hard labor, I’m sure. And his fingernails were black. Not painted black. Actually black. One of them was even broken off in a contemptuous lack of good hygiene.
“You are a disgusting beast,” I snarled.
Instead of holding me off, he yanked me closer and lowered his lips to my ear so only I could hear what he was saying.
“And you are a useless princess who knows absolutely nothing of the real world. You would be the very last person I’d choose to chain myself to. But apparently both our kingdoms—no. The whole realm needs this alliance, so what we want doesn’t matter. I will do what I have to do, regardless of my personal feelings, and you will do the same. So sit down, grow up, and start acting like the kind of princess your people deserve.” He snapped off the last syllable and abruptly let go at the same time so that I stumbled backward.
That was it. Politics or not, he was going down.
I launched myself at the prince, and the next thing I knew, my feet were in the air and my father’s arm was around my waist, most likely preventing an interkingdom incident. He hauled me back and dumped me unceremoniously on his oversized throne.
“If you’ll excuse us for a moment, Prince Kato,” Mother said while Father held me down. “I need a word with my daughter.”
“By all means.” The prince bowed low and retreated. “Perhaps you will have more luck.”
“What has gotten into you, young lady?” my father demanded in a hushed yet urgent tone, a stern look frozen on his face—a look I was used to seeing from my mom but not from him. He was usually the nice one.
I made a big, round gesture meant to imply everything. “What is that beastly prince talking about with alliances, and how could I be engaged anyway? I never agreed to anything. I’m pretty sure betrothal involves both an asking and an acceptance.”
My mother chose to respond. “There was. Prince Kato explained why he needs you, and in your absence, we accepted on your behalf.”