“What? No!” Lucien said.
“I find it amusing you thought you had a choice in the matter,” Princess Elle said in a voice as bright as her smile. She opened one of the glass doors and flung Lucien outside.
He remained seated on his cushion, though the pillow skid a few feet, and he tumbled off the side when it landed on the stone balcony just outside. “What about lunch?” he demanded after he righted himself.
“There’s still plenty of time for lunch. But you should get some exercise—you’re looking pretty portly, even for a frog,” Princess Elle said.
“You hag!” Prince Lucien waddled back towards the doors. “Then tell Angelique to turn me back into a human!”
“Not in a thousand years. Enjoy the gardens—if you get lonely, talk to the guards or watch out for the servants’ children. They were playing outside earlier today.”
Prince Lucien hopped faster, but Elle shut the door before he could reach her and turned to Ariane. “There. Now we can have a little talk without being interrupted. Won’t this be pleasant?” she asked.
“Um,” Ariane said.
Lucien had made it to the wall and pressed his front against the glass door. This smashed his face so it looked rather flat, and made his angry yellow eyeballs stick out more. “You’re going to regret this, Elle!”
Elle jiggled the door without turning around—making Lucien fall backwards—and glided across the room. “I wanted to check in and see how you are coping,” Elle said.
“Thank you for your concern.” Ariane bobbed a curtsey and twitched her skirts so the seams lined up perfectly. “Everything is going quite well, Your Highness.”
Lucien had recovered from his tumble and was back at the door. He planted a froggy foot on the glass. “Open up! I want to eat!”
Princess Elle rolled her eyes. “Ignore him. He’ll get bored and wander off. In the meantime, please sit.” Elle gracefully seated herself on a settee and settled her attention on Ariane.
Ariane awkwardly stood for a few moments before hesitantly choosing an armchair.
“How is it going—really?” Elle asked. “Lucien can be an arrogant cad. I hope he hasn’t said anything too hurtful—or made any empty bluffs?”
Ariane glanced outside where Lucien hopped across the balcony. “In the beginning, I believe he was quite upset about his…circumstances. But he has grown more accustomed to the temporary changes these past few days.”
“Good. I’ve seen the two of you talking, and Severin said he thought Lucien was treating you well enough, but I wanted to make sure,” Princess Elle said.
“Prince Lucien might be rude, but I don’t believe he would say anything in true malevolence to me,” Ariane said.
Princess Elle tilted her head slightly and renewed her friendly smile. “Oh? Why would you say that?”
I should have kept my mouth shut. At this rate I will accidentally offend both the princess and her brother-in-law with my blunt observations. It took Ariane a moment to create a diplomatic yet vague reply. “He is more aware than he appears to be.”
Outside someone shrieked with laughter, and four children—ranging from ages three to eight—charged into the rose gardens. They were giggling madly, but when they espied Lucien, all four children fell silent.
There were several long moments of silence as the frog stared at the children, and the children stared at the frog.
“Froggy!” a little girl who looked roughly four shouted. She dropped the large doll she had been holding and ran up the steps to the balcony as Lucien tried to hop away.
“No—don’t! I am a magic frog! I shall curse you if you touch me!” he shouted.
Princess Elle serenely watched the little girl chase him from one end of the balcony to the other. “Lucien can be a puzzle—just like Severin. They may be opposite in appearances and temperament, but they are actually very similar.”
“Are they?” Ariane politely inquired.
“They are,” the princess said. “Both are stubborn mules who refuse to talk things out, even when it would make things infinitely easier and save many people from awful misunderstandings. They think they are being strong, but in reality they’re acting like dolts, and they are making themselves miserable for no real reason.”
Ariane struggled to hold in a snort of laughter.
“Wouldn’t you agree, Emele?” Princess Elle turned in her seat to address the open door. Her Lady’s Maid stood in the doorframe with a slight smile.
“You managed to wrestle a verbose confession from His Highness,” Emele said as she entered the room with the grace of a swan.
“I did, and it taught me a lesson—one I think you should take to heart as well, Ariane.”
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“If you ever want Severin—or Lucien—to listen to you when he is mad, the fastest way to mend it would be to stay in the shadows, knock him out when his guard is down, tie him up, and then address him. He can’t ignore you when he can’t cover his ears or leave the room, after all,” Princess Elle said with smug satisfaction.
This—combined with the little girl snuggling Lucien just outside the door even as the prince loudly protested and his eyes bulged when she squeezed him too hard—made Ariane bust into loud gusts of laughter.
Elle grinned unrepentantly. “You have the advantage. Lucien is a frog, so he is especially easy to manhandle right now.” She pointed to the scene outside where the oldest boy—who looked approximately eight—was attempting to wrestle Lucien from the little girl by pulling on his legs.
“Do you wish to interfere, Your Highness?” Emele asked.
“No need,” Princess Elle said cheerfully. “He has that indestructible spell on him, after all. But Ariane, I am glad to hear you comprehend there is more to Lucien than there appears to be. He and Severin both have…” she hesitated, “wounds. For the longest time, Severin hated himself because of the circumstances of his birth. He worried what his presence at the courts would mean for Lucien, and that his military success might make him a target and nobles would try to pit him against Lucien.”
Emele made a noise of agreement.
“It was a stupid worry,” Princess Elle said. “Lucien dearly loves Severin, and he’s crafty enough to force everyone to keep Severin out of the usual court schemes.” The princess paused, then stood and walked over to the windows. “But sometimes I think Lucien carries a similar burden. Their relationship—which is unusual given that Severin is illegitimate—has made them both better men, but in some ways has damaged them because they fear ruining it.” She abruptly turned from the window and faced Ariane. “I hope you will be able to help Lucien overcome his inner battle, whatever it is.”
Ariane had been quietly listening, but at the princess’s last line, smiled and laughed a little, then froze. “Wait, I beg your pardon…you cannot mean that?”
“But I do,” Princess Elle said.