“It’s like a dream,” she whispered in awe, then ran to sit on her bed, lifting the blanket to look underneath. “Will it really hold me?”
I nodded, exhausted and famished from the exertion of power it took me to create our haven. By the time Prudence brought me our tray of dinner, my head was also pounding.
We had just finished our meal of roasted venison and vegetable soup when a commotion drew us out of our tent. Two guards, Tipper and Fagen, were arguing outside.
“What’s going on?” Pru asked.
“We’re looking for your servant,” Tipper said. “The prince has demanded we find her.”
My heart dropped as I watched the disorder I had caused by refusing to attend the prince. Did he really care that much about a strange girl?
Gaven approached our tent with another guard and stopped before me. “We have been ordered to search your tent,” he said stiffly.
“No,” I answered coolly. “You will not find any servant girl in my tent.” It was the truth, as Pru and I were both outside.
“Doesn’t matter. I have my orders,” Gaven replied without emotion.
My anger was rising. “I would prefer you not.” I did not want him traipsing through my enchanted tent. I had made it homey for Prudence and me, and the thought of either of them in our private area really set me off.
Gaven motioned to Tipper, who went in. Immediately I heard the guard cry out in fright. “What in the blazes? Witchcraft and black magic.”
Through the opening of my tent, I watched in horror as the guard took his sword and hacked at my floor, bed, tent, and trunks. Destroying everything I had built and created with magic.
“Gobber!” I cried out, but the trunk shattered, and the silky dresses spilled out. Gobbersnot was not in his trunk.
My hands shook in anger, and I had to close my eyes and focus on not cursing him to kingdom come. Rosalie, do not turn him into a frog or a bat. When my tent was thoroughly destroyed, he came out and shook his head at Gaven.
“I take it you did not find my servant.” My voice was low and cruel.
“No.”
“And that was reason to destroy my belongings?” I asked.
“That was Tipper keeping your evil at bay,” Gaven said without any remorse.
“I am not evil, or should I say, I’m not as evil as my sisters. But you’re making me wish I were.”
“Where is she? Your servant?”
“Prudence?” I said, pointing to my one and only maiden.
“No, not her. Rose.”
“Gone.” I lightly touched my veil, pressing it to my face and reminding myself to pitch my voice lower so he wouldn’t hear the similarities in our tones.
“If you have done something to harm her, by the heavens, I will—”
“Stop. She is alive. I promise you.”
“When she returns, send her to the prince,” Gaven said shortly.
“I will most certainly not.”
But he had already moved on and forgotten me as they moved to search my carriage.
Stepping into my tent, I held back my cry of frustration. Tipper had hacked through the walls, the vine beds, the flower chandelier and even my trunk. The lid was demolished, and I knelt down to pick through the scattered pieces of dresses. All of my dresses were ruined, slashed to shreds, along with my few precious possessions, including my sewing kit and book. The dresses could be replaced, but I was furious about my book.
I stormed across the grounds toward the prince’s tent. Two guards blocked my way, but with a flick of my wrist, I sent them spiraling into the air. They landed with a thud as I burst through the tent, letting my anger rage.
Prince Xander was sitting on his chair in front of his empty table, waiting for dinner.
“How dare you send your dogs to destroy my tent and my belongings,” I roared.
His face blanched and his mouth dropped open in shock. He must not have known what had transpired. “I gave no such order to destroy—”
“You send the camp into an uproar searching for a servant—one you gave to me, mind you—and when I refuse to give her back to you, you have your guards destroy my property.” I was so angry my hands were shaking. “How dare you treat me so! I am not a fugitive, slave nor servant, but your wife.”
The guards came into the tent, but Xander held his hand up and motioned for them to go back outside. Then he launched to his feet, storming to meet me in the middle of the room, his face contorted into a cruel smile. “In name only, or did you forget? The title means nothing, you mean nothing, and it will not grant you power or any favors.”
“So I’ve been told. It seems you care more for pretty servant girls than you do your honor,” I snapped. “How does it look to your people and country that on this hunting trip, you not only bring along your ex fiancée but continually seek the company of other women?”
“That is none of your concern,” he growled, and gripped my shoulder tightly.
I did not like the way he touched me. With a flick of my wrist, a powerful burst of air flung him across the room to land in a heap on his bed.
“Oomph!” he cried out.
“And as for granting me power,” I continued, “I don’t need any, for I have my own.”
Opening my hands wide, I closed my eyes and muttered, “Fiegro.”
The candles turned into a blazing inferno, illuminating the tent. Xander sat up in the bed, his arms covering his eyes.
“If you want the girl so much, you will have to get through me,” I threatened. In a final tantrum, I snapped my fingers and made the bed fall apart. He landed on the floor, the frame collapsing around him. If I couldn’t have a bed, then neither could he.
In a flurry of black veil and skirts, I left the tent, passing the guards. With my departure, the candles extinguished, leaving the prince in darkness. My grin spread ear to ear as I headed back to my tent, but not before walking by a group of nobles that had gathered. My show of power, flinging the guards and illuminating his tent, had earned me quite a crowd of onlookers.
As I passed, I heard the more discriminatory terms thrown my way.
“Witch.”
“Darkling.”
“Evil incarnate.”
With every insult, my heart ached, and I began to understand why my mother embraced her pain and cursed the seven kingdoms. If it were the other way around, I may have done the exact same thing in her shoes.
A cough had me turning toward a deep red tent, and I saw Earlsgaarde outside studying me. Looking back toward the prince’s tent, he gave me a knowing grin that made me shudder. I had briefly forgotten he was traveling with us. It seemed he was for the most part running between the trackers and our camp relaying messages. He coughed again and might have tried to beckon me over to gossip, but I had no desire to trade small talk.
I headed to my carriage and sighed. It would have to do for our beds tonight. Each of us could take a bench seat.
Pru made herself useful, bringing in what she salvaged out of the blankets and pillows. Her pillow was ripped, and loose feathers kept floating around the carriage. My blanket was too short and wouldn’t cover my body, but curled on my side on the bench, it would do for a night.
We had just settled in when I heard the door open and shut, followed by loud chewing. I looked over the bench in horror to see that Gobbersnot had indeed found something worth eating—a deer’s foot, probably stolen under the cook’s nose. Being very careful, I wrestled the leg from Gobber and tossed it outside of the carriage. I didn’t get the door closed fast enough, however, and following a growl, he was out after the bone like a dog. I heard the cries and screams from Yasmin and a few of the ladies as the goblin grabbed the bone and took off running, scrambling up on top of my carriage to perch there as he sucked the marrow out of the bone.