Chapter Twenty
A whinny of a horse awoke me from my slumber, the mirror slipping from my fingers to drop on the floor. Picking it up, I felt its cool surface and knew my sister must have closed the spell. Going to the window, I saw the party was back. I watched as Gaven took Xander’s horse and led her to the stable, while Xander stretched and looked about the yard thoughtfully. Their hunt hadn’t been unsuccessful. He glanced up to my window, and I stepped back into the shadows. Had he seen me? Did he even know which room was mine?
I was drawn to him: his strong muscular shoulders, his brooding eyes, and his angular chin. He was a fine specimen of a man. A smile befell my lips.
He is mine, and mine alone.
The dark thought came suddenly, and I turned and clutched my chest. What was that? Where did that thought come from? Startled by my sudden obsessiveness over him, I quenched those feelings and calmed my heart. He wasn’t mine. He’d declared it many times.
My door opened, and one of Prince Xander’s attendants was standing there next to a grinning Pru.
“Yes?” I asked at Pru’s beaming face. Her lips were pinched together as if she were holding onto a secret.
“Prince Xander has requested you attend him for dinner,” the man said.
“If he thinks I’m going to serve him, he has another thing coming.”
“Miss.” Pru had gone to the wardrobe and pulled out one of my new dresses. “Not serve him dinner. He wishes you to be at his side.”
“Why now?” I asked suspiciously.
“Why not? You are his wife,” she answered.
“No,” I said shrewdly to his attendant. “You can tell him I refuse. I will not be hidden or paraded about for his every whim.”
“My lady, I won’t tell him that. I can’t.” The attendant’s face paled.
“Fine!” I snapped and moved toward my hand mirror. Lifting it, I repeated my demands to the reflection and then handed it to the man. “Give this to His Highness and you won’t have to say a thing.”
He held on to the mirror with trembling hands and disappeared out the door.
“An enchanted mirror,” Pru exclaimed in awe.
“Not exactly. It still holds a bit of my blood, so it will work to relay messages for a short amount of time.”
“That’s amazing,” she exclaimed, looking at me with doe eyes. How far she had come, from fearing me to idolizing me. “What do you think will be the prince’s response?
“Oh, he won’t like it, for sure, but I’ve played his game long enough. Now it’s time for the rules to change. And he doesn’t want to face me when I’m angry.”
We didn’t have to wait long before Xander was pounding on my door.
I didn’t make Pru open the door but did so myself, having used the time to fix my hair and change into a new deep burgundy, velvet, long-sleeved dress.
I gasped dramatically. “Why, Prince Xander, what brings you to my door?”
Xander held up my hand mirror and shook it. “What witchcraft is this?”
He couldn’t see my smirk. “It’s not witchcraft. It is actually a quite useful form of communication. Other kingdoms have been using mirrors to speak and send messages for years. Baist is, how can I say, a little behind the times. How could you have not known?”
He stared at the mirror as if it were a snake that would bite him. “Really? Even Sion?”
“Most of the kingdoms. Even my small town of Nihill has one enchanted mirror.
Xander’s face was pale as he chewed on his lip in worry, and I slowly began to understand his fears. I hadn’t seen much of the country of Baist, but I had noticed a lack of charm stalls and hedge witches. A magic mirror like this wouldn’t cause such a ruckus unless he had never seen one before.
He stared at the mirror and swallowed thickly. I held out my hand for it to be returned to me, but instead he clasped his hands behind his back, the mirror out of sight.
“Back to the matter at hand. I had asked you to attend dinner with me.”
“And I gave you my answer.”
“I am not ordering you,” he said softly. “I am asking you.”
“Why?” My own voice was barely above a whisper as I tried to hold back my hope.
“Because I’m willing to concede that maybe you were right. That maybe I judged you too quickly. I’m here offering an olive branch.”
“You sound like we’re at war with each other.”
“I thought we were. There was so much stigma, hatred, and fear coming from my parents, from the stories, that I had believed I was being betrothed to my enemy, but I’m willing to start anew. Just have a meal with me.”
I accepted because he was being polite. “All right. Give me a few moments.”
He nodded and left.
Once the door was closed, Pru rushed to a jewelry box and threw it open, crying out in dismay when I didn’t have an array of precious jewels or combs. “How can this be? You are to have dinner with the prince and will be compared to Yasmin. She’s already been preparing for an hour for dinner. We have but a few minutes, and you have no jewelry.”
“I don’t need jewelry,” I said firmly. Moving to the mirror, I began to take out all of my pins and combs, letting my dark hair fall to the middle of my back, and touched up my lips with a dark rouge.
Yasmin would overdo her wardrobe with ruffles, necklaces, rings, pearls, and scents. I knew the only way to outdo her was to not even try. Let my beauty be the only decoration I needed.
When I was done, I turned to Pru and she inhaled. “Yes, I see what you’re doing.”
When dinner was announced, I made my way down the stairs and to the dining room. The long table was set for twenty, and I could see Yasmin and her maidens dressed in their finest huddled together in a large group.
Hiding in a pack didn’t make you stand out; instead, you became lost in the masses. A true gem stood alone. Once I reached the bottom step, I faltered, unsure where to go or where to sit at the table.
At a soft touch on my elbow, I turned in surprise to see Gaven. His hair was wet and styled, his clothes fresh.
“So, you were already married.” His expression filled with distrust. “I now understand why you rejected me in the garden. But be fair warned, witch. The kingdom of Baist does not take kindly to your kind. Magic is and always will be unwelcome here, and the prince and this kingdom are under my protection,” he threatened with a smile.
I actually liked this side of him better.
“Good. And just so you know, if you fail him, I will kill you, and no one will ever find the body.” I laughed and the tension in the air left. We were no longer friends because of our different views but were now equals with similar goals.
My laughter drew attention from Yasmin, whose brows were furrowed so deep in confusion that she gave herself a unibrow. She whispered to one of her girls, who looked at me and shrugged.
I sighed. It didn’t seem like Yasmin knew what to do with me. I wasn’t dressed as royalty, so she had probably assumed I was a lady-in-waiting earlier. But now that I was here, she wasn’t sure how to place me in person, because she didn’t know who I was.
I knew when Xander stepped into the room, because Yasmin’s eyes flicked over my shoulder and her face pulled back into a toothy smile. Her flower girls—for that was what I deemed to call them, each one dressed in a complimentary pastel color—curtseyed as well. My deep red dress was a stark contrast to their almost frail and sickly shades.