Chapter Forty-Three
Vince Isn’t a Very Good Butler
Crossbody
For the first time in six years, I breathed in Otherworld air and looked up at the Spring Palace.
Until this moment, a part of me had been scared that seeing my former home would fill me with some sense of yearning. That it would make me reconsider my previous desire to carve out a life for myself away from this place. That I would crumble and cave to every one of my mother’s demands the moment I came back. But as I looked up at the palace’s pale stone walls and ornate spires in the near distance, even found the exact windows of my former chambers, I was more aware of Vince walking beside me, his arm brushing mine, his cool, calming scent keeping me grounded.
I was more concerned about keeping him out of my mother’s crosshairs than feeling any worry for myself. I knew he could handle himself—far better than I could—but she was vicious. She knew where to cut with her words. And I wasn’t sure how well I’d be able to maintain my composure if I heard her insult him.
We were alone again, but it wasn’t safe to take his hand in case anyone saw us, and I missed the feel of his fingers in mine keenly.
“This is weird as fuck,” he muttered, looking at the land surrounding us. A flowering meadow stretched into the distance, and cutting directly through the archaic town that sprawled out in front of the palace was a sparkling clear river with gently rushing water.
We crossed an ancient stone bridge that passed over a river bend and followed the smooth, paved path that led directly toward the town. Vince shifted a touch closer to me as we approached, because the fae tending to the farm fields on either side of us began to look up and watch our procession. Soon we were passing small stone cottages with chickens clucking around outside, horses grazing in the small paddocks behind, and young children chasing each other and playing until they fell silent and gawked as we passed.
I could see Vince trying to subtly take everything in. Up ahead was a small stone cottage with its own water wheel, the riverbanks bursting with thick, healthy reeds and swathes of wildflowers. Lining either side of the path we were walking down was a low stone wall that had crumbled away to nothing in some places, thanks to its age, and fat green bushes bursting with more spring blooms filled the gaps. Bumblebees flew in front of us to collect nectar from both sides, a bird chirped from a nearby blossom tree and the gently rushing water of the river gave the warm spring air a hint of cool moisture. Above us, the blue sky was bright and dotted with wispy clouds. The air was already fresh and warm despite the somewhat early hour, fragrant with the scents of wisteria and hyacinth.
“It’s all so weirdly… idyllic,” Vince muttered to me.
“No, it’s not,” I replied immediately, my voice tight. “It looks like it is, but it’s not.”
He nodded, glancing over at me warily. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I looked up at the palace again, much closer now, and felt dread sink into the pit of my stomach like a river stone. “Just… want to get it over and done with.”
“Sure. Yeah.” Vince nodded again, and for a split second I felt his little finger brush against mine. A tiny, comforting touch that would go unnoticed by everyone. “I’ll be with you.”
“Thank you.” I swallowed and glanced around when the cottages started appearing more frequently and closer together, until we reached the town proper and began seeing packed together townhouses. And a lot more fae. Licking my dry lips, I quietly told Vince, “There is a very good chance that I will be recogni—”
“By the gods, that’s the missing prince,” someone hissed, like clockwork.
Holding in a sigh of resignation, I tossed my hair back and fixed a slight, aloof smile on my face. When fae began to stare and bow, I gave them brief nods and kept my chin up, letting the mask of indifference settle over me.
I hadn’t realised just how embarrassing this would be in front of Vince.
I started worrying that he thought I enjoyed this, that I was lapping up the attention and adulation. I probably would have enjoyed it not that long ago. Honestly, I would have been enjoying it right now if it hadn’t been coming from my mother’s subjects, which just made me incredibly tense.
None of them dared try and stop us, to ask me questions about where I’d been or what I’d been doing or why I was back. But we still heard them whispering, and I sensed Vince growing more and more tense with each hushed remark that reached us.
“Do you think this has anything to do with the Summer Court carriage that came through the town to the palace yesterday?” one fae asked his companion.
“That was a royal carriage,” the other hissed back. “I heard it was the younger Summer Princess and her retinue. Does that mean we’ll finally be getting the royal wedding the queen wanted years ago?”
“Gods, he’s so much more handsome than his brothers,” someone else sighed, which made my gaze flicker over to Vince as heat crept up my throat. I saw his eyes narrow at the fae who’d said it.
“Who’s the ghoul?” someone asked.
“Probably just some servant,” someone else muttered with a derisive wave of their hand, which made me narrow my eyes at them this time.
“Is the prince really walking through the town without any guards?” a young fae woman asked breathlessly. “How modern.”
“Maybe the ghoul is his guard,” her friend whispered. “He doesn’t look very friendly. He’s scowling at everyone.”
My mouth twitched, but I managed to keep the smile off my face as I glanced at Vince. He was scowling at everyone, walking as close to me as he appropriately could, and when the crowd thinned out as we reached the more affluent part of the town closer to the palace, he leaned in and muttered, “So the princess is already here?”
My stomach clenched with apprehension. “Apparently so.”
“Are you going to talk to her?” he asked, his voice tight with something.
I hesitated. “I should. None of this is her fault.”
“What if she really wants to marry you, though?” he asked, now sounding somewhat sullen.
My gut churned with dread. “Then all the more reason to speak to her privately beforehand.” I glanced over at him, wanting more than anything to feel his hand in mine. “I don’t want to humiliate her. She doesn’t deserve that.”
“No, I know,” he muttered, stretching his neck until it cracked and letting out an irritable huff. “You’re right. Just… what if she warns your mom if you tell her what you’re going to do?”
I hesitated again, my gaze fixed on the guards up ahead, standing sentinel either side of the gate that led to the palace grounds. “I will gauge her… attitude towards the whole thing before I say anything.”
I had no idea how Princess Ianthe felt about this awful situation, or even how much of the truth she actually knew. Arranged marriages were rarer these days, but still happened among the monarchies in Otherworld. We’d just gotten better at hiding them from our subjects—making the fae believe that they were true love matches.
Although I was quite sure the Spring Fae struggled to believe that as much after my elder brother’s seemingly endless string of ‘true love matches,’ when his wives got cast aside for someone younger and hopefully more fertile.
“Prince Elvis,” one of the guards said in surprise as we approached the gates. “We were told to expect you tomorrow.”
“It’s very good to see you again, your highness,” the other guard said as they both bowed, then hurried to open the gates. “How were your… travels?”
“Fine.” I made sure to keep my stride confident and even as I made my way into the palace grounds, Vince just a step behind me.
“This is wild,” he muttered once the guards were out of earshot, looking around at the lush, manicured jungle that was the palace gardens. It was the only part of this place that I’d actually missed.
“The guards at the doors have spotted us,” I said back quietly, keeping my face expressionless. “Which means my mother will soon be informed of our arrival.”
As I’d suspected, the two guards at the palace doors looked at each other, before one stepped away from his post and slipped inside.
“Okay.” Vince was starting to sound a little nervous. “Does that mean she’s going to come and… I don’t know. Talk to us?”
“Maybe,” I muttered back, flicking my gaze over the palace windows, spotting some curtains twitching as staff peered out. “Or she’ll make a point of ignoring me.”
It turned out to be the latter. After making our way into the palace—with Vince trying to subtly gawk at the huge front hall with its domed glass ceiling covered in wisteria—we were greeted by a member of staff who quickly informed me that my mother was busy and “might possibly be able to make an appearance at dinner.”
In reality, she was sulking because she’d been caught off guard. She hadn’t expected me until tomorrow, and she certainly hadn’t been expecting Vince.
We were shown up to my former chambers, which had surprisingly been cleaned in preparation for my arrival. They looked largely the same—almost untouched since the night I’d fled. It was wildly disconcerting to step back into my bedroom and have it feel almost like the last six years had never happened. Like all the progress I’d made for myself had been stripped away in an instant.
I knew, without a doubt, that was the only reason my mother hadn’t had my rooms gutted. She was good at playing mind games.
“Wow.” Vince set down the suitcase and looked around once the door was closed and we’d been left alone. “So this is where you grew up.”
Fresh heat crept into my face as I tried to take in the opulent room through his eyes. It was frankly excessive in all ways—pompous and stuffy, all of the furniture carved with spindly legs and ornate leafwork, the ceiling domed and painted lilac with gold leaf marbling, the four-poster bed draped in a thick sage green and gold canopy.
I tucked my wings in tight and clasped my hands together behind my back, anxiously clearing my throat as Vince eyed the room with an unreadable expression.
“Yes.” My voice was tight with embarrassment. I heard myself hoarsely say, “I’m sorry.”
He immediately gave me an odd look. “Huh? You’re sorry?”
Fresh heat rushed to my cheeks. “I mean—I don’t know why I said that. I just… I know it’s…” I gestured vaguely and finished with, “A lot.”
He chuckled, making his way closer. “It is a lot. I’m kind of too nervous to touch anything.”
“Touch whatever you want,” I immediately blurted. “None of it matters. It’s just stuff. Smash the whole room to pieces, if you want.”
He stopped in front of me and gave me a wry smile, smoothing his palm down my arm to tuck his fingers into mine. The touch made my breath catch, and I quickly turned my hand to thread our fingers together.
“I think you’re just saying that because you know it’d piss your mom off.” Vince looked amused. “Which, don’t get me wrong, sounds great, but I don’t think unnecessary destruction of palace property is the road we’ve decided to go down.”
I sighed. “Yes, you’re right.”
“Besides, there are way more interesting things we can do in this room than vandalise it,” Vince added, tugging gently on my hand to draw me closer until he could capture my lips in a kiss.
My heart thumped hard as I kissed him back, my free hand clinging to the front of his shirt. His long tongue dipped into my mouth, gliding against mine, and for a few wonderful seconds, I managed to forget where we were and what I was going to have to do tomorrow. That soon—whether it was within the next few hours or the next day—I would have to come face to face with my mother again.
A polite knock on the door had us reluctantly breaking apart, and I could feel the flush in my cheeks as Vince shot me a wicked grin before stepping back to a respectable distance. Then, before I could move to answer the door, he jolted and lunged for it.
“Forgot I was supposed to be your butler,” he whispered with another grin.
I blushed. “You don’t really have to—”
“Yes?” he asked the member of palace staff standing in the hallway when he opened the door. I was impressed by how stiff he managed to make his voice sound. “Prince Elvis”—was he holding back a chuckle?—“is very busy settling in.”
“Apologies,” the fae said, just as stiffly. “It’s just that we have a room prepared down the hall for you—”
“My butler will be staying in here with me.” I interrupted, which made the fae blink at me in shock, then slowly turn his wary gaze to Vince.
“I’m very dedicated to the job,” Vince deadpanned, crossing his arms and leaning a shoulder against the doorframe.
The fae’s pale green cheeks turned dark in a rush. He quickly averted his eyes. “Yes. Of course.” After clearing his throat, he looked at me again and added, “The queen and your brothers have been informed of your early arrival, sir. They are not yet sure whether they will be able to join you for dinner.”
“We’ll be dining in here tonight anyway,” I said flatly, and in a sardonic tone, added, “So please tell them there’s no need to worry about trying to make time for a nice family dinner.”
“Tomorrow, of course, there will be a celebratory meal following the official announcement of your marriage to Princess Ianthe of the Summer Court,” the fae continued pleasantly while Vince’s entire body stiffened. “She and her retinue have already arrived and are settling into their rooms.”
“And where is Princess Ianthe’s room?” I asked, making sure to keep my tone languid and drawling, as if I didn’t overly care about the answer.
“She’s in the Cerulean Suite in the guest quarters, sir,” the fae said politely, then cast another intrigued glance at Vince, no doubt wondering where or how the butler who slept in my bedroom with me would fit into my ‘marriage’ with the princess.
My lips twitched, but I managed to keep a straight face as I dismissed the staff member, then I took a breath and turned to Vince.
“I think I should just go and get it over and done with,” I told him.
He tensed. “You mean go talk to the princess?”
“Yes.” I offered him a hesitant smile. “I don’t particularly want to have the conversation, but it’s not fair to her. I suppose there is a small chance she is fully invested in this arranged marriage, but the likelihood is she is dreading it as much as I would be.”
“Okay.” He shifted in place, still tense, his fingers flexing by his sides, before lunging at me and crushing his mouth to mine. The kiss was deep and wild and blistering hot, and I was panting by the time he finally ended it.
As I blinked in a daze, Vince dropped another kiss on my neck and stepped back.
“After you’re done, we’re going to spend the rest of the day naked in this big, fancy room, fucking in that big, fancy bed,” he informed me, flashing me a brief grin. “So don’t take too long, your highness.”