Chapter 2
Two
THE PRINCE WAS SMALLER than I remembered.
In my memory he towered above everyone, a giant in stature and poise. Now that I was grown, he was the size of a normal man, with the slender physique of someone who had never worked a day in his life. But he was no less dominating; his presence doused any warmth from the room.
‘I hope you don’t mind me visiting so late, but I saw the light in your window and knew you’d be awake.’ Prince Raleigh brushed Johanna aside and entered the lounge without invitation. He met my gaze, expression impassive, then bowed low, never breaking eye contact. ‘I don’t believe we’ve met.’
‘We did once,’ I said.
Father dismissed Johanna and threw a warning look my way.
‘My prince,’ I added with a sneer I immediately regretted.
The prince looked amused. ‘You have an interesting way of showing respect.’
‘Apologies, Serene Highness,’ I said dryly. ‘My mother began to teach me etiquette, but never finished her instruction before she was taken from us.’
Father shot to his feet and was standing between us before the prince could respond. ‘You have to forgive my daughter. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.’
‘I have no doubt she knows exactly what she’s saying.’ Prince Raleigh regarded me a moment longer, then strode further into the room. Father didn’t offer him refreshment or invite him to sit, nor did he himself. His height was the only advantage he had.
‘You must be wondering why I’m here.’
‘You are always welcome here, Your Serene Highness.’
Raleigh tilted his head back, face glittering with amusement. ‘Juri, please. You’ve never wanted me here and we both know it. I come here on a matter of business. Or have you forgotten your responsibility to this town?’
‘I don’t know what you’re implying.’
The prince cocked his head. ‘Do you not?’ A pause. ‘I see well enough that your people are starving.’
A shadow passed over Father’s face. ‘Your people,’ he corrected. ‘You cut off our water, and it hasn’t rained since autumn. What did you expect to happen when you built that dam?’
Raleigh splayed his hands. ‘I’ve found the result more than satisfactory.’
How dare he gloat like that in my mother’s house.
‘I had thought our arrangement would suffice to keep you all sated. But’—he pronounced every consonant with utmost precision— ‘I can see we’ve reached a perilous situation. Something has been drastically mismanaged.’
Father cast a fleeting glance in my direction. I could tell he wanted me to leave, but I had no intention of doing so. I’d already lost my mother to this man – I wouldn’t leave my father to his mercy too.
‘It is a terrible famine,’ Father said carefully.
‘Yes, it is. If only there was a way to bring food in from outside the valley.’ The prince paused, waiting for a response that never came. He continued. ‘Without intervention, there won’t be an Orlfen for much longer, and I have no desire to watch this town go extinct.’
‘I’ve been telling you this for years.’
‘Then you agree?’ A thin smile. He was facing Father now, leaning against the side table. Lazy, elegant. ‘Somebody needs to take the fall for what’s happened here.’
Father jolted.
‘I’ve thought long and hard about whether or not to kill you, but I don’t think that would solve anything, would it? They trust you. And I’d prefer to avoid another raid on the castle. A fine would be fitting, but it doesn’t quite seem like enough, does it? Blood must be paid with blood.’
Father squared his shoulders. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘Shall I spell it out?’ The prince’s smile twisted into something worse, something feral. ‘The maid’s listening too, did you know that? We could tell everyone—’
‘Stop,’ Father said. ‘What do you want?’
A deadly calm washed over the prince. He turned, scanning the cluster of artwork that hung on the wall behind him.
Most were my mother’s work, though there were several clumsy miniatures among them I’d painted as a child.
Amidst them all hung a single mirror. Tarnished and murky, it barely reflected the viewer, but Father insisted that noble homes were full of mirrors and ours ought to be, too.
It was at least clear enough to tidy your hair in if you looked carefully.
Clear enough for our prince, it seemed, who stepped closer and bent at the waist to examine himself in it.
He had no reflection.
Realisation jolted through me. It’s one thing to suspect that nightmares are real and quite another to confirm it.
I could feel him watching me through the mirror. There came a soft clack as a talon-like nail hit the mirror’s edge, just over my reflection. A sudden tremor racked my body.
‘I hear your daughter is in search of a suitor.’
Father whirled towards me, all colour drained from his face. ‘You are mistaken.’
‘You sent letters to every aristocratic bachelor in Europe. Did you think word wouldn’t reach me eventually?’ The prince returned his attention to Father. ‘I take it my letter was lost in the post.’
‘She has already accepted another offer.’
A laugh slipped from Raleigh’s lips – a sharply exaggerated burst of derision.
‘Do you expect me to believe that?’ He didn’t bother to keep the mirth out of his tone.
‘I seldom leave Rostenburg, and even I know you’re the laughing-stock of the aristocracy.
No one wants the blood money of a social-climbing nobody. ’
‘Except for you?’
‘Oh, I don’t want the money,’ the prince said lightly. ‘Think of it as a political arrangement, if you will. A glorious union between our two houses.’ He spread his arms wide as he spoke. ‘It’s what you wanted, isn’t it? To marry your daughter into nobility?’
‘Not—’ Not to you, he was going to say. It was obvious to me, and I knew it was obvious to Raleigh, who was buoyed by the outcry.
‘Perhaps we should ask her. I know exactly how much your word is worth.’
The prince crossed the room until he was standing all too close. He held one hand out to me, as though inviting me to waltz. It should have been a charming gesture, but all I could imagine was his talons digging into my flesh. ‘Clara, is it? Do you hear the lies your father is spouting?’
I bowed my head, hoping to disguise my trembling. ‘He isn’t lying. I am already promised to another.’
‘Oh.’ He sounded bored. ‘I assume this is the baker who ruined your prospects? We can always kill him.’
‘You can’t!’ I grasped the hand he held out to me, purely out of reflex. The room was warm from the fire, but his skin felt frozen to the touch. ‘Don’t you dare hurt him.’
‘I’m only joking.’ He yanked his hand from my grip and flexed his fingers, his expression unreadable. ‘An engagement is easily broken.’
‘I love him.’
His face clouded. ‘That’s a shame.’ He took one of my hands and planted a chaste, gentlemanly kiss on my knuckle.
His lips were as cold as his hand, but they were softer than Yann’s.
When he spoke again, his words weren’t for me.
‘This isn’t a request. I demand your daughter’s hand as payment for all you’ve done. ’
‘I haven’t done—’
‘Be quiet, Juri,’ the prince snapped. His grip on my hand tightened painfully. ‘I am giving you an out that you do not deserve. You know this could be so much worse for you. I am looking for a bride.’ His grip loosened, his voice turning soft. ‘And you have such a lovely daughter.’
‘Do I not have a say in this?’ I asked.
For the first time Raleigh was caught off guard.
I didn’t know what he was alluding to regarding my father – if he really had done something or if Raleigh was making him the scapegoat for a crime of his own.
But I wasn’t going to sit here and let my future be negotiated as payment for something I didn’t understand.
‘Of course you have a say,’ the prince said. ‘You may come with me willingly, which I feel we’d all prefer, or I can drag you to the castle myself, conscious or otherwise.’
I lifted my chin. ‘Why should I have to suffer for my father’s actions?’
‘I have no intention of making you suffer,’ the prince said. ‘This is hardly a punishment. You should both be grateful.’
‘No crime is worth this,’ I said.
‘No?’ He released my hand and straightened, brushing down his spotless coat. ‘I actually think he got off lightly. Shall we tell her, Juri? She ought to know, don’t you agree?’
Father gripped the back of the settee so hard it was a wonder the fabric didn’t tear under his fingers. ‘It’s for the best, Clara.’ He wouldn’t look at me.
What? The words cut through me like falling ice. My legs felt weak, as though they could no longer hold my weight. A horrible smile carved across the prince’s lips.
‘You can’t mean that,’ I said. I was engaged to Yann. He knew that – he’d given his blessing. Would he really trade his own daughter just to save face?
Father continued to speak, listing the reasons why this match would be advantageous, but I wasn’t listening. Couldn’t listen. My ears rang, horror and rage flaring up within me. All the while the prince stood over me, his terrible smirk drifting in my periphery.
Finally, Father finished his piece. I could tell I was supposed to agree with whatever he proposed. I said nothing.
‘Well, I’ll take that as a yes,’ Prince Raleigh said. ‘Have someone ready your horses, will you, Juri? I’m afraid I came without.’
‘Give me a day,’ I blurted. The prince hooked an eyebrow. ‘I– I’ll marry you … I just … There are loose ends. I need time. Just one day to say goodbye. Please.’ I crumbled into silence under the scrutiny of his stare.
The prince’s eyes burnt into me, scrying into the depths of my mind. I waited, not breathing, for him to scoop out the lie. But he only sighed. ‘Very well. You may have a day to say your goodbyes, and I will return to collect you tomorrow at sundown. How does that sound?’
Terrible. It sounded terrible. No part of me wanted to marry this … could I call him a man? Still, I held a trembling hand out to him, as Father would at the end of a negotiation. For that’s all this was, really. A transaction. A business arrangement. ‘Tomorrow at sundown, then.’
The prince’s handshake was firm, his palm cold. ‘I’ll be counting down the seconds, my sweet bride.’