Epilogue
In Which Words That Cannot Be Unsaid Are Spoken
“Ican explain from my end. Then I would appreciate you filling in the details from your perspective,” Prince Frank said.
“Of course,” Tasia answered. She stared at Mitch until he nodded once, then focused on the prince.
“We were not far from town when the scout found us and mentioned running into you. We got here when the goons were circling the building. Our squadron leader thought the chains were suspicious, but he didn’t authorize engaging until Grandmother announced her plan.”
“How did he hear that?” Tasia wondered aloud.
“I’m not sure,” Prince Frank admitted. “He has been cagey about many things. I suspect he knows I’m a foreign royal and doesn’t want to share information that could compromise the security of his nation.”
Mitch grunted and nodded.
“Then the men intercepted the criminals and we came in here.”
Satisfied that he was done, Tasia hopped right into outlining everything that had happened to her that evening. When she got to the part about distracting the men sent to hunt down stragglers, Mitch grunted again, this time with a grimace.
“I forgot about the first batch of thugs.” He stalked over to a soldier.
She heard him explain the situation in concise language, then start throwing around words like “north-northwest” and other details that made sense to the military man.
Not interested in listening to more, she turned back to Prince Frank and told him the rest of the story.
Mitch reappeared when she reached the part about Bunny’s father making a longwinded toast.
When it was over, the lead soldier person insisted on escorting her home. He had come in near the end and asked her to repeat the tale on their walk. She begrudgingly said goodbye to Mitch and gave her report to the man in charge.
At home, the Galanis family slept peacefully. Tasia had seen glimpses of them during the dance but had chosen to focus on the overall problem. The routine of getting ready for bed helped soothe her. It took over an hour to fall asleep, though.
The next morning, cleanup began. The villagers accepted the explanations of the soldiers because they recognized the royal colors and apparently considered the army village-adjacent.
As the effects of the filemu wore off, more and more of Boschivo’s adult citizens signed on to help the squadron guard the villains being held in the dance hall.
Mitch, Prince Frank, and Tasia stayed out of the way for the most part. They did show some of the soldiers where to find the fire-starter spots so evidence could be gathered against Grandmother and her crew.
The reinforcements arrived a mere ten days later, proving that the army could march with speed when it wanted to. After the soldiers finally took the bad guys away from Boschivo, Frank pulled Tasia aside to talk with her in private.
“If you want, I can take you back to Diomland with me.” When she bit her lip, he added, “Away from your family. Mr. Arany can accompany you, too.”
As tempting as it was to say yes, Tasia only wanted to go back if Mitch came along. But she was very aware of how hard that many people would be for him.
“I’m sorry, Prince Frank. I can’t accept your offer at this time.”
He stared at her for a moment, and she got the feeling he saw more than he let on. “No matter what, I have a purse for you. It would make a good dowry, like I said.”
She blushed at his wink.
“Have you two had that discussion yet?”
Her cheeks would match her cloak soon. “No!”
“You should.” With that, the prince left her alone with her thoughts.
The walk back to the Galanis home was accomplished in something of a daze. Tasia had already decided that she was going to stick with Mitch for as long as he would allow it. She had trusted him with her safety for months, and she was ready to trust him with her heart, if he’d have it.
Her abstraction had the unfortunate side effect of forgetting that the Galanises were not particularly thrilled with her at present. She walked through the front door without checking to see who was home. All four family members were there, and only Chara was happy to see her.
Despite being made aware of Tasia’s part in the affair, her relatives weren’t inclined to give her any real credit. In fact, they were rather put out that some of the other villagers no longer shunned her directly.
“Why are you back?” Pagona sniffed. She had taken Bunny’s betrayal hard. That hurt was expressed in verbal digs whenever Tasia wasn’t needed by the soldiers.
But the soldiers had left. Nothing prevented Tasia from leaving, as well.
She stopped inside the front door, letting the wind slam it shut. Everyone but Chara flinched.
Anthi ignored her elder daughter. “Oh good, Tasia dear. Can you get dinner started? It’s getting late,” she said, oblivious to Tasia’s mood.
Tasia looked at the woman who demanded the respect of being called “mother” but didn’t fulfill the role.
“You know what? I’m not going to make dinner anymore.”
Anthi and the other adults gaped at her.
“I’m not your servant, and I’m not going to act like it.”
Anger painted frown lines on Stavros’ face. “Now listen here, young lady. As long as you live under this roof, you will contribute—”
“You mean like the rest of you ‘contribute’?” she interrupted without remorse. “Don’t worry. I have a simple fix: I’m moving out.”
“You can’t do that,” Stavros blustered.
A suspicion tickled her mind. “Why not? Is Cindy paying you a monthly stipend?”
The husband and wife pair exchanged a guilty look.
“Un-be-lievable.” Tasia shook her head. “Well! I really have no reason to stay.”
“You won’t survive on your own,” Pagona sneered, finally finding her tongue again. “Ugly girls never last long.”
Tasia felt the involuntary eyeroll down to her toes. “That’s it. There’s no reason for me to hold back any longer, either.”
Pagona opened her mouth to speak, but Tasia rolled right over her.
“Pagona, you are well on your way to becoming as selfish and evil as Bunny. Do you really want to end up like her? Rotting in the king’s prison?”
“Tasia,” Anthi admonished, “that is no way to talk to—”
“Oh, I have words for you, too, Mother Anthi.” Tasia put her hands on her hips. “Your laziness and refusal to mother your children is a sneakier kind of evil, but it’s still evil.”
A small crash sounded from the kitchen, followed by Chara’s small “Oops.”
Everyone else ignored her as Tasia swiveled to face Stavros again and jabbed her finger in his direction.
“And you! Your willing refusal to rein in your family when you find it inconvenient is the root of it all. Be a real man and engage.”
Silence met her final proclamation. She made deliberate eye contact with each one, then turned around and swept back out the door.
It took a while for her heart rate and breathing to settle, but she felt good. Exactly the right words had come exactly when she needed them. She felt strong and, dare she say it, smart.
Mitch found her wandering outside the inn yard some time later.
When she explained what had happened, he laughed for a solid minute.
Then he gave her a hug, told her how proud he was, and offered to retrieve her things since, as he put it, she had made the Galanis home too hot to hold her at present.
Gathering Tasia’s things from the Galanis household was fun for Mitch.
He didn’t say a single word, which seemed to fluster them more, and laughed up his sleeve the whole time.
Tasia had told him what to look for and where she had hidden her earnings.
The expressions on their faces when he pulled twelve coin pouches out of a stack of old buckets was too much.
He took his time fishing each pouch out separately, making sure to shake each one to hear the coins clink.
When he tired of tormenting Tasia’s tormentors, he returned to the inn where he had secured a room for her.
There, he spent a pleasant half-hour helping her rearrange her trunk to hide the coins he had recovered and the heavy purse that Frank had given her.
Then he spent a frustrating half-hour trying to nobly convince her to go back to Diomland with the prince.
In his heart of hearts, Mitch wanted nothing more than to whisk Tasia away from Boschivo and take her anywhere else. Anywhere but a giant city pretending to be a small country. He admitted the selfish thought to himself but didn’t share it with her.
“Don’t you want to reconnect with your friends?” he asked for the third time.
A sigh that told him she was on the edge of her patience warned him to back off. “Of course, I do. But I can write letters from anywhere.”
He nodded reluctantly.
“Where do you want to go?” Tasia asked, also for the third time.
Mitch felt obligated to guard her delightful, but oblivious, self until she established herself somewhere.
The first two times, he had fobbed her off with something vague, but this time, he risked an answer closer to the truth.
“I will happily escort you around for as long as you want me to or until you find a permanent place.”
She brightened, all traces of irritation vanishing. “I would love that!”
“Where do you want to go first? Diomland?”
“Ugh!” Tasia let her head fall to the desk in her new room. “I can’t do this with you right now. Please leave.”
“As you wish.” Mitch vacated the room and headed for his.
He was intercepted by the prince.
“May I talk with you for a moment?”
Cranky and out of sorts, Mitch didn’t have a valid reason to avoid the royal, so he followed the man to the same cramped room he had occupied before.
Mitch crossed his arms and stared the prince down.
To his credit, Frank didn’t flinch. He walked over to the chair and sat down. “I’m heading out tomorrow.”
“But Tasia—”
Frank held up one hand. “Miss Stone does not want to come with me. I’m not one to force a lady to do something against her will.” He dropped his hand. “I don’t believe that you are, either.”
Mitch mutely shook his head.
“I can also tell that you and Miss Stone haven’t talked about your mutual feelings yet.”
Mitch puffed his chest, on the defensive until an important word repeated in his mind. “Wait, mutual?”
The prince snorted. “I like to live up to my name and be frank, but matters of the heart are best resolved heart-to-heart.” He stood and walked the single step to the door. “And since my heart isn’t involved, I’m staying out of it.”
Stunned, Mitch obeyed the invitation of the open door and stumbled toward his room.
He was doomed to another delay when Tasia popped into the hallway. At least this delay was easy on the eyes.
“Join me, please,” she all but demanded, disappearing into her room and expecting him to follow.
Naturally, he did as she said. After closing the door behind himself, he found her posed by the fireplace.
“Let’s try this again.” Tasia folded her hands at her waist. “Mitch. Where would you choose to live if you had that choice?”
The hope that she would see things from his perspective and do what was best for herself faded into confusion. “I can’t stay in one place for long. Too many folks are, rightly, suspicious of me.”
“In that case, I want to go wherever you go. Until you tell me to get lost.”
Mitch blinked at her, feeling thick.
She twinkled at him. “And you know I can get lost in no time flat, so that’s pretty much a guarantee.”
Frank’s words and Tasia’s sassy-sweet smile cemented something in him:
Maybe what was best for Tasia was being with him.
“You know,” he began, as a smile formed that he couldn’t stop, “when you say things like that, I get the idea that you might like me.”
“I love you,” she stated.
He blinked, then laughed. “Well, that works out, because I love you, too.”
Tasia snapped her fingers. “Perfect! Then we can take turns choosing where to go.”
“There is one more thing to consider,” he said with a “serious” face. “If we’re traveling all over the known world alone, tongues will begin to wag—”
“I thought that was a dog thing. Do—”
“Don’t finish that,” he warned with a mock frown.
She laughed and waved for him to continue.
“Do you want to hold onto your villainous reputation?”
Tasia tapped her chin as she peered at the sky. “Hmm.” She looked at him and raised both hands in a shrug. “I can think of one easy solution.”
Mitch stalked closer. “Oh, you can, can you?”
“Uh-huh.” She bent her head back to look up at him. “Marry me.”
Instead of answering, Mitch closed the last of the distance and captured her mouth with his. An involuntary growl rumbled in his chest when she responded enthusiastically.
Some time later, they pulled apart—slightly—and Tasia smiled at him from the safety of his arms. She raised her eyebrows. “So that’s a ‘yes,’ then?”
“That’s a ‘yes,’” he answered before guiding her lips back to his.