4. Gwen
GWEN
T here had been debate on the matter, naturally. Easton had taken more offense than Gwen herself over the count issuing her orders. Although his incensed response might have had more to do with the idea of Gwen putting herself in harm’s way than any affront to her rank.
Charlotte had mostly stayed silent, but Gwen could read her thoughts in her eyes. She wanted Gwen to go to the palace because that was where Henry was being held. Her only issue was that the count was insisting Charlotte couldn’t accompany her. But Charlotte wouldn’t speak up, not when going might put Gwen in danger. Instead, she sat silently, leaving the debate to the count.
Natalie had weighed in once—she thought Gwen should do what needed to be done because no one else could do it. It was a sentiment so complete and final that Gwen wasn’t surprised when Natalie immediately wandered away, losing interest in the conversation.
The count had plenty of arguments in favor of the plan, but in the end, Gwen agreed because of Natalie’s simple statement. It was the same thought that had taken residence in her mind from the moment the count outlined his plan. Gwen had returned to the mountain kingdom to help her people because she was the heir to her mother’s throne and therefore the one most able to help them. What was the point of her return if she shied away at the first hint of danger?
“I’ll go,” she said quietly. “Of course I will.”
Easton went still, looking down at where she sat. He had stood some time ago, facing off with the count’s enormous shape.
She could see he wanted to protest, but after a moment of eye contact, he ran his hand through his hair and collapsed back into his seat. Gwen wished she could take his hand.
“I can see why you were originally planning to send Gwen back,” he said to the count. “When you still thought she needed to marry Prince Henry to break the enchantment, it made sense. But now we know the wedding isn’t the answer, and yet you still want to follow through with the plan for Gwen to return to the palace undercover. What’s the point of that when the queen also knows the wedding isn’t the answer and even that Henry is already married? You seem convinced she isn’t looking for Gwen just to get revenge or to eliminate her, but how can you be sure of that? If Gwen is needed as a spy to gather information, that tells me you don’t actually know what the queen is thinking after all. So how can you guarantee Gwen’s safety?”
Gwen sighed. The count had already explained his thinking, but Easton was finding it hard to accept. If Gwen was honest, she was as well. It didn’t matter, though. She had to confront her mother. She could feel it down to her bones.
“Of course Queen Celandine needs Gwendolyn,” the count snapped, his frustration finally breaking free. “That much is obvious. She’s the center of all her plans.”
Gwen frowned. She wanted to argue, but her mother had said basically the same thing.
The count looked warily between them before sighing. “You’re right, there is more to my plan than I’ve said. I just wasn’t sure…It seems obvious, but…”
Easton’s eyes narrowed. “What plan?”
The count glanced at Emmett, who had lost interest in their circular dispute and gone after Natalie. The two were involved in some sort of conversation, but the count still lowered his voice.
“From what you’ve told us, Your Highness, I think the queen will still want to go ahead with your marriage to Prince Henry. She has too many plans for it. She won’t hurt you because she needs you to make a public spectacle of the wedding.”
“Prince Henry is already married,” Charlotte said through her teeth, but the count barely looked her way.
“I hardly think that’s likely to stop Queen Celandine from going after what she wants. Nothing has ever stopped her before.”
“How will she maintain her position when the wedding takes place but the enchantment remains?” Easton asked. “It doesn’t make any sense. She won’t even be able to carry out her plans for conquest since you’ll all still be tied to the mountains. Gwen marrying Prince Henry is the last thing we want.” He glanced at Charlotte before suddenly stiffening. “Or is that your plan?” He swung back to face the count. “You want the kingdom to see that nothing changes when Gwen marries this prince? But even if you don’t care about throwing away Gwen’s future like that, what about the actual solution to the enchantment? Charlotte said it requires a royal marriage made with love. If you’re ever going to be freed, then Gwen needs to—”
“That is exactly my new plan,” the count said, watching first Easton and then Gwen with a careful expression, apparently unaffected by Easton’s fresh indignation. “The princess returns to the palace and pretends compliance. We encourage the queen to make the wedding as grand and public an event as possible, and then—at the last possible second—we exchange the grooms. The queen has played into our hand by keeping the prince hidden away, and no one knows what you look like these days either, Easton. As long as we find a way to restrain Queen Celandine herself at the crucial moment, none of her loyal supporters will know the difference. And once the marriage is official, the enchantment will be lifted. It will be too late then to take back the marriage. Her plans for conquest will be dealt a crushing blow since you’ll have a mountain husband with no tie to any of the lowland thrones.”
Gwen’s mind went blank. She stared straight ahead, afraid to move in case she caught Easton’s eye. For the first time, she was glad she was in bear form since she didn’t think bears could blush.
Gwen knew her marriage to Easton would successfully lift the enchantment. If all that was required was for her to look into Easton’s eyes and feel nothing but love, then their wedding would be enough. She couldn’t remember a time when her heart hadn’t been filled with love for Easton.
But that didn’t mean he wanted to marry her. He had always held her in affection, certainly, and his kiss back at Ranost suggested his affection had evolved beyond childish friendship. But they had been interrupted by Charlotte, and everything had moved so quickly since that there had been no time to discuss their impulsive moment and what it meant. How could the count just assume…
“You want me to step in and marry the princess?” Easton sounded as dazed as Gwen felt.
“Am I saying you’re the king I would have chosen?” the count asked bluntly. “Hardly. But ending the enchantment is more important than choosing a king with connections. And you’re not a total disaster. Given your parents’ presence in the city, you’ve acquired an almost mythical status among the ordinary people: the boy who faced off against the queen and lived to tell the tale. You wouldn’t believe some of the rumors about where you supposedly are and what you’ve been doing all these years. The people of the kingdom will accept you as king, and the courtiers will accept anyone who freed them from the enchantment.”
Gwen finally looked up and took in the shock on Easton’s face. Feeling affection for his playmate Gwen was one thing. Marrying Princess Gwendolyn just as her people conspired to put her on the throne was another matter entirely. She knew Easton loved her as a friend, and he had given her some indication he was interested in her as a woman as well, but that didn’t mean he wanted to marry her—not when that meant finding himself jointly responsible for a kingdom in crisis.
He hadn’t even explicitly said he intended to relocate to the mountain kingdom. He had a new life in Ranost. What if he had planned to return to it after he’d finished helping her?
She looked around the dirty basement, her eyes skating over her silent, wide-eyed friend and the determined count before resting on her own giant paws. Nothing about the setting was ideal for this conversation. This was not how she and Easton were supposed to talk about their feelings or their future plans.
When she looked up again, she found him looking at her. Their eyes caught and held, and Gwen was doubly glad a bear couldn’t blush.
“Well?” the count asked brusquely. “If you marry Easton, will it release us from this enchantment?”
Gwen swallowed, tearing her eyes from Easton to face the other bear. “Yes,” she managed to say, the word rough and awkward. As much as she hated the way they were being swept along, the stakes were too high for her to play coy.
She took several steadying breaths before she glanced back at Easton. His expression had changed to one of acceptance and determination, and nausea rose through her. Easton understood the stakes as well as she did. Whatever his personal feelings, he wouldn’t refuse the role forced on him by her emotions. And he would never do anything to make her feel bad about it. So how was she ever going to find out his true wishes now?
“If Gwen and Easton getting married will release the enchantment, why don’t you have them get married immediately?” Charlotte asked, startling Gwen out of her dark thoughts.
Gwen stared at her, somehow even more shocked than she’d already been. Marry Easton immediately? The idea was at once thrilling and terrifying.
“Why go to the risk of involving the queen and a bunch of subterfuge?” Charlotte continued. “If you do it as soon as it’s light out, nothing can prevent the marriage taking place.”
The count was already shaking his head before she finished. “If our only aim was to break the enchantment, that would make the most sense. But Queen Celandine is a powerful opponent with a trove of enchantments at her fingertips. If we quietly break the enchantment now, she’ll easily take credit for it. That will weaken Princess Gwendolyn’s position. As it is, the queen has set our chance up for us. She’s the one who built up the princess’s position as the kingdom’s future savior, and we need to play into that narrative. As soon as the wedding takes place, we intend to put Gwendolyn on the throne—as we were promised—and we need to do everything we can to minimize any opposition.”
Gwen swallowed. She had come back to save her kingdom because she was the heir, so she had understood what that meant, but it had felt like a distant and amorphous thing when she stood on the cliff in Ranost. Back in the mountain kingdom, talking specific plans with a senior member of court, it felt entirely too real. If they succeeded, she would become queen.
“So you want the spectacle for more than just the deception,” Charlotte said slowly, sounding almost embarrassed at not having seen that for herself.
Gwen wished she could take her friend’s hand and give it an encouraging squeeze as Charlotte had done for her. Given her own current feelings, it was easy to read Charlotte’s emotions on her face. The girl from the valley had no experience with politics or intrigue and hadn’t even known about her new title until two days ago. At least Gwen had always known she was intended to take the throne one day—even if that reality had seemed impossibly distant. How much more lost and out of her depth must Charlotte be feeling?
“But all of this still assumes the queen will go ahead with the wedding,” Easton said. “How can we be sure she’ll do it, knowing what she does about the enchantment?”
Gwen reminded herself that Easton had always been against the plan. He was worried about Gwen’s safety, not looking for any excuse to get out of the proposed marriage.
“Actually,” Charlotte said in a small voice, “I’ve been thinking about that.” She turned to face Gwen. “What does Queen Celandine think of love?”
“Love?” Gwen frowned. “I…” She faltered, unsure how to answer the question.
A lifetime of interactions with her mother unfurled in her mind. Celandine had never shown Gwen a mother’s love—she had only experienced warmth like that from Nanny. But it wasn’t just Gwen. Celandine had always been there overseeing Gwen’s life, but that meant Gwen had observed her mother’s life for the last twenty years as well. And Gwen had never seen Celandine show love to anyone. On the rare occasions she had spoken of love, or the relationships of her own past, she had always used a scathing tone as if…
“I’m not sure she believes in love at all,” Gwen said.
Charlotte swallowed, clearly uncomfortable. “I wondered if that might be the case. From everything you’ve said of her, and…” She paused again. “You said she knew about my existence and Henry’s marriage, and she knew his godmother had told him a way to free himself from both enchantments, including the one tying him to her. And yet she claimed to know he would be returning soon. It sounded like…like she knew I would fail at the test of trust.” Charlotte’s eyes shone with unshed tears, but she pushed herself to continue. “But not even I knew that until the last moment. It was a rash decision, not a longstanding one. And the queen doesn’t know me at all. That’s why I’ve been sitting here wondering—maybe it has nothing to do with me specifically. Maybe she doesn’t think anyone would have that kind of trust—she doesn’t think anyone could love like that. And if she doesn’t actually believe in love…”
“You think she’s discounting that part of the godmother’s words as…as meaningless fluff,” Easton said thoughtfully.
Charlotte nodded. “If she thinks all that’s needed is the actual marriage—followed by the two looking at each other, human eyes to human eyes—she may well believe that marrying Gwen to Henry will break the enchantment. It wouldn’t have worked when he was a bear in the day and she was a bear at night, but now that he’s free of the enchantment…”
“That lines up with everything I’ve seen of Celandine over the last two decades,” the count said heavily. “She likes concrete realities and doesn’t put much stock in emotions.” His voice dropped to a mutter. “Sometimes it seems like she doesn’t even have them.”
“Then that’s her mistake,” Gwen said fiercely. “She’ll never truly understand other people if she discounts emotions, and if she doesn’t understand us, maybe she’ll underestimate us.”
“We’re still making a lot of assumptions,” Easton said. “We can’t send Gwen to face her alone on the back of nothing but guesswork.”
“Then what do you suggest instead?” the count asked sternly. “Did you perhaps bring an army across the mountains with you? One that you’ve previously failed to mention and that won’t be intimidated to face a force of giant bears?”
Easton shifted his weight, staying silent.
“I don’t want to put anyone at risk, let alone the princess,” the count said. “But we can’t avoid all risks. The queen has pinned too much on her heir to eliminate her now. I’m confident she won’t kill Gwendolyn, no matter how angry she is.”
“I agree.” Gwen tried not to think of what her mother might do instead. If she started thinking of small, dark spaces while they were stuck inside the basement, she might lose it.
But even if her mother did lock her up, she would have to endure it. An entire kingdom was depending on her.
Easton fell silent. From the look in his eyes, he still wasn’t happy about the plan, but he knew when he was past hope of convincing the rest of them.
“What about me, then?” Charlotte still sounded subdued. “I came here to rescue Henry, but I’m just supposed to sit in this basement instead?”
“Not here.” Natalie suddenly reappeared, her nose wrinkling. “This place isn’t set up for long term anything. You’ll have to come back to my house with Easton.” She looked Easton up and down, her lips pursed and eyes narrowed. “But if the plan revolves around no one knowing he’s returned or what he looks like, we can’t go waltzing through the front door.”
“The plan…?” the count asked carefully.
Natalie rolled her eyes. “I was standing on the other side of the room, not down the street. If the plan was supposed to be such a big secret, you shouldn’t have talked about it right in front of me.” She propped both hands on her hips. “And it’s a good thing you’ve got me anyway. You and the toddler over there will be heading back to your fancy manor soon, and it’s going to be up to me to keep these two under wraps.”
“Hey! I’m not a toddler!” Emmett protested, but Natalie ignored him.
“We’ll have to go before it gets light,” she said.
“I thought bears patrolled the streets overnight,” Charlotte said cautiously. “Aren’t we supposed to stay inside until morning?”
“They do, but come on—they’re not on every street at once.” Natalie eyed the window consideringly. “If we leave just before dawn, there will be even fewer because some of the patrols always cheat and head back early. On the other hand, if we wait until after sunrise, the people will flood out of their houses and there really will be someone on every street. If we want to get back unseen, we need to go while it’s still dark. It would be one thing if I had brought giant cloaks or something to disguise you all, but I didn’t know I’d need to do that.”
“Is that really wise?” Easton looked to the count.
He sighed. “It’s not ideal, but she might be right. I don’t spend a lot of time in this part of the city during the day, but the streets have been busy whenever I’ve come.”
“Relax.” Natalie snorted. “I’m not suggesting you hand your plans and your whole future over to a fourteen-year-old. I’m just going to sneak you through five streets and across one square. Then I’ll hand you over to the grown-ups.”
Something about her tone told Gwen they wouldn’t get rid of the younger girl so easily, but she stayed silent. Natalie was Gwen’s opposite in so many ways, but Gwen couldn’t help wondering if she might have turned out more like the other girl if she had been free of her mother’s influence. It was an unanswerable question, but Gwen liked Natalie all the same. At least someone was willing to take bold action and state their opinion without hesitation or pretense.
“If the plan is settled, Emmett and I will head home now,” the count said. “I need to make some preparations before the missing princess returns. The rest of you should try to get some sleep. It will be many hours before it’s time for Easton and Charlotte to head out. And Gwen, you’ll be the last to leave. It’s essential you not be seen until you’re human again. Most of the kingdom still believe you escaped the enchantment.”
“The pure princess who’s going to save everyone,” Gwen muttered, wishing she could say the words with any kind of conviction.
But it was too late for her to quibble now. She had committed herself to the count’s plan, and she would have to see it through.