Page 12 of The Abandoned Princess

“I said, that’s enough!” The father glared so sternly that the boy subsided with a petulant look.

“No, please! I really am here!” I called, tears running down my cheeks again.

I used to fancy myself unseen and overlooked, but it was nothing to the horror of being truly invisible.

The boy threw me a look that was half resentful, half regretful. I wasn’t sure if he was annoyed at me for getting him in trouble or sorry he hadn’t been able to help.

“Maybe you could try untying me yourself?” I asked him in desperation, but his parents were already dragging him away.

“Wait!” I shouted, giving way to my desperation. “Wait!”

But they were already halfway down the street, disappearing far too quickly. The last of my earlier hope popped, leaving me even more discouraged than before the boy’s appearance. I barely even registered the other flickers of movement on the street. I was fairly sure the unfamiliar wagon was being surreptitiously watched, but that didn’t do me any good if the observers couldn’t see me.

I suspected a local was contemplating robbing the apparently unattended vehicle since someone had been lurking half out of sight in nearby shadows for several minutes. But even if they came and riffled through every bag, it wouldn’t do me any good. Or perhaps it was Eulalie herself, observing the success of her test.

“That’s an unexpected development.” Eulalie’s displeased voice made me whirl around to stare at where she was emerging from behind a different building altogether.

“You were watching the whole time?” I muttered, more statement than question. The hope I’d briefly held really had been nothing but an illusion. “What if I’d escaped?”

“I told you to try, didn’t I?” She stared down the street where the family had now disappeared. “But I didn’t expect that. Was the boy special somehow? Or was it his age?” Her voice dropped to a murmur, as if she was talking to herself. “Did either of the others ever come in contact with a child?”

“Others?” I lunged over to the side of the wagon closest to her, gripping the edge. “What others?”

“There’s no need to get so excited,” she said coldly. “There aren’t any others anymore.”

“You killed them!?” I cried, genuinely horrified, but also wanting to see her response to my bald accusation.

She stiffened and frowned. “They shouldn’t have caused trouble. I told them…” She trailed off with a glance at me, apparently not wanting me to know what she’d told them.

Had they attacked her? I glanced down at the thick ropes and copious knots. If so, Eulalie wasn’t taking any risks this time. Was that why she’d chosen a thirteen-year-old girl? If I was an experiment, it sounded like I wasn’t the first. If her previous victims had been adults and had attacked her, she must have decided to go for a weaker test subject this time.

“Did I go too far?” she asked, as if I’d spoken aloud. “Is it because you’re a child yourself? Does that affect the enchantment somehow? I’m sure that previously…” She frowned, lost in thought.

“You might as well free me, then,” I said. “I have no idea who you are, so I can’t cause any trouble for you.”

Eulalie grinned in response, the expression sending a chill down my spine.

“I like you, Daisy. You have spunk.”

I suppressed a shiver. It had been beyond a long shot, but I was getting desperate.

“What are you going to do with me?” I asked.

She glanced down at her ring, taking my eyes with her. I immediately wanted to look away but couldn’t. Like before, the deadness of the black trapped my eyes, making me shiver in discomfort.

“Did you know it used to be blue?” she asked conversationally. “It’s been getting darker with each use. If I’d known when I started that I had limited test opportunities, I would have been more careful with the first ones. But it’s too late for that. You’re my last chance, so we’ll just have to see this test through.” She smiled.

I gulped. “What does that mean?”

“I need to work out why children can apparently see you. It must have something to do with you being a child yourself. The others were adults, and I’m sure I remember one of them encountering a child without issue.” She shook her head. “There may be another way around it, or the effect may disappear with time. But if not, your age may be the key. Perhaps when you become an adult, we’ll no longer have the issue with children.”

“When I become an adult?” I asked, my mouth dry.

She smiled brightly. “Like I said, we’ll just have to take our time with this test.”

CHAPTER 5

FIVE YEARS LATER

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