Page 25 of The Abandoned Princess

I waved a hand dismissively. “Of course. Didn’t I tell you I’ve had a lot of time to think? Just because I chose not to action any of my plans, doesn’t mean I never made them.”

He gave me an odd look. “You’re not how I imagined.”

I gave him an unimpressed look of my own. “Were you picturing a poor, innocent damsel in need of your strong manly shoulders to lean on?”

“They are impressive shoulders, aren’t they?” he said with a shameless grin. “I’m not surprised you noticed them. Back home they’ve been known to make girls swoon.”

I humphed and rolled my eyes, turning toward the tower in a pointed show of rejection. He just laughed and leaned close, his breath brushing against the skin near my ear.

“I didn’t say I was disappointed in the reality. Quite the opposite.”

I flushed, glad I was facing away from him, and strode off toward the tower at my fastest walk. He chuckled again and easily kept pace a step behind me.

When we reached the foot of the tower, he stared at my makeshift rope. Closest to the ground was a particularly frilly dress I had made for the sake of a challenge and rarely wore.

“You climb down using your dresses?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. “What were you expecting me to use? My hair?”

He looked at me with a grin. “It is rather long.”

I groaned. “That’s because my parents always insisted I wear it long so that it could be put up in elaborate styles for formal occasions. Of course, it was still a manageable length back then, but after five years without a cut, it’s practically at my feet.”

“Couldn’t you cut it yourself?” he asked. “Don’t you have scissors or a knife?”

“Of course I do. I have various sharp items concealed all over the tower, but that doesn’t mean I want Eulalie to know I have them. And I couldn’t bring myself to butcher my hair with my one official pair of blunt sewing scissors. When I get free of Eulalie, I’m chopping it all off,” I added fiercely.

“That would be a pity,” Xander said softly, reaching out to run the lightest of fingers along a strand of my hair.

“Feel free to grow your own hair out if you like long hair,” I muttered.

“Maybe I should.” He grinned. “At least then everyone would be able to tell me apart from Xavier.”

“Are you identical?” I asked, distracted by curiosity. “My brother and sister are twins, but obviously not identical. I always felt a little lonely, wishing I had a twin of my own. Especially since I was nine years younger than them.”

“But it wasn’t just the three of you growing up in your palace by the sea, though, was it? Didn’t your parents have a ward?”

I threw him a surprised look, and he shrugged. “There’s a desert and an ocean between our kingdoms, but delegations have been sent back and forth, and I believe an alliance is in progress. I’ve studied maps of Trione and heard stories. I especially asked for details about you that might help me identify you, but I heard stories about all your family. I would love to visit sometime. Despite the months I’ve spent in the Four Kingdoms, I’m still fascinated by the ocean. The nomads and desert traders call the Great Desert the Sea of Sand, but growing up in a kingdom bordering on the desert didn’t prepare me for the actual ocean.”

“I miss the ocean,” I said wistfully. “Our palace was on the shore, and the sea is so all encompassing. Even when you can’t see it, you can smell it and hear it. It gets so quiet here without the sound of the waves in the background.”

“You must miss your home and family,” he said softly.

His sympathy nearly undid me, so I shook myself and adopted a dismissive manner.

“Since I would like to see them again one day, there’s no time to be standing around reminiscing.”

“What do you suggest we do?” he asked. “I’m ready and willing to hear about any number of your well-thought-out-but-unactioned plans.”

“We need to find out exactly what Eulalie is planning to do after my birthday. My first step will be to question her directly. I know she’s due back here in the next few days, and it might be my last chance to talk to her face to face. I’ll find out everything I can and make my case for her to reverse the enchantment. If she does, then we can arrest her.” I glanced at his sword. “Mainly, you can arrest her.”

He laughed, but there was a hard glint in his eyes. “I would be more than happy to assist in such a matter.”

“I need to maintain my fiction of being a compliant captive at least until that conversation, so I need to go back in the tower.” I eyed his well-muscled frame, trying to guess how much he weighed. “It will be better if you stay down here. You can hide among the trees—even if Eulalie happens to see you in passing, she won’t know you’re connected to me or the enchantment.”

“Not a chance,” he said cheerfully. “I didn’t come all this way so I could spend days cowering in the forest. And I’m certainly not going to leave you to have that conversation with Eulalie alone. I need to arrest her, remember?”

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m hardly going to look like a compliant prisoner if I have a prince in the middle of my prison.”

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