Page 37 of The Abandoned Princess

I snorted. “I get the impression you don’t usually let objections weigh with you.”

He chuckled. “Xavier and I would never have had any fun growing up if we had.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help smiling. I had also spent my childhood ignoring a constant stream of objections.

“We’ll go now, then?” I asked.

Xander nodded. “It’s even possible they haven’t checked my room yet. I only disappeared yesterday evening, so they may still be waiting to see if I return on my own. It would explain why the villagers haven’t heard anything.”

I looked at Lori. “Do you know the way to the inn?”

She nodded. “It’s not a very big village. I’ll lead us the back way. Everyone keep an eye out for leathery skin.” Contempt oozed from her voice at the mention of Eulalie.

“There was a lot happening at the time, but I was shocked by her appearance in the tower,” Xander said. “She barely looks human.”

“That’s what happens when you mess around with godmother objects you were never supposed to have,” Lori said in ominous tones.

Xander paused for a moment, looking struck, and then quickly resumed walking. “That reminds me of one of the stories I heard from Rafe back in Northgate. Fifteen or so years ago, Northhelm was under attack from a rebel, an ancient creature, twisted by magic, whom he described as looking inhuman. I think he even said something about leathery skin. This man believed he had some sort of birthright to rule—something about being the older brother of a previous king.”

“I’ve heard that story, or one like it,” I said. “It’s why the children all hero worship the young royals. But I hadn’t heard anything about his skin.”

Xander shrugged. “Maybe that didn’t make it into the stories, but Rafe was there and saw this man himself. Supposedly he had collected a treasure trove of godmother objects over the centuries.”

“You think Eulalie somehow got her hands on some of them after he died?” I asked slowly. “I suppose it’s possible. But she obviously didn’t expect them to change her appearance to be like his.”

“There’s the inn.” Lori pointed at a larger building set back from the main road. It wasn’t fenced, but the area in front of the door looked like a courtyard of sorts, with room for a carriage to pull up in.

I hesitated, examining our surroundings as closely as I could.

“I can’t see any sign of Eulalie,” I said hesitantly. “Do we just walk in?”

“I, for one, don’t want to stand around here doing nothing.” Xander smiled a challenge before walking confidently toward a side door.

Lori gave a long-suffering sigh and strode after him. She paused after a couple of steps and looked back at me with raised eyebrows.

I sighed as well and moved toward her. What was wrong with me? Had I become cautious in my years of forced inactivity? Or did I just resent Xander taking the lead?

Once inside, we moved easily through the corridors, but it felt strange to stride invisibly through a crowded building. I kept flinching whenever anyone entered our hall. Xander seemed to have no trouble with it, however, even chuckling to himself at random intervals.

After his second chuckle, I wondered if I had it wrong. Maybe it wasn’t the strangeness of the enchantment affecting me, after all, but was instead the effect of my lengthy isolation. Once upon a time I had enjoyed immersing myself in crowds and would plunge into a crowded marketplace without a second thought. Now I flinched away from strangers as if I didn’t know how to exist around others.

It was a painful realization, and I forced myself to stop flinching, even if it took my full concentration to achieve it. Xander turned up the stairs toward the guest rooms, but I lingered in the door that led to the front rooms of the inn. I needed to overcome my new hesitancy, and exposure seemed the best way to do it.

I pulled the door open and stepped into the tap room. It was crowded full of people, despite being the middle of the day. With the royal tour in the village, no one was following their usual routines.

Afraid of setting off a chain reaction of people bumping into each other, I wedged myself in a corner. Safely out of the way, I watched the people coming and going. Some stopped just to talk, while others ate and drank, but there was a clear center to the room.

A distinguished man with silver hair drew all eyes, not so much for his commanding presence as for the bright jewel he wore around his neck. It was a large sapphire in an ornate gold setting suspended on a gold chain. It would have been an impressive gem regardless, but its most distinctive feature was the way it glowed with its own internal light. Everyone in the room kept glancing at it with the lone exception of the younger man at the silver-haired man’s side. He was deeply immersed in a conversation with the other people at their table and didn’t appear to notice it at all.

The younger man had golden hair and blue eyes and was strikingly handsome for someone in his thirties. He also bore enough resemblance to the man beside him for me to recognize them as father and son.

My eyes passed back and forth between them, but in the process, my gaze caught on someone sitting at a table behind them. I straightened to full height, going stiff. Eulalie was sitting there, right in the open, eating a midday meal.

My instinct was to run out of the room, but thankfully my shock held me motionless. She didn’t appear to have noticed me, and I didn’t want to draw her attention with sudden rapid movement.

The door to the back stairs—which I had left ajar—opened more widely, and Lori poked her head in. When she saw me in the corner, she gave me a confused look. Her expression slowly changed to one of concern when she took in my face.

I opened my eyes as wide as I could, tipping my head toward Eulalie. Lori frowned, still staring at me, so I jerked my head in my captor’s direction more vigorously. She finally looked across the room, letting out a soft exclamation when she saw Eulalie.

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