Page 55 of The Abandoned Princess

“I only managed it because the other customer at the stall was so surly,” he said. “He was the one the stall keeper was actually addressing, of course, but his grunts and half-replies were so quiet, you could barely hear them. As soon as I could see which way each reply was going, I said something more elaborate at a much louder volume. Neither the stall keeper nor customer noticed, but my words drowned the other man out for you and Eulalie.”

“I was afraid she was going to go running back to the tower to check on me.”

He leaned over to examine the other side of the marketplace, checking for Eulalie’s retreating figure. Whatever he saw reassured him, because he pulled me out of the uncomfortably tight quarters between the two stalls.

“I think her reaction was quite revealing. It confirms that she’s feeling time pressure leading up to the handover of power. If she turned back now, she’d lose ten days, and she wouldn’t make it to the capital in time.”

“You’re still sure that’s where she’s going? What if she needs to go somewhere else first to find the object she’s searching for?”

“Even if she does, the important thing is that she’ll end in the capital, and she’ll get there before the ceremony. Not even my appearance is going to derail her from that goal.”

“I step away for one minute and you let her see you,” Lori said in a despairing voice, her arms full of parcels.

Xander took them from her with his most charming grin, somehow managing to fit them all into his own bag.

“I think I’ve managed to turn my carelessness to our advantage. She’s rattled, and the more rattled she is, the better for us. She’ll make mistakes that way.”

When Lori heard the whole story of exactly what had happened, I could tell she was impressed. But she still insisted that Xander and I follow her to the stable loft she had found and remain there while she tailed Eulalie around the town for the day.

I made only the vaguest attempt to protest and was soon collapsing into the hay with relief.

“I know I should feel guilty,” I said to Xander, “but I can’t manage it. I’m just so relieved to be off my feet and lying on something soft. When I look back on my childhood now, I see only a sea of foolishness. I really had no idea adventures would be so unpleasant.”

Xander lay in the hay with his arms under his head. “Do you think Lori will believe me if I tell her I didn’t expose myself to Eulalie on purpose so I could laze around for the rest of the day?”

“The real challenge will be not falling asleep. I just know if I nap now that I’ll be lying awake half the night.”

Xander rolled over, propping himself up on one hand. “In that case, you should tell me more about your siblings becoming merfolk. I’m still not sure I understand that one.”

I also rolled onto my side to face him. “That’s reasonable considering it’s a long and complicated story.”

I went back over the story from the beginning with frequent interjections from Xander, most of which left me curled up from laughter. By the time Lori returned with hot food, I couldn’t believe it was already getting dark. Spending time with Xander was dangerously easy.

“Eulalie has booked one night at the inn here and is clearly planning to move on in the morning,” Lori told us. “So I’ve decided we can all sleep here for the night. As long as we’re up early enough, we should have no problem locating and following her.”

“Ha!” I cried. “I see I’m not the only one looking forward to a softer bed for the night.”

Lori apparently felt that comment didn’t need to be dignified with an answer because she merely handed out the food.

I woke the next morning feeling more refreshed than seemed possible. A half day of rest and a soft bed had worked wonders, despite the early hour of our wake-up.

Lori was right to get us going, however, since Eulalie was the first traveler to emerge from the inn and take the road straight out of town.

“It would have been nice to stay another day or two,” I said wistfully, looking at the disappearing town over my shoulder.

“Eulalie is clearly still perturbed from seeing Xander in the market yesterday, and she’s moving faster than before.” Lori seemed pleased with this development.

“From here she’ll surely stay on the road at least as far as Greenwood,” Xander said. “That’s only a small village, like the one near the tower, except instead of being remote, it’s the closest forest town to the capital. It will take us another four or five days to get to Greenwood, but it won’t take us long to get from there to the capital.”

We easily fell back into our previous rhythm of travel, with the great advantage that my feet and muscles had grown much more accustomed to the activity.

On our second day back in the forest, however, I woke up to an unfamiliar view. The scent was the first thing to call me from my dreams, but when I opened my eyes, all I could see was a riot of color.

I sat up, blinking to clear my vision, and discovered I was lying in a bed of flowers. While I slept, someone had collected countless wildflowers in every color imaginable and piled them all around my bedroll.

“Happy Birthday!” Xander stepped back into our makeshift camp, a full pot of water dangling from his hand. “I meant to be here when you woke up. Do you like it?”

“It’s…incredible.” The smile on my face grew broader as I realized Xander must have been the one to arrange the surprise. “I didn’t know you even knew it was today.”

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