Page 23 of The Abandoned Princess

“You said you could see the tower now, too?”

He nodded.

“In that case, I have to assume you’re fully in the same bubble as me. In which case the most important thing to remember is that we aren’t the only ones in here.”

His eyebrows shot upward. “We’re not?”

“No. And Eulalie is extra dangerous because she exists in both our bubble and the real world.”

“Eulalie is the one who enchanted you? Charli mentioned something about her. Who is she?”

I grimaced. “I have no idea, although I’d dearly love to know. And, even more importantly, I’d love to know what she’s searching for—and what she’s going to do once she finds it.”

“Searching?” Xander’s interest peaked. “Charli didn’t say anything about your enchanter searching for something.”

I shrugged. “It’s not something I talk about with the village children. But Eulalie is clearly working on something else than just my test—something that has prevented her from making a move sooner. She spends most of her time away from here, and from what I can gather, she’s searching for something. She wants Northhelm for herself—I’ve picked up that much from her comments—and the ring that controls her enchantment is central to her plan to get it. But she needs something else as well. Something she doesn’t already own.”

Xander glanced around at the dark trees. “What does she look like?”

“There’s no point trying to describe her—” I stopped. “Actually, I suppose now you’re part of the bubble, you might see her real self like I do.”

“Doesn’t she look the same to everyone?”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t always the case—she looked quite normal when I first met her. But when we reached the tower, she stretched the enchantment to cover the tower as well, and the ring changed. It might not sound like much of a change because it was black before and it still is. But it used to be a strange, dull black and now it seems to actively suck in the light around it.”

I shivered. “It’s hard to explain, but you’ll understand if you ever see it. It’s an utterly unnerving effect. And after it happened, her skin became strange—almost leathery looking, although it’s hard to describe exactly. I think it was a side effect of overusing the ring’s magic. It means she can’t just go strolling around the kingdom unnoticed anymore. She still looks that way to me, but Charli says she looks normal to her. Normal but different every time she sees her, and none of the children can pull up a mental image of her appearance after she’s gone. So they can’t be lookouts watching for her arrival. They never realize it’s her until I point it out after she’s gone.”

“If she’s overused the ring, does that mean its power is gone?” Xander asked. “Did she find a different enchantment to conceal her identity?”

“She must have found a different one because I don’t think the ring could do that, even when it was at full strength. And it’s certainly not at full strength now. I’m not sure it has anything left in it.”

“But how can she use it in her plans against Northhelm then?”

I winced. “That’s another of the things that worries me. If she’s right and the ring does still have one more use in it, she may well succeed in her plan—whatever that might be. But if I’m right and the ring is emptied of power, then when she attempts to use the ring, the entire enchantment might blow up in her face.”

“Would that free you?” Xander asked, sounding eager.

“Free us, you mean,” I said, reminding him he was now in this with me. “That would be the most optimistic option. But if you’d seen this ring, I don’t think you’d be so hopeful. Apparently it started as blue, but now it’s black as tar, and seriously, the way it sucks the light in from around it…” I shivered again. “I think it’s far more likely that when she uses it, anyone attached to the enchantment will be destroyed along with the ring itself.”

“Destroyed?” His hand went to his sword hilt, a defensive instinct that would do no good against an enchantment. “We can’t let that happen! If you’re capable of getting out of her tower, why have you just been sitting up there for so long? We have to find out her plan!”

CHAPTER 9

“Oh, wow,” I said sarcastically, “why did I never think of that?”

Xander winced, giving me an apologetic look. “Sorry. But can you explain it to me? Why haven’t you gone after her?”

“Because I knew I had time,” I replied. “Don’t think it’s been easy, making myself wait and do nothing. It’s been the hardest challenge I ever took on. But if there’s one thing I have ample time for, it’s thinking. And no matter how I thought it through, I always came to the same conclusion. The best way of keeping myself and the villagers safe was to wait. I want to live, but I also want to be free of this enchantment, and there’s only way that’s going to happen—if Eulalie chooses to reverse it.”

I put my hands on my hips, staring him down. “So no, I don’t think trying to creep around the kingdom after her is the best way to achieve my goals. I don’t need to follow her anyway. She always comes back to me eventually. And when she visits, I can ask her questions, as long as I’m not too obvious about it. That’s how I know she’s looking for something. Waiting gets me answers, just more slowly, and it keeps everyone safe in the meantime. She’s a dangerous person—she killed her previous test subjects and has already made threats against the children and their families. I was a child when I was first captured, and she had the advantage over me in every way.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again, sounding even more guilty.

I relaxed my stance, realizing that despite my irritation at his simplistic response, it felt good to talk this out with someone my own age. “I may have been a child back then, but every year, I’ve gotten taller and stronger, and I can finally match Eulalie in size. I can’t attack her before she lifts the enchantment since I don’t know what that would do to the enchantment itself, but once I’m free…”

Xander put his hand on my shoulder. “I’m in this with you now, and I won’t abandon you. You won’t have to face her alone.”

I tried to ignore the warm feeling spreading through me at his words. “She’s waiting for my birthday to finish the test, since I’ll be eighteen this year. She’s mentioned it often enough that I know it’s her end point. However, she’s been less forthcoming about what she intends for me after that. But I’m hoping I can convince her to free me.”

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