Page 24 of The Abandoned Princess

Xander raised his eyebrows. “Is that really a likely option?”

I shrugged. “Likely or not, I have to try. I’ve been playing the role of docile captor for years now to help sell my claim that I’ll never be a threat to her. I’m not foolish enough to think that would be enough on its own, though. The crucial argument is the ring. She knows it’s running low on power. She keeps insisting it has enough power left for a final use, but I think she’s nervous. That’s what I’m going to push on. I’m going to try to convince her that her best chance of succeeding at her plan is to reverse my enchantment and send its power back into the ring.”

“Does it work like that?” he asked.

“I have no idea. But I don’t think she does either. Since the power is draining out of it, she hasn’t had the chance to do a lot of tests. It doesn’t matter if it actually works—I just have to convince her it might.”

Xander frowned. “And if she isn’t convinced by your theory? You’re pinning a lot on hopes of what might happen.”

“And that hope has kept me going for five years!” I stepped away from his hand, glaring at him again. “If you knew me at all, you’d know how hard it’s been for me to wait. It’s not a decision I made lightly or easily. Maybe in my position, you would have handled the situation entirely differently—but you were never put in my position, and you haven’t endured everything I’ve endured for the last five years.”

Xander winced and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m handling this very badly, aren’t I?”

“Yes,” I said with open hostility, “you are.”

“Then let me apologize again.”

As soon as he said the words, I felt myself softening. Xander had apparently come here to rescue me, and in exchange, he’d been pulled into my nightmare. It was only fair to give him some grace while he adjusted to the situation. After all, I’d had five years and he’d barely had five minutes.

“We seem to have circled back to my original question,” he said after a moment’s silence. “What do we do now? Having me trapped in this so-called bubble with you wasn’t part of Eulalie’s plan or yours.”

“I can’t imagine it was part of your plan either.” I sighed. “At least you’re inside my bubble and not an enchantment of your own. That’s the reason Charli can still see and hear you. If Eulalie had enchanted you directly, you’d be completely cut off.” I sighed again. “Not that being seen by children helps when it comes to the other tour members. How do you think they’ll react to your disappearance?”

He grimaced. “I’m not sure I know them well enough to say. They won’t take it lightly, though. Northhelm is still forging ties with Kuralan, and they’ll be worried about what my father will do if I disappear into thin air while in their kingdom.”

“Are you the crown prince?” I asked, wondering for the first time about his family and his place within it.

He laughed. “Thankfully not!”

“Your twin is older, then?”

“Actually we have a highly responsible and respectable older brother and a slightly less responsible older sister, so we both escaped that terrible fate.”

“I always wondered what it would be like to be the oldest,” I said, a little wistfully. “No one would ignore you or tell you to disappear off to the nursery then.”

A smile spread across his face, his eyes twinkling in the moonlight. “But what fun would there be in that? The best mischief is always had when there aren’t too many people watching. At least for us royals.”

I blinked, struck by his words. I had always felt constrained by my family’s insistence on seeing me as a baby, but how many of my various escapades would I have managed if I had been the oldest?

“That is a surprisingly good point,” I said slowly. “And maybe it applies here as well.”

Xander raised a single eyebrow. “My entire family might die of shock if they ever heard me saying this, but I’m not sure this is the right moment to be thinking about fun.”

I laughed. “You’re making me more and more curious about what you and your twin used to get up to back in Kuralan. But I didn’t mean fun, exactly. I meant that maybe we can use our current invisibility to our advantage.”

“I thought you said Eulalie could still see us?”

I nodded. “She can, of course, which is a pity. But it will still make it easier to investigate her. We won’t need to worry about anyone else.”

“Does that mean you’re planning to leave the tower?”

I looked all the way up his tall frame. “Somehow I’m not sure the hiding and waiting strategy is going to be viable any longer. I think Eulalie might just notice you.”

“I’m not sure whether to be flattered or insulted,” he said with a wry smile.

“Never mind that,” I said. “We need to work out a plan.”

“Do you have something in mind?” he asked, sounding impressed.

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