Page 8 of To Steal the Sun

“It will be good to see them again,” Gwen said with what might have been a tentative smile. For all the remarkable expressiveness of the transformed bears, there were some subtleties of expression lost.

“I said Easton can go,” the count said sharply. “Obviously you can’t go, Your Highness. You have to return to the palace.”

GWEN

There had been debate on the matter, naturally. Easton had taken more offense than Gwen herself over the count issuing her orders. Although his incensed response might have had more to do with the idea of Gwen putting herself in harm’s way than any affront to her rank.

Charlotte had mostly stayed silent, but Gwen could read her thoughts in her eyes. She wanted Gwen to go to the palace because that was where Henry was being held. Her only issue was that the count was insisting Charlotte couldn’t accompany her. But Charlotte wouldn’t speak up, not when going might put Gwen in danger. Instead, she sat silently, leaving the debate to the count.

Natalie had weighed in once—she thought Gwen should do what needed to be done because no one else could do it. It was a sentiment so complete and final that Gwen wasn’t surprised when Natalie immediately wandered away, losing interest in the conversation.

The count had plenty of arguments in favor of the plan, but in the end, Gwen agreed because of Natalie’s simple statement. It was the same thought that had taken residence in her mind from the moment the count outlined his plan. Gwen had returned to the mountain kingdom to help her people because she was the heir to her mother’s throne and therefore the one most able to help them. What was the point of her return if she shied away at the first hint of danger?

“I’ll go,” she said quietly. “Of course I will.”

Easton went still, looking down at where she sat. He had stood some time ago, facing off with the count’s enormous shape.

She could see he wanted to protest, but after a moment of eye contact, he ran his hand through his hair and collapsed back into his seat. Gwen wished she could take his hand.

“I can see why you were originally planning to send Gwen back,” he said to the count. “When you still thought she needed to marry Prince Henry to break the enchantment, it made sense. But now we know the wedding isn’t the answer, and yet you still want to follow through with the plan for Gwen to return to the palace undercover. What’s the point of that when the queen also knows the wedding isn’t the answer and even that Henry is already married? You seem convinced she isn’t looking for Gwen just to get revenge or to eliminate her, but how can you be sure of that? If Gwen is needed as a spy to gather information, that tells me you don’t actually know what the queen is thinking after all. So how can you guarantee Gwen’s safety?”

Gwen sighed. The count had already explained his thinking, but Easton was finding it hard to accept. If Gwen was honest, she was as well. It didn’t matter, though. She had to confront her mother. She could feel it down to her bones.

“Of course Queen Celandine needs Gwendolyn,” the count snapped, his frustration finally breaking free. “That much is obvious. She’s the center of all her plans.”

Gwen frowned. She wanted to argue, but her mother had said basically the same thing.

The count looked warily between them before sighing. “You’re right, there is more to my plan than I’ve said. I just wasn’t sure…It seems obvious, but…”

Easton’s eyes narrowed. “What plan?”

The count glanced at Emmett, who had lost interest in their circular dispute and gone after Natalie. The two were involved in some sort of conversation, but the count still lowered his voice.

“From what you’ve told us, Your Highness, I think the queen will still want to go ahead with your marriage to Prince Henry. She has too many plans for it. She won’t hurt you because she needs you to make a public spectacle of the wedding.”

“Prince Henry is already married,” Charlotte said through her teeth, but the count barely looked her way.

“I hardly think that’s likely to stop Queen Celandine from going after what she wants. Nothing has ever stopped her before.”

“How will she maintain her position when the wedding takes place but the enchantment remains?” Easton asked. “It doesn’t make any sense. She won’t even be able to carry out her plans for conquest since you’ll all still be tied to the mountains. Gwen marrying Prince Henry is the last thing we want.” He glanced at Charlotte before suddenly stiffening. “Or is that your plan?” He swung back to face the count. “You want the kingdom to see that nothing changes when Gwen marries this prince? But even if you don’t care about throwing away Gwen’s future like that, what about the actual solution to the enchantment? Charlotte said it requires a royal marriage made with love. If you’re ever going to be freed, then Gwen needs to—”

“That is exactly my new plan,” the count said, watching first Easton and then Gwen with a careful expression, apparently unaffected by Easton’s fresh indignation. “The princess returns to the palace and pretends compliance. We encourage the queen to make the wedding as grand and public an event as possible, and then—at the last possible second—we exchange the grooms. The queen has played into our hand by keeping the prince hidden away, and no one knows what you look like these days either, Easton. As long as we find a way to restrain Queen Celandine herself at the crucial moment, none of her loyal supporters will know the difference. And once the marriage is official, the enchantment will be lifted. It will be too late then to take back the marriage. Her plans for conquest will be dealt a crushing blow since you’ll have a mountain husband with no tie to any of the lowland thrones.”

Gwen’s mind went blank. She stared straight ahead, afraid to move in case she caught Easton’s eye. For the first time, she was glad she was in bear form since she didn’t think bears could blush.

Gwen knew her marriage to Easton would successfully lift the enchantment. If all that was required was for her to look into Easton’s eyes and feel nothing but love, then their wedding would be enough. She couldn’t remember a time when her heart hadn’t been filled with love for Easton.

But that didn’t mean he wanted to marry her. He had always held her in affection, certainly, and his kiss back at Ranost suggested his affection had evolved beyond childish friendship. But they had been interrupted by Charlotte, and everything had moved so quickly since that there had been no time to discuss their impulsive moment and what it meant. How could the count just assume…

“You want me to step in and marry the princess?” Easton sounded as dazed as Gwen felt.

“Am I saying you’re the king I would have chosen?” the count asked bluntly. “Hardly. But ending the enchantment is more important than choosing a king with connections. And you’re not a total disaster. Given your parents’ presence in the city, you’ve acquired an almost mythical status among the ordinary people: the boy who faced off against the queen and lived to tell the tale. You wouldn’t believe some of the rumors about where you supposedly are and what you’ve been doing all these years. The people of the kingdom will accept you as king, and the courtiers will accept anyone who freed them from the enchantment.”

Gwen finally looked up and took in the shock on Easton’s face. Feeling affection for his playmate Gwen was one thing. Marrying Princess Gwendolyn just as her people conspired to put her on the throne was another matter entirely. She knew Easton loved her as a friend, and he had given her some indication he was interested in her as a woman as well, but that didn’t mean he wanted to marry her—not when that meant finding himself jointly responsible for a kingdom in crisis.

He hadn’t even explicitly said he intended to relocate to the mountain kingdom. He had a new life in Ranost. What if he had planned to return to it after he’d finished helping her?

She looked around the dirty basement, her eyes skating over her silent, wide-eyed friend and the determined count before resting on her own giant paws. Nothing about the setting was ideal for this conversation. This was not how she and Easton were supposed to talk about their feelings or their future plans.

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