Page 15 of Make Me Bee-lieve

Sighing, I loll my head to the side as I consider her words. I don’t want to share, but I also don’t want to embarrass myself in front of the Caretaker by protesting too much. Fine. I can compromise. Besides, Aunt Elza is correct. My mother would have thrown a ball befitting the Caretaker to celebrate his visit, and she would have done so without complaint.

“Yes, yes. Fine. But I don’t want there to be any major changes to the plans we already have in place. If the chef can whip up an extra special dessert to commemorate the occasion, that should do nicely.”

Aunt Elza brings all four hands together and beams. “Wonderful! I will let her know straight away!”

Florian makes a show of yawning into his hand again. Loudly.

“It’s late,” I say. “Ser Beatrix, please show the Caretaker to his quarters. The guest room in the petunia wing should do nicely.”

Ser Beatrix steps forward from behind my chair, but Calvin’s mouth falls open again. “W-Wait. Excuse me, Your Highness, but…”

Everyone in the room goes deathly still. My heart flutters into my throat as he continues. How this human man affects me so much is irritating at best.

“But I’m not supposed to be here. I didn’t mean to come down here. You see, I had an incident with my machine and accidentally turned myself small,” he says, gesticulating wildly.

Bile rises in the back of my throat as I stare at him in disbelief. Aunt Elza makes a whimper-like sound beside me, and Florian actually sits up in his chair to look over at Calvin with renewed interest.

“You didn’t … mean … to come here?” I repeat as my right eye twitches.

He shakes his head. “No. I’m … I’m sorry if that’s disappointing. This has been an amazing experience. I had no idea honeybees could talk, but I really need to get home to my shrink ray and turn myself back to normal now.”

Aunt Elza lets out a bark of laughter, causing me to flinch. “Return? Before the ball? Caretaker, you do us a grave dishonor by suggesting such a thing! We have never had a Caretaker grace our honeyed halls before, and you wish to leave moments after you’ve arrived?”

“Aunt—” I begin, but Aunt Elza pins me with a look that challenges me to stop her. I swallow the lump in my throat and steady myself. I am the princess. What I say goes. I glower at her. “He wants to go home. We will let him go back home, if that is what he wishes.”

And then I won’t need to share my coronation ball and all will be set to rights again. Besides, he says there’s nothing for us to worry about, so what is the problem? So then why do I feel so poorly when I think about the Caretaker leaving us already? Infatuation is not befitting of a woman of my stature. No, the sooner he goes home, the better, I decide.

Florian yawns again and waves an arm in the air. “I say let the old boy go home, if that’s what he wants. If you keep him here against his will, he could simply gas us when he returns to normal.”

I shudder with revulsion at the suggestion. “Why would you insinuate such a thing? He would never do that,” I snap.

Aunt Elza arches an eyebrow. “You seem so certain of such things.”

Calvin clears his throat again and says, “I’m really sorry for all the trouble I’m causing right now. But I won’t hurt you. You have my word. Just the opposite, actually. I want to help you.”

With preternatural grace, Aunt Elza floats over the table with the help of her wings and lands beside Calvin. “Caretaker,” she coos. “At least stay for a tour of our hive before you leave us. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

That does it. He smiles, albeit awkwardly, before saying, “Okay. Sure. I can do that. You’re right. I probably won’t shrink myself again, so … might as well enjoy it, right?”

Aunt Elza places a hand on his shoulder and squeezes. “Delighted to hear. But, you do look worn down. We will escort you to your quarters so you can refresh yourself. Ser Beatrix, please.”

I watch from my seat as Ser Beatrix leads Calvin away. He looks over his shoulder back at me, and I nod to reassure him. Something about all of this doesn’t sit quite right with me. He shrank … by accident? How is that even possible? I thought humans were all-powerful beings who were completely in control of their bodies. Perhaps I was wrong.

“Collette?” I ask, turning around in my seat to address one of the knights lingering in the corner. She is at my side within an instant.

“Yes, Your Highness?” she says as she bends over.

“Did anyone see the Caretaker shrink?” I whisper. “Who found him?”

“Our scouts did. They were out on their nightly patrol and found him in a spider’s web, about to be devoured by the Widow,” she murmurs.

So, they didn’t see him actually shrink, but rather found him after it had happened. I see. I nod to Collette, dismissing her, and she goes back to her corner. Florian pushes his chair back with a screech that makes me want to peel my skin off, then dips in a quick bow before leaving.

“I didn’t say you could go,” I say. But it’s too late. Everyone who was in the dining hall, save for my knights, is now gone. “Sure, why would you listen to me? I’m only your almost-queen,” I say bitterly, and toss my rose-petal napkin down onto the table. This is not an auspicious beginning to my reign. Not at all.

CALVIN

The guest room is, unsurprisingly, carved out in a hexagonal cell on the other end of the palace. Ser Beatrix and I walked for what felt like forever until we reached a long expanse of hallways, passing more and more hexagons until I was dizzy and ready to collapse from exhaustion. The inside of the guest room, however, is surprisingly normal save for the honey dripping from the ceiling. There’s a sturdy wooden bookshelf in the far corner beside a couple of plush chairs. Next to the queen-sized bed is a glass door that leads out onto a balcony.

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