Page 10 of Bride of the Fae Prince

“A letter for you, Highness,” whispers the maid, holding out a little tray to Amelia, her nervous gaze casting between us.

Amelia snatches up the letter eagerly, murmurs her thank you to the maid, and is already ripping it open before the door shuts. Surprised by her reaction, I cock my head to one side, waiting as her eyes quickly scan the contents. Color rises into her cheeks.

“You cannot blush like that and not tell me who sent the letter,” I say.

She looks up, and her blush only deepens. “Oh! It’s . . .”

Her finger partially covers the address, but I read enough to blurt: “It’s from King Ilbert?”

She looks up at me over the top of the letter, and the corners of her eyes crinkle in a broad smile. “I’m the most selfish girl that ever existed! I shouldn’t be grinning like this, but—”

“What did he write?” I demand, leaning to get a glimpse. “Is it . . . alove letter?”

“Maybe.”

“Amelia!” I cry, both shocked and yet strangely giddy, my own troubles immediately forgotten. “What did he write? You cannot keep it secret now—you cannot be that much of a tease!”

“You mustn’t let the others read it! They mustn’t know he writes to me!”

My mouth falls open. “This isn’t his first letter?”

She hides behind her letter. “I should have told you!”

“How many letters?” I’m almost laughing now. “Howmany love letters has the King of Enslington sent you, Amelia?”

She murmurs something too quiet for me to hear.

“Amelia!”

“It’s the fifth, alright? Are you satisfied now?”

I gape at her, at the silly grin she cannot suppress, the color in her cheeks. Is Amelia . . .falling in lovewith her betrothed? I can hardly believe it!

“Here. Read it. And I promise I have been dying to tell you, but it seemed so horrible of me when you are facing—”

“None of that!” I take the letter, smoothing it out as I read the king’s elegant script. My eyes bug as I read line after line, until I stop halfway through and give it back. “He writes youlove poems? He is apoet? He is obsessed with you!”

An uproarious giggle escapes her. “He issoobsessed with me! I’ve not believed it possible! But he writes me faithfully and tells me he cannot stop thinking about me!”

“Well done!” I cry, clasping her hand, unable to stop my own grin. “You have done what none of us have managed! Oh, how I have longed for your happiness!”

“It feels like a crime to experience so much happiness while you—”

“No,” I say, cutting her off at once. “You must have no shame over how the cards were dealt. I have wanted nothing but your happiness, and seeing it now gives me tremendous joy.”

Tears fill her eyes, but when she opens her mouth to reply, the door opens again.

It’s a courier, standing rigidly tall as he announces, “The fae envoy has arrived, Highnesses.”

My words die upon my tongue. I meet Amelia’s wide-eyed gaze. Fingers trembling, I lift the veil. She stands, helps me situate it over my face so it falls just past my shoulders. When I glance back at the mirror, a ghost stares back at me. A ghost in a royal blue gown.

“Deep breaths,” Amelia says. “He’ll love you, and he’ll be kind and handsome and everything you’ve ever dreamed. I promise you.”

She knows as much about the prince as I do. The only likely thing is that he will be handsome, as I’ve heard all fae are beautiful due to the glamours they wear. I’ll likely never discover what lies beneath those glamours. But this is the son of the Fae King who encroaches on our borders, who threatens the safety of our people and our very existence.

He will not be kind to me.

It isn’t as if Prince Brochfael would be kind to me, either.

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