Page 34 of The Midnight Blizzard

“Of course.”

Jack and I walked back to Valencia.

“Do you accept?” she asked eagerly. “It would benefit you both so much.”

“May I see it?” Jack asked, hand outstretched.

Valencia reached her talon-like fingers into her bag and withdrew the proposed law, clutched between her blood-red nails. “It’s all in order,” she assured us as Jack’s eyes skated from side to side.

I stared at the paper with Jack. It looked perfectly legal and binding, and I recognized the signatures of the other nine lords. This was everything I could have dreamed of, and it was all within reach. For several long minutes, Jack and I studied every inch of the parchment, scanning for any possible flaw or error, but found nothing. The language was word perfect to what a bill should have sounded like, the signatures were correct and dated, and the seal of approval from the scribe’s guild was stamped to validate that it had been reviewed.

We handed it back and withdrew a short distance to discuss.

“I don’t see any downside to signing it,” Jack whispered, so quietly that Valencia couldn’t hear.

“Nor do I,” I admitted. “It doesn’t make sense, but as long as we get what we want, it shouldn’t matter. And Stephen is free to select whomever he wants to marry. It just feels…”

“Too easy,” Jack finished, shaking his head in confusion. “But I also can’t see a reason not to accept.”

“Nor can I.” I took a deep breath as steely resolveflooded me. “And I don’t want to wait too long and risk her changing her mind if it really is valid. I only have two days left to get the funding to renew the license.”

“Are you okay withdrawing? You’d give up the possibility of marrying Stephen.”

“I don’t want Stephen. I want…I want you.”

A look of pure joy lit up Jack’s every feature, brightening his face so much that his hair nearly glowed. “Let’s tell her.”

Valencia must have known what I was planning to do, because she had the inkpot and quill ready for me, the document already stretched out on a hallway table. “Once you sign, we can take it to the chamberlain and set up an appointment to present it.”

I took the quill, the point suspended over the paper. Why did it feel like I was signing my life away? Valencia nodded, eyes hungrily staring at the bill clutched in my hand. Her expression made me want to throw the quill down and run. But my gaze settled on Jack. We could have the possibility of a life together if I simply signed.

It was worth any sacrifice.

Before I could second-guess myself, I scrawled my signature beside Valencia’s. The ink gleamed in the light from the flickering torches, and Valencia fanned it to hurry along the ink drying.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?” she purred. “Shall we go make the arrangements to be granted an audience?”

“Yes.” If I had already signed my name, I may as well commit fully. Every inch of my body tingled with anticipation as wariness and excitement flooded my system in equal measure. Jack accompanied us as we sought out the lord chamberlain.

“We’re seeking an audience with His Majesty, King Wenceslas,” Valencia announced. “We bring a proposition from the ten lords for a new bill.”

The lord chamberlain consulted a complicated calendar and flipped pages in a leather-bound book with neat charts and lists of tasks. “I have an opening tomorrow afternoon at lunch time for twenty minutes, or if you need something farther out, I can do?—”

“We’ll take the appointment tomorrow,” Valencia said quickly, not even attempting to disguise her eagerness.

Jack shot me a look and mouthed something, but I couldn’t understand what he was trying to tell me.

“Noelle, dear?” Valencia crooned in that syrupy sweet voice I hated so much. “Is that acceptable for you?”

“Yes, that’s fine.” My stomach writhed and my heartbeat accelerated. Things were moving too quickly for comfort, even though this had been the end goal for years.

“Very well.” The chamberlain jotted down our names and made a note, then instructed us when and where to arrive.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” Valencia told me after we left the chamberlain. She flounced away down the hallway with far too much of a self-satisfied spring in her step.

“I can’t do tomorrow,” Jack told me once she was gone. “Not that it requires me being there, but I have some duties to take care of in Fayrond, the next town over, before the final ball tomorrow night.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, hoping it was true. “Will you be at the ball tonight?”

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