Page 57 of Rapunzel's Gambit (All That Glitters)

“Like the fact that youhavemade international diplomacy remarkably difficult. You have proven time and again that your desire to humiliate me in public is greater than your desire to care for the kingdom. Now, I’m not making any excuses for my own deplorable behavior in the past, and I’m not sure why it took me so long to see it in myself, but now that I have, I will need to see proof that you can conduct yourself in a manner befitting a queen, not just as a hotheaded princess.”

Beatrix came in with freshly laundered clothes but gave no indication she was listening.

“I can explain! I’ve been giving to the people in need. Pollox—the dragon—was helping me. There was an orphanage we helped, and…and there was a dragon that cursed our bloodline a hundred years ago. It affects the greed of the ruler and now I’ve made amends with Pollox, so that is why you’re like this again…what?”

Father was shaking his head, the overly sympathetic expression back on his face again. “It’s the dragon fever talking, dearest. It’s all right. We’ll get you through it.”

“I don’t have dragon fever!” I looked around in panic at Beatrix, who had always seen through my schemes and plotting and loved me all the same. “Beatrix! Tell him I’m not crazy.”

She kept her gaze lowered. “Can I get you anything, Princess?”

“Get me out of here! I’m not… Father, I ran away to be with the dragon these past months. I was never a hostage and I’m not confused. Griffin is wrong.”

“He’s very knowledgeable about dragons.”

“But he hasn’t lived with one for the last few months. I have. You think that keeping me locked in a tower after I’ve supposedly been locked in a tower for months will make things better?”

Father twisted his signet ring around on his forefinger, considering my point. “I will need to ask Griffin.”

“Why is it all about what Griffin wants? Did you really legalize a marriage between him and me?”

This time, Father at least had the grace to look embarrassed. “It was necessary at the time. What if you were killed and there was no successor in line? You signed your agreement, and Griffin had eyewitnesses that he had rescued you before the dragon stole you back. I promised in my decree that whoever rescued you…”

I massaged my temples in small circles, then addressed my father in a calm voice. “What would it take to prove I don’t have dragon fever?”

Beatrix curtsied and left with a quiet “Let me know if I can get you anything.”

“I don’t know,” Father admitted. “But I promise that I’ll make things right. I haven’t been the most attentive parent since taking the throne, but it will be different moving forward. No matter what, I’ll be more available to you now, even when you’re ill.”

“I’m not,” I whispered. “I’m not sick.”

“We’ll talk tomorrow, Rapunzel,” he told me with a smile. “We can figure this out.”

* * *

The following morning, both Griffin and Father came to visit me. All of my rehearsed statements when I saw Griffin walk through the door seemed inadequate to express my loathing. My only consolation was that his nose was crooked and still swollen, and I’d never felt more viciously satisfied by any other sight.

“How are you feeling today?” Griffin asked, his voice loaded with concern.

“Go jump off a cliff,” I spat.

“Rapunzel!” Father scolded, then turned to Griffin. “My deepest apologies.”

“It’s fine.” Griffin gave a painful, long-suffering smile. “Dragon fever does strange things to people.”

I really was in danger of flying into a rage. If I hadn’t been insane before, he would make me go crazy soon enough.

“I’m curious,” I said to Father with a smile. “Did Griffin tell you that he told me you died?”

His eyebrows knotted together and he chanced a glance at the squire. “No.”

Griffin shook his head. “No, dearest, remember? I said it waslikehe had died of grief when you disappeared.”

“No! You said the people killed him after he didn’t give them their rations.”

Griffin reached for my hand, but I slapped him away. “Maybe you’re confused.” He turned to father. “Sometimes with dragon fever, the victim will project their own circumstances onto others. So, if the dragon denied her rations, she will assume it happened to others.”

“That’s not true! Ask the dragon! He’ll tell you. He’ll…” I didn’t need to look at Father to know he wouldn’t believe me. Who would, after we’d been selling the story that I was his hostage for months? “I want our marriage annulled,” I shot at Griffin.

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