Page 55 of Rapunzel's Gambit (All That Glitters)

Father was already preparing to leave, but a glimmer of the same paternal warmth I’d once known shone again in his eyes. “Rapunzel, I have a meeting with Lord Morvain, but I’ll come see you in a few hours, as soon as I can.”

“No!” I screamed, dragging my feet as I was forcefully escorted back to my chambers. My ineptitude at self-defense had never been more glaringly obvious, but what was I to do against nearly a dozen men? What did it matter if Pollox had lifted my father’s greed if he believed me to be insane? Kindly locking me in my room until I recovered from a fake illness would still result in me being shut away from everyone, unable to contact Pollox.

The guards deposited me into my room, and Griffin entered, locking the door behind him. I immediately snatched up an empty vase and hurled it at him.

He smirked as it shattered on the wall beside him. “You missed.”

I threw another, which he dodged. “You know, you’re only solidifying to everyone that you’ve gone insane. Thanks for the additional evidence.”

Angry as I was, I slowly set down the porcelain wash bowl I’d been preparing to throw next. “Congratulations, then,” I spat. “You’ve successfully convinced everyone that I’m crazy, but I’m never marrying you.”

“You already have. The ceremony is only a formality. Legally, youaremy wife now.”

“I am not.”

“Yes, you are. The letter you signed was already given over and agreed with your father that upon your safe return, we would be legally married. The documents were signed and sealed two days ago. Naturally we can’t have someone who has temporarily lost her mind to dragon fever make her own choices, and your father understands that the kingdom needs asaneperson in line to inherit the throne.”

“I’ll run away.” All I needed was for Pollox to come. I had been wrong to want to come back. Pollox and I had done so much more for the people in my kingdom than Father ever had.

He shrugged. “Go ahead and run. So long as I’m next in line, it doesn’t matter to me what you do.”

I crossed my arms, seething.

“It was a clever idea to team up with a dragon, I’ll give you that,” Griffin told me. “A very lucrative venture, and I haven’t told anyone else what you did. You ought to thank me.”

If only I could shoot fire from my eyes the way Pollox could from his mouth. “How long did you know?”

“I suspected from the beginning,” he told me. “You did a good job with staging your own kidnapping, but there were signs that it was fake.”

“Like what?” I snarled.

He began ticking on his fingers. “If a dragonhadsmashed his tail against your balcony door, more than one window pane would have shattered, and the glass would have goneintoyour room, not back toward the attacking dragon. That was the only night the entire night staff fell asleep, and they all exhibited symptoms identical to when you drugged men with wyrmsleep. You really need to vary your drug of choice. No dragon could sneak into a castle and drug the water supply, but you could do it from the inside. And finally, dragons only shed scales once every five years, and as they are more vulnerable during that time, they rarely go out, and if they do, they would have shed many more than the four scales we found.”

My mouth hung so low it felt like it should have been dragging on the floor. I couldn’t think of any response.

“Andthen,” Griffin continued, “you must have used the old escape tunnel, because although you did a good job of covering your tracks when you first entered the tunnel, you let in fresh dust and rocks when you exited.”

“How did you know about the tunnel?”

He smirked wickedly. “My ancestors dug it. My father often showed me the trapdoor in the ruins. But besides all that, your dress changed too often for your dragon not to be lavishing you with gifts, you didn’t have sores on your wrists even though the other knights claimed you had been in manacles, and I knew you had a well-rounded diet. Your nails would have turned flaky and brittle with the burned-bread diet that the other knights claimed was your only food, yet when I pointed out how strong they were, you still didn’t realize I’d found you out. You aren’t unintelligent,” Griffin went on, with the air of bestowing the greatest compliment gifted to mankind. “I knew from the beginning that if you had wanted to escape, you could have.”

“Why didn’t you tell everyone, then?” I asked.

“And give up my advantage? I told you: one must always be three steps ahead. If anyone wants to kill a dragon, they must first determine its weakness.”

“He doesn’t have one.”

Griffin gave me a withering stare. “Oh, really? I predict that right now, your precious dragon is planning to come here and help you mourn the loss of your so recently departed father, not expecting us to be ready. I have enough dragonsbane to kill an army of dragons.Youare his greatest weakness.”

Oh scales. This was a grand trap, and I was the bait.

“No!” I screamed. “You can’t!” I threw myself at Griffin, prepared to claw, kick, bite, anything to stop him from harming Pollox.

He laughed as he restrained me, finally succeeding in locking my arms around me then whispered into my ear from behind, “I had hoped that sowing the seed of doubt about the dragon’s intentions would’ve had you confiding in me earlier, but when that didn’t work, all I had to do was convince you that people were plotting your demise, and you signed your future right over. Now, your kingdom will belong to me.”

I headbutted him with the back of my skull and felt a satisfying crack as his nose broke.

“Guards!” This time, Griffin called for them, and they came and wrestled me back.

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