Page 91 of The Prince and the Ice King

“I… hadn’t thought about that….”

No, Reardon hadn’t. Jack had been trying to tell him, but Reardon wouldn’t—

“I’ll just have to call both kingdoms home. Or maybe we could grow so vast together, we’ll combine into one great empire.” Reardon beamed as he said it, Barclay laughing at the jubilant notion and Josie looking serenely wistful.

Reardon was just a dreamer.

Always a dreamer….

“What about you two?” Reardon asked. “Would you marry soon?”

Barclay promptly choked on his wine.

“Sorry!” Reardon scooted closer when his friend’s coughing prompted Josie to smack his back. “I put my foot in it, didn’t I?”

“No,” Josie said, “it’s just…. Barclay already asked me.”

He what?

“Do, um… people not marry here?” Reardon’s cheeks flushed with color. “I thought Oliver—”

“They do.” Barclay cleared his throat before continuing. “But Josie… she wants to be wed in sunlight. I understand. I can wait. Or we can live an eternity just as we are.”

There were obvious reasons why Jack had never argued against his sister’s choice of companion after two hundred years watching the other court members find love. Barclay might be slight and far from a nobleman or a warrior—everything about him would have angered their father, which honestly made Jack bless the couple more—but Barclay was a powerhouse where it mattered and in all the things that made Josie happy.

“It’s selfish,” Josie said, resting her head on Barclay’s shoulder.

“Don’t be silly,” he assured her.

“Besides,” Reardon added, “it’s doable. When I break the curse, Jack can marry you in the garden, no ice statues anywhere in sight.You’ll see.”

“Would that suit my fair princess?” Barclay asked against Josie’s soft brown hair.

“Only if Reardon puts some of that gold embroidery into my wedding gown.”

Reardon erupted with a joyous laugh. “And Jack and I can wear our matching doublets in attendance!”

Jack had always known that his silly little prince meant those doublets with yellow and white gold embroidery for them.

“You called him Jack,” Josie said.

“I did. Now, if only I could muster the confidence to do so beyond… um… being impassioned.”

Barclay and Josie snickered.

“When are you going to give Jack his doublet?” Josie asked.

“When I can see him in it. You two are as much an inspiration as any bardic tale or book. But I better not keep the king waiting.” Reardon tipped his goblet back to finish his wine.

“Youcould, you know.” Josie snickered again.

“Yes, but even after a few hours, I… miss him. Either form of him. Is that pathetic?”

Yes.

“No,” Josie countered Jack’s thoughts, smiling in her bliss. “It’s familiar.”

Reardon rose to take his leave, but since the happy couple had gotten quite comfortable at the table, he offered to put Josie’s lute away for her. When he returned to them, he asked, “I never noticed, but your lute has a bit of patchwork to it. For decoration?”

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