Page 48 of Charmless
I gave an incredulous laugh. “A bit too late for that, don’t you think?”
Ryland paled. “Too late? Oh, Ella, you cannot accept his proposal!”
“What right do you have to tell me what I can or cannot do?”
“None, except I still care about you too much to see you wedded to that monster.”
I arched my brow. “I realize from the way you behaved at the ball, that there is little brotherly affection between you and Florian, but to call him amonster?Isn’t that rather strong?”
Ryland shook his head vehemently. “You have no idea what he is really like. No one does. Every foolish maiden in this kingdom melts over his good looks and charming smile, but I had hoped you would be wiser.”
“I am fully aware of your brother’s flaws. He can be vain, arrogant and I suspect he is more than a little spoiled. But I have glimpsed an entirely different side of him.”
“Such as?”
“Well... ” I paused, wondering why I had any temptation to defend Florian. I could easily have allayed Ryland’s fears andassured him I had no intention of marrying his brother. But after the callous way Ryland had trampled over my heart, I felt no urge to put an end to his misery. Petty of me, perhaps, but I have never claimed to be a sweet kind of girl.
“Only this afternoon, I was surprised to discover how vulnerable Florian can be. When he told me about your father’s illness, he was so distressed, fearing for the king’s life. He clearly values my opinion. When I urged to him to spend time with the king before it was too late, Florian rushed back to the palace.”
Ryland rolled his eyes. “He rushed back home to boast to me about how he was winning your heart, serenading you withmysongs. Then he went hunting.”
“But Florian had tears in his eyes, and I would swear they were genuine.”
“My brother can feign tears as easily as his charming smiles. He would have made a better strolling player than a prince.”
“So would you,” I retorted. “Deceit appears to be a trait that comes naturally to your family. Did you know on the night of the ball, one of your wretched twin brothers convinced my little sister Amy that he had fallen in love with her to seduce her? Now she spends every day dreaming Dashiel will come and sweep her away on a white charger to live happily ever after.”
Ryland had the grace to look ashamed. “If Dash did that, I am sorry. I fear we are all a despicable lot, except my brother Kendrick who is kind and gentle. Almost too much so. But Florian is the worst of us. You must believe me when I tell you that.”
“No, I don’t,” I replied coldly, staring down at the rill where a little doe had crept out of the woodland for a drink.
Although he winced at his sore ankle, Ryland, in his agitation, took to pacing. The clatter of his boots striking the bridge startled the doe into darting back through the trees.
Ryland halted and faced me, demanding, “Were you surprised when Florian chose you over all the other ladies who attended the ball? Did you ever stop to ask yourself why?”
I thought that Florian’s choice had been inspired by the amount of pixie dust he had snorted. That and my rejection of his suit had presented the prince with an irresistible challenge.
But I said, “Florian declared that he fell in love with me at first sight or do you find such a thing impossible?”
Ryland gave me a longing glance. “No, Ella. I know how easily a man can lose his heart to you. But Florian is incapable of loving or being true to anyone but himself. Only last year he declared himself smitten with Princess Ermengarde of Bryngar, writing her love poems, singing beneath her window, following her everywhere. He pursued her so relentlessly, his courtship amounted to persecution.
“When the princess persisted in her refusals, Florian climbed into her bedchamber one night. When Ermengarde awoke to find him groping her, she screamed for the guards. Florian claimed she was under a sleeping curse and he was just trying to awaken her. The incident caused such outrage, it took all the Great Mercato’s skills in diplomacy to keep our two kingdoms from going to war.”
I gripped the handrails of the bridge, unwilling to let Ryland see how much this story about Florian disturbed me. Except for the part about sneaking into the bedchamber, it sounded too uncomfortably like Florian’s courtship of me. Yet for all I knew, astorywas all this was.
“How strange,” I remarked. “If Bryngar and Arcady were so close to war, not a single rumor of it ever reached this kingdom.”
“That is because my father and his wizard have always been very good at suppressing any word of my brother’s transgressions.”
A bitter expression stole into Ryland’s eyes, and he absently rubbed his false hand as he continued, “Florian behaved so badly abroad, my father decided the only way to get my brother safely wed was to invite all the women of the kingdom to this year’s ball.”
“Really? I thought the king’s true aim was to fleece us all out of our money purchasing those exorbitant tickets.”
Ryland hung his head, once more looking ashamed of his family. “That is partly true,” he admitted. “My father did hope Florian would find a bride, but it was my fault that he chose you.”
“Yours?”
“Florian always suspected that I had fallen in love with a Midtown girl, but he was never able to discover who it was. When you turned up at the ball, I should have stayed away from you, but I was too weak. When I followed you out onto the balcony, I betrayed how much I loved you.” He swallowed. “How much I still do. That must have been when Florian decided he had to have you.”
