Page 49 of Charmless
“Why?” I asked scornfully. “Because he figured out there had been some sort of romance between us? He asked me to marry him merely to what?”
“To hurt and torture me.”
Incredulously, I shook my head. “I understand little of this kind of sibling rivalry you describe. Granted, I only have younger sisters and I have always felt like more of a mother to them. But it strikes me as ridiculous that a man would choose a wife merely to spite his brother.”
“Nevertheless, it is exactly the sort of thing Florian would do. Oh, when we were small children, my brother and I were close, the best of friends. But my father’s doting indulgence ruined his character. The king scorned me for being a weakling and heencouraged Florian to bully me, smash my things and steal my toys.”
“Your toys?” I repeated in a strangled voice.
One look at my stony expression and Ryland realized his mistake.
“I am sorry, Ella,” he stammered. “I didn’t mean to imply that you were?—”
“One of your playthings? That is exactly what I was.” A leaf fluttered down from the trees, tangling in my hair. I brushed it angrily aside. “I thank you for your warning, Your Highness. But no one is stealing me. I will be quite pleased if I never see you or your brother ever again.”
I tried to storm off the bridge, but Ryland blocked my way. “It won’t be that simple, Ella. Now that he has made up his mind to have you, Florian will not give up. You have presented him with a challenge, and he always must win. He is a very dangerous and ruthless man.”
Ryland hesitated and then held up his false hand. “Do you know how this happened to me?”
I had started to brush past Ryland, but I stopped, taken aback by this unexpected question.
“I was told you lost your hand, foolishly fighting a dragon.”
“No, that was merely another tale concocted by my father and Mercato and they forced me to go along with it. The truth is that I let Florian goad me into a duel. I was never very good with a sword, especially not when I was angry. Florian was enjoying himself, taunting me into such a rage, he easily slipped past my guard. The next thing I knew my hand was dripping with blood. The wound became infected and there was nothing the court physician or Mercato could do. My hand had to be amputated. Florian shed some of his fake tears, claimed that it was an accident, that he never meant to hurt me.”
“Perhaps he didn’t,” I faltered. “To deliberately maim his own brother, Florian would have to be a - a?—”
“A monster,” Ryland said quietly.
I pressed my hand to my brow, uncertain how much of this terrible story to believe. Ryland sounded truthful and sincere, but he had seemed that way all those years ago when he had broken my heart.
The prince took advantage of my distraction to claim hold of my other hand. “Please, Ella, you must listen to me. You have got to get as far away from Florian as you can.”
“Exactly how am I supposed to manage that?”
Ryland drew in a deep breath and blurted out, “Run away with me.”
“What! Are you quite mad?” I tried to pull my hand free, but he clung to me.
“It was our dream, remember? To flee to some far-off kingdom where we could marry and live happily ever after.”
“The dream of a strolling minstrel and a romantic young maiden.”
“I am still your Harper and I love you.” He raised my hand to his lips, pressing a kiss against my knuckles.
“But I am not that girl anymore and I don’t love you,” I cried. “Now let me go.”
He released me, but he looked so devastated by my rejection, I could not help but pity him.
“I am sorry,” I added in a gentler tone. “For too long I felt hurt and betrayed when you abandoned me the night we were supposed to elope. Now that I am older and wiser, I believe it was a good thing you did not have the courage to defy your father. We both would have lived to regret it.”
“You might have. I never would.” Ryland frowned. His brow furrowed as though wrestling with some decision. “I swore an oath never to tell you this, but I think you have a right to know.”
He looked straight into my eyes. “Ella, it was not my father that forced me to give you up. It was yours.”
“What!” Any sympathy I had been feeling for Ryland dissolved into exasperation. I shook my head at him in disgust. “You almost had me believing all your wild stories about Florian, but you go too far when you start lying about my father. Papa was a quiet, gentle man. He could never force anyone to do anything.”
“Perhaps force was a poor choice of word. But he did come to me the night before we were going to elope. He cajoled, argued, and reasoned with me, told me that if I truly loved you, I would never see you again. He kept at me until I promised to do just that.”
