Page 31 of If The Crown Fits
She shrugged. “I must confess, I’m not very good. But perhaps you could teach me?” She tilted her head. “Only if you want to, of course.”
I couldn’t help the small grin that sneaked up on me. “I should be happy to oblige, Princess Eloisa.”
* * *
“I’m not sure what to think,” Jack said that evening while we were having dinner. The campfire was slowly starting to die out and most of our party were scattered around the camp. “Something’s not right about her.”
“Maybe she’s just cautious of us,” I suggested. “We did practically kidnap her, after all.”
“It’s not just that.” Jack shook his head. “Her whole story seems a little strange. She’s hiding something, I can tell.”
“Well, as the captain of my guard I suppose it would be your job to find out exactly what she’s hiding.” I smiled.
“Just making sure I have permission, my prince.” Jack smiled back. He was the best spy I knew and he loved the task dearly. Jack was an observer and he was very good at it.
“Jack’s right,” Alastor said. “Something here isn’t right.”
“I like her,” Conner commented as he bit into his chicken.
“Now, now.” Jack ruffled Conner’s hair and he tried to pull away. “She’s already spoken for, lad.” We laughed at Conner’s expense — the poor boy’s cheeks had gone red, though he tried to hide it.
I looked to where she was sitting with her lady-in-waiting. Eloisa didn’t seem quite as dangerous as her older brother, but one thing I could be certain of was that looks could be deceiving.
Chapter 9
The Evernean Forest
Lara
“I was so worried about you,” Cordelia said the next morning as she did my hair. “I thought they might have killed you or something.”
“Well, I actually managed to escape that brute quite quickly,” I said, with a hint of arrogance.
“So how did you end up running into Prince Cai?”
“Well, I fell off the horse while fighting the bandit and I saw a campfire in the distance so I followed it until I found Cai and his men.”
“What are the odds?” She shook her head in disbelief. “You could have gotten attacked by a wild animal or something.”
Not a wild animal, I thought.Just a prince. Same difference.
“Thanks for your concern, Cordelia, but I’m quite capable of handling myself.” She pinned away a loose strand of hair and I turned to face her. “Really, you needn’t be worried about me.”
“Oh, I know that,” she replied. “The problem is how you’ve been behaving yourself around the prince.” Cordelia narrowed her eyes at me and I felt my cheeks grow warm.
“I may or may not have acted in a way that some would consider inappropriate for a princess,” I admitted. “But how was I supposed to know? It could have been anybody.”
“Well, let’s find out the damage first. What exactly did you do?”
I grimaced. “I may have attacked him several times, including holding weapons with sharp edges to his throat.”
Cordelia dropped her hands from my hair. “You did what?”
I covered my face with my hands. “How am I ever going to convince the Norrandish heir that I’m the second child of King Magnus?”
“You’re not exactly off to a good start, I’ll admit.” She handed me a cup of something sweet. “But nothing a few tricks can’t fix.”
“What do you mean?” I took a sip, eyeing her.
