Page 28 of If The Crown Fits
“I—” Forming words would be more difficult than I’d thought.
Cai’s eyes slowly took me in. His expression was somewhat horrified as he remembered everything he had done to the woman he now knew he was going to marry.
“Your Highness, I must speak with you.” Rhen drew my attention away from the prince.
“Of course,” I said, slightly dazed, turning to follow him. “Of course.”
“We’ve been looking for you.” Rhen stated the obvious as we stepped outside the tavern.
“Well, congratulations! You found me.”
Rhen frowned. “How did you even end up here, with Prince Cai no less?”
I sighed, brushing my fingers through my hair. “Well, after I managed to get away from the bandit, I got a little lost in the woods and I stumbled upon the lot of them. They lied about who they were and I lied about who I was and well, you know, now we’re here.”
“And you’re still lying to him about who you are.”
I scowled. “It’s not like I have a choice. I’m doing what I have to and it’s not like you’re doing so very well either. You literally only had one job and that was to guard me. Does Lance even know?”
“Of course Prince Lance doesn’t know,” he replied. “You’ve seen how easily he can turn. It wouldn’t exactly be difficult for him to convince the kingdom that we lost the real princess and that it was an act of treason. He could have hanged us. So we decided to keep looking until we got to the manor house.”
“I can’t believe you’re all alive. Is Cordelia all right?”
“Yes, she’s fine. Just a bit startled. We were really lucky to make it out alive.”
“Still, we’re going to have to tell Lance something. It would seem rather suspicious for us to arrive at Woodsbrook Manor together.”
“We’re simply going to tell the prince that our two parties managed to cross paths on our way to Woodsbrook and that will be the end of it.”
“Do we stay here for the night?” I asked him.
“It’s too dangerous to travel now. Perhaps you can share a room with Cordelia and then we’ll leave at dawn.”
“That sounds good.” I was relieved at the thought of no longer having to share a room with Cai. I wasn’t even sure how I was going to look him in the eye again after everything that had happened.
Rhen must have seen my expression because he said, “Don’t worry. All will be fine, you’ll see.”
I wanted to agree but I had a hard time believing it.
Chapter 8
The Pint Grove Tavern
Cai
I didn’t know what to make of the truth. We all suspected she was hiding something. Just not the fact that she was the Princess of Everness. Though it did make sense of some things, like her refusal to tell us who she was. She had no way of knowing what we were going to do with that information. It did, however, bring up a lot more questions.
I hurried downstairs the next morning, just in time to see her walking out the tavern door. Without giving it too much thought, I grabbed a cloak and followed her outside. She stood with her arms crossed, indicating she was either cold or frustrated — perhaps both.
“Here.” I placed the cloak around her shoulders. She didn’t say thank you.
“Can we talk?”
She still didn’t say anything, but we started walking down the cobbled street, our guards following very closely behind.
“Perhaps I should start by apologising.” I rubbed the back of my neck.
“Perhaps?” she said.
