“As usual, I have impeccable timing.”
Chapter 4
AMBROSE
If it hadn’t been for the sudden appearance of the witch, Ambrose would have delivered an excellent farewell speech.
Or maybe not.
He realized with growing horror that he had no idea who he’d married. He had thought he’d wed a fair princess. But if it wasn’t for that gown and tiara, she looked a bit like something that had crawled out of a forest.
And not in a bad way.
Like one of those forest nymphs, he supposed. Wild, dark hair that looked as if it were meant for catching on tree branches. Skin the color of afternoon light hitting a gold tree. Hazel eyes that made him think of a lioness.
Particularly, a lioness that looked ready to kill him.
She was pretty, but positively wild. Who would return home withoutshoes? Just the thought of all those courtier’s eyes, full of ridicule, was enough to turn his stomach. He’d known those sorts of glances all his life.“There goes Ambrose… Why can’t he be more like his brothers?”
But then the witch appeared.
He recognized her immediately. She had been at Imelda’s sister’s wedding. She was the one who had stolen their love and any chance he’d had of staying king of Love’s Keep. Though, given Imelda’s half-wild nature, he couldn’t imagine how much longer they would have lasted.
The witch was tall and slim, with a tuft of braided dandelion fluff for hair. There were apples in her cheeks and crinkles in her smile, and from the hinge of her elbow swung a ginormous satchel that looked as if it had been crafted from pink feathers.
The witch dangled her purse. “Like it?”
The hem of Ambrose’s cloak swayed a bit, as if trying to catch a better look at the purse.
I’ve never seen a pink horse.
“It’s a flamingo,” said the witch.
The cloak flapped at the purse.Hello?The purse made no response.What an exceptionally rude horse, said the cloak disdainfully.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Imelda demanded. “And doesn’t anyone else seem to notice—”
The carriage driver was frozen mid-sprint—hand clamped on his hat, one foot kicked out before the other.
“Oh, they noticed all right,” the witch said cheerily. “So I bought us some time. Two minutes should do the trick nicely.”
“Trick?”
Imelda hopped down from her carriage. Excitement glowed in her eyes. It made her seem younger. Almost happy.
The witch smiled with all her teeth. “I have something to show you, something that I think might interest you. You see, I can give you that which you want most.”
Ambrose went still.
The witch gestured at the pearlescent towers of Love’s Keep. “If you do this errand for me, you might even get your palace back.”
“Impossible,” Imelda said. “We’d have to be in love.”
“Who’s stopping you?” asked the witch.
Ambrose and Imelda looked at one another, confused.
“Youdid,” Ambrose told the witch.
