Kidnapped!Violeta added a scream emoji.
This is getting good, Autumn replied. She sent a gif of Stephen Colbert eating popcorn.
Hannah said,Not good. Skye, you and Luke need to come into town and do damage control, STAT.A public breakfast should do it.
I groan and slap my hands over my face. That last text from an hour ago was Hannah in full mayor mode. And she’s right. I can’t be town librarian, trusted with small children,andbe the damsel in distress kept locked in a tower in Luke’s castle… while naked.
Mmm, naked. I picture Luke in his library, leaning back against the ladder, a book in his hands… and he’s naked.
“Breakfast!” Princess Buttercup yowls in my ear, unwilling to be ignored.
Jolting upright, I half-roll, half-fall out of bed. “As you wish.”
I hurry to get ready, putting on one of my sweetest dresses, the bright pink one with a cute but demure blouse-cut top and a full A-line skirt. I take extra time with my platinum hair, forming the structured looping curls of a 1950s hairdo. I finish it off with pink lipstick to match. No one but me needs to know that I’m wearing nice lingerie underneath, complete with a garter belt and thigh-high stockings.
When I open the bedroom door, Princess Buttercup dashes past me. “Finally! I thought I wasnevergoing to get breakfast.”
“Now you’re just being silly.” I tap my toe against the cat flap Luke installed in my door. “You can go to the kitchen anytime and use your automatic feeder.” I’ve got it set to dispense food whenever she asks—all she has to do is put her head in front of the camera. I wanted a failsafe in case Luke and I get stuck in the book for a while.
“That’sdryfood.” Her tail gives a flick as she starts down the stairs. “You can give me wet food,chickenwet food.”
“You like your dry food.” I follow her down the stairs, my pretty little heels clicking on the stone steps.
“It’s fine if you’re not here, but if you’re here, I want those opposable thumbs to do something useful, like operate a can opener.”
“Still haven’t figured that one out, huh?”
“No.” She gives a disdainful sniff and strolls into the kitchen, head held high. “But I don’t need to. It’s why I adopted a human.”
I enter to find her circling Luke’s calves, purring up a storm. He looks down at her with a bemused expression. “I’m not your adopted human.”
“You have opposable thumbs.” My familiar trots over to the cabinet with the wet food and taps an imperious paw against the door. “You’ll do.”
He plucks a can from the cupboard, holding it gingerly between his taloned thumb and index finger. I show him how to open it and put it in her special wet food bowl.
She descends upon it the second I place it on the floor next to her water fountain, her ratcheting purr filling the entire kitchen as she eats.
“Can’t she eat out of the can?”
“No, I cannot.” Princess Buttercup looks up at him in horror. “I’m a cat, not a dog.”
Luke’s face settles into resting grumpy face number three, mild disdain, as the two enter a stare off.
A giggle escapes me—I can’t help it. These two trying to “out regal” each other is hilarious and adorable. It’s impossible to tell who would win the “haughtiest expression award.”
The allure of chicken wet food pulls Princess Buttercup’s attention back to her dish, breaking the deadlock. The twitch of her tail makes it clear this is not defeat.
I chuckle again when Luke’s tail gives a similar twitch. Then I hook a hand around his elbow and tug him toward the front of the castle. “Come on. It’s time for our breakfast.”
“We’re not eating here?”
“The entire town thinks you’ve kidnapped me and locked me in your castle. So no, we’re not eating here.”
He gives me a grumpy face four, a frown of medium irritation. “Whyever would they think such a thing?”
“Mrs. Greely.”
The frown deepens to a scowl number three, his how-dare-she expression.
