He jerks back, and I find two guards hauling him from my body toward the hallway. He winks and blows me a kiss. I squeeze my hand tighter. Gwyneth helps me up and inspects me from head to toe.
“You okay?”
I nod once and groan as pain rumbles around my skull. My vision swims slightly. But my head has taken worse hits, and I survived the next diurnal.
“Stupid Jack,” the fellow in the waistcoat grumbles. “Always running from his fate.”
I can’t keep hold of this treasure for hours while Charming makes nice with Gwyneth. I need all my wits about me to protect her floof. Multitasking isn’t a strength of mine, I know my limitations.
My gaze catches on a potted plant by the door, and I release the tiny items into the tub. Little beads of gold shine before landing on the soil. I lean down and graze my fingers through the soil.
“What are you doing?” Gwyneth mutters.
“Such pretty soil they have in The Hallows, all blessed and brown.”
Her brows lower and she purses her lips but remains silent. We spill out into the gardens while I wipe my muddy hands on my skirts. Charming waits at the entrance to the same maze I’d been led into by the Stirlings. Over his arm is a piece of cornflower blue silk.
He grins at Gwyneth before flicking his sharp and assessing eyes at me.I don’t care for you either, Prince Poopfloof.
“I brought a shawl, the sundown brings a chill at this time of the annus.”
The fellow with the waistcoat disappears back inside the palace, leaving the three of us.
“I can walk with Gwyneth from here, Daphne. I will see no harm comes to her,” Charming tells me. His eyes are a flat reflection of his soul. He has unhonorable intentions, and I am here to ensure that they never come to fruition.
I flash him my best deranged Daphne smile. “I am her ladies maid, and until she is wed I am her protector from princes and creatures with nefarious and dishonorable intentions.”
He wraps Gwyneth in the shawl and puffs out his chest like he’s the pinnacle of romantic fairy tale creatures. He’s not, but I guess he’s become lazy because most maidens throw themselves at his feet for a chance to become his Cinderella.
He threads his arm through Gwyneth’s and drags her into the maze. I stay a respectful distance behind but keep them in my sight while avoiding the dangerous bushes that like to jump out and scare unsuspecting maidens. Birds tweet their final song before retiring to their little beds for the sundown, while the heavy scent of honeysuckle coats the air.
“Were you aware the palace is over four hundred annuses old?” Charming tells Gwyneth. Ah, he’s catching on that he needs to tackle her on an intellectual level.Bravo, Prince Poopfloof.
“Everyone knows that,” Gwyneth remarks. “It’s part of the primary education in Far, Far, Away.”
Wrong, I didn’t know that. But why is the age of a dusty building important? I need to make room for the stuff that actually matters—like where they keep the food.
“The gardens and maze predate that. The original building is the guardhouse, which once belonged to a widow and her son.”
Gwyneth’s head snaps to him. Clever, clever, Charming, spilling little-known facts to a self-confessed knowledge gobbler. “What happened to them?” she asks.
He shrugs. “I’m not sure.”
The conversation dies because, like his personality, his knowledge is superficial. They stroll around the maze in complete silence, and the tension makes me jittery. I keep waiting for my clumsiness to do something to make this terrible date more tolerable. Perhaps this is her new plan. Bore him to death.
We reach the center where the Stirling brothers brought me and the unconscious damsel.
He turns to face her and I hang out at a distance with atouch her and dieexpression plastered on my face.
His gaze snaps to mine before softening as he smiles down at Gwyneth. “I would like to continue to woo you,” he says. Sure, woo her floof.
Gwyneth chuckles and Charming scowls at me. Oops, must have let that slip out. I can’t help but speak the truth.
His hands land on her arms and he pulls her closer. I jerk forward, ready to let my chaos loose on his ass if he dare try anything with my Gwyneth. “I don’t wish to be wooed,” she answers.
“Tell me what do you wish for?” he asks.
“To be left in peace to live out my life with my sister.”
