“I cannot buy anything if I cannot find a village.Is there one nearby?”
Bouleau tipped one eye to her again, then flew off, his chattering laugh overshadowing the other birds’ songs.
“No help whatsoever,” Bella said, frustrated beyond all with talking things that served no purpose.She glanced around the thinning forest, found a hill, and climbed it for a better vantage point.There, in the near distance, was a busy castle surrounded by an industrial village.Thick smoke pumped from many a chimney, and the clattering of machines carried to her.Bella had no coin, but she had bread and fruit.Perhaps she could trade food for information on where she was and which direction was home.
But the best sight of all was the nearby pond.
Water.
Bella scooted down the hill and made straight for it.
Chapter 4
It was Brumenhildrwho awaited him in the formal parlor, and Riven felt his heartbeat quicken.Was that a drop of sweat beading on his brow?
No.Princes did not perspire.A true prince did naught more strenuous than think or delegate.He had servants who perspired for him.He approached and acknowledged her with a deep bow.“Enchantress.I am honored to be graced with your presence.”
“Hm.Are you?”
Her hair was the color of disappointment, her eyes the color of judgement.“Of course I am.Please,” he indicated the best seat in the room, “make yourself comfortable.Shall I ring for sweets?”
“I need not placation or sustenance.What I needed was proof of your word.Intent.Progress.None of this I see.”
He felt himself pale.“It is not yet thirty days.I still have time.”
“Thirty?I said a month.”
“Thirty is a month.”
“Twenty-eight is a month, as all women know.”She raised a brow at him as if he were daft.
Ah, she referenced the old pagan calendar based on lunar cycles and not the modern Gregorian one.“A technicality then.A mere misunderstanding on my part.I have intended—”
“Intended what?Intention solves nothing.I know for a fact that your people came to you, looking for ways to draw their filth from the castle, and you,you,the king’s son,told them to dump it all inmypond.I told you to fix this, and you have made no attempt in the past four weeks to rectify the situation.”
“Wait a moment.I have pondered all the month long where this information has come from, for I have no recollection of saying such things.Which son gave this instruction?”
