“No, sirrah, the point is that you’re a blaggard and a ruffian and I must surely see you in the stocks before the day is out!”
“Sit down, Driz; he stole a few moldy old books a few days ago. And you,” I say, turning on the pirate, “have yet to explain what exactly you’re doing back here, unless it’sonlyto steal more books. If that, then please get on with it and get out. I presumeyou’re notreturningthe ones you’ve already taken, after all.” In fact, I can be reasonably certain of that, having, well, searched him just a few moments ago. He was not hiding them inside his shirt, next to that marvelous chest. Oh, hell’s bells, I’m blushing again.
He shrugs, aggravatingly unbothered by my irritation. “I heard there was a prince in town and came by to see if he could break my curse. But I certainly couldn’t leave without stealing something. It’d be rude.”
I turn to Sasha. “Perhaps I should look into some sort of hex that would bar all men from the shop. What do you think?”
“What’s the thing with causation and correlation?” she says.
“Correlation does not imply causation,” the pirate and I dutifully recite. I glare at him. He smiles at me.
“Yeah, that,” Sasha says. “Just because two men have come in today and annoyed you doesn’t mean that all men who come into the shop will annoy you. Therefore, you shouldn’t bar all men in order to sort out your problem.”
“Maybe I should anyway. I suspect, after all,” I grumble, “that I have a few more annoying men to look forward to before this thing is through.”
“My dear princess, surely you don’t mean to employ that I, the royal prince of Parciful, am anannoyance?” Driz says, sounding genuinely upset.
“No, Driz,” I say, patting him on the shoulder. In fact, I haven’t implied any such thing; I’ve said it flat out.
“Well, good,” he says, subsiding. “I did come in the hopes that…well, you know.”
“I know,” I sigh.
“It would be so convenient, don’t you see,” he adds, morosely.
“It would,” I agree.
Sasha is staring at us with wide eyes. “What would?”
The pirate snorts. “It’s no secret the royal house of Parciful has been trying to get in good with the royal house of the Widdenmar for generations.”
“Ohhhh,” Sasha breathes.
“My dear Tanadelle’s sister, Crown Princess Varshima, was betrothed to the duke of Darstin for years,” Driz explains. “And married now, quite happily, they say. But Tanadelle…”
“Unengaged,” I break in. “Unbetrothed, unencumbered. Shimmy—erm, Crown Princess Varshima—hates to travel and do all the, you know, stuff.” I wave my hands, trying to indicate the vast and endless list of commitments I keep on behalf of the royal house. “Mother and Father are generally too busy pitting the ministers of the Great Chamber against each other and moving from palace to palace. And I…I don’t like balls, or politics, or any of it, really. So I do the…the glad-handing.”
Silence falls in my little room. The fire crackles and pops in the hearth. I take a sip of my tea, now grown rather tepid. I hate that I just made my life sound so small.
“I suppose we’re not going to get engaged?” Driz finally says, a little mournfully.
“I am sorry, Driz; I don’t think so.” There’s no real need for me to be married off to secure favorable trade partnerships with any of the other island nations of the Shining Realm, and as I haven’t ever shown much interest in being involved in politics to any extent, my parents have been reasonably accommodating; Shimmy married for loveandpolitical capital; I’ve made my parents promise they won’t make me marry unless I want it. And I don’t want to marry Driz.
I clear my throat. “Well, Driz, what’s your plan now?”
“I don’t know,” he says, perking up. “Your parents hired a griffin to get me here quickly, but we assumed we’d be headinghome in state, and I dismissed it upon arrival. I suppose I’ll have to write to Father and ask for a procession to be sent up.”
The pirate makes a noise, rather like a snort, but Driz fortunately seems not to hear it, or interpret it aright.
“There’s a very nice coaching inn not far from the shop,” I say. “I’m sure they’d be thrilled to host you for as long as you’d like to stay. I wouldn’t mind having a friendly face around for however long this takes. Not that you’d have to stay for…that is, I have no idea how long I’ll be here. But if you wanted to, just for a while…it’d be quite nice to have you drop in and visit once in a while.” We had been friendly when we were younger, after all—I really don’t mind Driz. And it would be rather nice to have someone I’ve known longer than a week to talk to.
“Really, Tanadelle?” Driz says, looking sweetly hopeful.
“Not inthatway,” I say, gently. “Just as a friend. And, honestly, just Tandy is fine. Really.”
“Of course,” he says, sounding—to be honest—a little relieved.
“What about you?” Sasha says, turning to the pirate. “Broken your curse yet?”
