Thirty-Six
Mina
???
The answers onthe scavenger hunt card led us to a neighborhood in the southeastern part of Haiwella. I tried to focus on the fact that we had to be getting closer as we searched for a forge, and not on the fact that Alan still hadn’t come to the palace by the time Sam, Noel, and I rode through the front gates.
Noel spotted the smithy, but I was the first to dismount and go inside. As in Skorsa, there was a shop attached to the forge. The young woman sitting behind the counter jumped to her feet when she saw me. “Your Highness! Are you looking for Master Smythson? He hasn’t been in today.”
Conflicting emotions surged in me. Alan wasn’t here. But we had found the forge. Hopefully, the woman knew where he had spent the night. I tried to keep my voice even. “I am looking for Alan. How did you know?”
“I was at the ball with my brother, Your Highness. We saw you dancing with Master Smythson. And you were wearing the slippers. We were all in awe of those slippers when he made them. They are certainly fit for a princess.”
“I was hoping to find Alan and express my appreciation for them. Would you happen to know where he was staying?”
Her face fell. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. I think he mentioned a cobbler friend once who had given him a bed, but I don’t know who.”
“That’s all right. Thank you.”
I hurried back outside. Noel and Sam stood by the horses.
“Well?” my brother asked.
I turned to Sam. “Please tell me you know where Jeff’s uncle lives. Alan was supposedly staying with a cobbler friend.”
Sam cursed. “I should have thought of that. I know the address, but not how to find it.”
He told us the address, which unsurprisingly was on a street nearby. The address was that of a three-story building, with a shop on the bottom and living space above. This time, Sam went first, introduced himself as a friend of Jeff’s and was told to head upstairs. Jeff’s uncle didn’t even blink when Noel and I joined Sam. Neither of us had given our name, but we certainly stood out in this neighborhood.
Sam opened the door.
“Sam, thank the gods . . . Mina?”
I rushed past Sam. Alan sat across the room, a very disheveled Jeff next to him. Jeff didn’t even lift his head as we all came in. With a single anxious glance at his friend, Alan rose and crossed the room. He paused next to Sam. “Kayla left the ball with someone claiming to come from a powerful and wealthy family,” he whispered, pushing Sam toward the settee.
Then Alan’s arms were around me, his face buried in my hair. “Mina, I am so sorry. I barely made it around the corner before I was ready to go back to you, but there was this guard—”
“I know. I heard what happened to you. He was fooled by Powell’s son a few days ago and determined to make up for it.”
A sound that was half groan, half laugh, came out of him. “Of course. One last surprise hit from Powell.” He pulled back enough to look at me, though his arms remained iron bands holding me close. “I decided to come back here and gather my things, thenplanned to return to the palace at dawn after the guards hopefully changed. But when I got here, I discovered Jeff trying to drink himself into oblivion.”
“You stayed to help your friend. I understand.”
Alan looked over at Jeff, who was now bracketed by Sam and Noel. My brother might not know Jeff, but he was good at helping people. Alan tugged me to a door off to one side, which led to a bedroom. He closed us in the small space.
“I love you, Mina. I don’t care if you are a princess or a pauper; I want to spend the rest of my life with you. With you at my side, I can learn to be a prince.”
“According to Noel, you’re already adept at dealing with busybodies. But I don’t want you to suffer in a role you don’t want for me.”
“Mina, all I want is you. The rest is immaterial.”
I wanted to throw my arms around him, but he deserved the chance to think it over. “You say that now, but I don’t want you to wake up a few months, or years, from now and regret making this choice.”
“I will never regret anything that lets me be with you. But maybe...”
He trailed off, and I caught my breath.
Then he grinned. “Maybe, if I’m going to be a prince, I could have a private forge near the palace? Someplace to go when I need to think?”
