Narcissa’s face lit up at the sound of her fiancé’s voice.“In a minute, darling!”
I shot her an accusing look.“Did you invite Crown Prince Bennett to your wedding dress fitting?And when did you start calling himdarling?”
A pretty blush stained her cheeks, fit for a damsel in a fairytale.I always thought she was made of sterner stuff.“Bennett wanted to speak to you about something and this was the only available time in his schedule.”
“Very well.We’re about done anyway,” I said warily.What did he need to speak tomeabout?
I hauled a floral privacy screen around Narcissa, making sure she was properly concealed before I gestured for a maid to open the door.
Crown Prince Bennett stood at the threshold, his head turned to another figure in the hall, his low voice drifting in.“Please remember to check in with the treasury, Ulysses.I ran the numbers last night and the bookkeeping isn’t adding up.”
“Yes, of course, Your Highness.”
The crown prince nodded to his steward, then entered the room.Although he was as impeccably dressed as always, his usual stoic face was replaced with a smiling one.And on his shoulders was...a hideous fur shawl?
“Blazing fires, arekittensin fashion now?”I recoiled as the fur moved, revealing itself to be two cats, one gray and one ginger.Two black ones trailed behind him.They were larger than when I’d last seen them, now six months old.
“Darling, you brought the kittens?”Narcissa cooed from behind her screen.
“Of course, love.Iris, Lumi, Rani, and Daffy never pass up a chance at visiting you.”
The cats meowed in affirmation.
I blinked twice, wondering how two of the iciest people I’d encountered last winter managed to become such gooey, kitten-obsessed messes.
“Giselle.It’s good to see you,” the crown prince said, looking a modicum more like himself now that he wasn’t addressing his fiancée.
“Likewise, Your Highness,” I said, inclining my head.
He sat in an armchair and motioned for me to take the seat across from him.I sat.The two kittens took this moment to jump from his shoulders and wander the tiled floor with the others.
“I have a job for you.”
Oh dear.That didn’t bode well.
“If it’s not sewing related I’ll have to decline,” I said.“As you can see I’m rather busy.”
That was a clear lie, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t like what was in store.I was done doing royal bidding, though I would never have the guts to tell the crown prince that.
“You haven’t even heard what it was,” Narcissa called out from behind the screen.
I crossed my arms and leaned into my seat.“Very well, Your Highness.What is this mysterious job?"
“One relating to our current situation,” Bennett said.The ginger kitten climbed up his pant legs into his lap.He obliged it with a soft pet to the ears.
The black kitten mirrored its sibling.It dug its tiny claws into the hem of my skirt.
I sighed, shooing the cat away before it tore the fine wool.“And that is?”
“Many human citizens are still nervous around magic, even after the amendments to our laws,” Narcissa called out from behind her privacy screen.
Bennett cast an adoring look in her direction.“Yes.Narcissa and I are thinking about immersion as a solution.We believe opening Witch Village to human visitors would be beneficial.”
My brows shot up.“What does the Witch Committee have to say about that?”I asked, hoping my peers would have the sense to call out the absolute sacrilege of it all.
The elder witches would be scandalized.They were the ones who had to live through the devastation of King Humphrey’s witch ban and build Witch Village from the ground up.The village was their sanctuary.To invite a human in their midst would give them all heart attacks.
“It’s still in debate,” the crown prince admitted, “which is understandable.But the committee has allowed us to send one non-magic visitor.The emissary I chose will live there for two weeks, hopefully ease the worries of witches in the village, and report back to the King's Council about his experiences.The report will then be released to the press, allowing human civilians to further understand their witch counterparts.”
