Loving a Prince Charming - By Danielle Monsch Page 0,3
out of my reach, and I’ll never touch, or hold, or feel. Always this half-lived, never-lived non-life.”
Seth scrambled down to the ground in front of her. “Don’t talk like that,” he said, pulling her into his arms. He ran his hands down her baby-fine hair, the way he saw his friends do when their sisters were hurt or scared. “I’m your fiancée. I’m here with you, and it’s my job to care for and protect you. I won’t let that happen to you. I promise right now I will always honor my engagement. I won’t fall in love with anyone else. We’re going to get married, just like our fathers agreed. I swear to you, you’ll live a long, full, wonderful life, and I will not let that curse take you.”
She didn’t answer, but her arms wrapped around him tight and choked sobs escaped from her throat. He rocked her, continuing to stroke her hair.
Time lost meaning. They were wrapped around each other, and then she fell asleep, and he placed her on the bed.
“You’re an awesome kid. Anyone ever tell you that?”
Seth whirled to see a woman standing in front of him. She was very pretty with long dark brown hair and dark eyes. There was pride in her smile, and she looked at him the way he had seen parents look when their kid won first place in a race. “How did you get here?”
“Magic,” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He supposed it was. “I’m Reina, and I’m a fairy godmother.”
He wasn’t sure he wanted another one around. Fairies wielding magic had done enough to them, as far as he was concerned. Still, it paid to be polite. “What can I do for you?”
“More like what I can do for you. That was impressive enough to get my attention. We usually only grant wishes to people who are much older and have a long record of good deeds, but that was… wow.”
He took a tentative step closer to her. She was too pretty to be evil, though he was sure Kira would hit him upside the head if he said that out loud. Plus, if she was evil, she could have just smited him or something without faking him out. “Then you can take her curse away?”
The speed with which her face went from admiring to glum answered that question before she opened her mouth. “I’m so sorry. There are rules to magic, and the being who cast that curse is very powerful. Only our leader could overturn the curse, and he has never intervened.”
Seth pointed at Rosamund, curled in a ball on top of pink covers. “He’d instead let a little girl live day in and day out with that fear and pain? He’s a piss-poor excuse for a leader.”
He’d been prepared for indignation or anger, so the smile that came over her face worried Seth more than any outburst could have. “And you will be a fantastic one when you grow up. Your people are blessed to have you.”
Reina moved toward him and Seth took a step backwards, but she went past him to stand at Rosamund’s bedside. Reina brushed blond curls from Rosamund’s ear and leaned down to whisper to the sleeping princess, so quiet that Seth didn’t hear a word the fairy godmother said.
Reina straightened and looked back at him. “You have a very big wish due you, Prince Seth. You are a wise and good young man, so I’m going to do something I’ve never done. I’m going to let you delay making your wish. Think on it. You only have one, so make it count – don’t waste it on trivial matters. When you’ve decided, call out to me. I’ll be right at your side.”
“Seth!” Kira’s voice boomed like a thunderclap and startled Seth enough that he tripped over his feet in his haste to turn towards that voice.
When he was back on his feet, he was no longer in Rosamund’s bedroom but in a castle corridor, sunlight streaming through windows and the branches of a tree visible through the opening. This area was familiar.
Kira ran up to him. “Seth,” she cried again, enveloping him in a hug. “What happened? How did you get out here?”
For just a moment, Seth hugged her close and let the wonderful scent of grass and woodsmoke that always clung to Kira sooth the battered parts of his heart and mind. With one final breath he put her away