Atsu’s gaze moved onto Isabel and stopped there, his focus seeming to rein in on her hunched form. Isabel was somewhat between Louise and Selena in stature. She was lean yet curvy with a full bosom Selena was always saying she ought to show off more. Isabel’s best features were hidden beneath her bulky wool gown. Even her deep blue irises were hidden with her head bent. Instead, the prince was faced with her blond head. Isabel and Louise were the only two fair-haired stepsisters, another circumstance that separated them from Lord Ivers’s daughters by blood.
Stanz re-entered, carrying a silver tray topped with pewter goblets. The tray was presented to Lord Ivers first, but he shook his head.
The tray was brought to Prince Atsu next. “Would you care for wine, Prince?”
The prince waved it off. “With so much beauty to drink in I fear your wine would pale in comparison.”
“How charming,” Selena murmured, sounding delighted.
She was the only one to take a goblet off the tray. Stanz either didn’t see Lady Ivers seated in the back or knew well enough to leave her alone with her scowl. Before he’d made it down the end of the line to Hazel, Selena had already gulped down half her goblet and set it back on his tray.
Isabel bumped into Selena’s shoulder and muttered an apology.
“Perhaps some music,” Louise suggested.
“Yes. Let’s have music,” Paulina said, sounding grateful for the suggestion. Louise had become quite accomplished on the piano.
“Music,” Prince Atsu said. “Splendid.”
He stood his ground as Paulina and Louise headed toward the piano. When they broke away the prince lifted his narrow chin. “Lady Ivers,” he said. “I almost missed you there in the corner, but beauty such as yours can never go overlooked.”
Rather than shrink back, Lady Ivers gripped the armrests with curled fingers as though she intended to rip the upholstery off with the edges of her nails.
At first Isabel had thought her stepmother had chosen the spot in back as a way to observe while keeping somewhat hidden, but now Lady Ivers appeared more as a predator waiting patiently in the brush for her prey to wander closer.
The prince did so seemingly unaware.
“Tell me, Lady, which of these fair daughters are your own?”
Something feral appeared in Lady Ivers’s eyes. She leapt up and lunged forward. Hazel gave a gasp of shock, as though expecting her mother to attack the prince. Everyone else had gone stock still, all of them temporarily frozen in disbelief.
After her initial lunge forward, Lady Ivers held her ground, all but spitting fire.
“I will not give them up! I refuse. Not again! Never again!”
Two footmen rushed in and headed straight for Lady Ivers. She hit one as he captured her arm. The second footman grabbed her other arm. Lady Ivers jerked forward and back. The footmen had appeared without a word, almost as though the incident had been anticipated before ever occurring. Their father’s ability to predict trouble really was unprecedented.
“Not again, you bastard!” Lady Ivers lunged at her husband. The footmen quickly pulled her back.
Selena snort-laughed then quickly cupped her hands over her mouth.
Hazel gripped Darcey’s arm with knuckles that had turned white. The girls huddled together, eyes wide with dismay. Their fear seemed to outweigh concern for their mother.
“Take Lady Ivers to her room,” Lord Ivers instructed the footmen in a booming voice. Purple veins bulged from his neck. “Have someone send for Rayden. Tell him to bring his tinctures. Do not leave Lady Ivers unattended. I will be up shortly.”
“No! No! No!” Lady Ivers screamed as she was dragged from the parlor. Her bellows continued outside the parlor, echoing along the hall and stairway.
No one spoke as Lady Ivers’s voice carried across the corridors. Once her screams died away they all looked at Lord Ivers. He glowered at the door.
“Father?” Hazel said in a shaky voice.
“Your mother will be fine,” Lord Ivers said. “She’s merely suffering from one of her fits.”
“I should go to her,” Hazel said.
“Stay. All of you. I’ll go.” Lord Ivers headed for the door. “Stanz!”
“Yes, my lord?” Stanz said, appearing inside the parlor.
“Remain here with my daughters and the prince. When Atsu is ready to retire for the evening, see to it that he is escorted to his room and has everything he needs.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Lord Ivers left the room abruptly.
The room grew uncomfortably silent in Lord Ivers’s wake.
Selena placed a hand over her bosom. “Goodness. Vera sounds half mad tonight. Don’t worry. It doesn’t run in the family,” she added, addressing the prince. She set her chin on her shoulder with a sly smile. “At least not in myself, Paulina, Louise, or Isabel. We can’t be certain of Darcey and Hazel.”
Darcey whirled around. “How can you make light of my poor mother? Obviously she’s unwell.”
Selena toyed with a loose curl. “My dear, she’s not right in the head.”
“No wonder with you always around to drive her up the wall!” Darcey jabbed a plump thumb in Selena’s direction.
“Selena. Darcey,” Paulina said in a warning tone.
While the two bickered, Louise and Isabel retreated to the piano and began paging through sheets of music. They kept their pale heads down as they looked over the parchment.
Atsu watched them with open interest. “Do you play, Isabel?” he asked.
Isabel gave a squeak and dropped the book of music. Sheets scattered over the rug. She stared wide eyed at the prince before giving her head a quick shake.
“Sing?” Atsu tried again. “I bet you have a beautiful voice.”
“I . . .” Isabel said.
“I play,” Louise cut in with a forced smile. “I’d be happy to demonstrate.”
Isabel sank to the ground gratefully to gather the music sheets.
The prince chuckled. “Allow me, Isabel.” He knelt beside her, brushing her hand reaching for the same sheet of music.
Isabel drew her hand away as though having touched a hot coal.
“I am going to check on our mother and make sure she’s okay,” Darcey announced in haughty tones. “Come, Hazel. We can’t expect these four to care even though our mother outlasted every one of theirs and took care of us all.”
Darcey stomped from the room, Hazel scampering after her. The parlor was emptying out faster than tankards in a tavern.
Now it really was just Louise and Isabel left for the prince’s inspection. He was too busy presenting Isabel with the pages she’d dropped to notice the departure of Darcey and Hazel. When Isabel didn’t take the sheets, he stepped closer. Hastily, she grabbed them, the parchment crackling in her fingers like dry autumn leaves.
Paulina walked over to them. “Please accept my apologies on behalf of my stepmother. I don’t know what got into her.”
“Say no more, Miss Ivers,” Atsu said, waving it off with a lazy flick of his bejeweled fingers. “I hadn’t expected my visit to Far North to be this exciting. My family warned me that I would be bored to tears in this frozen realm, but I’m happy to report that they were quite mistaken.”
Selena sauntered over. “I, too, apologize for that little scene.”
The jewels on Prince Atsu’s clasp winked in the candlelight as he turned with a devilish grin. “I am used to women screaming, Miss Ivers . . . though usually not from fright.”
Isabel frowned as Selena gasped in delight. This was quickly followed by a tinkling laugh. “You are wicked, Prince.”
“Not at all, I assure you, Miss Ivers. I am a lover through and through.”
Only Selena would close in on the prince at that moment and finger his sash. She would have made an excellent rake had she been born male.
“This is an interesting costume,” Selena said, running the sash between her fingers. “Do all the men of Estival dress this way, or is this royal
attire?”
The prince stood poised as though posing for a portrait. “Men wear tunics or togas like this, though you won’t find jewels on a commoner.”
“And the women?” Selena asked eagerly. “What do they wear?”
“Muslin and silk.”
Selena sighed wistfully. “I do love silk. So much smoother on the skin than wool.”
“But impractical for Far North,” Paulina interjected.
The prince reached out to touch Selena’s wool sleeve. A bluish blur shot across the room, small translucent wings fluttering in place right before Selena’s pet pixie, Fritz, landed on the prince’s finger.
“Watch where you put that thing, Princey. Royalty or not, I’ll bite your finger off if you lay it on my mistress without permission.”
Paulina narrowed her eyes on Fritz.
“There you are, Fritz!” Selena sang out, delighted as always by her winged pet.
The prince grinned at the half-naked creature standing five inches tall and barefoot on his tanned finger. “So this is the demonic pixie I was warned about.”
Fritz flexed his muscles. “You’re not the only one with a reputation on the continent.”
The prince chuckled. “No, I suppose not.”
“Fritz, stop patronizing the prince. I find him quite fascinating,” Selena scolded.
Fritz leapt off the prince’s finger and onto Selena’s shoulder. “As do I. Women dressed in silk . . . it is all very riveting. Tell me, are there pixies in Estival?”
“Alas, no. You are the first I’ve ever seen.” The prince leaned forward, his needlelike nose dangerously close to Fritz.
“Fritz is one of a kind on the continent,” Selena announced proudly. “Stolen from his lands by those wretched Northingtons. Once my father liberated Far North, Fritz was free to go, but he wouldn’t leave me. I do wish there were some lady pixies on the continent.”
Fritz’s wings fluttered in place. “I live vicariously through you, mistress.”
The prince leaned back. “Such devotion. How nice.”
Berta entered the parlor and whispered something to Stanz before departing as quickly as she’d come.
Stanz stepped forward and cleared his throat. “His lordship has requested the prince’s company in his study.”
Paulina nodded. “It’s been a long day. We will all become better acquainted on the morrow.”
The prince walked to the parlor door and halted beside it, stretching his arm through the frame for the ladies to leave the room first.
Paulina gave Selena a pointed look. Her sister sighed before heading out, Fritz flitting at her side.
Isabel trembled.
“You next,” Louise whispered. “I’m right behind you.”
Isabel gave a slight nod and hurried forward. But before she could make it out of the parlor, the prince stepped inside the doorframe, blocking her.
“Lady Isabel.” His eyes tried to catch hers, but Isabel kept her head down. “I look forward to getting better acquainted tomorrow,” he continued undeterred.
Louise slipped in beside Isabel. “Yes. Good night,” she said.
Prince Atsu stepped aside with a grin, but it wasn’t aimed at Louise. He’d honed in on Isabel like a hawk intent on a field mouse. That is exactly how he made her feel, an anxious mess all aquiver under his scrutiny.
Louise gave her a gentle push out of the parlor. Paulina stood with her arms folded watching as they entered the corridor.
“A pleasure to meet you all,” Atsu said, sketching a bow.
“Sleep well, Prince,” Selena said sweetly.
Stanz led the prince away as the four sisters watched. Once Atsu disappeared around the bend, Selena broke into a wide grin. “He doesn’t seem so bad, and wouldn’t it be such a novelty to have a foreign prince for a brother-in-law?”
“It is not for the novelty that our family needs him,” Paulina answered before leading the way to their rooms.
Chapter 2
Isabel skipped breakfast the next morning, but she could only hide in her room for so long. Soon a pounding shook the hinges of her door, fierce and urgent, as though the second revolution was coming.
“Izzy! Time to come out,” Selena yelled from the other side. She tried the doorknob, but it didn’t budge. Isabel smiled to herself.
“Izzy, don’t make me send Fritz in there.”
Her smile vanished. “I’m not feeling well.” She forced a cough.
“Hogwash,” Selena returned. “Now open this door.”
A softer voice called out, “Iz, it’s me.”
“Louise?” Isabel asked.
“We need to stick together. Everything will be all right. I’ll make sure of it.”
As much as she wished to, Isabel couldn’t keep herself barricaded inside her room indefinitely. She opened the door, revealing the baggy brown dress she’d donned early that morning. The frock was better suited to storing lumpy potatoes than human limbs.
Selena’s eyes bugged out of their sockets as she looked at Isabel and gasped. “That gown is hideous!”
Isabel couldn’t hide a satisfied smirk. Her hair hung tangled over her shoulder. The dark circles beneath her eyes were even more pronounced inside her pale face.
“Shall I fetch Berta?” Fritz asked.
“I’ll take care of it,” Selena said between gritted teeth. She burst into Isabel’s room, giving Louise a pointed look to join her. “Wait for us in the hallway, Fritz.”
As soon as Louise was inside, Selena closed the door with a firm shove. “Really, Izzy. You should take more pride in your appearance.” Selena opened and closed Isabel’s dresser drawers roughly before opening her armoire. She gave a great sigh then pulled out a faded blue gown and yellow sash. “This will have to do for now.” Selena spun around. “Off with it.”
Isabel’s eyes widened. “I don’t want to change. I’m comfortable the way I am and besides, I don’t feel well. I need to rest.”
“What you need is to stop hiding in your room like a coward. You’re an Ivers. It’s time you started acting like one.”
Disdain filled Isabel’s chest. Her jaw clenched in a rare show of defiance as she glowered at Selena. “I have never been an Ivers.”
Selena’s lips thinned and eyes narrowed. “Not an Ivers. I see,” she said in a steely voice that sent a shiver through Isabel. Selena’s sudden resemblance to Lord Ivers was both uncanny and disturbing. Her jawline looked sharp and her gaze colder still. “And what do you consider yourself? A Harrington? A traitor?”
Isabel, who had been standing tall one moment, shrank back the next. Louise quickly stepped between her stepsisters, words rushing from her lips. “What Izzy means is that neither of us will ever be an Ivers by blood, but we’ll always be sisters.”
“Is that what she meant?” Selena asked dubiously.
“Yes,” Louise said in a firm voice. “Now leave Izzy to me. We will meet you in the parlor once she’s presentable.”
Selena opened her mouth to protest.
“Half past ten,” Louise said louder, shepherding Selena out of Isabel’s bedroom. At the doorframe, Louise reached around Selena and opened the door, ushered her out, and closed it, locking it behind her for good measure. She stood watching the crack to make sure Selena didn’t send Fritz in, but no tiny arms or head emerged. Footsteps retreated down the hallway, and Isabel thought she heard the faint wisp of wings following. Louise turned and stormed up to Isabel. “You can’t say things like that!”
Heart still hammering, Isabel’s lower lip quivered. “I know!” she cried right before flinging herself on her bed face-first. She sat up a second later and wrapped her arms around her stomach.
“Izzy, please,” Louise said, softening her voice. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
Isabel shook her head vehemently. “No, no, it’s not. She’s gone to tell Lord Ivers. He’ll take off my head like he did my mother’s.”
“No, he won’t. And Selena’s not going to say anything.�
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Isabel looked up with an anguished grimace. “You heard the tone of her voice. You saw the look on her face.”
“It will pass. Selena has a temper, but she isn’t a tattletale,” Louise said in a reassuring voice. “Now let’s get you ready. Once Selena sees you with your hair brushed, wearing the dress she picked out, she’ll forget what you said.”
Isabel doubted Selena ever forgot anything. If only Isabel’s mother had been a tavern wench like Louise’s late mother. Under the new leadership of Far North, it was much safer to have been born a commoner than a noble.
Isabel swiped at her cheeks with the back of her hands and took a shuddering breath before changing. Although the gown was faded, it looked a thousand times nicer than the brown frock, much to her disappointment.
“There now, you look lovely,” Louise said cheerily. She plucked the sash off Isabel’s bed and threaded it around her waist, tying it into a tidy bow at her back. “Don’t you worry about Atsu. I have a plan,” Louise said, her words as determined as her fingers tying the sash. “I will simply have to woo the prince.”
Isabel was quiet a moment before twisting around to face Louise. “I don’t want you to woo him. I don’t want him to lay a finger on you.” She turned and stared into Louise’s eyes. “You are the only one in this family who has ever been kind to me. I’d sooner marry the toad prince myself than stand aside while he dragged you off to the swamplands.”
Louise laughed and gave Isabel a quick hug. “Sweet of you to say, my dear, but my mind’s made up. The prince is mine.”
Unfortunately, as far as Isabel could tell, so was the prince’s.
* * *
Isabel and Louise entered the parlor stoically at half past ten. Prince Atsu was the first to have arrived. He stood with his arms clasped behind his back, staring at a painting of Mount Bighorn. At the sound of the women’s steps, he turned with a wide smile. “Isabel.”
Her body shivered involuntarily. The prince had an unnerving way of pronouncing her name in a provocative timbre or maybe it was the lowland accent. Isabel had never met anyone from Estival before the prince. On his lips her name came out as “Eez-ah-bell.” He dragged out the syllables and purred her name like a like a cat rubbing himself up and down her leg.
Once Upon A Kiss: Seventeen Romantic Faerie Tales Page 42