A Beautiful Curse

by Kenley Davidson

  “Thank you for coming.” The king greeted his sons with a fond smile. “I’m sure you have better things to do than listen to your father natter on all afternoon, so I’ll make this succinct.” His gaze rested briefly on each of them, ending with Cambren. “I’ve instructed Ambrose to make a public announcement of my… er, retirement.”

  Oh. Cam hadn’t expected it to be quite this soon. Long live King Dauntry?

  “I will be relinquishing the crown at the end of the year, but as you know, Anuran law is not specific in the matter of inheritance. I fear I have yet to determine which of my sons will wear my crown after me.”

  “What?” A quick glance revealed that Eldrick’s face had gone bone white. “But we have always thought…”

  “Yes, I know what you thought,” the king answered. “And I was content to let you think it.”

  Cambren threw a careful, sideways look at Dauntry, who had merely turned slightly pink and appeared to be clenching his jaw. He would never do something so unbecoming as whining or protesting his father’s decision.

  “Character is formed in large part by the expectations placed upon us, and yours have been no exception,” the king continued. “Sadly, those expectations have produced very different results, and due to my own regrettable distraction, I really feel that I don’t know my sons as well as I ought. I have therefore contrived a series of tests, if you will, to determine which of you is most fit to lead our people in my stead.”

  Dauntry bowed his head. “I am ready to submit to your examination, Father,” he said. “And to improve myself in whatever areas I have failed to meet with your approval.”

  “Of course you are,” Eldrick muttered savagely, before addressing his father directly. “What kind of tests? If it’s a matter of knowing the most about what goes on behind the council chamber doors, I wonder that you bother with the farce. We all know Dauntry’s the only one with patience enough to sit through that much blathering on a daily basis.”

  “Sadly, my boy, blathering and listening to the blather of others is one of a king’s most sacred duties,” King Lorne informed his middle son, but not without a twinkle in his eye. “Fortunately, the tests I have in mind are of a different nature. I wish to know you, as men, and to discover what you know of yourselves. How well do you know your people and your kingdom? Are you strong enough, and yet flexible enough to rule?”

  “If it’s a tournament, I swear I’m going to hurl,” Eldrick growled.

  “What good would that be?” the king queried. “No, I have a much better idea than that.” He straightened in his throne, and Cambren noted the moment Lorne shifted from Father to king.

  “I will be announcing the first test in ten days’ time. You may all prepare yourselves as you see fit, and at the next assembly, you will be given your first challenge. I wish all of you luck and hope to assure you that my love will remain unabated, no matter the outcome.”

  And that, Cam knew, was dismissal. He turned and trudged back the way they’d come, wondering gloomily how he was going to survive all the extra fuss and bother until the tests were complete. He had no desire to rule, and had never expected to be considered, so the challenge came as something of an unpleasant shock. Even worse? His brothers were already at each other’s throats half the time. This was not going to improve their tempers, and it would fall to Cambren, as usual, to prevent them from actually coming to blows.

  Though he doubted Dauntry would do something so undignified as engage in public fisticuffs. He was more likely to challenge Eldrick to a duel, and wouldn’t that be glorious for the royal family’s reputation.

  “Oh, Cam,” Eldrick called, as soon as they exited the throne room. “Won’t you come with us, little brother?”

  “Where could you be going that wouldn’t be the better for my absence?” Cam quipped, wanting nothing more than to return to the barn and train his horses and forget about kingdoms and thrones.

  “The Everton library,” Eldrick announced, with a sly grin.

  Cam’s eyebrows shot up. “We have a library here,” he pointed out, “and besides, you don’t read.”

  “I choose not to, but that doesn’t mean I can’t,” his brother retorted. “But that’s beside the point.”

  “Sorry,” Cam replied, “but you did say you were going to the library. It seemed a natural assumption.”

  “Well, I suppose Dauntry will probably be looking for a book on royal challenges and how to defeat them,” Eldrick remarked snidely, “but I have a different sort of quarry in mind.”

  “Oh?” Cam didn’t even need to ask. He knew from his brother’s expression that his quarry would be of the feminine variety.

  “Rumor has it, there’s a new apprentice.”

  “How do you even know where the library is? And since when have you cared whether the library has one new apprentice or a dozen?”

  “Even you will care about this one, brother,” Eldrick insisted, slinging an arm over Cam’s shoulder as they strolled down the hall.

  “Why? Does he have a fondness for horses?”

  “No,” Eldrick replied with a smirk. “But she is rumored to be the most lovely creature ever to grace the streets of our fair city.”

  Cam’s eyebrows shot up. “And both you and Dauntry are going to find out whether it’s true?”

  “I can’t speak for our big brother,” Eldrick said with a shrug, “but I felt that someone needed to discover the truth, and it might as well be me.”

  Cam sighed and rearranged his plans for the rest of the afternoon. Not because he cared about this probably mythical library apprentice, but because Dauntry was going to be prickly and moody after Father’s announcement, and Eldrick could never resist the opportunity to needle him.

  And while he was at the library, keeping an eye on his brothers, he could also take another look around for that book on the legendary horses of the northern steppeland. The library supposedly contained a copy, but no one seemed to be able to find it.

  “All right,” he told Eldrick, “but not because of the girl. I need to ask about a book anyway.”

  “Yes, of course you do.” His brother rolled his eyes. “You know, someday, you’re going to find a girl who will actually inspire you to close those books and chase her instead of horses.”

  “Well, I’m hardly a suitable aspirant to the hand of the most beautiful girl in the city, so that day is probably not today,” Cam reminded him.

  “You never know, brother,” Eldrick said slyly. “She is a librarian, after all.”

  Chapter 3

  Ellie whisked around the corner and ducked into the fiction room, placing a hand on her chest to help slow her breathing. And not a moment too soon. Burr, Nelson, and Dewey rounded the corner into the hallway outside, and she could catch the murmur of low, discontented voices.

  “…why she’s still here. It’s distracting, having all these idiot fops following her from room to room. And then she has the nerve to act like she knows so much more than we do. After only a month, too.” The nasal whine meant it was probably Nelson. He was tall, handsome, about her age, and most likely descended from a large family of weasels. She’d caught him going around behind her, undoing her work, and then claiming she was lazy or couldn’t understand the shelving system.

  “It’s all that reading. Has to be.” The reply was made in a cultured tenor—unmistakably Dewey’s. She could picture his horrified shudder, and the fastidious rearranging of his robe. “She acts like there’s something virtuous about it. Like we should know as much about what’s in the books as we do about how to keep them.”

  “Reading the books isn’t exactly a crime,” Burr added, in a bass rumble. He was short, broad, and had a remarkably thick beard for a seventeen-year-old. Burr was nice enough, and didn’t suffer from as many strong prejudices as the others, but was far too easily led by the more vocal amongst the apprentices.

  Every one of whom seemed to wish they could either marry Ellie or consign her to perdition, which offered little
hope for the logical reasoning capabilities of the male species.

  Elisette had initially believed that after she proved she was more than capable of performing the duties of an apprentice, she would be at least tolerated, if not quite accepted. But Lady Caro’s warning had proven more than accurate. The better Ellie’s work, the more resentment she encountered, and the more concerted the efforts to undermine her. Almost every one of the apprentices had tried flirting with her within the first few days, but after being rebuffed, had quickly joined the ranks of those angling for her dismissal.

  Farrel, thankfully, rarely interacted with Ellie personally, except to offer an occasional criticism, but seemed pleased enough to record her every error and present weekly—if not daily—reports of her failures to Lady Caro. Thus far, Elisette had received no official reprimands, but the moment could not be far off.

  The worst of it was, Ellie had no idea how to change any of it. She spent most of her days torn between utter bliss and pure, blinding frustration. The opportunities to study rare manuscripts and esoteric topics had been as exhilarating as she’d always dreamed. But her work? Anything but exhilarating.

  It had taken a bit of time to catch on to the library’s organization, but the other apprentices behaved as though any error was the fault of her gender and proof of her unfitness for the position. Attempts at conversation had been met with scorn and derision, and any apprentice caught being friendly towards her would mysteriously refuse to so much as meet her eyes the next day.

  In her loneliness, she’d taken to dawdling every evening in the marketplace between her lodgings and the library. She would pass the time by conversing with shopkeepers and browsing the goods, many of which had come from faraway places she had only read about. Not that she’d made any friends there, but at least it was better than the disdain she met with at the library.

  As the footsteps continued on past her hiding place, Elisette let her chin drop to her chest and closed her eyes. It was worth it, she told herself firmly. It would all be worth it in the end.

  “We’ll just have to try harder to get rid of her, that’s all,” Dewey said. “Otherwise, we’ll be expected to start reading too. And then there’s all the extra visitors, who only pretend to want books so they can talk to her. It just makes more work for everyone. Once she’s gone, everything will go back to the way it was.”

  A rumble of agreement filtered through the open doorway and dwindled away to nothing as the three apprentices passed out of earshot.

  Ellie was not much of a crier, but she could feel the telltale sting of tears beginning to well up. It wasn’t her fault. It was her wretched face. Maybe if she was ugly, none of the others would care so much that she wasn’t a boy. Maybe they would leave her be and let her learn in peace.

  Curse that fool Mortimer and his stupid fairy magic.

  “Elisette?” Farrel’s head appeared in the doorway, wearing a sour expression.

  “Yes, sir?” She straightened immediately and tried to pretend she hadn’t been about to cry.

  “Lazing about while you should be working, are you?” He looked down his nose and smiled. “All the better for me. For now, get yourself back to the reading room. Three of the others have left for lunch and we have visitors who require assistance.”

  Ellie swallowed her resentment and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  There should have been three apprentices available at all times, but Farrel positively enjoyed leaving Ellie to handle their duties alone and then remarking disdainfully on her performance when she failed to keep up.

  She’d been tempted to quit more than once, but the thought of what she would face at home kept her from strongly considering it. Father would probably still expect her to marry the greengrocer’s son and spend her days contemplating vegetables, which had to be worse than any number of rude, ignorant, condescending apprentices.

  Her return to the reading room was marked by the usual reactions—a quick turning of heads and an audible intake of breath. This time, however, the watchful eyes were split between her and the trio of young men conversing with Farrel.

  They were all handsome, in their way. The tallest was blond and chiseled, with a high brow and a noble expression that was so calculated, Ellie suspected he must have practiced it every day in front of a mirror. The second was dark-haired and elegant, and wore his sardonic smile with as much ease as his perfectly tailored clothes. And the third? She didn’t quite have a chance to notice any details about him before Farrel waved her over.

  “Your Highnesses, this is our newest apprentice, Miss Elisette. She will be pleased to assist you in whatever you need during your visit to our humble halls.”

  Highnesses? Humble halls? Had Farrel lost his mind?

  “Madam.” The dark-haired one swept her a courtly bow. When he unbent, his smile had shifted to one of admiration and his gaze was sharp. “It is an unexpected pleasure to meet you. My name is Prince Eldrick, and these are my brothers, the princes Dauntry and Cambren.”

  Ellie wanted to hide under a table. Apparently word of her presence had finally spread as far as the royal palace and the princes themselves had deigned to put in an appearance, no doubt to see whether she was actually as beautiful as rumor held her to be. Lady Caro was already displeased with the increase in visitors, who were far more interested in flirting than books. If she found out about this, Elisette was finished for sure.

  “Your Highnesses.” She returned the bow with a deferential curtsey, hoping to hide her dismay. “I’m honored to meet you. How may I be of assistance?”

  She didn’t think she would get any response out of the tallest one, Prince Dauntry. His eyes were fixed on her face with a sort of worshipful expression, one she’d seen all too many times. He wouldn’t be forming words anytime soon.

  Prince Eldrick was a different story.

  “Perhaps you could tell me the tale of how such a lovely lady came to be a library apprentice?” he suggested, drawing closer and winking suggestively. The best she could say for him was that he at least kept his eyes on her face.

  “I’m sorry, Your Highness, but I’m not permitted to engage in personal conversations during working hours,” she told him as respectfully as possible, while resisting the urge to step back and put a table between them.

  “Surely you could make an exception, this once?” Eldrick suggested, looking at Farrel with a winning smile. He seemed to completely overlook the fact that Farrel’s teeth were clenched and he was glaring daggers at Elisette.

  “Er, actually, I am looking for a book.”

  Everyone’s heads swiveled towards the source of this unexpected request—the third prince. He bore the weight of their gazes calmly, almost apologetically, but didn’t seem particularly dismayed.

  Now that she had a chance to look at him more closely, Elisette discovered that the shortest of the three princes possessed sandy blond hair and gray eyes. His face was tanned and lightly freckled, as though he spent an unusual amount of time in the sun.

  “I am at your disposal, sir,” Elisette said coolly, provoking an expression of annoyance from both Dauntry and Eldrick. “Do you know either the name of the book or the name of the author?”

  “Afraid not.” Prince Cambren appeared genuinely apologetic. “I’ve come in a time or two asking about it, but no one seemed to know where to look.”

  “And the topic?”

  “Well, I think you’d call it a travel narrative,” he guessed, taking two limping steps towards her before throwing a glance at Eldrick. “Though my brother here insists that it’s probably more properly called fiction.”

  “Then perhaps we should check there, Your Highness,” Ellie suggested. “Follow me, please, and tell me as much as you can about the subject.”

  As she led the way to the fiction room, Ellie felt bad for forcing the prince—who appeared to have suffered an injury of some kind—to walk so far, but she’d needed to get away from all the staring eyes in the reading room. One prince, she thought she could handl
e, but three was a bit much for anyone.

  “Cambren,” he said, as soon as they were in the hall.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “My name is Cambren. In case you missed it when my brother was throwing titles around like conkers.”

  Elisette’s lips tightened in annoyance. “Your Highness, it would hardly be proper for me to use your name. Now tell me about this book, if you please.”

  He sighed a little. “Well, it’s about horses.”

  She stopped and whirled to face him, instantly suspicious. “Is that all you know?”

  “Well, no. That is, not exactly.”

  Her eyes narrowed. Looking for a book, indeed. Apparently he was just like all the others, he simply went about flirting in a different way.

  “Did you really come in here for a book or did you come in to gawk at the new library apprentice?” she demanded scornfully. “Let me guess—you heard about me and thought it was a brilliant and original idea to pretend you wanted something to read so you could find out whether I’m actually as beautiful as the rumors say.”

  Cambren stopped and returned her gaze, looking mildly astonished. “I won’t deny that the rumors exist,” he said, “but I didn’t come here to make you uncomfortable. I’d heard that the book is somewhere in the library, but no one has ever managed to find it. Stood to reason that someone new might have new ideas.”

  “Oh.” Ellie considered that and couldn’t decide whether to believe him. At the least, she supposed she owed him an apology. Snapping rudely at a prince was probably not healthy for her future employment prospects.

  “Then I apologize,” she said stiffly. “Please continue.”

  “No need for apologies,” Prince Cambren insisted, offering her an adorably wry grin. “It can’t be much fun being stared at all the time.”

  She shot him a sideways glance as they continued on down the hall. Most people didn’t understand that. And that grin made him even more handsome than she’d initially thought. His good looks weren’t as obvious as his brothers’, but she could certainly see the appeal.