He frowned. “Since I couldn’t hear them, I had no choice but to find each noble and issue my orders without conversation or discussion. I must have looked terrifying to them, too. I can only suppose they thought I meant to rule as my father had done. They did not know of the protection they had been given, or that I would be confined to my castle. I have watched them through the mirror, understanding as much as I could from observation alone, and sent further orders as seemed necessary.”
“Did you bring the mirror with you?” I wondered if it could be helpful now as we tried to bring the kingdom back together.
“No,” he said. “I’m afraid I didn’t squeeze it into a saddlebag when I leaped on Spitfire’s back and charged off to rescue you.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Men. They never think of the practical things.”
Dominic stiffened, offended, until we both burst into peals of laughter, and he relaxed.
“I think having the two of you together is going to take some getting used to.”
“Well, get used to it,” said Lily, slipping her arm around my waist. “Because I intend to be around for a while.”
Jon slapped Dominic on the back. “Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it. Mostly. Just don’t be surprised if she starts breaking off mid-sentence or staring into space for protracted periods in the middle of a conversation because she’s been distracted by a voice in her head.
Lily shook her head at him, but fixed her eyes on Dominic and me. “Speaking of the practical things.” She put her hands on her hips. “I hope you weren’t serious about that getting married in the morning thing. Because I cannot possibly put together a royal wedding overnight. And just think of our family. Mother and Alyssa would be heartbroken if they missed your wedding. I’ve already sent them word to come—so they could save you and attend my wedding—but it will take them weeks to arrive.”
“Ha!” I grinned at my twin. “You don’t fool me, Lil. There’s the real reason—you don’t want me getting married before you.”
“Well, I am the older twin,” she said with dignity, although her eyes laughed back at me.
“And I’ve already been waiting patiently for several months,” said Jon, slipping his arms around her waist from behind and pressing his face briefly into her hair.
I glanced back at Dominic. “The curse doesn’t require we be married in the morning, does it?”
He pulled me close and leaned down to whisper in my ear. The sound of his familiar voice speaking aloud, the growl still lurking behind his words, thrilled me. “Would you believe me if I said it does? I don’t like this talk of months.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “You’ve waited for years, you can wait a little longer.” I looked over at Lily. “I don’t think Dominic could possibly leave Palinar right now. Do you think the people of Marin would stand for their heir being married here?”
Lily’s eyes lit up. “A double wedding! As soon as Mother and the rest arrive.” She turned to Jon. “Oh, Jon. Can we?”
He laughed. “If it means finally setting a date, I will use all of my persuasive powers. We can have some sort of ceremonial event when we return to Marin to commemorate it.” He tried to suppress a smile. “I know you’re a little sick of balls after the Tourney, but…”
Lily groaned. “I said my birthday ball was the only one I would attend this year.” She bit her lip, but I could see excitement in her eyes. “But if it will convince your parents, I suppose I might be persuaded to dance…”
“Dance?” asked a familiar voice behind us. “But you dance so beautifully, Princess Sophie.”
“Oh, no…” said Lily, as I swung around to confront the girl.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, looking wide eyed between the two of us. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…You must be Princess Lily. My apologies.”
“Tara!” The short girl looked close enough to my imaginings that I suspected I might have recognized her even without her voice. I rushed forward to embrace her, and she squeaked in surprise. “Sorry!” I stepped back. “But I had no idea you were here in the capital, and I’m just so excited to be able to see you.”
I glanced reproachfully at Dominic. Why hadn’t he told me he had brought my friends with him? But he was regarding Tara with a raised eyebrow and an expression of resignation. “Tell me,” he said. “How many of my servants have gone rogue and defected to the capital in my absence?”
Tara flushed, looking a little scared. “Oh, no, Your Highness! Only, I couldn’t sit around at the castle, not knowing what had happened to the princess.”
“Ignore him.” I told her. “That was extremely sweet of you, although probably foolhardy. It could have been dangerous.”
She shrugged. “That Cole made it through, didn’t he? And I didn’t ride here alone, or anything. Lottie’s Samuel has turned out to be far more resourceful than I would have imagined. He was on duty in the entrance hall and overheard His Highness talking about riding to the capital because he had seen Cole there in the mirror and also your carriage heading in that direction. So, Samuel convinced one of the coachmen to bring us here in one of the unused carriages.” She looked a little guilty. “We may have given poor Thomas the impression that you were expecting your maids to follow you.”
“You mean Lottie’s here, too? Where?” I looked around, eager to see if my mental image of her had been equally accurate. My eyes fell on Lily who appeared to be suppressing a laugh.
I gave her a glare. These are my friends!
She grinned back at me. I’m only laughing because she’s so exactly like you described her. You have to let me come and meet Lottie, too.
Tara had already started leading me away, and Lily ran to catch up without waiting for my response. Tara apologized profusely for mistaking her for me, but Lily waved away her apology and had soon entirely ingratiated herself with my maid.
We found Lottie with a tall man, dressed as a footman, who hovered over her protectively. I immediately recognized the truth of the assessment Tara had made of him months ago. Samuel looked trust-worthy and easily approachable. And I also realized that Tara had been right about Lottie.
My image of her had been quite wrong, although her basic features and coloring were as I expected. I had allowed her general attitude and her lack of confidence in herself to override Tara’s description, but it turned out she was indeed willowy and graceful. I couldn’t be surprised at the way Samuel looked at her.
All of the introductions were quickly made, and Lily was soon winning over Lottie as well. I watched her with amusement, somehow suspecting that I would now be expected to share their services. But in truth, I was merely glad to be so quickly reunited with my friends from the castle. With so many new people to meet, I appreciated the familiar voices.
All three were full of thanks to me for breaking the curse, although I tried to deflect their praise onto Dominic, since he had really been the one to free them.
“But he couldn’t have done it without you,” said Tara. “He hadn’t broken it in all the years before you came.”
I considered telling her the details of the double curse but hesitated. I didn’t know if Dominic would want it widely known, and I wasn’t sure I had the energy for such a complicated explanation, anyway.
“Of course, we don’t really know what the curse involved,” said Lottie, “and we weren’t supposed to talk about it. Except you can’t stop rumors, not completely. We were all sure you must have come to break it, and at least half the servants were convinced that if you couldn’t break it before the coronation window closed, we would all be stuck forever.”
I shuddered to think of the truth to that guess. Now that I knew the truth of the curse, I knew that it would never have been broken with Cole as king. Would the wilderness have returned once Dominic had no longer been heir and regent?
I shook myself from such gloomy thoughts to ask after the rest of the castle servants.
Tara told me that Gordon had begged to come, claiming that his work hel
ping Matthew with Chestnut qualified him to assist our coachman. When Gilda roundly refused his demand, he had even attempted to stowaway in the carriage. Lily exclaimed that she wished he had succeeded since she was dying to meet him, but I couldn’t help feeling relieved he had failed.
There would be enough going on over the next few days without my feeling responsible for whatever unintended mischief he would have been sure to land himself in. I told Lottie she should write to them all, though, and let them know that I would visit the castle as soon as possible to meet them properly at last.
Chapter 33
There turned out to be a great deal to be done to return Palinar to order and prosperity again. I forced Dominic to go to his bed before he had even finished making a list of the tasks which needed to be completed immediately. The servants had somehow managed to dust four chambers for us, but Lily and I insisted on sharing a room. We weren’t ready to be parted after our long separation.
We both slept deeply, far beyond normal levels of exhaustion. But we awoke early, excited to finally be able to talk in person again.
“You know, I’ve been thinking,” said Lily. “About the Tourney.”
I nodded. “Me too. We knew that each Tourney was shaped by the prince who called it, so we assumed Dominic must be evil and twisted. Only then we learned that the darkness of the curse had corrupted the Tourney through him. Looking back, I can’t understand why it never occurred to me that it was the darkness that made the Tourney so awful, and not Dominic himself. I suppose it was because I thought he was responsible for bringing the darkness in the first place. It never occurred to me that he might be trapped, as well.”
Lily shook her head. “How could you have foreseen any of this? We knew nothing about Palinar or Dominic.” She looked across at me. “And don’t bite my nose off, but I think he must have been responsible for at least some of the difficulty of the Tourney events. Because think how perfectly it’s worked out. You were exactly the right person to come here. In fact, you might be the only person who could have broken both curses.” She bit her lip. “We knew that some of the original magic of the Tourney remained, enough to keep us all alive at least. But I think there must have been enough to ensure the right winner, too. The whole time we thought we were cheating using our projections to give us an advantage. And yet, it’s only because of that ability that you were able to communicate with Dominic. In the end, all those horrible events ensured the right bride won.”
I couldn’t deny the truth of her words, or that there had been at least a little darkness lurking in Dominic when we first met. “I guess I wasn’t ready to believe that Dominic and I could be a perfect match until now.”
Lily spoke in my mind. And you’re completely sure he is? You didn’t agree to marry him out of pity or…or a sense of responsibility or something?
I grimaced at the concerned look she gave me. I understand why you’re concerned. You haven’t had the chance to get to know him like I have. But you saw the way he saved me, the way he sacrificed himself for me. I just wish you could see some of the other things he’s done…I broke off, my eyes going wide as an idea occurred to me.
What is it?
When Dominic was too weak to speak, I managed to connect with him in my mind, like we do.
Wait—what? You can talk to him in your mind now, too?
My face fell. Not any more, sadly. The ability must have been somehow connected to the curse. But while we were connected, he did something we’ve never done. Something it never even occurred to me to try. I explained the way he had shown me his memories.
Lily’s eyes lit up with excitement. I guess we never even thought of it because before now we never needed to do something like that—all our memories were shared. But let’s try it right now. I want to see that magical castle of yours!
We ran late for breakfast because it took more experimentation than we hoped. But the important thing was that, in the end, it worked. Hurrying through the palace, we both tripped more than once, distracted by the inundation of shared memories. Neither of us spoke it, either aloud or through projections, but I knew we were thinking the same thing—this new connection would make our inevitable separation easier. Because by falling in love with Jon and Dominic, we had ensured that our lives would be lived apart.
We only stopped practicing when Jon demanded our attention. “You have to be firm with them,” he told Dominic, as if imparting a great pearl of wisdom, and Lily threw a piece of half-buttered toast at him.
“I have a question for you, Dominic,” she said, after choosing another slice. “When you arrived you never seemed in the least confused between Sophie and me, even though we were dressed nearly identically.”
Dominic looked disdainful at the suggestion that he might not have recognized me. “You may look something alike, but I could never mistake anyone for my Sophie.”
I blushed and looked down at my toast. I still hadn’t quite adjusted to my wonderful new reality.
Jonathan raised an eyebrow and glanced between the three of us before leaning down to half-whisper in Lily’s ear. “I could tell you apart from the beginning, too, remember.”
She glared at him, also keeping her voice low. “Jon! This is hardly the time.”
“What?” He shrugged innocently. “I’m just making sure I get full credit. You know, since I’m not dark and brooding, and I don’t have a whole castle of my own. Several castles, in fact, now that I come to think of it.” He looked despondently around the room, his face so comical, I almost laughed despite everything.
Lily rolled her eyes. “Because you’re so insecure.”
He reached over and dragged her from her chair, dumping her in his lap. “I can be very insecure. That’s why I need you to constantly tell me how important I am. And how much you love me.”
She wrinkled her nose, and he dropped a kiss on it. “No? Too much?”
She laughed and nestled against his chest.
I shook my head and glanced at Dominic. His horrified expression made me chuckle. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to them,” I assured him. When his expression didn’t change, I laughed again.
Several hours later, when we finally managed to steal an hour alone in the palace rose garden, I refrained from pointing out that we were sitting in a similar manner to Jon and Lily at breakfast. I didn’t want to say anything that might make him rethink having me snuggled on his lap.
Not when we were having such an enjoyable time finding out exactly what the other had been thinking at crucial moments throughout our relationship.
“I was a fool,” said Dominic, when I asked why he had called the Tourney and then proceeded to treat me so rudely. “More than a fool. I hoped that an engagement through the Tourney would be enough. But clearly it was not. So, I ordered for you to come to my castle, thinking perhaps we just needed to be in the same vicinity. But clearly that didn’t work either.”
He sighed. “So, then I decided I needed to get you to actually marry me. Each night I asked you, desperate to get you to agree but not really believing it possible that you could see past my appearance. I had been intrigued by you from the start, but you were terrified of me. In my despair, I made no effort to make myself lovable. I let my anger rule me at each instance of hurt pride.”
I shook my head at him. “What if I had said yes? If I had married you out of obligation, because of the Tourney, you would never have had the opportunity to be free.”
“Thank goodness I was so repulsive, then,” he said wryly.
“You weren’t all bad. You came to save me from the wolves, remember?”
“I’ve told you already that you reminded me of the goodness I had seen before in my mother and sister. I never stood up to my father for them, and I failed Adelaide in the end, but I had a chance to save you. It was an act of atonement, I suppose. Only then you came to my sickroom and ordered around my servants and read to me—even though you turned up your pretty little nose at my mathematics.” He chuckled, the sound c
lose to a growl, and placed a kiss on the offending article. “I saw the way you controlled your fear and your anger toward me. And I began to learn that I could do the same. You made me choose to be different.”
“That’s funny,” I said. “I don’t remember being so controlled. I remember getting rather angry at you, in fact.”
He smiled ruefully. “Only when I deserved and needed it.”
“Oh, no disputing that.”
He shook his head at me before resting his forehead against mine. “I love you, Sophie. You have saved me from myself.”
I smiled, feeling as if my heart would burst. “When I rode into Palinar, all those months ago, I told Lily that I wouldn’t be coming back until I could free the kingdom and bring the light back with me. It never occurred to me that I might want to stay.”
His arms around me tightened. “We would lose half our light without you as queen.”
I flushed, but then my thoughts turned dark. “Lily and I are both convinced Cole must have gotten his hands on an ancient godmother object. I only wish we had found it on him. And that we had found that man he was speaking with.”
Somehow, in all the confusion, the man Cole had been speaking to when the guards dragged me into the throne room dressed like Lily, had disappeared. I was convinced he must have taken the object with him.
Dominic cupped my face in his hands. “I thought Lily was supposed to be the worrier. Let it go, my love. You have freed an entire kingdom, as well as my heart. Let that be enough for one day.”
A chill ran up me at his endearment, and I pressed my lips against his. Within moments I had forgotten every other thought except wonder that I was sitting here surrounded by roses, kissing my Beast.
Note from the Author
A Tale of Beauty and Beast: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast (Beyond the Four Kingdoms Book 2) Page 25