Fine. If he was angry, so was I. My family had lied to me, my friends had lied to me, and Cynder had lied to me. Ok, so he’d not lied exactly, but he’d not told me the full truth either.
I stomped around the cave, feeling angry. Angry at my father, angry at the people who’d hurt Cynder, and angry with Cynder himself for keeping this from me for so long. Most of all I was angry at myself. I had no idea how to deal with the situation I had found myself in. I was a queen. I shouldn’t be stuck in a cave in the middle of nowhere. I should have been more firm and stayed in Thalia. I should have stayed with Luca.
It was an hour before Cynder came back and my anger had dissipated as I realized that there was no way I could have stayed with Luca without putting him danger too. Cynder might have saved me from a bullet, but in taking me away, he’d saved Luca and his family too.
“I’m sorry,” he said, handing me a bottle of water as he walked back into the cave. “I’m having difficulty handling my feelings.” He pointed his wand at the fire that had almost died out, and the flames roared back to life. “Before last year, I didn’t believe I could find love. I’ve lived a lonely existence, and when I helped found the Freedom of Magic group, I swore to myself that I’d be loyal to it. I had no time for girlfriends, and, truth be told, I didn’t care. I began work at your palace last year. I was one of the last Magi to enter the workforce there. Before that, we’d spent a good couple of years holding peaceful demonstrations, trying to get somewhere, but we never did. It was infuriating. The more time we spent organizing demonstrations, the worse it all seemed to get. The MDS have people in high places all over Silverwood, and no matter what we did, we could never win.”
“It was looking bad for us. I felt hopeless, but then I met you.”
“I don’t see what I did.”
“You changed everything. For the first time ever, a non-Magi was willing to listen to me. Not only did you listen, you were in a position of power. The first night you came to the kitchen, I realized what an asset to the cause you could be.”
“I was an asset to you?”
“I told the Freedom of Magic that things had changed. We made a new plan. I’ve already told you that Daniel was coming to the ball.”
“I was an asset?” I repeated, my heart spiraling downwards as he spoke.
“You kept coming down to see me, and my feelings began to change. By the time the ball came around, I didn’t care about what you could do to help the Magi anymore. I didn’t care what your father had done, or how bad it was for people like me. My biggest fear on the night of the ball was that you’d pick someone to marry. Someone that wasn’t me. I fell in love with you, not because you were an asset, I fell in love with you because you were you. Since then, everything else has been secondary. “When you picked Luca and announced your engagement, I knew that I had to leave you alone. I gave up on the Freedom of Magic and moved to Thalia. The king and queen gave me a job straight away.”
I’ve spent the last six months trying to get over you. When I saw you in the royal dining room, I realized it hadn’t worked. I still love you. I’m not sure I know how to turn that off.”
“I don’t know how to either,” I whispered.
He took my hand. Just the slightest touch from him made my pulse race. It always had.
“I have to marry Luca,” I said. “It’s the only way I can think to help the Magi. It wouldn’t be fair to him to break it off either.”
“I know.”
“I’m not sure I want to marry him,” I said, verbalizing for the first time what had long since been at the back of my mind.
“I know that too.”
“I love you.”
“I know,” he replied almost silently.
“Is there anything you don’t know?”
“I don’t know how I’m going to be able to let you go.”
I closed my eyes, letting the tears fall. It was exactly what I wanted to hear and didn’t want to hear at the same time. I felt his lips as he kissed away my tears.
“What now?” I asked, opening my eyes.
“Tomorrow, I take you home. It’s a day away from here. You’ll be safe there. Daniel will look after you, and you’ll have the best security.”
“I go home? What if I stay here with you?”
He looked around him at the cave.
“You have a country to lead and a man who will be worried about you. I know you well enough to know that Silverwood will thrive in your hands. You told me before that marrying Luca will provide stability for the Magi of Silverwood. It’s what I used to dream about.”
“And what do you dream about now?”
“I dream about something I can never have. Come on, it’s late, and you need to sleep.”
Pittser’s Revenge
Jenny woke me from my slumber so early, it was still dark outside. While it was not an official job of hers, it was something she was wont to do every so often when there was something she deemed an emergency.
I’d gotten home late the previous evening. Cynder had left me a couple of streets away from the palace so no one would see us. He took off on the horse, back to Thalia, leaving me to battle through the hundreds of reporters that were waiting at the back gates. I told them nothing, of course. A member of my guards saw me, and with his help, I was escorted through the throng and safely into the palace.
After spending an hour being fussed over by my mother, Jenny, and Elise, and after I’d given them a diluted account of what had happened in the previous two days, I’d finally fallen into bed after having a long hot bath.
“Please don’t tell me you are waking me to help you with the wedding plans. I’ve already told mother I’m too busy, and I don’t want to go over what happened in the last two days again. I already told all of you everything.”
“Get up and get dressed. We have a problem.”
My eyes flicked open immediately. Her tone left me in no doubt that something had happened, something serious. My mind flashed to Cynder, but I’d left him safe and sound.
“What is it? Have the anti-Magi been protesting again?”
I sat up and rubbed my eyes as Jenny roughly pulled out a plain dress and threw it on my bed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded, although she left me no clue to what exactly I hadn’t told her.
“Tell you what?” I sat up on the bed and pulled the dress towards me. I’d never seen Jenny look so upset.
“I’ve been in your life since the day you were born, and I never thought you’d do something as deplorable as this. There are hundreds of TV crews outside. Leo is out there right now trying to calm the situation, but they want an official statement from you.”
I pulled the dress over my head quickly and jumped out of bed. “What are you talking about? What have I done?”
“It’s in all the papers this morning. That odious creep Frederick Pittser has been broadcasting it all over every channel.”
My heart sank like a stone. If Pittser was involved, it wasn’t going to be good.
“What, exactly, is he saying?”
“He’s saying that you are having an affair with a kitchen hand. It’s a huge scandal. I don’t know how you are going to recover from it. I wouldn’t have believed it if you’d not told me yourself last night that it was a kitchen hand that helped you escape” She wrung her hands as she fretted, dancing from one foot to another. Ever my nanny, she abandoned her hand-wringing long enough to hand me a hairbrush.
I brushed through my knotted tangle of hair, wishing I’d had a chance to brush it before getting into bed the night before. “I’m not having an affair with anyone,” I replied, making sure not to look her in the face as I said it. Ok, so technically I was speaking the truth. I’d made it very clear to Cynder that nothing could happen between us, but she would see right past my words right into my heart.
“You were seen in his company, Charmaine. Someone saw the pair of you ride off from the Thalian palace together on a black horse.”
/> “I told you I was in his company. Had I not been, I’d probably be lying dead in a morgue in Thalia right now. Did they also see the man who shot at me as Cynder was saving my life, because I’m pretty sure it was Pittser. The man is a high up member of a group called the Magi Death Squad whose main ambition in life is to see me dead.”
Jenny’s hands flew up to her mouth. “Did someone really shoot at you? I thought you were just so exhausted from the journey back that you were delirious. Then when I saw the news this morning…well I thought that it might be true.”
“Thanks for your vote of confidence,” I replied, pulling a pair of shoes on. “What exactly is the press making of it all?”
Jenny answered by running up to me and hugging me tightly, almost suffocating me in her massive cleavage.
“I knew you wouldn’t have hurt poor Luca. Oh, I hope you get the chance to see him before he hears any more from the press.”
In my exhaustion and haste to get to bed the previous night, I’d completely forgotten about Luca. There was no doubt in my mind that he’d be on his way back to Silverwood right now and any hope that he’d not see the papers or TV was ridiculous. If Jenny was right and it was all over the news, it would be broadcast in Thalia too. If he’d not already seen it, he soon would.
“I’m having a shower. Can you round up all the papers you can find including any from Thalia if you can get them and then set up a press conference for this afternoon at one pm? Tell them not to send Frederick Pittser.”
“You’re going to talk to them?” asked Jenny in astonishment.
“Do I really have any choice? You’d better instruct Xavi to be ready for me in thirty minutes. I’m going to need her help.”
Jenny raised her eyebrows but didn’t argue. “I hope you know what you are doing, child.”
“So do I, Jenny. So do I.”
At one pm precisely, I stepped out onto a hastily built stage that had been erected in the front garden. Hundreds of reporters and photographers had turned up to get a glimpse of the queen who had managed to mess up so badly in her first week. Although the grounds weren’t opened to the public for the occasion, I could still see hundreds of people standing outside the gates watching from afar. It reminded me of last year when I was constantly being brought in front of the cameras to pick a husband, except now, I didn’t hear cheers from the crowd. Instead, there was a collective boo as I made my way onto the stage. I could hear them shouting, and I was thankful I was too far away to hear what it was they had to say.
I’d asked that Frederick Pittser not be allowed onto the grounds, and, to my relief, I couldn’t see him anywhere. Instead, Jenny had picked a woman to do the main interview. The bespectacled lady stood to greet me as I walked across the makeshift stage. Her hair was a nutty brown color with a hint of grey at the temples, and she had a warm smile. She dressed in the same smart way all interviewers did, but she wore a large red bloom in her lapel. There was no malice in her expression at all. I warmed to her immediately as she shook my hand.
“Welcome, Your Majesty, and thank you for agreeing to speak to us today. I’m guessing that this is going to be a difficult interview for you, so I just want you to take your time, ok?” She reminded me of a kindly old lady, although she looked to only be in her early fifties.
“No doubt, you’ve seen the news this morning,” she began. “The people of the kingdom of Silverwood want to know if there is any truth to it.”
“I have seen the news, and I have to admit to being very saddened by it. There was a time that the papers had to print facts, not conjecture. Sensationalist stories have always sold papers, but this is the first time I’ve seen them sold on total gossip and fabrication.”
“So you are saying that you aren’t having an affair?”
“I chose Prince Luca of Thalia to be my husband last year, and nothing has changed in that respect. You all saw him walking me down the cathedral aisle last week at my coronation, and you’ll see him do the same at our wedding. The man that is in the papers was a member of staff here in the palace for a while before he moved to Thalia last year to begin a job there. I can honestly say I had no knowledge of him working there before I went to visit.”
“So, you are admitting you know him?”
“Yes. I know all my staff. It doesn’t mean I’m having an affair with them.”
I tried to make a joke, but no one laughed.
“But not all of your staff were seen running away on a horse with you from the Thalian royal palace,” she pointed out.
“Cynder saw that I was in danger. He did the only thing he could and rescued me. I was being shot at by a member of a group known as the Magi Death Squad. It seems that they don’t like me much because of my involvement with Magi rights.”
“It’s been said that Cynder is a Mage also. Is there any truth in that?”
I sighed. Why was it a big issue? Why did it matter? It was then I realized that it wasn’t the fact that I was having an affair that bothered people, but the fact I might be having an affair with a person of magic.
“Cynder is a Mage, yes.”
I could almost hear the collective breathing in of shock from the gathered reporters. I guess not many of them knew. I watched as they scribbled furiously in their notepads. From outside the gates, I could hear the jeers even more loudly. I wouldn’t have been surprised if most of them were the same people who demonstrated outside the palace daily. Hopefully, my outing their disgusting group on national TV would give them something to think about.
“A reliable source has been quoted as saying that you and Cynder started up an affair while he was working here in the palace, and that you only agreed to marry Prince Luca to get access to his parents’ castle when you knew Cynder was working there.”
“I’ve already stated that I didn’t know Cynder was working at the Thalian royal castle, so that is preposterous. I went with Prince Luca to spend some time with his family and to meet his brother, the Crown Prince Tomas and the lovely Princess Seraphia, who is also a Mage.”
The last part was completely irrelevant, but I felt the need to get it in there.
“May I ask you a question?” I said to the interviewer. I wished I’d gotten her name before coming on stage.
“Go ahead.”
“Who is this reliable source?”
“Excuse me?”
“The source you spoke of. Someone broke this story, and it seems he broke it to every paper and news station in the land.” I hesitated for a second, wondering if what I was about to say was wise. I decided I didn’t care anymore. “Was it a Mr. Frederick Pittser, by any chance?” Of course, I already knew it was, but I wanted her to confirm it.
She looked nervous as if she didn’t know how to respond. “Actually, it was,” she admitted.
I already knew it was. I’d seen his smarmy face and his name in most of the papers. He was making sure I knew who had tried to bring me down. Well, let him try.
“You all know Frederick Pittser as a long time member of the Silverwood Press. He even interviewed me here in the palace last week after my coronation. What you don’t know is that he assaulted me in my own palace. Then he followed Prince Luca and I to Thalia where he was once again, put in front of me to interview me and dispense his own Anti-Mage views. Now I’m not saying he had anything to do with the shooting, but it’s a coincidence that less than a week after being threatened by him, I was being shot at.”
“Did he threaten to shoot you?” asked the woman, aghast at my claim.
“No. He threatened to tell the world I was having an affair if I didn’t cave in to his demands. He wanted me to block the Magi from coming back to Silverwood. Well, as you can see, he kept to his word which means that I didn’t back down because it just isn’t true about Cynder and I. I have no intention of closing the borders with Thalia or any of the other kingdoms that border ours. They were closed last year because of my father, and in my lifetime, I’ll see that they aren’t closed again. I’ve said it befor
e, and I’ll say it again. The Magi, as with anyone else, will always be welcomed with open arms to Silverwood.”
“Wow, that’s quite a statement. It could be said that Frederick Pittser’s plan backfired then.”
“I won’t be blackmailed into doing the wrong thing.”
“Especially, now that the Magi are flooding back into Silverwood. You must be happy about that, at least?”
“What?” I’d not heard anything about the Magi returning.
“Yes. They have been pouring back through the borders since the story broke this morning. Haven’t you heard? It’s been on the news all day.”
I’d read all the papers to get the gist of what was being said about me, but I’d not thought to turn the TV on.
“I’ve not heard anything about it. That’s wonderful.”
“The gambling houses that were taking bets on who you’d pick to marry last year have all reopened.”
“What do you mean?”
“They think you are going to marry Cynder. They are here because they think there is finally going to be a Mage Prince.”
The Magi Return
After the interview, I’d hoped to go straight to the TV to see if what she said was true, but I was apprehended by Monty Grenfall before I even got to the palace.
“You can’t accuse an innocent man of shooting you on live TV!” he hissed.
“If you have something to say to me, I suggest you do it inside,” I said. There were still a lot of reporters around, and the last thing I wanted was them overhearing.
A couple of guards walked over when they saw how close the chief was getting to me, but I shook my head. They backed off as I led him to the sitting room where we conducted most of our interactions with the media, or had done before my life had turned into the plot of a soap opera, and we had to hold them outside to fit everyone in.
As soon as the door shut behind him, he began to yell.
“Frederick Pittser is a well-respected member of the press,” Grenfall yelled. He was a good two inches shorter than me, but that didn’t stop him from trying to stare me down. “He will be well within his rights to sue you for slander.”
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