Twice Upon A Time (Unfinished Fairy Tales #2)(76)

The man gives me a toothless grin. “I’m taking my daughter home, lady. She has always been a disobedient child. It ain’t acceptable to have her running around the town at this hour.”

Molly catches my sleeve and shakes her head. “He . . . not . . .” Her speech comes out garbled, which must be the result from that hard slap the man gave her. To my horror, her right cheek is completely swollen.

I move in front of Molly, blocking her from the man. “You say that she’s your daughter?”

“Told you already,” the man says with a sullen face. “Hand her back to me, you interfering wench.”

“Excuse me,” Edward says sternly, but I place a restraining hand on his arm. What’s more important now is to protect Molly.

“Do you even know her last name? Do you know how many siblings she has?” I fire off the questions. “As a matter of fact, I have seen her father, and you look nothing like him.” I tap my cheek. “Her father has a scar right here.”

The man goes pale. By this time, a small crowd has surrounded us, and dozens of eager eyes are surveying us curiously.

Before the man can run off, my body reacts faster than I expected. I take a step toward him, grab his arm, and punch him in a perfect demonstration of the crane fist. Perhaps taken by surprise, the man goes down like a sandbag. A few people nearby gasp and gape at us.

“Ooh!”

“Did she really do that?”

“Did he faint away?”

I stare at my fist, also in shock. Before I can figure out how to follow up my attack, Edward steps in front of me, shielding me and Molly from the man.

“Get back.”

While I’m sure that Edward can handle that crook, I don’t want him getting into a fight either. Looking around, I spot Bertram’s hulk-like figure near our carriage. Never before have I been so grateful that he’s such a large man. If he were of normal height, I might not be able to locate him in the crowd.

“Bertram!” I shout, waving my hands wildly. “Over here!”

Once the guard arrives, I gesture at Edward, who has twisted the man’s arm behind his back and pinned him to the ground.

“Take this piece of scum to the police,” I say. “Ask them to check and see if he has a record of abducting innocent girls.”

Bertram gives me a salute. Like the way he did to Mr. Tolliver, he easily picks up the man and slings him over his shoulder.

I turn to Molly, who is crying hard by now. Edward has given her his handkerchief, but her shoulders are still shaking.

“Let’s take her to the nearest doctor,” I say. “She has to get her cheek treated.”





36





It is not easy to find a doctor at night, but through Henry, Edward had made the acquaintance of several reputable doctors, and soon Molly is treated in the hands of a competent young man who graduated top in his class a few years ago. He applies a poultice to her cheek which he remarks lightly is usually meant for professional boxers. When Molly is more inclined to speak, I ask her how she came to be struggling with the man downtown.

“He came up to me in the afternoon, Princess,” she says in a small voice. “He wanted me to deliver a bouquet to his sweetheart before the theatre started. Told me he wanted it to be a surprise. But when I got there, he started yellin’ that I was a naughty girl and had no business running around in the streets, and I must go home with him.”

Edward’s face darkens. “I believe I’ve read of a similar event in the papers, but the abductor escaped before others could catch him.”

I glance at Molly, who is sitting on a stool with a downcast expression. Her arm is pale and spindly as she holds the poultice. If we didn’t happen to be in the same area, or if I had never seen Molly’s father, that horrible man might have succeeded in dragging her off. Considering what had happened to her sister . . . I shiver involuntarily. That black-and-white image of Nell with a swelling belly still haunts me occasionally.

“It’ll be all right,” Edward says. “Bertram has taken that man to the police, and they will deal with him. He won’t bother you again.”

Still, I feel awful when we return to the palace. Our first date—a wonderful, magical dinner—is spoiled. Completely.



* * *



A few days later, Bertram brings us good news.

“That man tryin’ ter abduct the young girl has been prosecuted,” he announces. “The police are now tryin’ ter round up the whole gang. Nasty business those men are in—they kidnap innocent girls and ship ‘em to brothels in Moryn. The most common method is ter get the girl drugged and ruined, then sell her off.”

Edward’s face hardens. I suspect mine is the same.

“Lucky you were close by, Princess Kat, or that man could’ve dragged the girl away. You saved her.” Bertram looks up at me with admiration. “How did yer knock him out? You ain’t tiny, but I didn’t expect you’d have the strength ter do it.”

“I taught her a few moves,” Edward says, managing to keep a straight face. “You know how she often places herself in danger, so I had to teach her a bit of self-defense.”

Bertram nods. No doubt he’s reminded of that day when Mr. Tolliver tried to attack me with a bottle, and if Bertram hadn’t happened to be nearby, I could have been seriously injured.