Strike at Midnight(45)

“And he was different after that?” she asked from the edge of her seat. She was going to fall off it if she shuffled another inch further.

“Apparently he was a changed man after his near-death experience, and he became more affectionate with his wife.”

“This is all well and good, Rella,” Melody said, “but I want to hear a little more about your reaction to our darling Prince Charming. Apparently, he was quite smitten with you.”

“Marcel is a liar.”

“I saw it with my own eyes, sweetheart.” She looked at Rapunzel to explain. “I don’t like to blow my own trumpet, but guys like to look my way when I walk through the door. Apart from our dear prince. He barely gave me enough of a look to say ‘thank you’ for the drink I handed him before shuffling a little closer to our girl here.”

Rapunzel clamped her lips together to hide another smile. She kind of knew what I was like on the relationship front, but it wasn’t like we’d had a heart-to-heart about it. She just knew I wasn’t the kind of woman to get swept away with such crap.

“And Rella here was speechless,” Melody continued. “She actually blushed, would you believe it?”

“I will kick you in your vagina if you keep talking,” I said, and Rapunzel couldn’t help it then. Her laughter echoed across the room.

“You’ve fallen in love with Prince Charming?”

“Why is that so funny?” I snapped, not agreeing with her in any way, but I wanted to know why it seemed so laughable.

“Rella,” she replied, trying to compose herself. “You don’t fall for anyone. Or blush. I never even thought it was possible.”

“Oh, it’s possible,” Melody said. “Marcel said she was shouting at him like a child for putting himself in such danger, and he could practically see the sparks flying between them. He almost fainted at the sight of it.”

“Marcel doesn’t faint,” I said through gritted teeth, reminding myself that I needed to kick his ass later.

“Seeing you go all cuckoo over a guy was enough for him to want to faint. Trust me.”

“I wasn’t going cuckoo over him,” I said, wanting to bang their heads together. “I was just explaining to him how stupid it was for a person of his stature to put himself in such danger. He is a law unto himself. Chasing down a woman he met once to give her back her shoe. And to Lower City no less, with no guards or chaperone. And you,” I pointed to Melody, “you were the one who put him at risk by telling him that’s where we lived.”

“See?” Melody asked, nudging her head in my direction as she looked at Rapunzel. “Totally cuckoo.”

If her face weren’t so damn pretty, I would have whacked it off the table at that point.

“You’re a bitch,” I said instead, and she just laughed and rubbed my arm.

“And you still love me, so it doesn’t matter. It was actually quite nice to see.”

“Oh, piss off.”

Rapunzel decided to come in and save the day.

“This is a lot bigger than what we thought,” she said, her tone all business once more. “They’re taking people and giving their faces and identity to someone else, and the prince was a lucky break. One you thankfully intervened with. Goodness knows what would have happened if they had put an imposter in his place.”

“See?” I asked this time, looking at Melody as if to say She gets it. Why doesn’t anyone else?

“So what’s the plan?” Melody asked, also giving me a reprieve from the prince. It wouldn’t be for long, though. Not when I told them about the ball.

“The prince thought it would be a good idea to hold a retreat event over two days. He’s going to invite everyone off Sir Raymond’s list, and between them all they thought that we would cover more ground with the five of us.”

“Five?” Rapunzel asked.

“Me, you, Melody, the prince, and Sir Raymond.” I looked at Melody. “You can thank Marcel for volunteering you.”

“I would only be able to come during the day,” Rapunzel said, and I nodded.

“I know. I tried to put the prince off by saying that you and I were handling it and that his original idea of a ball was no good because of your…” Shit. What should I call it?

“My problem?” she asked with a knowing look on her face.

“Yes. Your problem. I didn’t say what it was, just that you could only be there in the day. So your secret is safe.”

“It’s not exactly a secret,” she said, but I knew she didn’t like it known. It would make her a person of interest to the MLO, and no one wanted those sniffing around. Not that they could do anything if she did, because she hadn’t been the one to cast the curse.

“It doesn’t matter. The prince changed it so you can attend during the day events. Picnics, hunting, and other barbaric activities.”

“You hunt,” Melody said, and I glared at her.

“For food. Not for a trophy on my wall to compensate for having a little dick.”

“You have a little dick?” Melody asked, teasing me.

“Funny. You get what I mean.”

“This is good,” Rapunzel said. “We can question all of the people we need without raising suspicion. We could find out if anyone else has had any ‘life-changing events’ recently, or just mention this Billy in passing. We could see if there is a pattern forming, seeing as Lord Camembert was different from the duke. He had a wife, a family. People who would have become suspicious of any change in behavior.”