Strike at Midnight(70)
“Very good,” he said, and then he bowed to me. “I will see you at the ball this evening.”
I remembered to curtsy at the last minute, but he was already showing me his back when he walked away. Now, what the hell was I supposed to do?
The king hadn’t wanted his son hurt, and he thought I was the one capable of doing it. But then he had said that I was the only one who was making our backgrounds an issue. Did he mean that it was wrong of me to be doing that and even going there? Or was he right in suggesting that I was using it as an excuse to not pursue something with the prince?
My heart and head hurt, and I had to admit that I was baffled by my own feelings that were churning inside me like butter. Would I really want to be with the prince if there was a chance for us to be together? And was I the one standing in the way of us being together after the king’s confusing statement?
Images of the things I had done in my life reeled through my head, one after the other, after the other.
Yes, I was standing in the way, but not in the way of my own path. I was standing in the way to stop the prince from getting lumbered with someone like me.
I wasn’t worthy of him. I wasn’t worthy of anyone.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Introducing the Lord & Lady Camembert
Melody had attacked my hair and Rapunzel had helped me to get into my gown. Mia had clapped her hands together and made me look all rosy-faced and shit, and even I had to admit I sparkled when I saw the finished result.
The beautiful gown fit me like a glove, and I loved the fact that I could actually move in this one without feeling like my legs were being clawed every time I moved.
The looking glass reflected back at me a vision that completely defied the person I was inside, but I resigned myself to the fact that I was undercover. I was supposed to pretend. Maybe tonight I could allow myself to believe that this could have been me if things had turned out differently. If my mother hadn’t died and my father hadn’t gone off and married the psycho bitch from hell. Maybe then I would have been good enough to be considered an acceptable match for the prince?
I agreed it still wouldn’t have been the grandest match in the land. I would still have only been the daughter of a baron. But it would have been more acceptable than wedding a commoner—and that’s exactly what I was now.
A vision of the prince’s face filled my head once more and I pushed it away. It was too much of everything to think of him right now, and regardless of the makeover, I still had a job to do.
“There,” Mia said, spraying something smelly onto my neck. “A total mangeuse d’homme.”
“This is ridiculous,” I said, but I couldn’t help but sway the skirts a little. “The prince is way out of my league, so stop pushing in that direction.”
“Don’t you be ridiculous,” Mia said. “He obviously doesn’t think that. So why should you?”
“Because he’s an idiot who needs guiding every step of the way,” I snapped. “Didn’t I tell you that even his father thinks so, hence his earlier warning?” Guilt hit me at the fact that I had omitted the part where I thought the king might have insinuated that my background wouldn’t be an issue to him.
“He was just being protective,” Rapunzel said as she crouched down to rearrange my gown. “He’s bound to be that way with anyone. Especially if the prince is an only child.”
Melody readjusted her boobs in her own gown so they would show more cleavage, and said, “Trust me when I say, I know how insensitive fathers can be when it comes to marriage.”
Melody had confided in me not long after we’d met that she had fled from an unwanted proposal. Apparently, her own father had arranged a marriage she didn’t want, and she had left everything she had ever known the morning after. To this day she had been vague on the details, but like with Rapunzel, it was her story to tell when she was ready.
“Well,” I said, stepping back from the mirror. “I’m going to make it clear to the prince this evening that nothing can come of us. He knows it anyway deep down. I just need to put his interest in me to bed, and then we can carry on with this hunt for the duke without any further royal assistance.”
“It’s helped our cause a great deal, though,” Rapunzel said, stepping back to admire her handiwork. “If you hadn’t crossed paths with him, you wouldn’t have had this ball to question people, and we might not have discovered the imposter’s true identity.”
“That’s fair enough,” I said, trying not to pout. “But this is where our dear prince’s journey ends.”
“And mine, by the looks of it,” Rapunzel said as she looked towards the window. “For tonight, at least.”
“See you in the morning?” I asked.
“Melody said she will bring my bag back with her so I’ll meet you at the inn to save another ride back here just for a couple of hours. You can fill me in then.”
“Okay,” I said, hating the fact that she had to leave. She was doing well to hide it, but I had seen the strained smile on her face while we had been getting ready for the ball. “I’ll see you tomo—”
She disappeared before I could finish the rest of my sentence.
“Damn it,” I said, stomping my foot like a brat. My glass slipper made a noise against the wooden floor. “I hate that she gets to miss this.”