Once Upon A Princess

12: Upper Hand

Verna looked puzzled at seeing Amelia standing perfectly straight in front of her nightstand, her pupils wide and breathing slightly elevated. If she wanted to question what the princess was doing, she seemed to think better of it and said nothing.

"Alright, princess, it's time for bed," she said in the harried way a person getting on with their work talked. This was usual; routine. No need for her to believe there was an enchanted prince in the room with them.

The lady-in-waiting crossed the room to the dresser, pulling it open. She must've heard the sound of Amelia's nightstand drawer opening, because she turned around at the grating wood sliding against itself. The frog prince dipped into the drawer unnoticed, and all Verna saw was Amelia putting her hairbrush away.

Evidently Verna could tell that Amelia was acting very agitated. Before she pulled out the nightgowns she went to Amelia, hesitating only slightly before putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Princess, I know that you are very anxious having all these guards around, but you just say the word and I'll make sure they give you space."

Amelia was very touched at her firm words. Even if that isn't why she was acting strange. She debated for a moment whether she should tell her the truth. But if Verna knew she was hiding a frog in her nightstand drawer, let alone the missing prince, she wasn't sure what would happen. This was a secret she had to keep to herself. She bit softly into her lip before replying.

"Right, I, um, yeah. They are quite... suffocating."

She didn't feel very convincing, but Verna didn't seem to notice. She even smiled and gave the princess a soft look.

"Let's get you dressed for bed and then I'll go out and have a talk with them. How does that sound?"

Amelia smiled, hoping it looked real; hoping she looked truly relieved. "That sounds wonderful."

She made sure the drawer was firmly closed before she was undressed and then redressed in her nightgown. Verna left after lighting the fire in the fireplace and tucking her in. As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, Amelia sat up and pushed the covers down so they rested at her hips.

When she leaned over to open the drawer, she almost wondered if the prince would still be there. It was a silly thought; there was no way he could've escaped. He'd just always seemed so slippery. Amelia found him hard to pin down, hard to find and harder still to keep. But, of course, she could end this all if she wanted to. She took one tremulous breath and then opened the drawer tentatively, finding the frog prince inside with a rather grumpy expression. All thoughts of helping him vanished.

"Is that servant done?" he asked in a soft, annoyed voice.

"She just left," Amelia answered. "And that means it's your cue to leave."

"Leave? You want me to go?"

"Yes. Do whatever you did last time to slip past the guards. We can talk again tomorrow." She couldn't help the sharp edge of her words, the hardness of her voice.

"Talk? Not talking again!" he exclaimed, his expression going stormy.

His protests only seemed to make her more angry, though she couldn't explain why. It was just so exasperating to see the prince so unbothered by her wishes. For once, it would be nice to have him be the angry one and she with the upper hand. She itched to irritate him as much as he could irritate her.

"I'm sorry, am I annoying you?" she asked, almost mocking in a song-song voice.

Her brows were raised at his face, which continued to be set in an irked expression. Well, she could push back just as hard. She tried to a toothy smile.

He snapped at her. "Yes, you are, as a matter of fact. Mind actually getting this over with instead of dragging your feet? I could have traveled to another, more eager, princess at this point."

Amelia's smile dropped and her face flushed at his words. How could he be so casual about this? Ugh! She couldn't help the hitch in her words as she replied.

"What, so you just want me to kiss you and that's that? You'll be on your way?"

The frog prince looked exasperated at her words, rolling his eyes and insinuating his words. "Yes! That's all I've wanted this whole time. Haven't you been listening?"

"I just thought...well..." she started to fidget with her hands, feeling like her hair needed to be pushed aside though it wasn't in her face.

"Well what?" he asked.

She could hear the impatience in his voice. Instead of answering him, she just shook her head. She couldn't admit anything to him. No weakness.

"It doesn't matter. You need to leave."

There was a ringing of finality in her tone, and the words had come out perfectly cruel; a fracture too cracked to heal nicely. She didn't realize that she felt so forceful, and the prince looked momentarily speechless. His giant mouth dropped open, bulbous eyes widening even more. She seemed a little shocked at her own words as well, her mouth forming a small 'o' and her hands reflexively going to cover her mouth.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I—"

"No, I get it," he said. His voice had gone flat, voicing no emotion. The usual expressive face that looked so strange on an animal had gone away, and now Amelia could swear she was staring at an ordinary frog.

It took him a moment to get out of the drawer, awkwardly trying to use his short front legs to climb up and out. But when Amelia got out of her bed and tried to help him, he made a noise that she could only assume was his way of saying 'back off' with minimal effort. So she was standing there, watching him stubbornly get out on his own. She felt an odd flutter in her gut, not sure where it came from.

"You can come back tomorrow, and maybe then..." she let the sentence hang there, because she wasn't sure how to end it. All the bite of her words was gone, left with only the fragile voice she never used except when she was admitting a secret to her father. She nearly cringed at the uncertainty of it all. How unlike a ruler she was.

"Maybe nothing," the prince snapped again, his words still leaving behind teeth marks. "Maybe I'll leave, and then you'll never have to see me again. You obviously don't want to do this, and that's fine. I'll back off. I can take a hint." There was a strange hint of bitterness in his tone, though he was obviously still trying to mask any feelings.

There was a moment where everything seemed slower, as the Princess of Avenor watched the Prince of Gell begin to leave. He was mid-jump off the dresser, his long back legs outstretched. Though time seemed to be stretching on, she would look back and swear that she wasn't thinking; that she had no time and had to act reflexively.

Amelia caught him as he was falling, her hands closing around the slimy body with too much force. The breath left his lungs, feeling the vice of her hands like a cage. She immediately lessened the pressure, nearly dropping him out of the shock of what she'd just done. She hadn't intended to catch him, had she?

The prince squirmed out of her hands, enough that most of his body now sat in the hole her hands made, looking as if he was sitting in a chair. His eyes, though glossy as a frogs would be, looked so human with that severe glare he was giving her.

"What do you think you're doing? Unhand me at once!"

His words — that, she had to admit, sounded very much like a ruler's — broke her out of the reverie, suddenly watching as time started moving at a normal speed. The words she wanted to say seemed tied in her head, refusing to flee and actually form a sentence. An explanation. Anything to tell him why she'd just stopped him from leaving, the one thing she wanted him to do. She couldn't quite understand it herself.

Instead of having to explain, she raised her arms, and now she was staring at the frog prince, eye to eye. He still looked irritated and furious, but he said nothing. He waited for her to say something.

Time slowed again as she brought him closer, watching as his eyes widened before she pressed her lips right between his eyes.