A Life of Grime

Chapter 7

After one more dance with the happy crowd, Kellan leads me through a small hidden door and locks it behind us.

The room we are in is taller than it is wide. It has one small loveseat in it, and a shaggy soft rug covers the floor. Most of the wall is covered with heavy velvet curtains, almost hiding the archway that leads to a small balcony.

I whirl around and stab my finger into Kellan's chest. “What did you do!?”

“I'm sorry, Mila.” He takes a deep breath. “I should have told you about my plan ahead of time. I...” He brings his hand up and runs his fingers through his hair. “I was just afraid that you wouldn't agree, or you would run away...”

“And what you said about me being the Princess! How the hell did you—”

“I'm sorry I lied about that. But, I didn't think my Uncle would accept you if you weren't royalty. Could you please just play along with it?”

“But... why?”

He collapses down onto the sofa, loosening his tie with one hand. “Because, I don't know... I'm a romantic too?” He looks up and gives me a small smile. “I don't want to force myself into some loveless marriage, but I can't abdicate the throne, either. If you pretend to be my fiancee until I meet someone perfect, then I don't have to do either.”

My breath freezes in my throat. “Pretend?”

“Yeah. We can make whatever excuses we need to, to delay the wedding for as long as possible.”

“Oh,” I let my breath flood out again, grim suspicion growing in my chest. “You've thought this all through, haven't you?”

“Yeah, I've been toying around with different ideas for weeks. You aren't mad, are you Mila?”

“Mad...” I say slowly, looking up at him. “Am I mad?” A look of unease comes over his features and he gets up quickly from his seat. “You bastard!” I shout.

My fist comes up and lands on his cheekbone, sending him back a step.

“Ow!” He shouts. “What was that for?”

I start raving, walking back and forth to punctuate all my points. “Oh, I don't know. Maybe for manipulating me, lying to me. Faking our engagement. Telling everyone I'm the long lost Princess!”

He frowns, touching his cheek gingerly. “This might leave a mark.”

My eyes blaze. “So, yes! I am mad!”

He tries an apologetic smile. “But, I got you a present, or bribe. Whatever you want to call it.”

“Really, was it this ring?” I hold out my hand and take the ring off, holding it up with two fingers. “Because, I would like to point out that this ring has pearls on it.”

“I know, I noticed you didn't own any rings with pearls.”

“That's because,” I said slowly, “Pearls are not rocks. They are ulcers in the gastronomical tracks of oysters.”

He blinks at me. “Well... they're pretty.”

“They are also useless. I can't store magic in them. So you can have the ring back.” I stretch out my hand, holding the ring out, but he doesn't move.

“God, Mila." He chuckles grimly. "It's an engagement ring.”

“A fake-engagement ring.”

“It's not supposed to be useful.” He steps away from my offering hand. “Could you just wear it? For me?”

His pleading blue eyes meet mine. I sigh and slide it back onto my ring finger.