“You are no fun,” Fiona said, sticking her tongue out at Darby. “Maybe I’ll go watch the parade this year. I heard that Colin and Jamison are even more handsome than their father.”
“Fawning over the royalty, are we now?” she asked, laughing.
“Only when they look like our princes do,” Fiona said, winking at her.
Darby sighed. “They’re Fae, Fiona; of course, they’re gorgeous.”
“You really are no fun,” Fiona said, shaking her head. “Would it interest you to know that both Reese and Keaton are here too?”
That got her attention. “They’re all here together? That must mean that something big is going to happen. Do you think Colin has finally agreed to get married?”
“That’s the rumor I’ve been hearing,” Fiona said. “I figure if there is a woman, she’ll be in the parade.”
She was tempted, but she knew that by the time the parade started, her shelves would be empty. “You go and tell me about it,” she said. “There’s going to be too much work to do here for me to get away.”
“You’re just saying that because Queen Isabella comes to the shop after I’m gone,” Fiona said, pouting. “Are you ever going to let me stay when she comes?”
“She’s made it perfectly clear that she will only come if I’m here alone,” Darby said, rolling her eyes. “It’s not really all that exciting anyway; she wanders around for a few minutes, orders the same thing she always does, then leaves.”
“But she has to talk, has to say something,” Fiona protested.
Darby shrugged her shoulders. “We make polite conversation about the weather and stuff like that, but she doesn’t exactly confide in me.”
Fiona sighed. “Too bad. I was thinking that she might decide that you were perfect for Colin and sweep you away to the castle,” she said, closing her eyes and swaying. “You know, like Cinderella.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, Fiona, you are such a romantic, but I’ve got news for you: even if Queen Isabella fell in love with me herself, they’d never let me into the castle,” she said. “Besides, I like my life the way it is. I wouldn’t even know what to do in the castle. Unlike you, I don’t want to be a part of that world.”
“Too bad, you’re as close to one of them as I’ll ever get,” Fiona said. “But you never know; maybe I’ll catch the prince’s eye at the parade—you know, love at first sight, and I’ll be the one swept off her feet to the castle.”
Darby laughed again. “Fiona, I hope someday your handsome prince does come riding up to your door to sweep you off your feet and make you a princess,” she said, bowing to her best friend. “But until then, we have a full morning in front of us, so I’ll need you to act like the commoner that you are and sell some stuff.”
Fiona bowed back to her. “Yes, Your Highness,” she said, then disappeared through the storeroom door.
It wasn’t long before she heard the tinkle of the bells on the front door, and the day started in earnest as the first customer came in. For the rest of the morning, a steady stream of women and a few brave men came in, and the shelves soon began to empty just as she’d known they would. But as she smiled at the humans, took their money, and ushered them out the door, Fiona’s little fantasy played over and over in her mind.
She wondered what it would be like to be swept off her feet, to fall in love, to find that one person who made her feel complete. She thought about it all morning, imagined what it would be like, then, frustrated with herself, pushed those thoughts away. It was all just romantic drivel, the kind of stuff that belonged in novels, nothing like real life where few if any of our dreams ever come true.
Chapter Two
***Colin***
The sound of someone banging on his door woke Colin the next morning. “Go away and leave me alone,” he shouted, covering his head with the pillow against the morning sunlight.
“I can’t do that; your dad sent me up to tell you that he wants you down at breakfast in fifteen minutes,” his best friend Keaton called through the door.
Colin groaned. “Tell him I’m sleeping in.”
There was silence on the other side of the door, and he closed his eyes to go back to sleep, but the pounding started again, this time louder. “Colin, you’d better get up and fast; your dad isn’t very happy with you,” Keaton yelled, pounding a few more times for emphasis.
He sat up in bed, his head swimming a little. “Fine, I’m getting up,” he yelled, stumbling to his feet. “Find Simon and tell him I need him.”
“Simon isn’t back yet,” Keaton said.
Colin groaned. “Well, find someone else and send them up here. I can’t get dressed by myself,” he yelled.
“Okay, but you’d better not keep your dad waiting long,” Keaton called.
When he finally made it to the dining room, he was none too happy, and in no mood to listen to a lecture from his father. He sat down at the table, trying not to let his temper flare when he had to ask one of the servants for coffee, then sat back and prepared himself for the lecture he knew was coming. But his father didn’t look at him, didn’t acknowledge his presence in any way, and he started to squirm.
There was still a small gap in his memory from the night before, and he suddenly wished he’d asked Keaton and Reese what they heard. Hoping for some clue from them, he tried to catch their eyes, but they were both concentrating on their breakfast. After a few minutes of trying, he realized that they were both avoiding looking at him, and he turned his attention to his brother.
He was eating his breakfast with an intensity that he’d never seen before, and his heart sank; he must have done something terrible if even his brother wouldn’t look at him. When his breakfast was set down in front of him, he cleared his throat, hoping his father would at least look at him, but he just continued to read his paper.
His appetite suddenly gone, he pushed the food around on his plate, then sent it away. Finally, unable to stand it any longer, he pushed his chair away from the table and said, “Well, thanks for the interesting conversation. I think I’ll go back to my room now.”
“Not so fast,” his father said, setting his paper down and looking at him for the first time. “Would you like to explain this?”
The headline screamed at him, and he sank back down into the chair, the full memory of the night before suddenly flooding his mind. “I... it was supposed to be...”
“Supposed to be what? Funny?” his father asked, slamming the paper down onto the table. “You think riding your horse down the main street of town in the middle of the night stark naked is funny?”
Colin did think it was a little funny, especially now that he remembered it. The best part had been the look on people’s faces as they’d come careening through town, down to the docks, and then back up the road again. He tried to suppress the smile that threatened to explode across his face, but the corners of his mouth still turned up.
His father sighed. “I can see that this is a conversation not even worth having,” he said. “So, I’ll get right to the point. Your mother and I feel that some drastic measures must be undertaken if you are ever going to rule over Ballantine.”