Taming the Beast

“I’m still hungry.”

That tray had been loaded with enough food to feed three people, let alone one person. I went and rang the bell to let the servants know that we wanted them. Marceau got dressed.

The same scullery maid was in our room within 10 minutes. “Can I take the tray?”

“Yes. And we’d like another.” Marceau’s voice was a little more alert than it had been before.

She didn’t even widen her eyes. She just nodded as if it were perfectly normal for the master of the castle to need enormous portions. Maybe it was. Marceau was easily a foot taller than me, maybe a foot and a half taller. He was very muscular, too, as if he did hard labor. The muscles were incongruous with my idea of noble physiques. Roul and his friends were whip-thin with big stomachs. The only nobles who had bodies like that were avid swordsmen.

“Do you fence?”

My husband stared at me. “Fence?”

“Swords?”

“I used to, I suppose. My father thought that it was part of a prince’s education.”

“If you don’t fence, then why do you have such heavy muscles? And a flat stomach? Roul looks nothing like you.”

“Roul?”

“My brother. Stepbrother.”

“Ah, yes. Your father mentioned him, but I was more interested in his daughters.”

I felt like he had poured a bucket of cold water over me. Prince Marceau had been kind to me, but I had forgotten that I was essentially his captive. I was my father’s ransom. He’d joked about me trying to escape by climbing the garden wall after I had realized that I was fenced in by thorns, but I knew that if I actually tried to leave, it wouldn’t end well.

The same man I’d been so concerned about when his nose bled was the man who had imprisoned my sick father and made his condition worse. He’d put him at death’s door. How did that information match up with the lover who’d made my body soar?

Wizard

Marceau

“You’re very pale.” My wife had turned the color of salt.

“I feel a little sick.” She sat on the edge of the bed, which still had blood on it.

“We need to change the sheets.”

“I’m okay. I just need to lie down.”

I kissed her forehead. “Rest as much as you need to.” I’d worn her out, I knew. I went to my wardrobe and chose new clothes. I needed to get to the stables, get my horse, and travel to the wizard’s home, deep in the woods. He had a habit of being quite eccentric, speaking to people who weren’t there, talking to his cats as if they were people, and believing that all magic was just magic, not inherently bad or good. I had always suspected that he dabbled in some dark magic, but I didn’t worry about it too much. He’d been in our kingdom for a long while without any real trouble. Of course, there were the ultra-religious who tried to drive people like him out of town, but he lived in the woods for a reason.

I went to the stables, saddled my own horse, and bent to tell the stable master where I was going.

“Are you sure, Your Highness?” The servants only bothered with formality when they thought I was being an idiot. “The wizard is so…odd.”

“He’s my only chance. Personal matter.”

“I’ll let them know if anybody comes looking for you. Congratulations on your marriage, sir.”

“Thank you.”

I mounted my horse before going into the woods at a slow and steady pace. The way was tricky in some spots where I’d need to get off of my horse and lead him. No sense in wearing out my horse too early in the journey.

A few hours later, I came upon the clearing where the wizard lived. Things were strewn around on the ground, ranging from things that looked sinister and occult to cat toys. I knew that witches kept cats as familiars, but the wizard in our kingdom had too many cats to count. They didn’t like bears.

“Hello, Your Highness.”