Rise of the Isle of the Lost (Descendants 3)

Evie felt a spark all the way down to her toes. “Okay, stop, now you’re making me blush,” she said. “And late for my next class.”

They said goodbye, and Evie hurried to Advanced Goodness, when she heard someone call her name. She turned around to see Arabella fiddling nervously with the edge of her shirt. “Evie, I need help,” she said.

With her messy, uncombed hair and red-rimmed eyes, she was a far cry from the put-together Arabella from yesterday, who had been proudly showing them around Seaside.

“Sure! What’s up? Do you need another dress made?” asked Evie. But something in the look on the little mermaid’s face told her that this particular problem wouldn’t be so easily fixed by a dress with a lace bodice and a leather skirt.

“Ah, there you are, Sire,” said Lumiere, handing Ben a pair of gem-encrusted scissors.

Ben thanked his servant and excused himself from the ambassadors from the Bayou de Orleans, who’d come all the way from Grimmsville to attend today’s event.

“Is Mal here?” he asked, making his way to the front of the podium, where a polite crowd of students and librarians had gathered, along with the royal press corps, ready as usual with cameras flashing and television microphones.

“No, Sire, not yet,” said Lumiere.

“Let’s give her a minute,” he said.

“I think we need to start,” said Lumiere. They were already running half an hour late, and the guests were getting restless. “I will bring her up when she arrives.”

Ben agreed, taking the scissors and standing in front of the big yellow ribbon that was draped behind him in front of an open doorway. He looked out at the expectant faces gathered around, as well as the television cameras and phones that were held up to record his every word.

“It’s a real treat to be here today at the opening of the royal wing of the Auradon Library. As you know, my mother is an avid reader and believes books are passports to a deeper knowledge and understanding of the world,” he said, giving a speech he’d performed so often he could recite it in his sleep. (There were many royal library wings in Auradon.)

After the speech, Ben shook hands and made polite conversation with the dignitaries, keeping one eye on the entrance, looking for Mal. They hadn’t seen each other since Fairy Godmother destroyed the talismans yesterday, and he wanted to make sure she was all right. She’d seemed a little green around the edges after the spell had cleared. He hadn’t had any time to text her that day yet; his royal schedule was so packed between classes and royal duties that he hadn’t even had a second to himself, so he’d been looking forward to seeing her at the library at least.

Ben wondered what was keeping her as he walked over to the buffet table, perusing the hot hors d’oeuvres, pie, and pudding flambé. All his favorite foods. He picked up a cup of the flaming pudding and spooned a bite. Ben had learned to take every opportunity to eat at these royal events; he’d been to a reception in Agrabah once where he had passed on food offered at the pre-ceremony, not knowing about the traditional six hours of speechifying that would follow. By the time they finally served dinner at midnight, he thought he’d pass out.

Ben was also looking forward to seeing Mal so he could ask her to be his lady and have her official debut at Cotillion, an Auradon tradition that was coming up in a month or so. He was a little nervous about it, but it wasn’t like he was asking her to publicly declare her love for him in front of the entire kingdom. Except, well, he was. Maybe that meant he should make his Cotillion proposal a little more special? But before he could think more on it, he was pulled aside by some older ladies from the Aurora Priory who wanted to have a word.

“How is your dear mother?” asked a duchess, who counted herself among Belle’s closest friends and was something of an aunt to Ben.

“She’s very well, thank you,” said Ben. “I think she’s looking forward to coming home; she said she’s been a bit seasick on the last leg of their cruise.”

“I’m so glad,” said a countess, who was another of his mother’s close friends. “The kingdom has missed them.”

“I’ve missed them,” said Ben, feeling a bit homesick for his parents. He was proud they trusted him enough to leave the entire kingdom in his hands, but once in a while, he did miss having his family around.

“Oh, sweetheart!” chorused the ladies, who immediately took to comforting him like their own child.

Ben was assuring them he was quite all right when he felt another tap on his shoulder and turned to see Lonnie. “Ben, can I have a word?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said, relieved to have an excuse to bid goodbye to the well-meaning mother hens. “What’s wrong?”

“I just got a message from the Imperial Palace. There’s some trouble in Northern Wei’s Stone City, near the Great Wall: a border dispute with Agrabah.”

Ben frowned. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s not. The Emperor doesn’t want to insult the Sultan, and they’re both asking if you can help them come to an agreement,” said Lonnie. “The villagers on both sides will listen to you as King of Auradon, without anyone from the Imperial Palace or the Sultan’s family losing face.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Ben.

“Will you come now?” she pleaded. “The Emperor is worried the situation might escalate. So far everyone is being polite, but he thinks it’ll be more than that if people don’t calm down soon.”

“Yes, of course.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin and set down the pudding, following Lonnie out the door just as Mal rushed in with that determined look in her eye that he loved.

“Ben!” she cried when she spotted him. She looked as if she’d just been running.

“Mal!” he said, happy to finally see her.