was a little shorter than me, in good shape, was brave enough to go against Lycaon, and wore a fox mask, what else do we have to go on?”
I rushed closer, words falling over each other. “He was a foreign prince who just arrived in Arbore, through the woods, was in some kind of hunt—and he was here for me! He’s taken it upon himself to be thoroughly educated about my kingdom and its events, in preparation for the alliance of our lands, and he considered now to be the best time to ask for my hand, with the nation stabilized, and with me no longer engaged to Cyaxares!”
Leander stood up slowly, dawning hope erasing the grimness from his expression. “He said all that?”
I bit my lower lip hard. “Uh—not in so many words.” When disappointment doused Leander’s eyes, I stumbled on, “We were both pretending to not be ourselves, speaking in half-truths, but he said he was here for the girl he’s been searching for—which has to be me—I just know this has to be what he meant and I…” Breathlessness forced me to stop. I gulped air before I burst out, “Tell me you can find him!”
“You said he indicated me as the one who invited him. But I only invited the candidates, and he is certainly not one of them.” Tears of frustration bloomed in my eyes, and a frantic expression filled Leander’s. “Just tell me the facts that he said, not what you assumed he meant, and maybe I’ll be able to place him.”
I wracked my mind trying to remember what I’d left out. “He said he sang, and he did a lot of hunting and climbing. He gave me the name Reynard, but I didn’t think it was relevant, as I’m sure he made it up. But maybe it is one of his middle names, or his mother’s maiden name or something?”
Leander had gone stiff as I talked, now he blanched, like all blood had fled his face. “I know who you’re talking about.”
My heart stopped the moment his words sank in.
Then I flung myself at him, squealing in excitement. “Oh, Leander—that’s fantastic!”
He put me away with spastic hands, his face shuttered. “No—no, it’s not.”
“Why not?” I grabbed him back, seeking his averted eyes. “Leo, please, I’m certain he’s the one. I never felt this way about anyone. Talking to him came as easily as breathing, and the connection I felt—”
Leander cut me off. “Whatever it was, it can’t be the one you need. He isn’t.”
“Why not?” I cried out. “Why do you find it so hard to trust my instincts? I know what I felt! I’ve been in this curse’s chokehold for months, and the one time I felt it loosen its grip was around him.”
“He’s not a prince, Fay!” he suddenly shouted.
My heart kicked so hard, I felt it bruise.
I stared up at Leander helplessly as it thudded painfully, my mind scrambling for a way out.
“Maybe there can be some loophole! That once he marries me, he can become a prince!”
“If you were the crown princess, that would be the case. But the highest rank your morganatic husband can achieve is duke. He’d never be in line. He’d never be noble enough.”
“Then maybe Father can put a claim on Bonnie’s island of Ericura as a lost Arborean colony, and make us the king and queen of that land?”
“The curse says your savior has to be already the noblest of men.” I opened my mouth to protest, and he raised a hand. “And it’s not just that.”
“What else is there?”
“He’s unavailable.”
“Unavailable how?” I cried as I dug my fingers rabidly into his fisted hands, desperation blooming at the finality of his statement. “What’s more important than my situation right now? Anything else can wait.”
“Except the girl he’s been promised to since childhood.”
I dropped his hands, an ice-cold rush flushing through my veins. “No. No, he said he came here for…for…”
“For the girl he’s been searching for. The one he lost track of during the war.” Leander set a trembling hand on my cheek. “I’m so sorry, Fay, but you can’t have him.”
I tore his hand off my burning flesh with a shriek. “I can! I’m a princess! If I can’t have my pick of men, then who can?”
Leander’s face spasmed with a terrible twist of regret.
I grabbed his hands again, my tremors becoming wracking shudders, like I was out in the dead of winter in a soaking-wet gown. “He would do it. He would