Page 57 of This Prince Is Not Charming

Siobhan groaned, staring at the dark abyss as the ground stopped trembling and everything went still and silent once again. “Then what are we supposed to talk about?”

I threw out my arms. “I don’t know. I have no clue how to fix this and mend the gap.”

Maybe we couldn’t, and it was the end of this trial for us. I thought of my father all alone, and my shoulders straightened. I had to make it to the next round. For him.

“Don’t tell me you’re both about to jump.”

I looked up to see Meera on top of a hedge, walking with her tail curling behind her.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ve been catching mice.” She flashed her white teeth. “I’ve had a very good lunch today.”

“That’s . . . lovely.” I grimaced. “We’re trying to figure out how to close this gap between us. I think we need to in order to move forward.”

Meera tilted her head, blinking. “I would offer to help, but I’m not much of a team player. In fact, I have no interest in being here at all.”

The ground rumbled, and I lost my footing, falling to my knees. Dust rose up around me, blocking my view and scratching my throat.

I slowly came to a stand as the shaking stopped once again, and when the dust cleared, my mouth dropped open. The gap had narrowed. Not all the way, but back to how it had been when we first arrived.

I looked up at Meera in awe. “You just did something. You said something that made the gap get smaller.”

Meera lifted a paw, studying her claws. “All I said was the truth.”

The truth. I thought about what had happened right before the ground split us farther apart. Siobhan had said I had feelings for Cillian, and I’d said I didn’t. We’d both known it was a lie.

“I think . . . I think we have to feed it truths,” I said.

Siobhan crossed her arms. “That’s ridiculous.”

“I have no interest in being queen,” Meera said, and the gap shifted again, Siobhan and I closer together now.

“Neither do I,” I said honestly, the ground once again rumbling and the gap getting slimmer. “But I do care about Cillian,” I said, leaving out the part about how I had feelings for him, not wanting Siobhan to feel like she needed to tell me the details of whatever happened between her and Cillian last night.

We were closer now, close enough that I just might be able to jump to Siobhan or her to me, but I didn’t think that was the point. We needed to completely close this gap between us.

Meera and I stared at Siobhan, waiting for her to take a turn while she looked at us, wide-eyed. “What? I do want to be queen.”

The earth groaned as the abyss widened.

My mouth dropped open. So I’d been right. Siobhan didn’t want the crown. It was her mother who wanted it for her.

“Liar, liar,” Meera said.

Horror washed over Siobhan’s face. “I do want it!”

The gap widened again.

“Siobhan!” I yelled. “Stop! You’re making it worse.”

Her jaw locked. “I’m going a different way. I don’t need to do this. It’s probably a waste of time anyway.” She turned, but I reached out.

“It’s okay to admit you want things for yourself.”

She paused, back still to me as I thought about my father, all the things I wanted that I couldn’t have as his caretaker.

“You deserve to live the life you want, Siobhan. Not the life anyone else wants for you.”