Page 33 of Bewitched

“Then you’re going to actually carry out the King’s orders?”

“I never said that either,” Rhys told him, not wanting to discuss this with his brothers any further.

“Well, which is it?” asked Darium. “You can’t have it both ways. I saw you kissing the girl just now. So, are you going to save her and lose your royal inheritance because of it, or are you going to kill her and someday become king?”

Rhys looked up in the air in thought, biting at his bottom lip. “Neither, and a little of both,” he answered.

“What?” Darium chuckled. “That makes no sense.”

“It makes perfect sense, Brother. All I have to do is help Medea leave here with her sister and the dragon. Then I’ll tell the King I did my best to carry out his orders, but unfortunately, they escaped.”

“I see.” Darium nodded. “So, you’ll still inherit the title of king and everything that goes with it someday, but won’t have to kill the women to do it.”

“I suppose, you could look at it that way.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“Why wouldn’t it work?”

“If you’re sure.”

“Aye, I think so,” said Rhys, rubbing the back of his neck. “Then again, Medea did just say she wants to stay in Mura, so that might create a little problem. If she does that, it would ruin everything.”

“I’ll say,” answered Darium. “So what are you going to do?”

“I guess I’ll just have to make sure she leaves, and does it fast, that’s all. Yes, that’s what I’ll do.” He started to walk away from Darium, but stopped in his tracks when he heard his brother mutter from behind.

“That might not be so easy to do, Brother.”

Rhys turned back to Darium. “What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, nothing, I suppose.” Darium shrugged his shoulders. “It’s just that mayhap you should have thought about that plan before you decided to kiss her.” He motioned with his head to Medea.

Rhys’ eyes followed, to see Medea grab on to her sister’s arm, giggling and whispering in her ear. She was so excited that she couldn’t stand still. Giddy would be the right word for how she was acting. Crap would be the word for how he felt. He had no doubt she was telling Rapunzel about what just happened. He’d seen the dreamy look in her eyes when he’d kissed her. She had mentioned she didn’t want to leave, and now all he did was give her more reason to stay.

“Damn it,” he growled, wondering how he could have been so careless. For one brief moment he had let down his guard. One little kiss that was meant only to ease his own guilt, now brought him even more problems than he had before, because now he wasn’t so sure he really wanted her to leave. “It looks like I’ll be naught but a peasant by the time this is all over.”

All his hard work, all his loyalty for fighting for the King, and his one wonderful chance for someday being the heir to the throne of Kasculbough, had all fallen by the wayside so quickly. The worst part was, his plan might have worked if he hadn’t kissed her. But now, it was going to be next to impossible trying to convince her to leave, without telling her why he needed her to go.

Nine

Medea hummed a happy tune as she traveled with the others to the Pyramids of the Gods. Rhys had kissed her, and she liked it. It made her feel special and wanted. A feeling she wasn’t used to. She’d been waiting her entire life for a kiss from a man, and now that she’d had it, she realized she didn’t want it to stop.

“Rapunzel, I am starting to really like Rhys.”

“It was just a kiss, Sister. It didn’t really mean a thing. After all, you don’t even know him.”

“I know him enough to realize that he wouldn’t do something he didn’t believe in. He wanted to kiss me, I’m sure of it”

“How can you know?”

“Well, I was not the one who initiated it, to put it that way.”

Rapunzel placed her hand on Medea’s shoulder. “Please, don’t get too caught up by it. After all, we will be leaving here soon.”

“I’m not sure I want to go back anymore.”

Rapunzel looked at her and blinked. “Are you talking about Tanglewood Castle or England in general? Because if it’s just the castle you don’t want to return to, you know you are always welcome to come live with Marco and me.”