Page 35 of A Cake of Cherries and Charm

But the troll was too fast. Just as the dagger would have hit her square in the chest, she dissipated into a shower of sparks and lightning.

As soon as the troll was really gone, Rosie ran to the prince and began looking him up and down as he continued trying to shake off the remnants of the web–and worse–the spiders.

“What are you doing?” Marianne cried, running to him and taking a handkerchief from her reticule. “Help get this off him!” She began wiping the handkerchief across his thick arms.

“Looking for–There you are!” Rosie reached out and snatched up a little spider from the prince’s leg. Marianne screamed again, but Rosie sighed in relief.

“What is it?” Jonathan asked, watching her warily.

“They’re not a venomous kind,” she said, breathing deeply again. “Just silk spinners. That’s all.”

“My fairy godmother has a protection spell on me,” he said, still running his hands up and down his body, no doubt still feeling the little tickle of the many arms and legs. He would probably be feeling them long after they were gone. “Unfortunately, it seems her protection needs some work.”

“You weren’t really harmed,” Rosie said, standing and dusting herself off. “So I suppose the spell worked somewhat.”

“See, this is exactly what my mother meant!”

They both turned to look at Marianne, who was glaring at Rosie.

“Your mother means a lot of things,” Rosie said dryly. “And a lot of things she says are mean. Do illuminate us as to what particularly mean thing she meant this time.”

“You are nothing but trouble!” Marianne stamped her foot. “If you weren’t in the court, this awful monster wouldn’t be attacking us at all!”

“No,” Jonathan said, frowning darkly at the young woman. “The troll would be attacking my brother and new sister directly. The only reason she keeps attacking Rosie is that Rosie doesn’t have the protection they do!”

“I didn’t have protection,” Rosie corrected him, suddenly grinning as she realized what had happened during the fight with the troll. She held up the now-battered handful of flowers. “But now, it seems, I do.”

Chapter

Sixteen

The prince insisted that one of the young lords give up his seat in the carriage so Rosie could ride back to the castle from the forest. And though she was inclined to argue, her body was too sore. So she meekly allowed the prince to place her in the carriage for the ride home.

The next day, Rosie was still sore, but she could at least stand and walk without looking too awkward. And that was good, as she and Snow had to stand before three mirrors that had been brought to Snow’s suite for their final gown fittings for the wedding.

After the king and queen had learned of the troll’s appearance in the forest, they had consulted the fairy godmother, who had advised them to move the wedding up–which meant Snow was getting married in three days instead of seven. Apparently, the fairy godmother had cancelled all of her plans to attend.

Snow was resplendent in a dress the color of her name. The train was longer than she was tall, as was the veil. Her arms were draped with delicate white lace, and her slippers were made of silk. They would finish, the seamstress explained, by adding gold thread once the final adjustments were made.

Snow might as well be part fairy, Rosie thought smugly to herself as she watched her sister. But then again, she had always believed her sister would be the most beautiful bride in the land.

Rosie’s own gown was lovely. The skirt and bodice were blue, trimmed with white lace that was similar to Snow’s. Her sleeves were made of silk instead of lace, and her shoes were less fragile and a bit more practical. Snow had objected to Rosie’s desire to wear leather boots beneath her dress, but Rosie had remained stalwart, insisting that she might need to run should the troll attack.

“Good gracious, Rosie! Certainly, you won’t be the one to fight her if she does!” Snow had exclaimed during this debate. “There will be dozens of armed men all around, and the fairy godmother is coming! Everyone knows fairies are more powerful than trolls. Promise me you won’t fight!”

Rosie rolled her eyes. “Snow, every time she appears, it’s to talk to me. I can only suppose it’s because the princes are covered by their godmother’s protection spell–which Jonathan did tell me she enhanced after Frederick’s return–and you have the necklace. Would you leave me in shoes that might make me slip, should I need to escape?”

Snow had paled at this thought, and Rosie had inwardly sighed in silent relief. She had successfully distracted her twin from her desired promise. Because Rosie would never promise such a thing. She would pull the troll’s hair with her teeth if it meant protecting her sister.

“I wish I could have been with you,” Snow fumed now as the palace seamstress spoke quietly with her assistants. “The queen had wanted me to oversee some of the supper preparations, and neither Frederick nor I could go when we heard about it.”

Rosie waved her hand, earning her an annoyed look from the young woman who was measuring her sleeve. “I’m really glad you didn’t, actually. I have no desire to have you anywhere near the troll. She would have attacked me yesterday if I hadn’t already picked a large handful of the yellowbelles. Besides,” she smiled in spite of herself, “Prince Jonathan was there.”

Snow gave Rosie a sharp look that was followed by a devious smile. “Rosie, have you–”

“There’s no use going down any of those rabbit trails.” Rosie cut her off with a pointed glance at the seamstress and her assistants.

Snow looked put out, but she took the hint. Natalie had warned them early on that anything said in front of the staff was fair game for court gossip. In fact, sometimes people purposefully shared falsehoods in front of the staff to stir up trouble or to create a diversion from some piece of juicy gossip that involved themselves.