AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I straddled two worlds: public and secret.
If my sovereigns knew about Nicu, he’d become their lawful property. So I spent my days making sure that never happened, dazzling the court, worming my way into their good graces and their beds, and earning a small fortune. My precarious job fed and clothed my family. I visited them every week and kept Jinny in supplies.
As long as Nicu remained here, he was protected. As long as I nudged the Crown’s funny bone, remained privy to the intricacies of their reign, and maintained influence over them, I had control.
At court, I lived a lavish and influential life. In secret, I worried.
Nay, terror seized me with every cursed breath I drew.
I glanced at Old Jinny. “’Tisn’t enough.”
With her free hand, she anchored my cheek. “No parent ever thinks what they do is enough. I’m a mother, too, aren’t I?”
I relaxed into her palm. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Her eyes misted. “Oh yes, you do.”
She insisted the unendurable but inevitable. The princess and I were to stay put until the threat of an infection passed and she could make the trek back. Not to mention, a rare misfortune brewed—a Spring storm in the middle of blooming season. Brilliant.
After Jinny retired, I snuggled with my son, his fingers bunching my shirt. Rest came and went, slipping through my fingers before I could catch it. The rainy dawn followed, droplets splattering the roof, and soot caked the hearth.
A little someone snickered. A little someone scrambled onto my torso and tugged on my earlobe.
I pretended to be asleep and was rewarded with more ear tugs. Without opening my eyes, I seized Nicu by the ribcage. “Got you!”
My son chirped with glee. He lay flat atop my chest, spanning my width with his twig arms and legs. “No, I’ve got you! You’re my prisoner, Papa!”
“And I surrender willingly. You have no idea, my love.”
“I have lots of ideas. Wanna hear one? The rain likes me!”
“Shh.” My arms encircled his skimpy waist. “I beseech you. Say you forgive me for being late last night. I didn’t mean it.”
He tilted his head. “Late from what? Where did you go?”
Never mind. He didn’t remember, wasn’t pondering why we’d been degraded to the living room.
Speaking of which, Tumble was nowhere in sight. Likely, the ferret had woken buzzing with energy and scaled his way out one of the windows, in search of local critter activity. He would last four hours before exhausting himself and coming back inside. Such was the ferret’s enterprising nature, for if not engaged regularly, he grew cantankerous.
Like another tiny person I knew.
“Can we play now?” Nicu asked. “Can I ride on your shoulders today?”
“Your wish is my command.”
“Yay! I saw a maiden somewhere in the cottage, but she’s gone. She’s hanging upside down from a cloud that Jinny knitted in the sky. The maiden’s hair is the sun when it’s mad. Huzzah.”
I couldn’t deny my pride at his storytelling abilities. However nonsensical, they surpassed mine.
“Nay, she’s here,” I whispered. “She’s dreaming of flowers as tall as the trees.”
“Because that’s where she’s from,” he added. “The maiden has dots all over her cheeks.”
“And thorns for ears.”
“Really? Is she a bramble?”
“Close. Her name is Briar.”
