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Archie didn’t answer. Not even after the third or fourth time his brother called after him. But eventually—after Archie had made it to the mill and grabbed a sack of his belongings from the loft—he had to turn back around and face Rupert.
By then, Archie had settled on what he wanted to say. He had a cat making choices for him. A princess. And now, with his brother, it seemed the dam was about to break. “You own the mill, the house, but you can’t just sell me away without speaking to me.”
Leo hissed like he agreed.
Rupert scoffed. “Don’t be so dramatic. We were just talking, but I do think it would be a good opportunity for all of us if you would just listen.”
“Since when? I thought you were interested in the goose girl.”
“Elsie?” Rupert said the name like he was surprised. “Sure, Elsie is pretty, but now that I have the mill, I don’t have to settle for a goose girl anymore. Ellie’s father can help us expand our business. He’ll take you on as an apprentice and give us a contract for our flour. Harris can keep helping with the mill and doing deliveries for us both, and we’ll have enough stable work for all of our families to grow. How is this a bad plan? You always liked baking.”
Archie knew how to bake. He didn’t mind it. Perhaps a few months ago, before Ainsley and before Leo, he might have considered it over the half-dozen other apprenticeships his brothers might have tried to push him into. But it all seemed so mercenary. Heartless.
“You can’t love Ellie. You don’t even know her.”
Rupert raised an eyebrow. “Like you think you love the princess?”
Archie gaped. What could Rupert possibly know about the princess?
“I’ve heard the rumors. And I’ve seen it myself—you running off at all hours and dressing like a popinjay. But there is only one reason a princess would be interested in a boy like you. She’s bored, but eventually she’ll tire of you too. And then what? What promises could you actually hold her to after you’ve made a fool of yourself? After you’ve dragged our family’s name through the mud?”
Archie glared and forced another question out behind his gritted teeth. “How have I dragged our family’s name through the mud?”
“By becoming the princess’s pet gigolo!”
Archie didn’t punch him. But he couldn’t remember wanting to punch anyone else more.
Leo jumped up and spun his weaponized paw, quickly drawing blood.
Rupert whirled about, shouting a flurry of curse words, but Leo had already found a way to disappear. How could anyone think he was a normal cat?
“You know I’m right, even if it hasn’t gone as far as that yet,” Rupert continued, eyes blazing as he held his bleeding forearm. “And eventually she will make a match in the same way I am with Ellie. Someone who can increase her family’s interests. And then what will you do?”
Whatever Archie did, he would do it without Rupert. He still had his pride if nothing else. “I’m leaving.”
“Fine. But you can’t say I didn’t warn you, and when this all crashes around you, don’t expect us to take you back.”
Chapter 19
Catcall
When Leo let himself be seen again, Archie was up by the trees where they usually hunted rabbits. The miller boy threw his sack down with a sigh. “Well, now what?”
Leo swished his tail with nervous energy, but he didn’t have any specific plans for tonight. Was he supposed to? They had both been caught off-guard by the unsightly dinner party, and the cat could only take so much credit or blame. But even if he had been partially responsible, it wasn’t like they lost anything important. A loft bed in a mill? A pair of ignorant brothers?
Leo couldn’t even pretend to see it as any sort of loss.
The cat sat on his too-twitchy tail and licked the traces of the miller’s blood out of his paws. Which—yes—should have been disgusting, but he still had the body of a cat, so he managed it with a haughty and dismissive grace.
At least it wasn’t a hairball.
Archie fidgeted and then kicked at his sack, piling on another round of abuse on all his worldly possessions. “I wish you wouldn’t have scratched him.”
Too bad. Leo wasn’t about to apologize. And not just because he couldn’t speak. Leo knew who he was now, and that self-important bumpkin hadn’t just insulted Archie. He had insulted Leo’s sister. Legally, Leo could have Rupert hung in the town square for everyone to see. Maybe even throw a few rotten cabbages at his corpse. Or at least there might have been a rule like that in his grandfather’s time for those who dared to insult royalty.
Maybe Leo would bring it back if he ever regained his human form and became king.
“I mean, I was leaving anyway,” Archie continued. “I didn’t want to stay. I just wish . . .” He stopped, slumping his shoulders like a marionette without a proper master to pull its strings. “I don’t know what I wish. But I suppose one more night in the brush won’t kill me.”
