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Archie frowned at the man’s shrewd and narrow build. The chestnut hair tied back in a queue. He wasn’t a threat exactly, but there was something about his eyes . . .
“Leo? You’re back?”
And then Archie couldn’t help it.
He grabbed the man in something of a hug and a tackle, refusing to let him go.
“Stop that,” Leo said with a hiss, flailing in a way that only made Archie more certain of his identity. He probably would have scratched if he still had claws. “You oaf! Can’t you tell I’m trying to avoid that kind of spectacle?”
Too bad. Archie kept a hold on his wayward brother-in-law as he scanned the crowd again for his bride. “I’m getting Ainsley. And the king. I also have several guards at my disposal that can make certain that you don’t just disappear again.”
Leo blanched under his hood, but he stopped struggling. “I’ll put myself on your mercy then, my prince.” And he actually bowed—his head at least as his arms were still pinned in Archie’s grasp. “I wanted to see my sister’s wedding, and I do intend to speak to my family in private if I can, but . . . please, no one else.”
Archie frowned. Cat or prince, this was not the Leo Archie thought he knew. What had the faeries done to him? “You’re back, but you’re not really back, are you? Something has changed.”
Leo raised an eyebrow. Obviously several things had changed.
Archie let him go. “I suppose I can understand . . . It has been seven years since you’ve been here as a prince. It would be an adjustment.”
“Yes and . . .” Leo rubbed at his arms and looked more than a little pained. “Tabitha doesn’t do well with crowds.”
Of course. Archie had dreamed of publicly presenting Crown Prince Leopold to his family, but that was just another faerie story. It had nothing to do with the true desires of the once-cursed man who stood before him. “You should be with her. But I’m glad you came tonight. Tell me where you would like to meet your family, and I will do my best to keep it private.”
Though, if Leo was determined to keep his return out of the public eye, then there were several more things Archie wanted to say while he had the chance.
“And I . . . I wanted to thank you. I’m not sure why you did it, but—”
“Well, not so I could steal your first-born child or any other faerie nonsense,” Leo said, his voice hollow and wry. “Though Leopold would be a good name for the next prince, if you need someone else to carry the title for me. But I was lost. Magic . . . does that to you. I wanted to know who I was, and so I used you to help me put the pieces together. But you could never become entirely like me, and perhaps that helped me most of all.”
Archie glanced down at his boots. Was that really the only purpose behind all the magic? “Sometimes I still feel like I must be fooling everyone.”
“You were never that clever, but Ainsley loves you. I imagine there’s a reason for that.” He looked back at the crowd. “Everyone here is wearing some kind of mask, measuring themselves against each other. If you want my advice, I wouldn’t try too hard to match them. I had to be a cat to learn that.”
Ainsley had finished her dance with her father and was now looking for him. “We should make our plan quickly so I can get back to her,” Archie said.
“Yes, we should,” Leo agreed, though it was clear his mind was on another girl far away.
* * *
They say cats have nine lives, and Leo was certain he had used at least one more. There was a time before when he was human, a time after when he was a cat, some lost years between when he was amongst the fae, and then there was now.
Now, well—now was about to be very pleasant indeed.
When Leo had met with his remaining family, Ainsley had cried. All her words spilled out in a rapid and incomprehensible stream—cursing his departure and celebrating his return with tears of equal sorrow and joy. Then she held him so fiercely Leo wondered if he would ever be allowed to catch his breath. She even pulled on his hair at one point—like she couldn’t believe the change.
His father was more sober and still, like he wasn’t sure what he was looking at. Leo had no idea if Ainsley or Archie had even told him about Leo’s time as a cat, but it probably didn’t matter. The king probably wouldn’t have truly believed the tales without seeing any of it himself. But by the end, his shoulders seemed lighter. His smiles became more open and sincere, like years of pain were slowly melting away.
And as for Leo himself . . . Well, he certainly had been glad to see his family again—and perhaps even the miller boy as well—but there was still a surreal quality to it, like he was watching someone else’s life or walking inside another dream.
He had told Ainsley to keep his old bow and didn’t doubt she would be sneaking out to visit him soon. He was sure his father would find a way to keep in contact with him as well, but he couldn’t stay, and they couldn’t hold him—not anymore.
Leo came out of the castle and walked straight to an outer-row dress shop, watching the young proprietor move around her porch full of cats until she seemed to feel the heat of his gaze.
They stared at each other for a haunted and somber moment.
“You came back.”
Leo nodded. “Of course I came back. I said I would.” He certainly owed her that, if nothing else, but he hoped that their bond had moved beyond simple obligation or self-interest. “I want you to know that I never would have expected . . . I never would have asked you to come after me.” Leo had made a lot of traps and clever schemes in his day; he had always managed to land on his feet, but he never wanted Tabitha to think she had been a part of that. He never would have put her in danger. Even if everyone knew that love could conquer any faerie curse.
