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First, I got room service. Second, I hadn’t gone to any classes—the boring organized study—for two days now. I considered it a small win and would drag it out as long as I could. I especially didn’t have the spirit to attend the druid’s divination class. I hoped that the committee or whatever organization they called would void the requirement for me to join the coming bride trial if I could also pull it off.
Everyone thought I was traumatized, which was partly true, so I wanted to keep playing the role well. I put on the look of a puppy being kicked too hard and unable to get up too soon whenever I had an audience. I even put on a show of limping and wincing for good measure while rubbing my side where a blade had gone in when I was grabbed, especially in Killian and his minions’ presence.
My performance worked so well that Killian had blocked Mistress Ethel and the druid from seeing me again. He insisted that it was a house affair, and it wasn’t their business to keep interrogating me.
That was why he’d gotten me into his house in the first place, so he could shield me and sweep anything that concerned me under the umbrella of house affairs.
“One shush is sufficient.” Pucker rolled his eyes. “It’s not like anyone can hear us or I’ll reveal any of your secrets, as there’re too many.”
“The walls have ears! Your ghost lady guardian pal might be listening right this moment. We all know she’s vicious, and she might have a big mouth as well.”
“True and true, regarding her vicious heart and big mouth. However, I rig a muting spell on the walls around your room whenever I visit you,” my ghost guardian familiar said smugly. “Even you haven’t detected it, since it’s a ghost spell.”
I blinked at him, impressed, but I was eager to get back to my romance book and read the steamy scene.
Plus, I’d thanked him many times. I couldn’t pretend to be unwell, though. My familiar was too smart for his own good, and he didn’t care about anyone’s PTSD even if it was real. I’d let him take a sip of my goddess juice just to get it over with, so I had no idea why he’d come back so soon.
“This experience changed you, Barbie.” He regarded me. “You look more mature than a twenty-year-old now.” His voice turned mournful. “Gone is the last of your innocence and the baby fat on your cheeks.”
He had no clue that I’d lost my innocence a long time ago in my father’s brutal care. All my scars were internal, and nobody would want to peek at those.
When you stare at darkness, darkness stares back, Sy chimed in.
Yet it didn’t exactly please me that Pucker did not mince his words. And even though I sat my ass in my room and enjoyed all the perks, I was still jumpy.
No wonder he got murdered, Sy offered gleefully.
“You should go for an early patrol at the Veil, Pucker,” I said. “We don’t want any Shriekers to sneak in, especially after what happened.”
“But it wasn’t the Shriekers who kidnapped you.”
“It doesn’t matter. The point is that we should not let our guard down.”
“You’re worse than a slave driver, Barbie!” he complained, waving his ghostly wand at the variety of cakes on the desk and the empty ice cream cups piled in the waste bin. “And you’re taking advantage of the situation.”
I was. I also felt a little guilty at having good things in my life, as if I kept wearing this old mentality that I didn’t deserve anything good.
“After being kidnapped and maimed, I deserve a little break!”
He eyed me. “There’s no need to be defensive.”
“You don’t know what it was like to be forced to wear that foul iron mask and be locked up in a dungeon,” I said more defensively.
“Believe me, I know the horror more than you think,” he said. “The prince and I will make sure no one comes near you again. Trust us.”
I stared at him suspiciously instead of in trust, a half-eaten cake in my hand.
“So you and the prince are two peas in a black pod now?”
He grinned. “We’ve reached our gentlemen’s agreement.”
“What gentlemen’s agreement?” I demanded. “It sounds bad.”
“Well, let’s just say, when it comes to your safety, the prince is amicable to some of my terms.”
“You must tell me, Pucker. You’re my familiar, and I demand your loyalty, even though in your past life you were a cheater, a liar, a conman, an identity thief, and…”
He brandished his ghostly wand wildly. “Drop it!”
