Page 36 of Not Another Happily Ever After

All things considered, it’s not a bad setup. Sure, the destination is less than favorable, and my ending may not be a happy one. But if there’s anything I’ve learned spending years upon years with my nose stuck in a story, it’s that every chapter counts. And something tells me this next one has room for surprises.

Act II

Take heed and take note.

For the story she tells is not

how it goes.

Surprises are coming.

But that’s not all that’s there.

A vow stands to be broken.

Chapter

14

She looks upon the realm and sees a gift,

Unaware that it is she who makes it so.

Iwas wrong.

Thwomp.

Very, very wrong.

“Hold on tight, Princess. The road gets bumpy around this pass.”

“You don’t say.” I rub the throbbing lump atop my head, wishing Myrrdin’s warning had come ten minutes sooner. Then I could have at least, I don’t know, tied the thin cloak around my forehead?Ugh. I am so beyond ill-prepared.Emphasis on ill.

The road through the mountains is winding and littered with jagged rocks, like the one that just sent me head first into thecarriage’s rounded ceiling. I’ve tried and failed several times to see where it might end, but between the terrifying drop to my left, the sharp rock face to my right, and the nauseating motion sickness, there hasn’t been much to see aside from the inside of a small rusty bucket someone was kind enough to hand me.

The blue pines I was able to spot—between copious amounts of bile spewing—were few and far between. Their roots breaking through the rocky ledge, claiming space that was never meant to yield. How I wish Father would have afforded me the knowledge of the trek ahead. A map would have afforded me at least some small comfort, reassurance that this motion sickness will eventually come to a head.

“How’re ya doin’ in there?” Merrek’s voice cuts through theclacksandclatter.

I bite down on my answer, figuring I might do well not to point out the precarious situation I now find myself in. Seated inside what has to be a fifty-year old wooden box, riding along a very narrow passageway with two brothers that can’t seem to agree on anything, holding the reins.

I’d laugh if the thought of being at their mercy for the next few weeks didn’t have more bile burning at the back of my throat. “Great!”Just great.

“Really? Huh. Even with all that vomiting? Wo—OW!”

“She’s. Being. Sarcastic!” Merrek quips. Whatever he’s doing causes Myrrdin to jerk the reins, which in turn jerks the rest of the carriage.

Hello bucket, my old friend.

Knock!Knock! Knock!

I wake to a war zone. Not literally, though it may as well be.

The deep purple carpet of the carriage just one of the many casualties caught in the crossfire of my queasy stomach. The velvet curtains and leather seat reek of the same putrid perfume that lingers just beneath my nose, in the lining above my breast.Worse yet, my traveling companion, the rusty little bucket that was at one point filled to the brim with the inner contents of my stomach, appears to have fallen at some point in our rigorous journey down the Ruinous mountains.

Rapped knuckles strike against the creaky metal door. “Princess, you up?”Oh, dear God.It’s Myrrdin.

I scan the impossible mess, raking my fingers through my rat’s nest of an updo. I’ve never seen so much food in my life, half-digested or otherwise. The only thing it doesn’t appear to be all over is the rusty bucket.How convenient.