Page 22 of This Prince Is Not Charming

Siobhan pushed in front of me. “Yes, spread out.” She clapped her hands. “Chop-chop, everyone.”

“I suppose if it gets us out of here sooner, I’ll help.” Meera prowled toward one curve of the wall, and Marsten joined her.

I stood in the middle of what appeared to be a tower with its tall, vaulted ceiling and took in each detail as the others had already moved to the walls, most of them feeling for anything out of the ordinary.

“There has to be something,” Lila said, flicking a random stone in the wall. “How does this make us a good queen anyway? What kind of trial is this? We’re not even competing against each other.”

“Maybe good queens don’t compete?” I suggested. “Maybe they work well with others, listen.”

“I’m listening,” Siobhan chirped. “What ideas does everyone have?” She spread her arms. “Share.”

A woman with a gap between her teeth and a short brown bob stepped forward. I believed her name was Liadan. She assisted the blacksmith in his shop and planned to take it over after he retired. “Maybe we need to look for loose stones, ones we can pull out?”

“That’s a good idea,” I said.

“Unfortunately, I need to excuse myself from this challenge.” Meera held up her paw. “My claws will chip if I scratch too hard at the stone.”

“Oh.” Marsten stared at his pink nails. “So will mine. I’m out.”

“Luckily you both have eyes,” I said, “and those can help us even if your claws can’t.”

Meera’s head slumped and I could’ve sworn I heard her mumbling something about using her claws on me.

“I found something!” Clio yelled, and everyone ran toward her, gathering around. “Look at this stone. It’s sticking out at a weird angle, right?”

“Well, pull it,” Marsten said.

The faerie reached out her hand, then stopped. “What if pulling it makes the whole bloody tower come down on us?”

We all paused, but Morton’s words echoed through my head. “Morton assured us we weren’t in danger. So the tower can’t crash down.”

Marsten raised a finger. “Or it can, but it won’t hurt us.”

“Maybe we should think this through,” Meera said as she wound her body around my leg.

“Oh, just do it already.” Siobhan pushed forward, elbowing Clio out of the way and yanking on the piece of stone until it slid out with a raspy sound.

No one breathed, all of us staring at the little hole, waiting for something to happen.

Marsten flipped his hair over his shoulder. “That was anticlimactic. This is starting to get boring.”

“I’ll take boring over dead,” Meera said, and Lila squeaked at her use of the word.

“No one is going to be dead,” I said.

Siobhan dropped the stone piece onto the ground, and we all stood there, no one knowing what to do with it.

A good queen must be a light for her people in the dark. Those had been Morton’s last words.

I blinked a few times, staring at the little hole. “Wait a minute.” I pushed my way through the others and peered through the tiny gap, light piercing my eye. I spun to face them. “I think we’re on the right path. Let’s keep finding the loose stones, letting in more light.”

“And then what?” Lila threw up her arms. “I’ll never get back to Grayson. He won’t have anyone to feed him.”

Marsten raised a brow. “You do know the whole point of this is that you’re to marry another man.”

Lila’s bottom lip wobbled before she burst into tears.

“She finally stopped crying, and you go and say that,” Meera mumbled.