Page 24 of The Broken Mirror
“More fondue?” asks Alistair. He offers a tray holding a warming dish filled with bubbling melted cheese and a selection of fruits, chocolates, and baked goods.
“Oh, yes please,” Gretel says eagerly, and chooses a crispy breadstick.
Princess Jeanne retires to her room for the evening. Having four heroes on her side hasn’t quite worked out as she had hoped. Of course, she can’t blame Jack for being injured, nor Filomena for having to return to her mom. Gretel and Alistair are plucky and energetic but, left to their own devices, entertain themselves rather than take the lead. Riff is searching, but it all seems futile. And now her uncle is offering her a way out. A way to keep her head on her shoulders.
She’d like to keep her head on her shoulders if she can.
Princess Jeanne has just sat by the windowsill so she can take in the lights of the village when she notices a familiar figure climbing the trellis below the window.
“Hey, Jeannie,” Robin Hood says, his voice muffled through the glass. “Open up, will you?”
Princess Jeanne hesitates, but the scene warms her heart. Robin Hood used to come to her window like this all the time when they were kids. It’s been a long while since they were last in this familiar position. She opens the window a crack, just wide enough to hear him but not for him to come in.
“Surprised to see me?” he says, sitting on the window ledge on the other side of the glass.
“What are you doing here, Robin? Haven’t you stolen enough of my trinkets?”
“I’m not here for that, Jeannie.”
“It’sPrincess Jeanne,” she says.
“Oh, of course”—Robin bows his head mockingly—“Your Royal Highness.”
Princess Jeanne rolls her eyes.
“Have you been enjoying my pranks?” Robin asks with a smile.
“Yourpranks? Is that what you call terrorizing my kingdom?”
“I thought you’d find them funny.” He shrugs.
“You thought I’d find locking up my best friend, frightening the villagers, breaking into my castle, and stealing my crownfunny?”
“Come on, that guy’s not your best friend.I’myour best friend.”
“It’s been a long time since that was true,” Jeanne says softly.
“Well, I had to get your attention somehow. You have a darker sense of humor than you pretend, Jeanne.”
They’re both quiet for a moment. Why is he here? It’s been so long since they last spoke face-to-face. She has to ask him. “Is it true, Robin? Are you really working with the ogres? Not just my uncle?”
Robin Hood squirms and doesn’t answer.
“Why? I know we stopped being friends a long time ago, but I thought you still cared about me. How could you?” Jeanne can’t stop her voice from reaching a fevered pitchof emotion. It hadn’t hit her until now, how much Robin’s betrayal hurts.
“Do you rememberwhywe stopped being friends?” Robin says quietly. “It’s because you thought I wasn’t good enough to hang around with anymore once we grew up and stopped being kids. I’m just a scrappy boy from nowhere—not a prince, certainly—so what good could I do a princess?”
“That’s not true!” she shouts. “You started acting out, Robin. Stealing, tricking people. You stopped being the Robin I knew.”
But suddenly Jeanne feels sick to her stomach. Maybe part of what he’s saying is true. A princess and a pauper… Could they have really stayed friends? It seemed impossible at the time, but now the idea didn’t seem so strange.
“Do you remember what we said when we were kids?” he asks.
Princess Jeanne looks him in the eyes now. She’d forgotten how blue they are.
“We always said we’d run away together. Well, I have a plan. We can run away, still.”
Her heart starts beating quickly. “Robin, I can’t run away with you. I’m going to be queen.”
