Page 57 of The Broken Mirror
“As many of you are likely aware, it has come to our attention that the heirs to the three major thrones of our kingdoms have been terribly irresponsible.
“Princess Jeanne of Northphalia, who is set to become queen, has misplaced her crown, if you can believe it. As we all know, by Northphalian law, no prince nor princess can become king or queen without their crown.
“Then we have Prince Charlemagne of Eastphalia. No one has seen the lad for over a fortnight. He’s freshly married to Princess Hortense, and yet, while she is at Eastphalia’s castle, he is nowhere to be found. I paid her a visit recently; she couldn’t even tell me where our prince is. What kind of example does that set for the kingdom? A prince missing in action?
“Finally we have Eliana of Westphalia, the daughter of beloved Rosanna. Eliana, who seems to go by Filomena for some reason, has not been seen in Westphalia for several fortnights, and before that not at all. She clearly doesn’t know the kingdom, nor does she care to. She’s made no effort to spend time there and learn about Westphalian culture or customs, nor to meet her people.
“Many of us are concerned that these heirs are not taking their roles seriously and, as such, are not fit to run the kingdoms they are set to inherit. In order to encourage these young princes and princesses to take on their roles and responsibilities, I am here to declare that the ogre court would like to gallantly invoke the ancient clause of the nature spirits.
“The clause reads as such: ‘If the heirs to the thrones of Never After’s major kingdoms, Northphalia, Eastphalia, and Westphalia, do not present themselves to be crowned as kings and queens by the summer solstice, then their thrones will be forfeited to those most ready to take them.’
“In this case, those most ready are Queen Olga and her ogre court.
“On behalf of the ogre court, this announcement serves as an official invocation of this clause.
“I’m sure you all understand the difficult position Never After is in. We must have rulers who take the responsibilities of ruling seriously, and thus the ancient clause, as of this announcement, has been invoked.
“All we can do now is wait and see what will transpire by next week, when the summer solstice arrives.
“Good afternoon, Never After, and thank you for your attention.”
Filomena’s face is the picture of shock. Her jaw is dropped, her eyes are wide. Did he seriously just tell all of Never After that she doesn’t care about her role as ruler of Westphalia?
Immediately Filomena can feel hundreds of eyes on her. How does anyone know who she is? That she’s Eliana? Oh, right. Filomena thinks back to Princess Jeanne talking all about her, Gretel, Jack, and Alistair appearing in thePalace Inquirerand other tabloids du jour. So much for flying under the radar.
Jack seems to notice all the eyes, too. “I think it’s time we head home,” he says, nodding toward the town square’s exit.
Gretel and Alistair, on the other hand, seem to quite enjoy the attention.
“They’re all looking at us,” Gretel whispers to Ali. “Wait a second, are we famous?”
“Do I look okay? My outfit’s okay? What if there are paparazzi here?!” Alistair answers.
Jack rolls his eyes at their antics, but Filomena catches a brief indulgent smile. He grabs her hand to make sure he doesn’t lose her in the crowd.
CHAPTERTWENTY-NINETHENATURESPIRITS’CLAUSE
“That no-good, skeevy, two-timing—” Jack is cut off when Alistair shoves a cookie into his mouth. Back at the giants’ cottage, Alistair is dealing with the anxiety of their new crisis through comfort baking.
“Your blood sugar is low. We need to nourish, people! Nourish!” Alistair says, waving everyone to the table.
They all sit down, though no one is in the mood to eat.
Jack picks up his tirade right where he left off. “I knewhe was a bad prime minister, but I never thought he’d stoop this low.”
They’re all shocked, but Filomena isn’t sure she totally understands what’s happening.
“The way he twisted the facts… It was skillful.” Byron frowns. “I’d be almost impressed if I weren’t so infuriated.”
Beatrice is glowering. “I’ve heard about the prime minister of Eastphalia, you know,” she says. “You hear these rumors—that he rigged his election, that he’s cutting kingdom funding to outer regions—and you think,Okay, that’s politics. Maybe I just don’t understand it.But this? Inexcusable.”
“Exactly.” Jack nods. “He’s blatantly siding with the ogres! He’s encouraging and legitimizing their violent takeover by pretending that it’s not even happening, that this is all for the good of Never After!”
“Poor Hori. She must be freaking out right now,” Beatrice says. “First Olga turns Charlie into a frog; now they’re spinning it like he’s off gallivanting somewhere and not taking his responsibilities seriously!”
Alistair licks vanilla icing off a spatula and frowns. “He made it sound like we’re all being irresponsible,” he says, “like Filomena just doesn’t want to do her royal duties, when really she hasn’t had a second to even think about them because we’ve been too busy trying to save everyone from the ogres!” His chef’s toque almost flies off, he’s so worked up.
“Took the words right out of my mouth, Alistair,”Filomena says from where she’s sadly slumped on the kitchen table.
