By Susan Lyttek
My true love, Prince Corduroy, was a bear. I mean that in the nicest, kindest, and most loving sense. Thanks to the Committee’s vindictive curse, he transforms into a grizzly bear during daylight.
But I had kissed him!
“Shouldn’t that undo the curse?” I asked my best friend and fairy godmother, Amelia. She flitted next to me like a hyperactive honeybee. “It does in all the historical records.”
She fumbled with the oversized tome she was carrying. “Well, yeah.”
I grabbed the hem of her robe and pulled her down so I could look her in the eye and stop the constant movement. My head hurt from trying to focus. “So why didn’t it?”
She dropped the book on the table with a thud before wiping her face with her sleeve. I do tend to spray a little when I’m irritated. “I don’t know, Trudy. I’ve been looking into it.” She poked at the immense hardback. “This is the tenth book I’ve looked through this morning.”
Amelia hated studying. And the tenth book? Today? I pulled her into a hug. “Thank you!”
“Mm-plp!”
I released her. “Too hard?”
She grunted. “No wonder a bear is your perfect match. Only a bear could tolerate those squeezes that you call hugs.”
I smiled. Corduroy not only tolerated me, he liked me. Maybe even loved me.
A crier clicked his heels together behind us. “Flower delivery for the princess!”
In most castles, a dozen or so heads would have turned at the random title of ‘princess.’ Our small country, for bizarre reasons only the ruling committee understood, had hundreds of princesses. In this castle, however, I was the only one. And I was technically an employee of Prince Corduroy.
The delivery crier held out a bundle of long-stemmed purple blooms, wrapped by a ribbon. Relieved of his package, he clicked his heels again and exited the room.
The delicately spiky flowers were lovely, a testament to springtime.
Amelia leaned over my shoulder and sniffed. “Oh, they smell good.”
“I only smell poison.”
“They’re poisonous?”
“Forking larkspur? You’d better believe it. And their poison has no antidote.” While the gift Amelia gave me had saved lives, being able to taste and smell poisons did rather interfere with some basic pleasures, like enjoying the scent of flowers. “They are pretty, at least.”
“I’ll put them in a vase.” She took the bouquet. “Wait. There’s a card.” She slid it out from the stems. “To the winner.” Amelia turned it over, looking for some other indication of sender. “They’re not from Corduroy?”
I shrugged. “The four bouquets that came yesterday weren’t. I asked.”
Amelia flung the flowers over her shoulder. “Odd.” She winked. “Unless he’s trying to be secretive…”
I canted my head. “Really? To what purpose?”
She agreed and scooted off. I sat at the table and opened the book she had left behind. Searching the official records, I saw a prince turned into a beast who had been restored… with true love and a kiss. There was a girl who had eaten a poisoned apple and had been restored… with a kiss. Another princess slept for a hundred years—can you imagine the dreams?—before being awoken with the kiss of a prince.
I adored Corduroy. I had kissed him. And he was still a bear from dawn to dusk.
It wasn’t fair. My stomach rumbled. Had I heard the town crier toll one?
Heels clicked behind me. “Flowers for the princess!”
Again? “Just put them somewhere.” I tried to ignore the smell. If I did have a secret admirer, he seemed to have a limited imagination. It was always forking larkspur. And it always had the same message: “To the winner.”
I put it out of my mind and focused on the book while I drank my tea. With all the larkspur in the castle, I couldn’t even smell the drink in front of me. But it was warm and kept my lips wet and my hunger at bay. I wanted answers.
As I was reading about a prince enchanted into frog form, the words blurred. I rubbed my eyes, but the letters leapt off the page and swam in the air. I could feel myself falling over…
“Trudy, love.” A whisper touched my cheek. “Trudy, please.” I felt a familiar caress upon my lips and moisture on my face.
A rush of air filled my lungs, and I gasped. Breathing made my chest ache. Slowly, I opened my eyes. My handsome prince stared down at me, his gorgeous blue orbs filled with concern.
“She’s alive!” shouted Amelia.
“What do you mean, ‘alive’?” I heard myself croak.
My best friend floated into my field of vision. “Well, you’ve been dead. Poisoned.”
It was as if Amelia was speaking Troll. I tried to sit up. “Poisoned? Me? How? Aren’t I immune?”
Corduroy eased me up next to him. “Two words: Forking Larkspur. Don’t worry, we got rid of all of it.”
My neck creaked as I glanced about to confirm his words.
“Someone who’s in on the poisonings knows about your ability, my love. And its limits. They engineered this whole thing just to stop you.”
“The flowers?”
He nodded. “Fortunately, kissing you, combined with Amelia’s bolstering of your gift, brought you back.” He stood and offered me his hand. “How about we get off the floor?”
Back at the table, I smelled a mild poison in my tea. I pointed. “I drank that. But… it shouldn’t bother me, right?”
Amelia circled us, making me dizzy. “It shouldn’t, but with all the larkspur, you couldn’t sense the small doses of poison and accepted them. Who knows how much they slipped you over the last few days?”
“I died?”
Corduroy leaned in to kiss me again. His eyes flashed. “On the plus side, we got the equation wrong. I needed to kiss you.”
The afternoon sun shone behind my very human boyfriend.
Even the worst of curses had unexpected joys.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
very enjoyable! nice twist on the kisser / kissee.
Thank you! Glad you liked the latest in Princess Trudy’s ongoing saga!
How creative! This was a fun read.
She’s fun to write, too. Thank you for reading!
Yaaay! I was so hoping they’d figure his curse out…
So glad you’ve been following Trudy’s tales!
You kidding? Wouldn’t dream of missing out! :) Your world is *really* cool.
Aww, thank you!
I like this couple. :)