Read Charming, Volume 2 for Free Online Page B

a moment and Will glimpsed the outline of her body silhouetted within. He turned away and managed a throaty, “Yes . . . yes . . . of course.”
    Will looked about for Tomas, but the man had vanished entirely, so he gazed up at the clouds, then down at the wet grass, and wondered how pretty girls always made him feel so uncomfortable. And then he realized . . . Lady Rapunzel was pretty—­very pretty, and funny, and—­
    â€œAre you listening to me?” She sounded as if she had been repeating herself.
    Will dared to glance over. Her face was visible in the flap of the pavilion and she had that same annoyed look that Liz always had when he had been thinking too much. “What?” he asked, feeling awkward.
    â€œI said, I want to know what happened to Prince Charming—­and this may be our only chance to talk without the King being present. So, tell me how he died. Our last meeting may not have gone well, but I always felt that the prince was . . . well, invulnerable.”
    â€œOh, he didn’t really die.”
    â€œWhat?” she asked and stuck her head out even farther. Will caught a glimpse of a bare shoulder and shut his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. Lady Rapunzel stared at him like he had sprouted a second head. “What is wrong with you?”
    He spluttered incoherently and pointed at her and the tent. She looked down at the slight opening and smiled a cunning smile. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”
    Will blushed yet again and nodded mutely.
    â€œHow sweet.” Her eyes danced with pleasure as she looked at him appraisingly. “You and your sister both have the most marvelous color when you blush. She might have mentioned it when we were talking about you. It’s really quite becoming.”
    This comment only made him blush deeper. It was completely unfair for Liz to talk to other women about him, especially now that he was Lord Protector. He had a reputation, or something like that, to maintain.
    Lady Rapunzel’s lilting voice interrupted his thoughts again. “If I must be dressed for you to talk to me, then I will finish.”
    She disappeared back inside the tent. Several moments passed, the tent flap open, and out stepped Lady Rapunzel, mercifully dressed in her riding skirts. It was an elegant costume only ruined by the addition of a bulky cloak that did not seem to match. Adjusting the hood over her head, she said, “I think it will be safe for you to talk now.”
    He stammered something idiotic and she giggled, a delightful sound. Their eyes met. Had her eyes always been such a brilliant green? She was a woman, and beautiful, but there was also something different about her. She was more familiar, more real than the Princess. She had a little of the tavern girl in her. It reminded him of the best parts of Gretel, how she would pull him into the storeroom for a quick kiss, or slap him when he was too forward.
    â€œNow, I mean no disrespect, Lord Protector, but Liz told me you could be, well, vague, so please tell me what happened to the Prince?”
    He hesitated, not sure exactly what to say. Was he betraying the King’s confidence somehow to speak of it? As he paused, her expression grew harder, and he realized with horror that he was, in fact, being vague. But it was so hard to concentrate when she was pursing her very red lips like that.
    She tilted her head. “Did you hear me? I asked you what happened. Why does the King say the Prince is dead, and yet you say he is not? And, if he’s not dead, why is the King acting like a man that has lost his child? And, what in heaven’s name is he not telling me?”
    Will opened his mouth to answer the first question, and then closed it again when he decided it made more sense to answer the second first, and then repeated the performance when he realized he had no idea how to answer the third question at all. She stamped her foot