Now is the time to prove it-catch, but don’t get caught.” When I told Julian that his letter had been a success, he grinned mischievously and said, “What’s next?” “For a man as cruel as he, that is all it will take.” We sent the second letter to the palace, and no sooner had the wizard read it than he grabbed his greatcoat and ran from the room shouting for his horse. “Someone also stole all the coin from your strongbox.” “We shall simply write another.” He grabbed paper, pen and inkwell, and wrote a single sentence. “Has the man no heart? That letter was a work of art!” I went immediately back to the inn and told Julian the bad news. Instead he crumbled the missive and tossed it into the fire muttering, “Bah! What do I care?” He did not, as I had imagined, immediately call for his horse and rush to the aid of his crofters and his lands.

Sans boots and hat, I climbed the wall of Galfridus’s tower and watched him as he read. When it was done he affixed the seal from the old letter to the new one and paid an urchin to take it round to the palace. Julian’s letter was a masterpiece-a tale of woe about burned grain storage and peasants who would starve come winter. We bought cheap stationery and set about duplicating the estate manager’s script. I’d neither the time nor the inclination to second-guess my heretofore profitable aversion to honesty, so I occupied myself with the details of my plan. If not eradicated immediately, they linger and breed until one’s thoughts are lousy with them. I felt a twinge of guilt for my omissions-a first-but I quickly squashed it. It probably helped that I did not tell him of my curse, Galfridus’s true form or that I planned to kill the wizard to regain my rightful shape. Julian was hesitant, but he agreed to go along with my plan. “Truly?” he said, a smile spreading across his handsome face. She wants you as surely as you want her.”

“But she saw you at the same moment you saw her. Even after the princess divorces you, you shall remain the highest-ranking man in the land-a place of status that will surely earn you the attention and goodwill of the Lady Catriona.” “The princess needs to marry, but she does not need to stay married. “And you shall have her.” I let my voice drop to a low whisper. “But who says I even want to marry the princess? I want the Lady Catriona.” She needs an honorable suitor who will not vie for power once the vows are said. “The princess must marry in order to become queen. First you will be a marquis, and then a prince.” “I thought you merely meant to save the princess and get me a title.”

Cat's Tale by Bettie Sharpe