Once Upon a Curse by E. D. Baker Page A

something."
    "Tell me," he said. "Why have you been making faces at me ever since we got here? You look as if you're angry half the time."
    "I haven't been making faces! I'm just not happy about the way you've been acting."
    "What do you mean?" Eadric said, scowling. "I've been doing my best to fit in. I helped fight off the harpies and have spent most of my free time giving lessons to the squires. What more do you want from me?"
    "That's wonderful, but it's not what I'm talking about. It's the way you hang on everything Hazel says and let her whisper in your ear. You really like her, don't you?"
    "Hazel? You've got to be joking!" said Eadric. "Sure, she's pretty, but she has as much substance as one of your cook's pastries and isn't nearly as sweet. The girl doesn't think of anything except herself. Do you know she wanted me to sit at her feet singing songs about her beauty when I'd already promised the squires I'd show them how to track werewolves? I had to lie and say I couldn't carry a tune before she'd leave me alone."
    "You mean you can sing?"
    "Sure, when I have to. So, that's what this is all about? You think I've been paying too much attention to Hazel?"
    "You don't seem to mind the way she flatters you and touches your arm or your hand."
    "I'm trying to fit in, remember? Watch Fenton, or any of the other princes, and see how they act around her. I don't spend nearly as much time with Hazel as they do."
    "But they're her suitors. You're supposed to be mine!"
    "And I am," he said, pulling me into his arms.
    The royal family was sitting down to dinner when we returned to the castle. I took a seat between Eadric and Millie again, with Hazel on Eadric's other side. Hazel made a big show of praising Eadric for fending off the harpies, and I noticed that she felt the muscles in his arms more than once. I ground my teeth and didn't say anything, even when Hazel took morsels off her plate and put them on his. But when she offered to show him the gardens, I couldn't keep from telling her, "He's already seen them with me."
    Hazel sneered. "It wouldn't be the same, Emma dear. I know all the gardens' secrets. I could show him things he's never seen before."
    "I just bet you could," I muttered into my mug of cider.
    An elderly servant carried a platter the length of the table, offering everyone a slice of boiled mutton. "Derwin looks well now, doesn't he?" Millie said to me, using her knife to point out the elderly man. "I had them give him a bath when they pulled him out of the oubliette. I think it was the only bath he's ever had."
    "Thank you," I said. "I'm sure everyone here appreciates your thoughtfulness."
    I was listening to Millie describe her new gown when there was a commotion at the far end of the Hall. One of the king's foresters was trying to get past a guard who seemed determined to keep him from entering.
    "You can't see him now," said the soldier.
    "It's an emergency, I tell you," said the forester. "King Grunwald needs to hear about this."
    "About what?" asked the king from the raised dais.
    "The dragon is back, Your Highness. He's been spotted carrying off a prize bull. We think he ate the farmer."
    King Grunwald set down the drumstick he'd been gnawing and rose to his feet. "I need volunteers," he said, looking directly at the row of princes. "Some brave young men skilled in fighting who aren't afraid to take on a dragon. Who among you is man enough to kill the foul beast?"
    One prince looked away as if meeting the king's eyes would commit him to going. Another pretended to be busy with his food, acting as if he hadn't heard a word the king had said. Only a few young men stood, Eadric, Fenton and Jasper among them.
    "I'll go, sire," said Eadric. "I need the practice."
    Fenton made a rude sound, then said, "I'll go, sire, to prove I'm worthy of Princess Hazel's hand."
    "I'll go, sire," said Jasper, "to rid the countryside of a terrible scourge."
    "I'll go, sire," said two knights.
    "For honor," said one.
    "For