Chapter 13

S o filled with joy from our kiss the previous evening, I had barely slept at all. Even without much rest, I felt rejuvenated enough the next morning that I was able to wake up early and get food and water ready for the dogs when Jack brought them back from their run.

Jack and I couldn’t stop smiling at each other as the dogs wolfed down their breakfast. I couldn’t believe my luck. In a few short hours, the king would get the bill and hopefully begin the process of signing it into effect. I would withdraw from the competition, procure the will from Valencia and obtain the funding to reopen my school. Jack and I would be able to announce our relationship. All my dreams were within reach.

It was impossible to resist grazing my hand across Jack’s back each time I passed him or allowing our fingers to brush as we readied the dogs for Jack’s trip. Each touch felt just as intoxicating as the last, laced with desire that wouldn’t have to remain forbidden much longer.

“Want me to show you what I made for the final ball before I go?” Jack asked. “I’ve been working on them for a long time.”

“It’s cheating if you show me things ahead of time,” I answered with a laugh. “We don’t have to break every rule, you know. I’m still a competitor, remember?”

“Not for long,” Jack said with a grin. “Besides, it wouldn’t matter if you know about this one ahead of time anyway. It’s just shoes.”

I finished securing the pad coverings on Ace’s paws as Jack unlocked a cabinet I’d never paid attention to before. Lined up on shelves in neat rows were six pairs of glass slippers.

No, I corrected myself, they weren’t glass. I leaned closer to inspect them. They were made of ice.

“Your doing?” I asked Jack, fingering one of the slippers, which was surprisingly warm and comfortable. “Won’t they melt?”

“Not these ones,” he said proudly. “It is my finest spell work, if I do say so myself. The ice won’t melt, no matter how long they’re worn.”

“Have I told you recently how incredible you are?”

He chuckled and picked up one of the slippers. “These will feel unbearably cold to any girl who isn’t romantically attracted to the prince. We’ll have everyone put the shoes on at the same time. The shoes will be too cold to wear for a prolonged period for anyone who is planning to use the marriage for advantage, but if there is a woman who genuinely loves the prince, they’ll feel warm and comfortable.”

I snatched my hand away from the warm slipper. “What do they feel like to you?” I asked, my mouth suddenly dry.

He laughed. “I made them, so I don’t think it counts for me. If you’re asking me if I’m in love with Stephen, the answer is no.”

I tried to smile and swallow the lump rising in my throat at the same time. It must be a fluke that the slippers were warm for me. I wasn’t in love with Stephen. “How can you be sure the spell will work?”

Jack raised one of his eyebrows. “A mage knows his spells. I guess we will find out for sure at the competition this evening. You can try yours on. I know you’re going to withdraw, so you obviously won’t wear them tonight, but I’d already made all the shoes.” He picked up the smallest, and I shook my head from side to side.

“That isn’t a question I need an answer to. I won’t be competing.”

“I won’t make you wear them for long; it’s just to check and see that they fit.” Jack looked so proud of his creations and so eager for my help that I couldn’t say no.

I slipped off my shoes and left my stockings on. I went to reach for the slipper, but Jack pulled it back. “You have to have bare feet to see if they’re warm or cold.”

I eased off my stocking. I don’t love Stephen , I told myself firmly, praying that the shoe wouldn’t be warm the second time I touched it. I don’t love him; it will be cold.

To my dismay, the shoe instantly felt warm the second my toes came in contact with it. Jack looked up eagerly. “Warm or cold?”

I faked a shiver. “Very cold.” As quicky as I could, I removed the shoe and handed it back. “That will be the perfect test for all the girls.”

Jack looked confused. “It felt cold to you?”

My anxiety grew. Why would he be confused? He surely couldn’t think I had feelings for Stephen. “Extremely. Girls could get frostbite wearing shoes like that. ”

Jack examined the shoe I’d handed him, his features twisted in suspicion. “It felt warm to me.”

“Ooh, maybe you are in love with Stephen,” I teased, desperate to move the conversation in any other direction. Had it turned warm simply because Stephen and I were friends? Was the coldness supposed to occur with anyone who had animosity toward the prince? Because I saw him as a friend, did that make my feelings more genuine than other girls? If Jack discovered that the slippers were warm for me…thank goodness I was going to withdraw, and the sooner the better at this rate.

Jack shook his head. “It felt warm. Maybe I did do the spell wrong.”

“I’m not in love with Stephen,” I assured him.

He continued to look suspicious, and I looked out to check the sun’s position, but it was still covered by the heavy grey clouds threatening a blizzard.

“I need to go; Valencia and I are planning to take the bill to the king soon and I know you have to head over to Fayrond. I’ll see you later when you get back. The slippers look beautiful. You did a wonderful job.”

“I’ll see you tonight at the ball, then,” Jack said, replacing the slippers on the shelf and locking the cabinet again. “I can’t wait to hear all about the bill signing. I wish I could be there for it.”

“I wish you could, too.”

A sudden crunching of footsteps and the scrape of the door latch made us spring away from each other. It was simply a page boy with a scroll, which he handed to Jack before promptly leaving again.

“Just a correspondence to the lord there that I need to deliver,” Jack said, tucking it into his inside coat pocket. “ But this time of year, the village is only accessible by dog sled, so I was elected to take it.”

“If you wait until I withdraw, I could come with you,” I offered. I didn’t want there to be a doubt in Jack’s mind about where my affections were directed, not after he’d felt the slipper warm to my touch.

“I have to go now in order to make it back by the ball’s opening,” Jack apologized. He led his dogs to the barn door and pushed it open. “Good luck with the meeting!”

Valencia answered the door at my first knock. She was dressed so lavishly that I barely recognized her. Her auburn hair was piled on top of her head in an elegant braided updo and her cosmetics has been applied so carefully that she appeared fifteen years younger.

“Noelle, darling,” she said in her fawning voice, curling her lip back to reveal her teeth. “I was starting to wonder if you’d forgotten or if you weren’t as interested in your handsome advisor as I’d thought.”

I longed to throw back a retort but held my tongue. If she was telling the truth, then dealing with my stepmother for a short period of time would be worth it. Jack and I would be able to be together, and that was worth enduring anything.

I forced my face into a smile. “I’m glad we can agree on this. Shall we?” I gestured at the hallway.

Valencia called a farewell to her daughters, who were already in the early stages of preparing for the final ball, and trotted down the corridor next to me .

“The will is all ready to be handed over as soon as I hear that you’ve withdrawn,” she said, a cheery, singsong quality to her voice that still made chills run up and down my body.

“I’ll only withdraw if this is valid,” I reminded her, nodding at the document.

“Oh, it is. I told you that your father and I were working on it for years before he passed away, and I was finally able to secure the final signature besides ours just a few days ago. His Majesty the king will be so thrilled to hear we succeeded at last.”

I nodded, but my apprehension remained. I couldn’t think of anything else to say to Valencia as we wound our way through the castle. She must have wanted very badly for one of her daughters to win and really feared that Stephen would pick me if she was willing to give so much. I ought to be grateful.

The large double doors to the throne room were guarded by two soldiers in metal armor, crossing their spears to bar entry to any uninvited visitors. The chamberlain checked his list of appointments when he heard our names. “Yes, I have you here. The king and queen will see you now,” he said, turning to nod at the guards to open the doors, who uncrossed their spears and grabbed the handles.

We began to step forward, but Valencia tripped and fell before the doors could open. The bill fluttered to the ground, and I hastily scooped it up. With a little cry of pain, Valencia clutched at her ankle. “I think I twisted it,” she moaned. One of the guards stepped forward to help her up, but instead of standing, she collapsed against him the moment she tried to put weight on the injured foot .

“I could carry you,” the guard suggested awkwardly, but Valencia shook her head.

“No, I don’t want to call any attention to myself, not when this is such a momentous occasion.” She turned to me, a fond smile lifting her lips. “Noelle, would you be willing to present it on your own? I don’t think I can manage right now.”

My foreboding increased and I hesitated. Was this all a grand setup to embarrass me?

She hobbled a few shaky steps to brace herself against a hall table. “I’ll wait for you back at my room. Besides, it’s better this way—it was your father who worked his whole life toward granting equal rights to mages. It seems fitting that his daughter be the one to carry on his legacy.”

The guards and herald all nodded and beamed at her statement, and I worked to keep a calm expression and not let my brow furrow. Why on earth was I so suspicious about supposedly good things happening? If it turned out to be a forgery or some sort of hoax, I wouldn’t be to blame as I was merely the messenger. If it was the actual bill that Jack and Valencia claimed it was, it would only benefit me. My palms grew sweaty and I stared so hard at the parchment it was in danger of being set aflame from the intensity of my gaze. Had she swapped it for an alternate? No, it seemed to be the same one she’d shown me before.

“Very well,” I said, and held my head high, and ignoring the beads of sweat that trickled down my back. “I shall present it and meet you back at your room shortly.”

“I’ll escort you,” the guard said, helping Valencia limp back down the corridor.

Once they turned the corner, the doors in front of me opened. I pinched the paper, holding it firmly so it wouldn’t get crumpled, and held my head high. It was time to do my father proud. King Wenceslas and Queen Isolde smiled at me as I approached, my footsteps sounding unnaturally loud considering that I was walking on a carpet leading up to their thrones.

“Lady Noelle Frost,” the herald called in his loud, booming voice, “has come to present a bill for consideration.”

I swallowed and did my best to appear as confident as Father would have if he’d been here.

“This is a proposition to grant full and equal rights to all mages,” I said, glad that my voice didn’t imitate the trembling I felt in my hands and feet.

“Yes, Lord Cedric and Jack were working on this for years before Cedric’s passing,” the king said, beckoning for the paper. The page boy at his side leapt to take it from me and handed it over. “I’m glad to see that it has finally made it through all the appropriate channels. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

The queen rested her chin gently on her hand, head tilted slightly to the side. “You do look so like your father.”

“You never forget a face,” the king chuckled fondly as he passed the bill to her to examine, then directed his attention back to me. “Lord Cedric worked alongside Jack, and I’m hopeful that a similar relationship can continue between you and Jack as well. He has been instrumental in formulating propositions such as this one.”

“I hope for that as well.” My chest swelled. Would it really be this simple?

“Call the scribes,” Queen Isolde murmured. She had taken out a pair of spectacles and was perusing the bill. The page boy scurried off to deliver the message and I held my breath, nerves tingling .

King Wenceslas smiled. “No need to look so tense, Noelle. We will gladly sign this into law.”

The guard gestured for me to exit, but I stayed rooted to the spot. “It’s…it will be law? Just like that?”

“There are a few procedural steps we need to follow to have it incorporated and we will need to send out a proclamation, but within the week, yes. That’s why we called the scribes. They will begin making copies to distribute.”

My mouth flapped open. Valencia had been telling the truth? After everything I’d overcome to get to this point, it felt surreal to be told that it was a success.

Queen Isolde lowered her spectacles. “Is anything wrong?”

“No, I just…I thought it would take much longer.”

“Your father already did all the hard work, and if you acquired the final signatures, all that is left is our own signatures and enacting the law. That is the easy part.”

“It was my stepmother who secured the final signature, not me,” I corrected him, ashamed that I’d been so suspicious of Valencia. She’d found Jack and me in a compromising situation and hadn’t turned us in, even providing a way that Jack and I would be able to be together, and I’d treated her with nothing but suspicion and contempt. She deserved to have credit.

“No doubt she is a friend to all mages, just as your father was, then,” the queen said kindly. “I don’t believe I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting Cedric’s second wife. What’s her name?”

“Valencia.”

“Be sure to extend the gratitude of the entire royal family to her and let her know that I look forward to meeting her soon. ”

“I shall.” I curtsied to each of them, hardly able to believe my luck, and allowed myself to be led away.

Still dazed by the success and the now very real possibility of a future with Jack, I sought out any of the clerks who were in charge of the girls entered in the competition. Against all odds, Valencia had proved that I could trust her about the bill to grant full rights to mages, and she said that she had the will ready for me.

I found Octavius at the same desk he’d been at when I first arrived, still buried in a mountain of paperwork. “Yes?” he intoned dully.

“I wish to withdraw my name from the competition,” I told him clearly.

He looked up in surprise, his nose twitching and beady eyes staring. “Withdraw? After all the work I went to in order to secure you a private room?”

“Yes.”

“Meaning you do not wish to attend the final ball tonight?”

“That’s correct.”

“Are you aware that if you do so, you will not be allowed to re-enter?”

“I am.”

Octavius fixed me with a beady stare. “You say that, but did you know that the prince will likely make his selection for his future bride tonight?”

“Yes, I know that. I don’t wish to be considered any longer.”

“May I inquire as to why?”

“I think the prince would be better suited to another woman,” I told him politely. “Prince Stephen is wonderful, but there just isn’t a romantic connection between us. I’m sure he will understand. ”

His eyes popped. “You haven’t spoken to the prince about it already? You’re just planning to leave him?”

“I…I’ll speak to him,” I said. Truth be told, I hadn’t thought much about it. I’d been so thrilled about the bill and the prospect of a future with Jack that I hadn’t thought much about Stephen at all, but I supposed that I did owe it to him to tell him.

“If you withdraw, you won’t be able to stay here any longer,” Octavius informed me, shuffling a stack of papers and fixing me with a piercing stare. “You’ll need to vacate the premises. I can’t have superfluous guests clogging up the halls.”

“I understand. I’ll return to my home.” I glowed as I said it. My home . I would be back where I’d been raised, and I would be able to run things the way I wanted, rather than the way my stepmother had insisted upon ever since marrying my father. I would be able to reopen the school and usher in a new era in which mages would be full and equal citizens.

“If you are absolutely certain?—”

“I am,” I said confidently, lifting my chin higher. “I’m certain.”

“I don’t want you to come back saying that you want to?—”

“I won’t. I have other plans.” Joy swelled within my chest. The future was bright.