The Decoy Princess by Dawn Cook Read Free Book Online Page B

was safely home before telling you so as to protect your sister while on the road, but between your impatience and Prince Garrett’s early arrival…” Her hand reached out, and I drew away, unable to accept her touch.
    Garrett was a blur of jerky motion at the edge of my sight as he paced. “Where’s the princess?” He spun to a stop. “I was promised the Red Moon Princess. Where is she?”
    My father stiffened at Garrett’s callousness. “She is safe,” he said coldly. “The chancellor has been sent this very afternoon to fetch her.”
    May heaven help me , I thought, going cold. It was true. And Kavenlow had known it. He had known and never told me. I felt betrayed, trapped. I wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go. It had all been a lie: the fancy dress, the privilege, my entire life . I was a beggar’s unwanted child. I was bought and paid for. And Kavenlow, the only soul I trusted with my hidden wishes, had known it and let me live the lie, making myself into a fool.
    My father stood between Garrett and me. “The joining of Costenopolie and Misdev will take place as planned in six months,” he said firmly. “I apologize for your misunderstanding. There has been no intentional deception. You have a bride, Prince Garrett, the same you have been exchanging letters with this past year.”
    I felt I might pass out. I couldn’t seem to get enough air. Who had gotten the letters I had written?
    Were the letters I had received in response even real?
    Garrett’s pacing came to an abrupt halt beside the pond. “Six months puts me on the wrong side of the shipping season,” he muttered. “How far away is she?”
    I stared, hearing but not understanding.
    My mother’s lips were pressed together, making her look severe and protective. “That is none of your concern,” she said coldly. “Our chancellor is bringing her back directly.”
    “Who else knows?” Garrett said tightly. “Who knows this harlot is gutter trash?”
    My eyes widened, and I gripped the arms of the chair. I was going to pass out. I knew it. My father’s jaw clenched, and his round cheeks reddened. “Take care, Prince Garrett!”
    “Who else?” Garrett exclaimed. “I have a right to know!”
    My father was ramrod stiff. “Other than us and the crown princess? The chancellor.”
    “No one else?” he insisted, his brow furrowed. “Not even the people caring for her?”
    “No,” my mother said. “Chancellor Kavenlow told them nothing. The crown princess herself found out only recently of her true birth so she could properly answer your letters.”
    “I’m not the princess,” I whispered as the nightmare forced itself into my reality.
    “No, dear.” My mother turned to me.
    “I’m not going to marry Prince Garrett?” Somehow I sounded plaintive, as if it meant something. But there wasn’t much left to my world at the moment, and I was trying to build on what I had. It was like making a castle with dry sand. Everything slipped away.
    “No.” Her eyes tightened. “And I thank God for that.” Garrett’s breath hissed in, and he spun. His smooth cheeks were spotted with red. My mother’s face was grim with a repressed anger. “You speak like a snake, Prince Garrett,” she said. “Your pleasantries are to lull the unsuspecting. You are far too eager to accelerate the marriage, couching it in a false concern for your bride. We will hold to our agreement of marriage, but I doubt if my body-born daughter will ever share a bed with you.”
    Clearly surprised, my father blinked. “Wife?”
    “He calls Tess gutter trash,” she said, gesturing angrily at Garrett. “He wants only the glory promised by the prophesy.”
    Garrett gripped the top of his sword, his knuckles white. “She is gutter trash! And you tried to pass her off as the Red Moon Princess. You wouldn’t dare do that to my brother!”
    Hand upon the hilt of his sword, my father stood before the man I almost wed, shaking in a repressed anger. “It would