A Kiss in Time (8 page)

Uh-oh. Did he not know that?

K-kissed me. That is how I happened to awaken. Surely you must You! The king points a trembling finger toward me. You, a commoner, dared to take advantage of my daugh- ters sleeping state to . . .

I didnt know she was a princess, Your Highness . . . Majesty . . . sir! I push my chair
aside. Im sorry. I should get going. I take a few steps backward and stumble into a
servant holding a tray of mushrooms. Id better get out of here before they come up with
the idea ofoh, I dont knowstoning me to death.

No! You will go nowhere. You have defiled my daughter.

I didnt! It was a kiss. A little one.

Yes, you are right, Father, Talia says. He defiled me.

What? I yell. I didnt . . . I barely touched you! I want to scream at her, but I try to
keep in control. Hurling insults would probably get me in more trouble than Im in already.
Tell the truth, you . . . brat! Oops. That slipped out.

She glares at me, then continues. It is true. I am quite sullied. There is nothing for me
to do but marry this young man and go to Florida with him immediately.

Marry you? Ma Impossible! the king declares. Why not? Talia says. All the princes I might
have mar-

ried are long dead. You do not wish me in your presence. The king nods at the guards
behind me, and I feel hands on my arms. This young man is an offender of the most
contemptible kind, a rogue who would take advantage of a young ladysa princessssleeping state to . . . desecrate her. Death is too good for such an
offender.

There it is. Death.

But I didnt . . . I wouldnt touch her if you paid me!

He must be brought to the royal dungeon to await a suitable punishment.

I plead with Talia, even though I can barely look at her, Im so mad. Can you say something
to him? Please.

She shrugs. I do not know what to say.

How about, he didnt sully me? That would be a good start.

He will not listen to me. He thinks me a fool. She begins to pout.

You are a fool! the king roars. To think that we hoped and prayed and protected you, only
to have you stupidly ruin the kingdom! I wish we had remained childless! To the guards, he
says, Take him away!

And the next thing I know, three guys who look like they could work for the WWE are
dragging me down a very long, dark flight of stairs.

To the dungeon.

M
y mom will be happy. Im seeing something not many people get to see in Europe. An actual
dungeon. Its not like Id have pictured a dungeon. Maybe thats because its so dark I cant
see my own froufrou tights, much less any beds of nails or cat-o-nine-tails, or that thing
where they stretch people. It just seems like a cold, damp, dark room, like my
grandmothers basement in New York.

And its quiet. I never really thought about quiet before, but at home, theres always the
stop-start of the air-conditioner, the buzz of the computer fan. But theres nothing except
silence here, and I have nothing to do but think about it. The walls are thick around me,
and the ceiling is thick above me, like being dead. There is no one here but me.

And the rats. The more I get tuned in to the silence, the more I real- ize there are noises after all.
Little ones. Little ones like feet. Scurrying feet.

I bet the rats are really hungry after sleeping for three hundred years.

Dont think about this!

The guards didnt take away my iPod, so I turn it on. It starts in at the same song the
king was listening to.

I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.

Hoo-boy, did I. And I did something wrong. I kissed some stupid, spoiled brat princess who
couldnt even trouble herself to tell her father I didnt defile her. And now Im stuck here,
rotting, maybe forever.

And why did I do it? Because she was hot-looking. Youd think Id have learned from Amber.

I switch to another song. Rap. Loud. One of those songs about what some guys going to do
to some other guys girlfriend. Good stuff.

Maybe theyll let me out tomorrow. Maybe theyll decapitate me. No. There are rules about
how you have to treat prison-

ers. I read about that in school. Geneva Convention. Except Im not sure the Geneva
Conventions been invented yet here. Also, thats just for prisoners of war. I am a prisoner of love. I close
my eyes and try to sleep. But I cant, so I just close my eyes and try not to hear the rats in the darkness. It sounds like a big ones creeping up. I feel red-hot liquid on my arm. Ouch! Are they
torturing me? Boiling me in oil? Be quiet! a voice whispers. Its Talia. But that hurt.

It is but a candle. The wax dripped. Do not be such a baby.

Im in a dungeon!

Suddenly, shes all, Oh, you poor, poor dear . . . yes, I do apologize for that. Father is
in a peevish mood.

You dont say. Howd you get down here? Everyone is asleep, except the guard. He let me
pass. But are you allowed down here? I am a princess. I am allowed wherever I wish to go.
Youd better go, I say. I know how it is. You come in here, and then in a few minutes your lady-in-waiting or whatever notices you missing.
You lie about what hap- pened . . . and all of a sudden I dont have a head.

Do you wish to escape? That would be a yes. Then you must speak to me. If not, I shall be
forced to Dont . . .

I will. I shall be forced to scream, and everyone will come running. I will tell them this
knave has abused me grievously. The kiss will be nothing in comparison. I will be pitied,
and perhaps it may affect my marriage prospects, but they were slight in any case. You, however, shall be stoned at sunrise . . . but only
if you do not let me stay and talk to you.

A chill runs through me when she says stoned at sun- rise. Do they actually do that? In
any case, shes clearly not going to stop them.

You know, youre not as sweet as I thought you were, I say.

I am sweet. Could have fooled me. I am. Sweet and compliant. Or I was, my first sixteen years, the most docile, malleable creature one might ever imagine. I would have made
someone a fine wife. But then everything changed. Or rather, nothing did. I am grown up,
and I am still being treated like a child, or an animal. Do you know what it is to be
treated as chattel?

I dont even know what a chattel is. Sorry. I was too caught up in the whole
being-locked-in-a-dungeon thing.

To be treated like you have no choice in what you do in life?

My dad wants me to take over his business when I grow up. Hes a developer, like he builds
communities where all the houses look alike. I hate it, but he wont take no for an answer.
I guess its irrelevant, though, if Im going to die here.

You wish to leave, then? When I dont answer, she says, Well? That was a question? Of course I wish to leave. Then I shall help you leave, but upon one
condition. I think I know what the condition is. You must take me with you. She grabs my
hand and squeezes it.

And we have a winner.

I know I should keep my mouth shut, but I say, Yeah, about that. I know Im supposed to be
your true love and marry you and all, but Im only seventeen. It might be perfectly normal
to get married at seventeen in your timeyour old time. But no one gets married that young
now.

She laughs. Marry? I do not wish to marry you! She laughs so hard Im worried stuff will
start flying out of her nose.

She doesnt need to laugh that much. You dont?

Hardly. Let us not forget that you were the one who kissed me.

Oh, I get it. Its because Im not a prince.

She sighs. It does not signify. I do not wish to marry you, and you do not wish to marry
me, but I do wish you to take me with you when you go.

Look, Princess . . . Your Majesty . . . Talia will do. Talia will not do. Dont get me
wrong. Youre beautiful,

and therere a lot of guys whod love to take you wherever theyre going.

No. No?

No. Those others are all dead. Every suitable consort is dead and has been for nearly
three hundred years.

But your father will never let you go away with me, especially if were not married.

No, of course he will not.

Okay, so we understand each other. I try to shake off her hand, which is difficult with
her grasping mine. Any- way, it was nice meeting you. Good luck with the princess thing.
Now, if you can just get your father to let me out of here No! Shes still holding my hand. I am not asking to marry you, nor am I going to ask my
fathers permission to let you go or to leave with you. I wish to sneak out, under cover of
darkness, and leave Euphrasia. I wish to go with you, not as man and wife, but merely as
friends, travel com- panions, the sort of happy-go-lucky chums about whom rollicking old
ballads of the road are written. She grips my hand even harder. You owe it to me.

I owe you? How do you figure?

You woke me up. You ruined everything. Had you not come along with your intrusive lips,
someone else would have woken me, someone who loved me and could have saved me and
Euphrasia. A prince. Or perhaps we would have slept forever.

And that would be a good thing?

It seems preferable to waking and having everyone know that I am the ruin of my kingdom,
to having my father despise me. Jack, you desire to escape. I wish to run away. I thought we might help each
other. And if you dont . . . Her voice trails off.

And if I dont?

Well, then, I shall run away on my own, venturing out into the cold, cruel world full of
buses and telephones and other matters of which I know nothing. I have no map and no
money, save a large quantity of priceless jewels.

Did she say jewels?

Without you, she continues, I might be robbed or . . . worse.

And me . . . ?

I feel her shoulders go up. I suppose you shall rot here . . . although once Father finds
out I am missing, he may have you riding the three-legged mare.

What? The gallows. He shall order you hanged. She had to say the H word. And that is how I
end up running off with Princess Talia.

H
elping Jack escape is simple work. At first, I think to trick the guard by saying I saw a
mouse and asking him to come nab it, so Jack can escape, or perhaps bribe him with one of
the many necklaces in my jewel case. But when I see who the guard is, I know what to do.

One advantage of being forever in my parents custody is that I have been privy to many
secrets of the castle, secrets discussed in my presence, simply because I was always
there. From this, I know such tidbits as which upstairs maid is joining giblets with which
footman, which coachman was arrested for beating his wife with too thick a stick, and
which groom stands accused of bilk- ing an ale draper.

I also know that the guard at the dungeon door is a drunkard. I suspect that the bag upon which Jack kept so close a hold earlier may contain ale.

What is in your bag? I ask when he finally agrees to accept my help.

N-nothing.

This is no time to be secretive. You are imprisoned, and I suspect that you have the item,
more precious than jewels, that may buy your freedom. Give me the ale.

He tells me where to find the bag, and I find what is neededsix bottles full. When the
guard grasps what the contents are, he fairly weeps with joy, and I know it will be short
work. I need only wait until he has consumed the beverage, and then, when drunkenness
causes his jowls to droop onto his ample chest, I steal the key to secure Jacks freedom.

Took you long enough! Jack says when we issue forth from the castle door.

Shhh! I whisper. And hurry.

Easy for you to say, he whispers back. Youre not car- rying anything.

It is true. I took the trouble to secure Jacks other pos- sessions and those, along with
my clothing and jewel case, present a heavy burden. But I am certainly not going to carry
anything. He is the man, and I am the princess. Go as slowly as you wish, but I am told
that ale-induced sleep is not of long duration. If the guard wakes Okay, okay. Jack trudges faster. When he has gone a short way, he says, Whats in here,
anyway? Only the items necessary for our journey. Which are? Gowns . . . and my jewels. I have no
currency, so I brought the contents of my jewelry box. He mutters some- thing I cannot understand,
something about credit cards.

Excuse me? Would you prefer to return to the castle . . . to the dungeon?

No. Thats okay.

Now that I have made my escape and aided Jack in making his, I must make him fall in love
with meeven though he detests me. I lied when I said I did not wish to marry him. A
necessary lie. Marriage to Jack is my destiny, just as it was my destiny to prick my
finger upon a spindle. I had hoped that my destiny would make me happy. How- ever, Jack is
not being very cooperative. Hence, the lie.

I would think it should be short work to make Jack love me. After all, I am quite
beautiful. But the fact is, I have never made anyone fall in love with me before.

Still, I must marry Jack. For if I do so, it will show that it was all predestinedmy
spindle-pricking, the kiss, and our inevitable happily-ever-after. Once Jack falls under
my spell and we marry, Father will have to acknowledge that what happened was not my
fault. Perhaps then he will love me again.

But, on the other hand, if Jack does not fall in love with me, thenwellFather must be
right. None of this was destiny. It was my fault.

Oh, I prefer not to think about that! Do you wish me to help you to carry some of that? I ask, to convince him that I am nice,
even though I think it entirely unreasonable to expect a princess to carry anything.

But he says, That would be great.

All right. I just thought that since you were so big and strong, you would be able to
handle it all. I place my hand upon his shoulder.

Well, you thought wrong. Here. Carry the jewelry box. Its heavy.

He shoves it into my hands and continues walking.