The Prince and I - 14

“An elven prince, or ernil in our language.” Connor stopped short, looking at me cautiously. “What makes you think the good guys, as you put it, are looking for me? I mean I suppose they are, or my uncle is, but if he is searching I haven’t felt him.”

“That thing would warn you?”

He shook his head then pulled up his sleeve. There was a narrow silver band around his arm just above his elbow.

“I suppose that glows too.”

“No, but it will get warm if he’s near, just as the amulet does when his enemies are close by.”

I had a sudden thought. I guess I wasn’t hiding it too well because he asked what was wrong.

“Look, you’re probably going to kill me, or run away as far and as fast as you can…” I began.

“Why?”

“Let me ask you something first. What does your uncle look like, and does he have the same kind of band?”

“He does. As for what he looks like, he’s a little taller than me with darker blond hair and paler gray-green eyes.”

“Then it wasn’t him.”

Connor stared at me. “Who wasn’t him?”

“This is where you get pissed. A man caught me shoplifting. He was maybe thirty-five or forty, short dark hair…” I tried to remember anything else about his face. “Thin lips and dark blue eyes. He wore a business suit. But that’s neither here nor there. Like I said he caught me but instead of turning me over to the cops he told me he’d let me go if I’d do something for him. Look for you. He gave me two pictures.” I pulled them out of my pocket to hand to Connor. “I haven’t called him. I thought maybe you ran away because you were being abused or something and I wasn’t about to turn you over to him and his ‘friend’ which was what he called your uncle—if it was your uncle he was talking about—if he wasn’t working for the other side or whatever…” I ran out of steam then and shut up.

For a minute Connor looked stunned. Then he began to laugh. I looked at him as if he was crazy. But then I’d sort of been thinking that all along anyway, since he began telling me his story.

Finally he calmed down. “Now I know why I was drawn to you.” He touched the photos. “My uncle must have sent him to find me, or find someone who could. The pictures have a mild enchantment on them attuned to me, to make me trust whoever had them. I suppose they thought whoever that was would do what you said and call him the minute they spotted me.”

“Who is he?”

“Our liaison here, Arthur Confort. He and my father were friends until my father was killed. Now he and Uncle Sadron are working to carry out what my father began, to form an alliance to help both of our worlds.”

“And you came along for the ride?” I said somewhat sarcastically. The strange thing was even as I said it I realized that---incredibly---I was beginning to believe him.

“As I’m the heir to the throne when my uncle dies, he thought it would be a good idea for me to learn about this world first hand.” Connor shook his head. “Of course his idea of my ‘learning’ was to keep me at the house we’re using, reading books, watching television. Anything that would teach me about this world without my having to actually meet people, other than the servants.”

“So you took things in your own hands.”

Connor nodded. “What else could I do?”

Leaning back against the wall I studied him again. “Pointed ears?”

With a snort he shook his head. “Not like in your fairy tales.” He pulled back his hair to show me.

I ran my finger over one of my ears and then, before he could stop me, over his, feeling the angle which made them just barely pointed. He drew in a sharp breath, pulling away from my touch. Frowning, I asked what was wrong.

“They’re very… sensitive.”

Call me dumb but it took me a minute to get what he meant, even though he’d turned bright pink. Then I took a quick glance down to his crotch and said, teasing, “I’ll have to remember for the future.”