“Step aside, Prince Sharman! I didn't come here to waste my time. I came here to kiss your sister.”
Sharman's brow was creased by a scowl. The bossy Prince Gideon was at least three heads shorter than him, but he had the audacity to make demands? “How old are you, boy?” Sharman snapped at him.
“Fifteen,” the boy replied with a sniff. “And I'm absolutely serious, by the way. If you don't step away from the doorway at once, I'll turn around and get back in my carriage! I came to the Winter Palace as a favor to you, but I'm a very busy man.”
“You're a very busy boy,” Sharman corrected him with a snort. Gideon was fifteen, but he looked even younger. Sharman wouldn't have guessed he was older than twelve.
“You dare to insult me?” Prince Gideon puffed out his chest. He thought it made him look intimidating, but Sharman thought the boy looked foolish. “Test my patience again, Sharman, and you'll see the back of my head as I leave!”
Sharman's jaw hardened as he studied the brat's babyish face. Only a kiss from Rose's soulmate would shatter her curse. Could a boy of fifteen really be her soulmate? It seemed unlikely, but Sharman didn't want to take any chances. He had to be sure.
“V-very well...” Sharman choked down his pride and stepped away from the doorway. “Go ahead and kiss her.”
With a flutter of his cape, Gideon swept into the dim bedchamber of the perpetually slumbering princess. He was small, but he carried himself like a giant. “Ah...” Gideon smiled at Rose. “She's as beautiful as everyone says she is. But... how old is she?”
Sharman's lip curled as he answered, “Nearly twenty.”
“God! She's a bit... old.” Gideon stuck his nose in the air. “Still, she's pretty, so I think I could tolerate it. If my kiss wakes her up, I guess I could marry her.”
When Sharman invited princes to the palace, he offered his sister's hand in marriage—as well as a considerable dowry. The man who broke her curse would become her husband. He didn't think Rose would protest. After all, she would be marrying her soulmate.
“She has lovely lips,” Gideon noted as he leaned over Rose. “They're a bit pale, though.”
With a roll of his eyes, Sharman croaked, “Just get on with it.”
“This will be my first kiss, you know,” Gideon confessed as his lips slowly descended. “I'm... a little nervous.”
“I had my first kiss at eleven,” Sharman boasted. “But... everyone moves at their own pace, I suppose.”
Gideon's head snapped back up. “You better stop being rude to me, Prince Sharman, or I swear to god... I'll walk out this door! If I'm Rose's soulmate, she'll sleep forever, and you'll get no pity from me!”
Sharman bit his tongue and forced a smile. Every prince was a possibility. Until Gideon's lips were tried, he had to mind his behavior.
“Well...” Gideon turned his attention back to Rose's pale pink mouth. “I guess I'll just... do it.”
With a nervous whimper, Gideon leaned down and locked lips with the princess. When Rose didn't wake, Sharman grabbed the boy's collar and dragged him to the door.
“I've been waiting to do this,” Sharman said as he shoved the whimpering prince into the hallway. “You're a horrible little brat. Get out of my palace!”
“You're a horrible little brat!” Gideon fired back at him. “When I get back to my castle—which is much larger than this, by the way—I'm going to tell Papa you were rude! And then he'll attack you! He'll put you in your place!”
“He'll start a war because his stupid son suffered an insult? I highly doubt it. But if he does, I'll be ready for him!” Sharman dragged a hand through his curly brown hair. “Now get out of my sight, you vile little churl!”
When Gideon stomped away, Sharman returned to his sister's bedchamber and slammed the door behind him. Then he sat beside Rose and brought her hand to his lips.
“I'm so sorry you've had to endure this, dearest sister,” Sharman whispered the apology as his thumb caressed Rose's fingers. “You've been kissed by twenty-seven nobles and royals. Only Princes Aarav and Elliot remain. If they don't wake you... I'll have to let commoners kiss you. I'm so sorry.”
Sharman assumed his sister couldn't hear him, but his heart felt lighter when he talked to her. So he continued, “My fiance is a commoner, you know. But she's a very special commoner. She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, Rose. I can't wait until you get to meet her. Her hair is silken gold, wrapped in purest sunshine. The color of her eyes puts precious stones to shame.”
Sharman's eyelids were suddenly heavy. With sinking shoulders, he revealed, “But she's been captured, and a vast ransom has been demanded. For the last two days, I've probed the depths of my soul, and now I know what I must do.” When he paused, Sharman gently folded the princess' hands over her stomach. “Paying the ransom would be no better than admitting defeat, and I can't let a wicked witch win. I don't care how powerful Donnabella is. I will rescue the woman I love.”
As he studied his sister's placid face, Sharman felt refreshed. He got up, marched into the hall, and flagged down the first soldier he saw.
“Assemble one hundred of my finest knights!” Sharman demanded. “I'm going to rescue my fiance, and we're heading out today!”
The soldier accepted his task with a bow. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“My men should be armed with the sharpest weapons!” the prince added. “Oh... and they might want to equip themselves with a protective talisman. With Donnabella, we don't really know what we're up against. Magic can be tricky. Amulets to ward off psychic attacks should be carried.”
“Of course, Your Highness.” The soldier bowed again. “I'll pass along the suggestion.”
When he was alone again, Sharman dressed himself in glistening armor bedecked in jewels. He slipped a diamond encrusted blade into the sheath at his hip. Before he left his bedchamber, he checked his hair in the looking glass. Satisfied with his appearance, he hurried to the stables, where he saddled and mounted the finest white stallion.
One hundred knights assembled on the Winter Palace's manicured lawn. In the sunlight, their silver-white armor was blinding, so Sharman squinted as he studied them.
“I love you, Cinderella,” the prince whispered to himself. “I love you and I'm coming for you. Don't despair.”
With that, Prince Sharman turned his horse in the appropriate direction and set off on his noble mission.