Ever After Read Free

together once more on a lovely balmy evening when the sun was
just setting and the breeze was laden with the scent of night
flowers. The princess had set out for a long leisurely stroll. She
had her usual entourage with her, along with one new addition. This
new addition was an adorable little pug which she carried in her
arms.
    She wondered
what she should name her new pet as she walked down the main street
nodding at traders and street magicians. Blueberry was a good name,
she thought, but perhaps more appropriate for a blue rat …Twinkle
toes? No, she had seen the pug walk. He was clumsy, often falling
over his own feet … Prince? She smiled to herself as she imagined
introducing the pet to her father's formal guests. She would bow to
the King of Nettles and say, “I am Princess, Your Highness, and
this,” she would continue, pointing to the curtseying pug, “is
Prince.”
    The King of
Nettles, a stingy fellow with his pursed up mouth, sharp face and
rude tone, would certainly reel back in horror at the sight of her
beloved pug wearing a tiara and a green velvet robe … She frowned …
Possibly the King of Nettles couldn’t help being stingy, rude and
all sorts of horrid things. It was in the nature of some to bite,
and she couldn't blame them for it. It was how they were
created—
    Crack, phut,
phut, phut, weeeee! A fire cracker lit by an illuminator's child
suddenly exploded close to her. The pug gave a startled yelp and
jumped out of her arms. The princess lunged, but it was too late.
The pug slipped out of her grasp and took off down the street.
    The princess
raced after it, screaming at her beloved pet to stop. The pug
ignored her and kept on running. The princess hiked up her white
silk skirts and flew after him. She skidded under carts, leaped
over puddles, skirted thorny hedges and stepped into puddles. She
ignored the shouts of the soldiers, the cry from her maid, and the
warning yell from the doctor. She couldn't be bothered with rules
at the moment. She had to save her puppy.
    He was quick
for such a fat thing. The princess was soon huffing and puffing as
she chased after him. The pug hopped over a fallen basket, turned
into a small lane and disappeared from view.
    Heart in her
throat, the princess began sprinting. She pushed aside a cart laden
with peaches, slammed into a milk maid, spilling cans of milk all
over the road, and knocked off an old woman's pink wig as she
turned the corner and hurtled into the small lane.
    The pug was
nowhere to be seen.
    She hastened
down the lane until she almost crashed into a man. Her feet skidded
to a halt a few centimetres away from him … It was the same
handsome stranger. The man who did not belong to her father's
kingdom. The man she had been thinking about ever since he had
smiled at her. They were so close their noses were almost
touching.
    "I have him,"
he said.
    His breath
smelled of sweet, warm cinnamon.
    "Hmm," she
said, feeling a strange sort of confusion.
    "Your pet, I
have him."
    "Oh," she
blinked and quickly stepped back.
    He held out the
wriggling pug and offered it to her.
    She blushed and
wondered how she had missed spotting the yowling dog in his arms.
She reached out, carefully extracted her pet.
    Their fingers
brushed against each other. Once, twice, three times.
    She kissed her
pet, her eyes on the man.
    They smiled at
each other.
    ***
    Once the
princess had tasted the thrill of breaking rules, she repeated it
often. She slipped out on moonlit nights and sought the stranger
out. They started meeting regularly away from prying eyes. They
strolled in the lover's garden, spent hours on her balcony and went
riding deep into lonely fields.
    They met when
the kingdom was asleep. And the princess tingled deliciously every
time she held his warm brown hands. She hung onto his every word,
her eyes glued to his dark mysterious face.
    One night they
stole a boat and rowed out to the middle of a lake. It was a
moonless night, and their only source of light