13. ROSALINE —" I don't want to talk to you."

I stared at the prince and he stared back.

I could not read his expression. Was he still angry with me?

"My princess."

I turned to look at Asher. His head was bowed in reverence. He was usually not so courteous to me and I wondered what this new deference meant.

"Oh, Asher. What are you up to?" I asked, looking from him to the prince.

He ignored my question and said instead, "Could you tell Princess Ariel that I was going about the errand she sent me when something unfortunate happened to me?"

I laughed but when he did not, I realized that he was serious. A smirk appeared on the face of Prince Xavier and that was when I realized what this was– a showdown between both men.

"I'll stay with the crown prince. You can go about Ariel's business." I said, pretending to be oblivious to the tension between the men.

I wanted to get Xavier alone anyway and this felt like a natural way of doing so. Asher was so blinded by his obsession with Ariel that he could not smell what was right b