"Wrede,.Patricia.C.-.Chronicles.Of.The.Enchanted.Forest.v1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

"I thought so," said Cimorene, and bade her fairy godmother a polite
good-bye.

A few weeks later, Cimorene's parents took her to a tourney in
Sathem-by-the-Mountains, the next kingdom over. Cimorene was quite
sure that they were only taking her because her fairy godmother had
told them that something had better be done about her, and soon. She
kept this opinion to

herself. Anything was better than the endless rounds of dancing and
embroidery lessons at home.

Cimorene realized her mistake almost as soon as they reached their
destination, for the King of Sathem-by-the-Mountains had a son. He was
a golden-haired, blue-eyed, and exceedingly handsome prince, whose
duties appeared to consist entirely of dancing attendance on
Cimorene.

'Isn't he handsome?" Cimorene's lady-in-waiting sighed.

"Yes," Cimorene said without enthusiasm. "Unfortunately, he isn't
anything else."

"Whatever do you mean?" the lady-in-waiting said in astonishment.

"He has no sense of humor, he isn't intelligent, he can't talk about
anything except tourneys, and half of what he does say he gets wrong.

I'm glad we're only staying three weeks. I don't think I could stand
to be polite to him for much longer than that."

"But what about your engagement?" the lady-in-waiting cried,
horrified.

"What engagement?" Cimorene said sharply.

The lady-in-waiting tried to mutter something about a mistake, but
Cimorene put up her chin in her best princess fashion and insisted on
an explanation. Finally, the lady-in-waiting broke down.

"I . . . I overheard Their Majesties discussing it yesterday." She
sniffled into her handkerchief. "The stipulations and covenants and
contracts and settlements have all been drawn up, and they're going to
sign them the day after tomorrow and announce it on Th-Thursday."

"I see," said Cimorene. "Thank you for telling me. You may go."

The lady-in-waiting left, and Cimorene went to see her parents. They
were annoyed and a little embarrassed to find that Cimorene had
discovered their plans, but they were still very firm about it. "We