IT TOOK SEVERAL seconds before Carlos burst into a fit of laughter. Even the King was barely suppressing a smile.
"You looked as though you had seen a ghost," he snickered, patting my back. "Relax, Mr. Ausejo. I was just pulling your leg. Do you really think we will hunt you down?"
"Er—" I didn't know what to answer him.
"That is, of course, unless you lay a finger on her," Carlos added, eyes now serious and sharp, "or make her cry again. I will make sure that you will be used as bait, then feed you to the wild afterward. Do we understand each other?"
All I could do was nod my head several times, but apparently, it wasn't enough.
"I don't accept nodding as an answer. If you want the princess that bad, answer as a Duke would," he said.
I straightened my back even further and met his e
