Once Upon a Twist Read Online Free PDF

young lady – you have caused quite enough of a scene for one day.” Turning to the King and Queen she curtseyed, somehow managing to retain her grip on Ella. “I apologize for my stepdaughter. As you can see, she is mentally unstable, which is why we so rarely let her out.”
    His cheek smarting from Ella’s surprisingly powerful right-hook, it took a couple of moments for the stars ringing in James’s head to clear sufficiently and for him to realize what was occurring before him.
    Ella’s face had gone bright red. From the set of her mouth and chin it was clear Christell had put a spell on her that bound her lips together.
    “If anyone is unstable it is you,” he said, ice lacing his voice. “Kindly release my fiancée and break the enchantment that is preventing her from speaking.”
    Approximately five hundred pairs of eyes widened.
    “Fiancée?” Christell sneered, although he detected a certain amount of panic darting in those cold eyes. “Ella is not competent to marry. She is a compulsive liar and a dirty little…”
    “Enough!” he commanded. “I will not have anyone speak in such a manner about the woman I love. I will tell you one last time – release my fiancée and break the enchantment or I will have no hesitation in ordering my soldiers to escort you to the dungeons.”
    Even as she relinquished her hold, Christell continued to throw ice bonbons at him.
    “And now the spell.”
    She muttered something under her breath, her words followed by a quick inhalation from Ella, whom he placed a protective arm around.
    James caught the attention of the head of his protection detail and made a quick beckoning motion with his eyes. Now that Ella had broken free of the enchantment that had kept her trapped within her home, he was free to do what he had longed to do since Ella had told him about her father.
    “Christell Tremalow, I am arresting you for the murder of your husband, Baron Gordon Tremalow. Guards, take the prisoner to the dungeons.”
    Ice ran through his veins when he saw the venom directed at Ella from her wicked stepmother. He fisted his hands into balls to stop himself from striking her. No matter how evil she was, she was still a member of the female sex and he would never use his hands against her or any other woman. But never again he vowed, would Ella be subjected to her poison.
    The silence in the ballroom was replaced with the sound of excited murmuring voices as Christell was led away.
    “Are you ready to talk now?” he asked, tipping Ella’s chin up and gazing into her astonishing eyes. The hate and fury that had seeped out of them mere minutes before had been replaced with something close to adoration, something that filled his heart with delight and made his chest swell with pride.
    But then the adoration vanished and she scowled at him. “All right, we can talk – and you can tell me exactly why you referred to me as your fiancée when you haven’t even had the decency to ask me if I want to marry your arrogant self.”
    “I did ask you. You said you couldn’t marry me because of Christell’s entrapment. That answer is no longer valid so you are free to marry me.”
    “I meant you hadn’t asked me to marry you knowing you are a Prince .” Her nose wrinkled in distaste.
    Smothering a laugh, he kept his arm wrapped firmly around her waist in case she should be tempted to bolt, and turned to his parents. “We will return shortly.”
    His mother beamed, her face more animated than it had been in so long. “Take as much time as you need, darling. And when you return, you can introduce us properly to our future daughter-in-law, who, I can see, is going to be more than a match for you.”
    His father simply rose to his feet and threw his arms in the air, capturing the attention of all the guests. “Ladies and Gentlemen, it appears our son has chosen his bride. We shall toast the occasion shortly but in the meantime let the dancing commence.”
    ***
    Dazed after what had