The Rat Prince Read Online Free PDF Page B

girl on a human throne.”
    â€œThe way I see it,” I mumbled, “if we can get Prince Geoffrey to take one look at Rose, it’s in the bag. Haven’t you noticed? Every human male who sees her falls in love with her. Why, Mrs. Grigson has to go out every morning with her broom and shoo away young men who linger in the bushes in hopes of catching a glimpse of her, even though it’s been ages since Rose has set foot outside the house.”
    Just then we were interrupted by my mother, who drew me aside with a grave, cautious touch upon my back. Her two favorite courtiers, Lady Lambchop and Lady Pudding, hovered right behind her.
    â€œThere is a word you left out of your speech today, Prince Char,” she said. “And the word is Cinderella .”
    I did not like to hear my mother use that name for Rose, but I said nothing.
    Swiss leaned in closer to eavesdrop. I poked him hard with the tip of my tail. “Mother, I hardly think this is the time or the place to discuss these matters.”
    She twitched a whisker at her ladies, who minced away. Then she nosed me into a corner behind a heap of stolen ribbons and lace where no one—not even Swiss, who was straining hard—could hear us. I could smell her mood, which was tense and uncertain.
    â€œMy son, there are rumors about you and this Cinderella person. I cannot help but wonder if your sudden interest in the wider world of the human kingdom—all this talk of Good King Tumtry, and an expedition to Castle Wendyn—has something to do with that girl. Some say you are bespelled.”
    â€œI am not,” I said.
    â€œThen explain, my son. I am listening.”
    â€œI have a feeling about Rose. I think she’s important to us.”
    â€œStuff and nonsense. She’s no longer of importance in her own home, to her own father. Char, if your sainted father were here today, he would be just as disapproving of your enthusiasm for her as I am.”
    I never knew my father, who had died on a failed mission to roll home a barrel of wine before I was born. Yet Lady Apricot invokes him every time we have a disagreement.
    I took a deep breath before replying. “Mother, think for a moment of how dire things could get if Geoffrey turns out to be a bad king and drives the city to starvation. We would be obliged to leave Lancastyr Manor and go live in the countryside, making nests in bushes or cold stone walls. Scavenging in the woods.”
    There was a pause, filled with the vibrations of Lady Apricot’s alarmed contemplation of this prospect. “Why do you wish to frighten me thus?” she said at last.
    â€œBecause you asked why I’m preoccupied with Lady Rose. If Geoffrey turns out to be a bad king, a good queen could counterbalance him, and save the country. An intelligent queen. A queen who has been forced to work hard, who has often gone hungry, who understands the primacy of the Food. A queen who has been kept alive by the Rat Prince.”
    Even as I spoke, I realized there was a problem with my rapidly developing scheme: It seemed a bit of hard luck on Rose that the worse Prince Geoffrey turned out to be, the more crucial it was (from the rat point of view) that she marry him. I felt for the poor girl.
    Though I would never say so in front of Lady Apricot.
    My mother’s expression became thoughtful. “I begin to take your meaning, my son. You are thinking of Rose de Lancastyr becoming queen.”
    â€œNone other. Consider her the rat candidate, if you will. Were I to succeed in placing a queen upon the human throne who is sympathetic to rat-kind, and who will free us from the dread Wilhemina, I shall have done a deed worthy of the great Prince Feast himself. But tell no one of this yet,” I added hastily, well aware of how much my mother liked to chatter with her handmaidens. “We should not raise hopes prematurely.”
    Particularly since I still had no actual strategy of how to