“Who do you think you’re fooling?” Rosalind asked. “You look ridiculous.”

  Marcus gave her a stare, his hands on his hips. “And do you think you’re convincing?”

  “I’m more convincing than the six-foot behemoth in a day dress, thank you. I’ve been telling people that I have a gland thing.”

  “Well, maybe I have a gland thing, too.”

  Marcus could not believe how naive she was. It was part of the reason he had refused marriage to any princess. And especially Rosalind. Rosalind who lived in fairy tales and thought her happily ever after could be found at the end of some rainbow. She might have gotten lucky, no one recognizing her, but she wasn’t safe. Eventually someone would realize she was a woman. Him dressing as a woman posed no risk. If people found out, he was not in danger, and even if he was, he could fight off most people that he came across.

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  “Look, let’s just pretend to not have seen each other,” Rosalind suggested. “We go our separate ways, and still be happy.”

  “Since I ran away too, you could go back to your kingdom and not have to marry me,” he said. “I doubt my kingdom will find me anytime soon.”

  “The second choice after you was a fifty-year old. The third one is on his deathbed, and needs an heir. I’m not sure how those two things can coexist, nor do I want to find out. I’m not going back.”

  “Then let’s stay together,” he said. “They’ll be looking for a single woman, a single man. They won’t be looking for a couple.”

  “What are we supposed to be, living together? Husband?” she asked, pointing at herself. Pointing at him, she asked, “Wife? We will find a nice place for ourselves in a circus. The oddest couple alive, only a copper coin to view them.”

  “Or the reverse,” he suggested. “I hate wearing dresses.”

  Rosalind squinted at him. “You want to continue avoiding our arranged marriage, by pretending to be married? So instead of rich and together, we’d be peasants together. Gods, it’s a good thing you’re not the crown prince. You’d run your kingdom into the ground.”

  “We’ll part ways when we want to,” he suggested.

  She looked at him for a moment, thinking. “Deal. You’ll have to call me your husband, though.”