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"So," the prince said. "To break your enchantment, you need a kiss from your true love."
"Yes," said the princess, unable to keep the note of irritation from her voice. "And naturally, I get you."
The prince sighed. "Awkward, I know. Still." He tapped his finger on his lips. "I might have a solution."
The princess eyed him up and down. "Uh-huh."
The prince gave her his most charming smile. "Trust me."
Several months later, the prince came riding back to the enchanted castle.
He did not come alone.
The girl with him was no princess, nor even trying to be one. She happily accepted a rough pallet in the kitchen--"It just feels less enchanted here, you know?" instead of an elaborate, high bed in one of the dusty bedrooms, even when the princess warned the girl that the kitchen floor was doubtless covered in peas. "As long as you don't ask me to sort them," the girl said.
She was fond of fairytales, and cookies, and trees, and her smile, the princess could not help noticing, was more beautiful than the sun or the moon or the stars.
The prince insisted on dancing with both women at the wedding.
"Don't try to charm me," the princess said.
"I must," the prince told her, spinning her around in his arms.
"But I'm no longer cursed."
"True," the prince said, dancing her back to the arms of her new wife. "But you have a most charming brother."
The End
This story was first published on Thursday, July 11th, 2019
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