"Thank you," she said, because that was what you were supposed to say. She didn't have a soul, but, like any good princess, she had manners. Especially for the man who was both the villain and the king of the piece. "Don't forget to keep your own tummy full. There's too much work to do."

For him, not for her. Her destiny had been rewritten, but his stretched out ahead of him in ways even she didn't understand yet.