It was. Vindicated, he found another piece, this one with a bit of pink jellyfish. If the jellyfish were all together, over to the right…but that piece didn’t seem to connect yet…but maybe if he could find one more to connect it to the border…and then one more after that…
Prince Horatius cleared his throat.
Arthur jumped, spun around, barely avoided knocking the whole puzzle to the floor. “Sorry!”
“Not at all. I startled you.” Again, perfectly calm, unflappable, even indulgent. “Is this no longer a good time? If you’re preoccupied.”
“No, no—it’s just a—I was working on a…” Arthur gave up, and tried not to feel as if he’d been caught not working. He had been working. Responsible. Doing research. Until ten minutes ago. “Um. It’s a puzzle.”
“A puzzle?” Horatius considered the table and t
