Chapter 19
“Not good enough.” Tashama played with her braid.
The prince stared at her for a moment, then turned his attention to the messenger. “All or none.”
“Yes, sire.” The messenger hurried out of the room as the prince faced Tashama. “Tell me what your reasoning is.”
“I’m only a woman, sire. I have no reasoning.”
“If he agrees to my demand, I will have to turn you over to him.”
“Honor requires such a sacrifice.”
“He will kill you.”
“We all must die, Your Highness.”
“You are not afraid?”
“I will be free.”
The prince shook his head. “I don’t understand you.”
“Have you no knowledge of our prophecy?”
Carissian shook his head as the prince looked to him for acknowledgment.
“My people believe I will lead them to victory. If I must die to do so, then so be it. I don’t know what fate awaits me. Perhaps this is what the gods have decided.”
“We rule our own destiny,” the prince said.
“In part, yes. We cannot just lie down and expect the gods to live our lives for us. This is true. I will lead my people one way or another. If not in the flesh, my spirit will do the deed.”
Carissian rubbed his chin. “She believes this to be true, Your Highness.”
“She is deluded,” the prince said. “How can I hand over such a creature to Loran?”
“You’ll have no choice.” Tashama stood.
“Return her to her room,” the prince said.
Tashama was led away, and he turned to Carissian. “I want the lady to sleep in my bed tonight. We’ll have one of my guards sleep in the lady’s place.”
“And you, sire?”
“That is none of your concern.”
“You cannot sleep with the princess.”
“I will not touch her.”
“Sire, she’s an unmarried maid of the highest royal rank. You cannot lie with her.”
“You won’t dictate to me, Carissian. You’re to advise me, nothing more.”
“Forgive me, sire.” Carissian bowed. “I’ll make the arrangements at once.”
Later that evening, Tashama was led back to the prince’s chambers, cloaked in darkness. As the black veils were removed from her face, she stared at the bed, clothed in pale blue, trimmed in gold. “This is the prince’s bedchambers,” she said to the guard.
“Yes, my lady,” the guard said.
“Where is the prince to stay?”
“I wouldn’t know, Princess.”
“Will Listra not attend to my needs tonight?”
“No one is to know you are here, my lady.”
“He’s trying to catch the thieves again.”
The guard smiled. “And he’ll be successful tonight, rest assured.”
“What am I to do?”
“My lady?”
“I’m tired, but I cannot sleep in the prince’s chambers.”
“His wish was for you to do so.”
The guard left the room, but two more stood nearby. She walked toward the pillow room, but one of the guards blocked her path. “You’re to stay in the prince’s bedchambers tonight, my lady.”
“I was going to sleep on the pillows.”
The guard stood firm.
“Very well.” Tashama returned to the prince’s bed, then pulled a blanket and two pillows from the mattress. She made a bed on the floor on the other side of the expansive room. After lying down, she soon fell asleep.
The prince smiled as he stared at his curtained bed, then walked over to it with a firm stride. Pulling aside the curtains, he furrowed his brow with concern as he found no sign of Tashama. “Guard!”
Two of the men rushed into the room while the prince waved at his bed.
“Over here,” one of the men said as he spied her sleeping across the room on the floor.
“Return her to my bed.”
The guard lifted her and laid her on the prince’s bed. She sank into the feather mattress. The prince whispered, “Leave us.” And the room was silent.
For over an hour, the prince studied her sleeping soundly as he sat in a chair nearby. The moonlight cast a shimmering light across her face, and her dark lashes fluttered with her dreams.
Finally, he took a deep breath and strode to the other side of the bed.
He pulled off his tunic, then climbed onto the mattress, and the motion made Tashama roll over to face him.
He paused. Her chest rose with a gentle breath as he slipped closer to her.
He reached out to touch the silky strands of golden curls, beckoning for his caress.
She puckered her lips slightly. He leaned over to plant his lips against her mouth when armored boots clanked as they rushed into his room.
“Sire,” the man said, making the prince bolt from the bed.
He grabbed the knight’s arm so as not to rouse the princess and pulled him into the outer chambers. “Have you caught the thieves?”
“No, sire, the guard was nearly killed.”
“What?”
“Whosoever came for the princess intended to kill her, not steal her away.”
The prince rubbed his smooth chin. “I want Oshon arrested.”
“He still sleeps in his quarters, sire. He’s being watched as you commanded.”
“He ordered to have the job done. What about our guards?”
“Both were unconscious. Your healer is seeing to them now, but he says that on the previous night, they had been drugged—tonight, both had been struck with such a blow, they were lucky to be alive.”
“The thieves wouldn’t have done such a thing. Oshon must have ordered…”
Carissian appeared. “I’ve been told of the circumstances concerning the guards. Oshon must be caught in the act of treason before he can be arrested for such a thing. We cannot just accuse him without evidence.”
The prince considered his bed. “Must we wait until the princess is murdered under my own roof? And then what? Do you think General Karam and his forces will not seek revenge? Loran will use this, too, as a means to further his cause against us. Though in reality, he will applaud the deed.”
“They will not try again tonight. Should we not return the lady to her own quarters?” Carissian asked.
“She is safe where she’s at for the moment.” The prince motioned for everyone to leave. “We will discuss this further in the morning.” He knew she would be safe with him. Whoever wanted to harm her certainly wouldn’t want to do the same to him.
The men left to guard the outer room, and the prince returned to his bedchambers, then stared out the window.
The streaks of light from the moon sparkled on the white stone walk as a diminutive, gowned figure caught his eye—merely a shadow in the dark.
The prince glanced back at the bed, then looked out the window. The figure had vanished.
The prince strode to the bed, then stared at the empty mattress still imprinted with Tashama’s form. “Guards!” The men rushed into the room, and he pointed out the window. “The princess has escaped. Sound the alarm! Find her!”
The prince ran to retrieve his tunic as one of the guards hurried to the bell tower. The others rushed across the moon-streaked square. While he fastened the ties of his garment, Carissian appeared. “Sire, there is further grave news.”
The bells resounded, causing the prince to shake his head. “Yes, yes, the lady has disappeared once again.”
“Princess Listra has also vanished.”
“What?”
“One of the ladies informed me she never turned in for the night. I haven’t been able to find any sign of her.”
“Has she been to see Lord Coryn?”
“He has been away for the last several days on a trading expedition, Your Highness.”
The prince grabbed up his sword, then hurried into the square with Carissian at his heels. “Would he have returned late, and the lady was welcoming him home?”
“He has not returned, Your Highness.”
“What next?” The prince strode across the square now filled with soldiers as the word spread that the search was on for the princess.
“Sire!” one of his men shouted. “The guards at the gates said two women and several men left through them only moments ago.”
“The gates were closed…”
“They had just opened for commerce, Your Highness.”
“Was it the princess, do they think?” The prince hurried to the gate.
“The women were dressed in the order of the Bachava. Their business is never questioned.”
“And the men they rode with?”
“Dressed as monks of the order. No one had any doubt they were who they appeared to be.”
“Has the High Priest been questioned?”
“He’s being roused as we speak, sire.”
“Have my horse saddled in the meantime. Ready the others to ride.”
“Yes, sire.”
The prince turned to his advisor. “Listra, do you think?”
“I fear so, Your Highness.”
“The Karthlander woman is undoing my realm.”
The prince stormed with Carissian to the gate, where the guards both bowed quickly to their sovereign. “We would have stopped them had the bells been rung before we let them go, Your Highness, beg your forgiveness.”
“Was there any indication that the one lady was Princess Tashama?”
“The black veils of the order do not permit the viewer to see much of the woman, Your Highness.”
“Sire!” a monk called out as he ran toward the prince. “None of our monks are missing from the abbey. Whosoever wore such habits was not some of our own.”
“And the women of your order?”
“All have been accounted for.”
The prince’s horse was brought to him. “Then we must ride and bring them back here at once.”
For two hours, the prince and his soldiers searched for the women as they followed a trail through the woods that led directly to the mountains.
A heavy fog blanketed the forest as sparks of light flared up from time to time while woodland sprites entertained the men.
The howling of a wolf set off the rest of its pack, and the prince paused his horse as he looked up from the hoof prints imprinted in the soil he’d been studying.
He frowned as there was no sign of his men. A blanket of white mist as thick as any blizzard encircled him. His fingers gripped his leather reins tighter as his blood pumped through his veins as if in a race. His breath quickened as he fought the panic in his heart.
To be in the woods alone was a dangerous venture, even for the stoutest of warriors. And now with Loran’s men encroaching on the forest with increasing boldness, Aleron knew he had to find the women and his men soon, or they could all perish.