24
T he crisp winter air and bumpy roads were a welcome change after so many days of bedrest. Maddox and Giselle’s bickering did not annoy me as I thought it would, but instead served as entertainment as the hours passed. The full carriage provided an appreciated warmth. Despite traveling toward colder regions, I was not shivering as I had before.
Lord Frederick informed us we would be passing thick expanses of forest for several days, and as a result, would have no choice but to camp outside. “We’ll be vulnerable, but we will have plenty of guards on watch,” he said. “Nothing will happen if we can help it.”
The first few nights of making camp in the forest was as peaceful as could be, my slumber lulled by the soft chatter of forest animals. Despite my initial uneasiness, I let myself relax, which wasn’t hard to do with my carriage companions .
On the morning of the second week of traveling, I was surprised by another companion. His presence was not relaxing in the least.
“You’re feeling better, I hope?”
Bennett sat with his legs tucked beneath the carriage seat. Pippin was nestled in his lap, as was Misty. I blinked rapidly at the odd sight. I hadn’t seen him since...
I pressed my lips together, pushing away the twinge of hurt. “Yes.”
He stroked Pippin’s back. The tabby was clearly enjoying the attention from his loud purrs. “I hope you don’t mind me joining you.”
“It’s your carriage, Your Highness,” I said stiffly, gripping the door.
“Bennett.”
My jaw clenched when he met my eye. He avoided me for over a week. Why was he pretending like nothing had happened? Like I still deserved to call him by his name?
Giselle approached before I could demand an explanation. Her eyebrows rose. “Your Highness! Are you in the carriage today?”
He nodded.
The seamstress blew a breath. “Finally!” She sounded exasperated. “Do you want some privacy?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Bennett said, petting Pippin a little faster.
I recognized the anxious motion all too well.
Maddox opted not to join us, whispering to me with some embarrassment that the crown prince made him nervous. That made both of us, only I didn’t have the luxury of leaving.
Giselle took her seat across from Bennett, making a big show of spreading out her belongings so there was no room for me. I shot her a glare as I begrudgingly sat beside him.
Misty hopped onto my lap. Didn’t you want to see your fiancé? she said, rolling onto her back.
My upper arm brushed against Bennett’s as the carriage rattled forward . Then our knees knocked together. Then our elbows. I held back an irritated sigh.
He wanted to see you. He cares, Misty continued, turning over again when I didn’t indulge her in a belly rub.
He doesn’t and he shouldn’t, I thought to her. My nightmare of Mother resurfaced. She had been so real, so solid in the dream. Like she was going to come take me away any moment. Reliving Amarante’s servitude was equally gut-churning.
Misty hissed, nudging my thoughts away. He does.
I crossed my arms. You don't know that.
I do. She blinked slowly. He said so.
My hand went to her on instinct, running over her soft fur. You can’t read his thoughts—
They weren’t thoughts. He talked to us.
I stole a glance at Bennett from the corner of my eye. He was looking out the carriage window, his strong profile silhouetted against the white sky. Besides the tabby cat sprawled on his lap, he was the picture of dignified royalty. Him? Talking to cats out loud? I almost snorted.
I appreciate you trying to make me feel better , I thought to Misty, but nothing has changed. He doesn’t trust me and he certainly does not care about me.
Misty narrowed her eyes. Without warning, she clawed my hand.
I gasped.
The scratch was hard enough to hurt, but light enough not to draw blood. Before I could reprimand her, Bennett turned .
“Are you alright?” he asked. His voice sounded oddly breathless.
My mind blanked, unable to process the pure concern in his hazel eyes as he searched my face.
“I-I’m fine,” I managed to say. “Misty was just being...feisty.”
Bennett frowned at the red scratch, his expression morphing into one I couldn’t quite place. To my utter embarrassment, he raised my hand to his lips and blew on it softly. “Are you sure? Do you need it bandaged?”
My skin tingled at his breath. I yanked my hand away, increasingly aware of Giselle’s raised eyebrows and Misty’s smug presence. I mumbled my assurance and we fell silent again.
What did I tell you? she meowed.
You are a very bad cat , I thought irritably.
She stretched herself across my lap. Only for you, darling.
The rest of the day passed in a similarly uncomfortable manner. Giselle kept winking, either at me or at Bennett. Perhaps it was at both of us. I dozed off in the afternoon and awoke to find my lip rouge smeared across Bennett’s shoulder in a garish red streak. Some had transferred to his collar, though I hardly knew how.
I apologized profusely, only to realize that my face was in a similar state when he tried to wipe my cheek with his handkerchief.
When we finally stopped to settle for the evening, Bennett went off to speak to Lord Frederick, whose eyebrows shot up at my rouge on the crown prince’s neck. I ducked beneath the window, barely able to contain a moan of mortification .
I didn’t know how much more I could take of Bennett’s overfamiliar manner. He would have chewed my lunch for me in the afternoon if I allowed it.
“Why is he treating me like...like some sort of invalid?” I asked Giselle.
She looked up from her sewing, raising a brow. “Because,” she said, tying off a thread, “you were one the last time he saw you. He’s used to tending to you now, I reckon.”
“He—I...” I struggled for words. The possibility of the crown prince choosing to play nursemaid at my bedside when there was so much reconstruction work to oversee was slim to none. Especially when my injuries were due to my own foolishness.
Giselle held my gaze. “He cares about you, Narcissa,” she said simply.
I scoffed, knowing it was fruitless to argue with her .
When night fell and the camp settled, Maddox came with a bundle of bedding in his arms. “If you don’t mind,” he said, voice muffled by a pillow, “I need to lay out your cot.”
I eased down, taking Misty and Pippin with me as Maddox spread the blankets on the seats of the carriage. Lord Frederick claimed the carriage would be more secure than a tent and urged me to stay inside as we got closer to Alevine.
Maddox straightened after patting down the pillow. His spine cracked and he pounded his lower back, wincing. “If you need anything I’ll be two feet away.”
I put a hand on his shoulder. “Get some rest tonight,” I said, giving him a half-smile. “I’d hate to be ordered around if you become bedridden”
He snorted. “I might just to spite you.”
My eyes caught Bennett’s over Maddox’s shoulder. He was looking at us strangely. I hauled myself into the carriage after bidding my brother good night. Misty and Pippin had already settled themselves on the opposite seats.
“Sweet dreams,” I said to Misty, giving her a peck on the forehead. Pippin stared at me expectantly. I sighed and gave him the same treatment.
I AWOKE TO A TORRENT of grainy particles raining down on my face. I sputtered, jerking up.
What is that? Misty jumped onto my chest. She narrowed her eyes as a shadow of a serrated blade bobbed in and out of the ceiling. Three sides of a rectangle had already formed. But despite hacking through wood, the blade made no noise.
I sat up. It was a silent saw. Magic . A rioter could very well be in possession of a witch-made item if it suited their purpose. Whether it was to kill me or kidnap me, I didn’t want to find out.
I squeezed myself to a corner, holding the cats close. Fear froze my limbs. I had been in the company of dangerous people before, but I was never their target. The change was paralyzing.
There were four guards in all protecting my carriage. Maddox, Flannery, and the two others, judging from their thunderous snoring, were all asleep. We were placed at the perimeter of the camp, strategically hidden by the underbrush.
But whoever was on top of the carriage had taken advantage of that. They had me in direct target without passing the rest of the guards.
What are you sitting there for? Run! Pippin demanded as the fourth side of the rectangle took form above.
Just as the ceiling came crashing down, I wrenched the door open. But the movement was impeded by something—or rather someone.
“Ow!” Flannery’s voice came from the other side.
A figure hovered over the gaping hole in the ceiling, engulfing the carriage in his shadow. I made out dark hair and a stubbled jaw. A large hand swung down to grab me. I dodged, my head knocking into the satchel dangling from his shoulder. It landed with a thump on the carriage floor.
“Intruder!” a guard shouted.
The carriage jerked as the assailant launched himself off. Tree branches rustled as the camp awoke, torches lighting the forest in an eerie orange glow.
Flannery opened the door, eyes wide. He removed a pair of cotton plugs from his ears. “Milady! Are you alright? Why didn’t you scream?”
From the way my throat was clenched, screaming was the last thing it wanted to do.
A draft swept in through the top of the carriage. I swung my legs outside and held Misty to my chest. “Did you catch the intruder?” I asked, voice trembling.
Flannery shook his head, letting the cotton fall to the dirt. “We’re going now. Stay here, milady. The others will guard you.”
Guards from the camp abandoned their cots, scouring the premises for the intruder as Lord Frederick shouted instructions.
Pippin stumbled into my lap, tripping over the satchel. What an unpleasant way to be woken up , he said crossly as I gathered him into my arms beside Misty.
I forced my racing heart to calm, though to no avail. Because I was certain that the shadowy attacker was Dominic Turner.
I shivered. Something was horribly wrong with the man. Once I got my hands on him I’d box his ears for having the audacity to invade my privacy time and time again. Did he think he was entitled to my whereabouts because we were once engaged?
I recalled what he had said to me during the ball at Huntington Abbey.
It’s not too late to leave all this. I can take you away and make it seem like an accident.
Could he possibly be in cahoots with the rioters? Whatever treasonous secrets he was hiding, I fully intended on weeding them out and throwing him in the dungeons.
I grabbed his fallen satchel and searched its contents. It was nearly empty, save for a flask and a bruised lemon. Stuffed in the corner, however, was a piece of paper. I took it out .
What is that? Pippin asked.
“Another one of those opera fliers,” I muttered, turning it over in my hand. But it was the same as the one the farmer had dropped, with no strange markings or anything out of the ordinary.
Do you think that might be where the rioters are meeting? Misty meowed.
“There’s only one way to be sure.” I furrowed my brow, but before I could think about it further, noise started back up in the camp. Maddox came with Flannery, panting.
“No sign of anyone near the premises,” he said between breaths.
Lord Frederick appeared behind him, face grave as he sheathed his sword. “Lady Narcissa, are you alright?”
I nodded. “Yes, but there’s something—”
“Narcissa!” Bennett pushed Maddox aside and took my shoulders, wearing little else but a shirt and breeches. “Are you hurt?”
“I-I’m fine.”
He pulled me snugly to him, smothering my face into his chest. “Good,” he whispered.
Just as abruptly, he let me go. I hardly had time to process the intimacy before Bennett turned to Maddox. “You are supposed to protect her,” he said, his voice steely. “Yet a potential assassin managed to saw a hole into the carriage and you didn’t hear?”
“Your Highness, I—”
He looked down at the cotton plugs Flannery had left on the ground. “Tell me one reason you should stay if you cannot perform your duties properly.”
Maddox ducked his head. “I am sorry, Your Highness.”
Bennett turned to Lord Frederick. “Have him removed from the Royal Guard. Have them both removed. ”
Flannery squeaked. “But Your Highness!”
Bennett silenced him with a stony stare. I grabbed his wrist before he could leave. “The saw had a silencing charm on it,” I said. “Maddox wasn’t on watch when it happened and Flannery is not the only guard in charge of my safety.”
Bennett turned away. “Nevertheless, they should have been alert and prepared. The fact that they weren’t demonstrates their incompetence.”
Maddox seemed to shrink in on himself. Being scolded by Father was one thing, but being reprimanded by the future king of Olderea in front of his commander and colleagues was something else entirely. Poor Flannery had tears running down his cheeks, which were red from trying to keep them in.
I set my jaw. “The entire camp should have been alert and prepared. Are you going to demote them all?”
“If it comes to it.”
“You are being unreasonable.”
His jaw clenched. “I am never unreasonable.”
My grip on his wrist tightened, his skin burning hot against my fingers. “Then you’re a fool.”
Bennett whirled around, his eyes ablaze with unfamiliar fire. “Very well, Lady Narcissa,” he said. “If you wish to be in the company of inept guards, that is your choice.”
He wrenched himself out of my grasp and marched away.
IT NEVER OCCURRED TO me that I would be begging on Maddox’s behalf, but I found myself doing exactly that the next morning. Lord Frederick barely got a bite of breakfast before I began pleading his case.
“You’re going to have to speak to His Highness, milady,” Lord Frederick whispered after my fifth attempt. I rode a few paces behind Bennett, whose stiff posture and blank expression betrayed nothing. “He has the final say on these matters.”
“Perhaps,” I whispered back, “you can decide first and then convince him.”
He raised a wiry eyebrow. “Milady, I am not so bold as to bend the crown prince to my will. That job is reserved for those who can call him a fool and suffer no consequences.”
My face heated.
Lord Frederick shook his head and increased his pace to match Bennett’s. It seemed he was fed up with me. I looked over my shoulder at Maddox and Flannery, trudging beside the ruined carriage. They were both especially grim this morning, and it wasn’t only because of the dreary weather.
Where would they go if they were demoted on the spot? They would be left to fend for themselves. The forest path was wet with frost. I counted it as a blessing that it wasn’t snowing heavily, thanks to Olderea’s mild weather. Maddox and Flannery wouldn’t stand a chance against a blizzard.
Misty stuck her head out of the saddlebag. Have you convinced him yet?
I shook my head, glaring at Bennett’s back. Insufferable man. I couldn’t imagine what made him overreact to the point of cutting my brother out of the Royal Guard.
Lord Frederick turned around. “Alevine is just ahead!” he shouted.
The forest had melted away into paved road. About half a mile ahead was the city gate, towering and gray .
Ulysses rode up next to me, eyes shining. “Ah, I simply cannot wait to sleep in a proper bed,” he said. The events of last night didn’t seem to faze him—perhaps because he managed to sleep through everything.
“How close is Lady Ruan’s manor?” I was already tired of riding.
Lady Vivia Ruan was to be our hostess during our stay. She was thrown into wealth in recent years after acquiring some property or other, so I was told.
“Oh, we won’t be staying at a manor, Lady Narcissa. She owns and runs the Grand Alevine Opera,” the steward said, straightening his necktie.
“Oh,” I said, raising my brows. That must be the property. “She lives in the opera house?”
“But of course! It’s not just an opera house. I heard the living quarters above the theater are phenomenal,” Ulysses said.
I studied Cozbi’s mane, which had gotten windblown with travels, and thought back to the fliers. Somehow we were staying at the very place I had suspicions about.
You’re not going to tell anybody about that? Misty asked.
Not yet. I petted her ears. I figured Lord Frederick was already tired of hearing me speak.
I needed solid evidence first.