Chapter 17
Rose stood outside the red door, Leo at her side. Two squads of guards had spread out to encircle the building.
“All entries secure, Your Highness,” the captain said. “Are you intending to enter yourself?” He looked deeply disapproving of the idea.
Leo looked at Rose.
“I’m going in,” she said firmly. “Those are highly sensitive Arcadian documents we’re hoping to find. I should be the one to retrieve them.”
Leo pressed his lips together but didn’t argue. “We’re both going in,” he told the captain. “There hasn’t been a sound from inside, so there aren’t likely to be many people in there—if any. Pick five of your best guards to accompany us.”
The captain saluted and barked orders to his men. Five of them joined the royals, four with swords in their hands. The fifth held a drawn bow.
Leo nodded, and the first of the men put his shoulder against the door, bursting it open and stumbling inside, two of his companions rushing in behind him. One of them was the archer.
Only silence greeted them.
Rose hurried forward in their wake, not waiting for the others. They could bring up the rear.
Inside, evidence of a hasty departure littered the space. Chairs had been overturned, and papers lay scattered across tables and the floor. She stooped to retrieve one and scanned it before letting it float back down. It had nothing to do with Arcadia.
The most important thing to retrieve was the seal, but she wanted Arcadia’s documents—and any false ones the thief had created—almost as much. She hurried forward, ignoring the guards as she moved through a series of rooms. Clearly the building was already empty. They had come too late.
Most of the papers she checked appeared to be drafts—obvious errors making them unusable as forgeries. The fleeing forgers must have taken both the stolen samples and the clean copies with them.
She ground her teeth in frustration, increasing her pace, despite the warning call from one of the guards. A half-full cup of tea sat abandoned on a table, and she brushed her fingers against it. Residual warmth still remained. Had they missed their targets by only minutes?
Her feet slowed as her brain worked on the problem. The forgers had clearly fled in haste and recently—as if in response to the arrival of the guards. But if that was the case, they should have been spotted fleeing. Leo’s guards had approached the building from all directions.
She stepped into the last room. It was the largest she had yet seen, with a substantial fireplace and eight desks. And one occupant.
Rose froze in shock, staring across at the woman who was busy stuffing papers into a satchel slung over one of her shoulders. The woman looked up, meeting Rose’s eyes and freezing herself. But she launched back into movement more quickly than Rose.
Seizing the last of the papers, she was already turning away as she stuffed them into her bag. But she didn’t move toward Rose and the only doorway. Instead, she pressed her hand against the bookshelf behind her.
Her body blocked Rose from seeing exactly how it was done, but the fireplace creaked in response to the woman’s actions, swinging open. A secret passageway! That’s how they’d escaped.
Rose sprang to life and threw herself across the room after the woman, shouting for the others as she ran. There was no time to wait for them, though. The bookshelf was already swinging closed.
She lunged the final distance and wedged her fingers into the remaining gap, wincing as the bookshelf tried to close on her hand. Straining, she pulled it back open and hooked her leg around the closest desk, dragging it close enough to wedge the bookshelf open.
Answering shouts and footfalls sounded from the guards, converging on her from other rooms, but she still couldn’t wait for them. She had no idea where the tunnel exited—if she waited too long, the woman would escape out the other end and be lost forever.
Rose threw herself into the dark opening, almost tripping down the short flight of stairs behind the bookcase.
“Posey!” Leo’s voice sounded from behind her.
Rose didn’t slow, but she did feel a stab of relief to know he was so close behind her.
The darkness made it hard to run at full speed, but she moved as quickly as possible, hands held out in front of her.
When her fingers ran into a dirt wall, she groped around until she discovered the tunnel turned leftward.
Thank goodness it hadn’t been an intersection.
She would have had no idea which way to turn.
Following the tunnel, she increased her pace as the darkness slowly lightened, allowing her straining eyes to see the faintest outline of the tunnel walls.
The light grew, growing stronger and stronger until she stumbled out into another room. On this side, nothing blocked the tunnel opening, and there were no stairs.
She appeared to be in an unfinished basement, although she could see no clue as to what sort of building lay above them. She didn’t care either. All her attention was focused on the woman. She had turned to look at Rose in alarm, apparently not realizing Rose had made it into the tunnel.
Rose straightened her dress, wishing she wasn’t wearing a ball gown. “I believe the papers in your bag belong to me.” She held out a hand. “I suggest you give them back immediately. I’ll tell the guards following me that you cooperated.”
The woman snarled. Before Rose realized what she was intending, she leaped forward and seized Rose, dragging her back away from the tunnel opening just as Leo burst out of it.
He froze, his eyes widening at the sight in front of him. The woman held a knife against Rose’s side, her other arm holding Rose firmly in place.
Rose met Leo’s eyes, trying to send a silent apology. She should have been more cautious.
“Let me leave, and I’ll let the princess go,” the woman said.
Rose gasped. If the woman recognized her, then she’d probably been with the thief in Arcadia. Perhaps she even was the thief, although Aurora’s people had been sure it was a man.
“You have our seal,” she cried angrily. “Give it back at once.”
The woman pressed the tip of her knife against Rose’s side with enough force to pierce the bodice of her dress. “I’m the one making demands.”
“I suggest you unhand Princess Rose at once,” Leo said in the coldest voice Rose had ever heard from him.
His eyes flashed dangerously, and she shivered. The woman behind her held firm, however.
“Let me go, and I’ll release her unharmed out on the street.”
“There’s no way I’m letting you leave here with her.” Leo clenched his fists, every muscle taut.
The woman began to slowly maneuver Rose to the right, toward the main basement door, keeping Rose between her and Leo. Rose went without resisting, but her eyes darted around the space, looking for anything that might let her break free.
Nothing stood between them and the door except a large, solid wood table. It would have to do.
As the woman edged them past one of the table’s corners, Rose held her breath, waiting for the right moment. Just as she was about to pass out of reach, she latched her fingers around the edge of the table and held on with everything she had.
The unexpected anchor took her captor by surprise, and Rose jerked out of her hold. The sudden loss of resistance sent Rose sprawling sideways, away from the woman and the door.
Leo didn’t hesitate. Springing forward, he leaped on the woman. Rose screamed his name, twisting to see what was happening. The forger no longer had a hostage, but she still held a knife.
But when Leo arose from the scuffle, he had the woman firmly in hand, both arms twisted behind her back. The knife lay on the ground, and he kicked it away from them.
Rose gasped, sinking back to clutch the table for support.
“Are you all right?” she asked breathlessly. “Are you hurt anywhere?” Her eyes ran over him, looking for injuries.
“I’m fine.” He gave her a quick smile before resuming his stern glare at the woman.
Rose took a long breath, her heart rate finally slowing. Now that the immediate danger was past, her thoughts returned to what had driven her in the first place.
“Where’s her bag?” she asked. “She seems to have lost it in the—” She broke off and darted forward, retrieving the satchel from where it had fallen to the ground.
Guards poured out of the tunnel, exclaiming in surprise at the sight of Leo’s prisoner.
Two of them took the woman from him, holding her firmly from both sides, and Leo gave a quick series of orders.
Three guards escorted the woman back into the tunnel, one of them carrying a lantern.
The other guards disappeared into the building above them, gone to look for anyone else who had escaped through the tunnel.
Leo took Rose’s hand and pulled her toward the tunnel. She followed him willingly, eager to stay close enough behind the guards to catch the edge of their lantern light.
With a lantern to light the way, the walk back felt short, and they soon popped out into the large room with the desks.
The guard captain met them there. Leo conveyed the situation in a few words, and the man was soon barking orders to the rest of his men, several of whom hurried back into the tunnel with fresh lanterns.
Rose didn’t watch them go, however. Drawing to one side of the room, she stood by the fireplace and examined the contents of the bag. The last of the tension drained out of her.
Every one of the missing Arcadian documents was inside, along with several piles of false documents. The only disappointment was that there was no seal hiding at the bottom.
She stared down at them for a short moment, and then flung them away from her into the fire that still burned in the fireplace. One floated in the wrong direction, and she retrieved it, shoving it after the others. Picking up a poker, she stabbed at them, making sure they went deep into the flames.
“You’ve burned them?” Leo asked in surprise from behind her.
She nodded, her eyes still on the flames. “It’s not that Arcadia needs them—it’s that they’re dangerous in other hands. Especially in company with the stolen seal.”
She remained in place, determined to stay there until she had personally seen every last piece of paper turn to ash.
“The seal?” Leo asked, and she shook her head.
He put an arm around her waist, holding her from behind. “We’ll find it. We have a prisoner now, and she can tell us the identity of the rest of the forgers and hopefully the seal too.”
Rose sighed. “If it’s not already gone from Lanover.”
“Ahem.” An uncomfortable throat clearing made them both turn to the poor guard who hovered awkwardly nearby.
“Yes?” Leo asked, not removing his arm from Rose’s waist.
“I’ve just arrived from the palace, Your Highness. I was sent with a message from Prince Luca.”
That got Leo’s attention, and he released Rose to turn and face the man fully. “Luca sent you out here with a message for me? What is it? Quickly now!”
The man cleared his throat. “He was demanding to see you, and when he heard where you’d gone, he thought you’d want to know his information right away.
He and the princess—” The guard hesitated, his brow creasing as he looked at Rose.
“Ah, he and the other princess arrested a man in the palace. He was one of the palace gardeners, and he attacked the…ah, other princess, and tried to kill her.”
“He tried to kill Natalie!” Rose gasped and stepped forward. “But who is he? What does he have to do with this?”
“Prince Luca said to tell you that officially the gardener is to be tried for attempted murder, but that, unofficially, he’s also a thief. His Highness said to tell you that he’s retrieved the item of greatest significance.”
The guard looked curiously between them, clearly hoping for an explanation. But Leo dismissed him with his thanks, and the man was forced to leave.
Rose swayed, relief robbing her of balance. Leo caught her, pulling her safely against him.
“What excellent fortune,” she murmured. “They’ve found the seal for us and even arrested the thief. But I can’t believe Natalie was attacked! I hope she wasn’t hurt.” She tried to take it all in. “I guess Aurora’s agent was right. The thief did have a position at the palace.”
“Another thing we can blame our old steward for,” Leo said grimly. “He brought in so many unsavory characters that one more was easily able to slip through the gaps.”
Rose shivered, and he held her tighter.
“Don’t worry,” he murmured. “Luca wouldn’t let anything happen to Natalie. And if she was hurt, he wouldn’t be sending me messages. He wouldn’t be thinking of me at all.”
Rose pulled away, startled. “You don’t mean…?”
Leo chuckled and nodded. “That’s exactly what I mean. Your ruse brought more than one couple together. And now, about that. I’ve helped Arcadia as you requested, and even endured seeing you held at knife point. Please tell me I’m allowed to claim you publicly as my fiancée now?”
Rose blushed. “You can tell anyone you like because I don’t intend to let go of you, Leo of Lanover.”
He smiled, pressing a quick kiss to her lips, despite the guards still moving about them. “I’m utterly relieved to hear it.”