CHAPTER 55
Sakura
Sakura had often been up this late before. If her disappearance and Keenan’s arrest hadn’t managed to derail it, the ball would still be going, and she had planned to stay until the end.
But she’d never been out this late before.
The stars twinkled overhead as she rubbed her left elbow, hiding in the shadow of a building across from the castle gates. Normally, she would have simply strolled up and demanded entrance. But normally, she was surrounded by trustworthy guards and returning to her predictable home.
Tonight, she was alone, and the gate guards believed she’d been kidnapped. If she sauntered up with one of the men they believed responsible, Oliver would be joining Keenan in the dungeons rather than retaining the ability to help her solve their problems.
He could disguise himself with his magic as he’d done when they left the winter castle, but the guards at the gate would be suspicious when they didn’t recognize him.
She had considered dressing him as a peasant and claiming that he was the kind citizen who had helped her when she became lost in the city; as long as he looked vaguely Ryunic, the guards should let him in with that story.
But no matter the method, she couldn’t enter openly without causing a stir. And since she wasn’t certain of the state of things, she preferred to avoid that.
“They’re too alert,” Oliver murmured. She jumped, not realizing he’d returned. “I can’t create a distraction this late at night that will draw them away long enough for us to sneak past.”
Sakura frowned. When she’d left, she’d pretended to be a maid who was heading home after finishing her work late. That had gotten her out without anyone looking too closely at her face. But there was no reason for a maid to be entering at this hour.
“Do you have any suggestions?” she whispered back. “I have no experience with breaking into castles.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “And you believe I do?”
“I expect you try to guard against it. Surely you must have a few ideas.”
While he scanned the area in front of them with a thoughtful expression, Sakura tried not to remember the ring of gold that had lit Cherry’s eyes before she flew off in the middle of her report of Keenan’s capture.
Sakura had suggested hopefully that Keenan had used the twig to call her, but Oliver had looked unusually somber.
“The twig gives her a choice,” he had explained. “That’s how she looks when she’s commanded.”
But Keenan had said the tinderbox could only affect her from a distance if the carrier had met her and knew her name.
That narrowed it down to the people who had accompanied them from the hollow tree to Kurowan.
And if one of them had somehow ended up with the tinderbox instead of her mother, she was even less certain of what they would face inside.
It had meant hours more of deliberation, but they were finally here. Now they just had to find a way in.
“There is an outlet for the stream that provides the castle’s water,” Oliver said at last. He beckoned to her, slipping away down the street. “We can use that.”
Sakura grabbed a handful of skirt and hurried after him. “But a strong current carries the water out, not in. And it must be a hundred feet that it travels underground.”
“But there is no gate obstructing the flow,” Oliver calmly replied.
“What does that matter? It’s still impossible!”
The light was dim, but she could just see one side of his mouth tip up. “Not for me. But you’ll have to hold your breath.”
She was about to retort that the strongest swimmer couldn’t hold his breath long enough to make that trip, but then she remembered the waterfall.
If he said he could do it, then she would just have to trust that he knew his limits.
Her confidence wavered when they reached the narrow stream. The water gushed out of the ground, bubbling eagerly to reach the wider path. It was going to be tight for her, and Oliver was much broader than she was.
He nodded toward the water. “Lie down feet first. It’s safest that way.”
Sakura stared at the rushing water. “But won’t my dress—”
He blinked at her for a moment, then crouched down and set his hand in the water. A section about her size calmed and began gently rippling in the opposite direction. “The water around you will keep it down. But I can’t fight the current forever.”
In other words, if she wanted them both to make it safely in, she needed to stop hesitating before he used all his magic waiting for her.
And failing to get inside was not an option. So she took a deep, calming breath and forced herself to step into the water.
“Sending you under in three, two…”
Sakura sucked in another deep breath and smashed her eyes closed. The water swept her forward, slowly at first before picking up speed, moving swiftly through the underground space.
Just when her lungs were beginning to burn for air, she started to rise again. She burst out of the water with a gasp, water streaming down her face as she sat up.
The water surged behind her, and she scrambled to her feet to jump out of the way.
Oliver surfaced with a sputtering gasp of his own, looking as disheveled as she’d ever seen him, if one discounted the time he overexerted himself to destroy half the shaft leading to the cavern.
He stood, sending a cascade of water back into the stream, and ran a hand through his short hair as he sloshed to the bank.
Sakura followed, noting that his hair was already merely damp.
“That’s a handy trick,” she commented as he helped her climb up onto the dry ground.
The evening was a little cool for being sopping wet, but Oliver quickly solved that problem by coaxing the water out of her clothing and onto the grass beneath her feet.
When they were both dry, Sakura set off down the shortest path to the castle.
“This would be a good time to disguise yourself,” she murmured as they approached a servants’ entrance. “I doubt they remember your face, but they’ll likely notice you’re foreign.”
He nodded, and she watched in fascination as his eyes took on the shape peculiar to her countrymen. It was a tiny change that she assumed used less magic, but it was sufficient to let him blend in. It was a masterful choice.
Sakura folded her hands at her waist, then dropped them to swing at her side, mentally chiding herself. She was supposed to look like everyone else in the castle so no one would look too closely. If she walked like a princess, someone would recognize her immediately.
Someone like the guards patrolling the hall just past the door.
Dipping her head, Sakura tried to make herself small and unnoticeable. Why had she never paid more attention to the servants who passed her? She wasn’t certain how they carried themselves, so she didn’t know if she was mimicking them properly or not.
She glanced over at Oliver. He’d put on a shirt over his leather armor, and his sword was strapped to his back. But it was too long to be completely hidden by the shirt, and no one who looked at him could mistake him for anything but a guard.
Would he be less conspicuous if she distanced herself from him, or if she made it clear they were together?
“What are you doing out?” one of the approaching guards frowned, setting his hands on his hips. Sakura wasn’t sure if it was a natural movement or a casual method to clear his cloak should he need his sword. “It’s past curfew.”
It was her turn to frown. The servants had a curfew? True, she’d never paid them much mind before. But shouldn’t she have known that?
“I’m sorry,” she said, bowing her head lower. Her mind raced for an excuse. “I was…responding to a call from the king’s quarters.”
She winced internally. If her parents had smoothed over the night’s disasters and let the ball continue, the king was unlikely to be in his quarters. Even though she wished he were there, because it would be much easier to talk to him privately and persuade him to release Keenan.
“And who is this you’re taking with you?”
“Her father,” Oliver interjected with a decent imitation of a Ryunic accent.
“He’s visiting me,” she added, hoping the guards would buy such a ridiculous story. “I cannot simply leave him alone in the servant wing, and he’s as good as a footman should the king require such assistance.”
The guard eyed her suspiciously. “We’ll come with you. Make sure you don’t get lost along the way.”
When he reached out to grab her arm, Sakura shook him off, lifting her chin as she straightened. “Your assistance is not required,” she snapped.
She heard a faint exhale from Oliver as the guards’ eyes widened. “Your Highness! How are you here? And why are you dressed like that?”
Rats. She raised her chin. “Fortunately for you, I am feeling forgiving and will thus overlook your impertinence. Now let my companion and me pass.”
The guards exchanged an uncomfortable look. “Queen Arisa has been most anxious about your disappearance. We have orders to bring you straight to her if we find you.” His forehead furrowed. “Why did the guards at the gate not escort you there?”
Apparently, disappearing caused guards to forget their manners. “What makes you think I passed them?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “That would presume I left.”
The guard opened his mouth, but hesitated. His partner spoke for the first time. “We were told you’d been kidnapped, Your Highness. Lured out of the castle, at least.”
Folding her hands at her waist, she replied, “Yet here I am.”
“We still have orders to take you to Her Majesty,” he said uncomfortably. “You and anyone with you.”
She hid her sigh of frustration. Her parents were likely together, so at least she would get to speak with Father. “Very well. It will save me the trouble of looking for her.”
Oliver walked a half-step behind and to her side, a more appropriate position for a personal guard in a dangerous situation than her fiancé’s friend traversing the halls of her own castle. She almost told him to relax, but she couldn’t quite do it.
Being called before her mother first thing after being found was a perfectly reasonable expectation. But somehow, everything felt wrong. And she was not at all sorry to have the Daric guard’s solid presence behind her as she stepped into the small sitting room to which her guards led them.
The queen sat primly in a comfortable armchair, a forlorn expression on her face as she gazed out the dark window. She looked up at their entrance, then glided over and swept Sakura up in her arms, much to Sakura’s surprise.
“Sakura dear, I’ve been so worried!” the queen gushed. “To know you were lost someplace in the city, and I had no idea where!”
Sakura held herself stiffly until her mother let go. “You weren’t concerned when you sent me off into the wilderness with a practical stranger,” she said coolly. “I hardly see where my decision to look for my betrothed is of greater concern.”
The queen’s mouth set in a straight line.
“That was when I believed him to be an honorable man. But I must inform you, Sakura dear, that he has been most distressingly dishonest. Unless he corrects a certain matter, I’m afraid you won’t be able to marry him after all.
Even if he does, the shock of his break in faith may be enough to similarly break the betrothal. ”
“And if I wish to marry him anyway?”
Mother’s eyes widened. “Sakura? If you knew what he has—”
“I do know. I supported and encouraged it.”
“As did the man behind you, I suppose?” the queen challenged. Sakura lifted her chin. “And did you also encourage them to kidnap your father? Did you think that would help you to gain the throne? That is not how I intended the tinderbox to be used!”
Oliver went still beside her. Sakura sniffed. “Father was not in the room where I found Keenan and Oliver. I’ve been with Oliver ever since, and I have it on good authority that Keenan has been arrested. So how, pray tell, did they manage to kidnap Father?”
The queen turned away, an unusual bit of emotion tightening her voice.
“Your father removed Keenan from his cell but refused an escort. According to the guards outside the dungeons, Keenan was unbound at the time.” She turned back to Sakura, a hint of red lining her eyes.
“No one has seen him or your father since.”
Sakura blinked a few times as she absorbed the information. She felt confident that Keenan would not endanger her father, even to escape. But then, where were they?
“I should never have allowed such a low-born person to get close to you, regardless of what I hoped he might accomplish,” Mother said, pinching her lips together. “Forget the betrothal; he is to be executed as soon as he is found. And his friend as well.”
Sakura felt the blood drain from her face. “Mother, you can’t do that! You have no proof of his guilt. Neither he nor Oliver has done anything deserving of death.”
“Has he not?” Mother’s eyes narrowed. “Did he not hold a dagger to your throat earlier this evening?”
“I—how did you know about that?” And why had it not affected her words at Sakura’s entrance?
“How I know is unimportant, Sakura dear.” Mother frowned. “It only matters that he did.”
“Only under the influence of a magically binding bargain!” Sakura gasped. “And on that subject, Mother, how did he happen to be in a magically binding bargain with you? I can attest that he was unaware of its nature.”
“I have no idea to what you are referring, Sakura dear,” Mother said dismissively. “I have never been involved in a magical bargain in my life.”
Oliver leaned closer. “Keenan was leaving the castle when he was arrested, but she doesn’t appear to have the tinderbox,” he murmured in her ear. “We must consider the possibility she didn’t know either.”
“What is he muttering about?” the queen demanded. “I will not have him leading you astray under my very nose.”
Sakura turned an unimpressed look on her mother. “He was defending you. Which is more than I did when I told Keenan not to trust you.”
Taking a step back, Mother pressed a hand to her chest. “You—but why?”
“Why did you lie to me at the winter castle?”
A hidden door on the far side of the room whispered open, drawing Sakura’s attention from the movement more than the sound. “I’m guessing it’s because you were right, Princess. She was enchanted.”