28
M y arms were twisted behind my back before I could react.
Sir Hughes, the bulkiest guard, stepped up and looked me up and down. He had a thick mustache that drowned his mouth.
“She certainly looks like a thief,” he said with a sniff. “Don’t worry, milady. I’ll have her thrown in the dungeons with the rest of her kind.”
“I haven’t stolen anything!” I protested, attempting to wriggle out of the other guards’ grasp. They held tight. “I’m innocent!”
Sir Hughes grunted. “Search her.”
One of the guards behind me nodded, but I shot him a withering look.
“I’ll do it,” Karen said. She looked extremely pleased with herself as she patted down my arms and legs. When she reached my pockets, her smile spread even wider. “There’s something here! ”
The only things in my pockets were a wad of hair and a day-old dinner roll. I knew that for a fact, so I was surprised to say the least when Karen pulled out a glittering ruby bracelet.
“T-that wasn’t there before!” I said as Sir Hughes’s mustache drooped down in displeasure.
“Nice try,” he said gruffly. “Bold of you to steal from the duchess. Too bad you’re not smart enough to get away with it. Take her away, men.”
“Wait!” Narcissa and I said in unison. I gaped at her, but the look on her face wasn’t one that wanted to help. “This isn’t her first time sneaking into my mother’s chambers. Perhaps she has more in her room.”
Sir Hughes nodded. “Then let us search there too.”
The guard holding me shoved me forward. “Lead the way.”
My legs felt like limp noodles as I made the trek down the hall. It was clear Karen set me up. She and Narcissa knew I’d be snooping around Duchess Wilhelmina’s suite. But how? And where did that ruby bracelet come from?
It didn’t make any sense. And now I was leading a procession of armed guards and snobbish girls into my room with my arms tied behind my back. There was no doubt Narcissa had more jewelry planted there, otherwise she would’ve let the guards take me straight to the dungeons.
My situation grew more and more hopeless until I spotted a familiar figure at the end of the hall. It was Ash. And he was walking toward us.
Sir Hughes and the guards bowed as he approached. “Good afternoon, Your Highness.”
Ash looked right past me. “What’s going on?”
“A thief was found in my mother’s suite,” Narcissa said before Sir Hughes’ mustache could quiver. “I believe she’s an acquaintance of yours?”
Ash met my gaze and his eyes widened. “Amarante! Why are you dressed like that? Release her immediately!”
“I apologize, Your Highness,” Sir Hughes said. “This girl was caught stealing from the duchess. We are to search her rooms for more stolen items. Good day, now.”
“I did not steal anything,” I said again, emboldened by Ash’s presence.
“Of course you didn’t,” he said. He turned to the guards. “Release her. She’s not a thief. She’s a debutante.”
“In that case she’s a thieving debutante,” Karen said, snickering. She coughed when Ash stared at her. “Your Highness.”
I swallowed, my throat dry. “Just search my room,” I said.
It was clear Narcissa wanted Sir Hughes to uncover the jewelry she placed there. My only hope was that Ash could convince them I was being framed.
“See? She might as well have admitted to her crimes,” Sir Hughes said with a shrug. “Let’s go, men. Good day, Your Highness.”
Ash shooed away the guards behind me and untied my hands. “I’m coming with you.”
The mustached guard shrugged again. “It’s all the same to me. Make sure you’ve got a good grip on her. Thieves are slippery.”
It was a tense walk to the servant’s hall with a tenser silence that marching feet or clearing throats couldn’t break. I knew Ash wanted to ask me a million questions. I hardly knew the answers to the ones I was asking myself.
Madam Josephine scurried out of the way as we marched down the hall to my room.
“Well,” Narcissa said. “Get on with it. ”
I took a breath and pushed open the door. But instead of jewelry, my room was littered with herbs and vials of witch-made ingredients I could have sworn I put away. The pot still hung over the oven, filled with the truth potion. My blood froze.
“What is this?” Sir Hughes bellowed. “What have you been doing here?”
The guards streamed into the room, inspecting the potion ingredients. “Witchcraft!” one of them bellowed, holding up a jar of pheender leaves.
Naricssa swooned and Karen caught her. “A witch!” she cried, pointing a shaking finger at me. “You must be the one who poisoned the queen!”
“Narcissa, this was not part of our deal,” I said. “The duchess promised .”
“What deal?” Narcissa said.
“She said if I served you—”
“Nonsense! You are changing the subject on purpose. You poisoned the queen!”
“I would never hurt Her Majesty,” I said, running into the room. “I have an antidote for her!” I grabbed the bottle of general antidote from my bed stand and held it out.
Sir Hughes and the guards recoiled. I looked desperately at Ash. His face was unreadable.
“Ash, please—”
“You’ve been getting close to the prince on purpose,” Narcissa said. She had abandoned her shocked guise, but no one noticed. “You pretended to be helping him when in fact you were the culprit all along.”
I shook my head, backing into my bed as the guards advanced. “No, I can prove it! I wasn’t making poison. It’s a truth potion! Duchess Wilhelmina is the one poisoning the queen. You have to believe me! ”
Narcissa gasped. “How dare you taint my mother’s name?” She gestured around the room. “This is evidence enough! You’re using magic.”
“A thief and a witch and a traitor.” Sir Hughes frowned. “There’s a special place in the dungeon for your kind. Seize her.”
The guards grabbed me again, but this time more gingerly. It was clear they were frightened. My pleading fell on deaf ears.
“Stop,” Ash said quietly.
Relief flooded through me. There was still hope. But when I tried to meet his eyes, he kept them firmly on the ground.
“Amarante. Is it true you’re a witch?”
I opened my mouth to answer. Then I realized my situation.
I was in a room full of people who detested magic and those who possessed it. Ash hadn’t asked the guards to release me. He asked if I was a witch. There was fear in his manner—something I never expected would be toward me.
My voice broke. “Yes.”
“There. She admits it,” Narcissa said almost gleefully. “Throw her in the dungeons where she belongs.”
Sir Hughes motioned for the guards to take me away. “Your Highness, it would be perfectly understandable if you would like to personally—”
“No.” Ash shouldered his way past the guards and past me. “I’m finished here.”
And he was gone.
THEY DRAGGED ME TO the dungeons and threw me into a windowless cell of stone. Save for the grate in the high ceiling, there was no light. Darkness fell when they slammed the door.
I collapsed onto the straw-littered floor at the sound of heavy chains and a lock clicking shut, numb to everything but my thoughts.
Ash believed Narcissa’s lies. Had Lana been right about the royals all this time? He let me shoulder the crimes of the duchess after all I had done to help him. After all the evidence we had found. I never had a chance to explain myself.
If only the guards knew the potion in the cauldron wasn’t poison. If only there was someone who could clear my name. I sat up.
Erasmus.
Erasmus could do it. He could tell them I wasn’t a traitor. He was the only person in the palace who wasn’t afraid of witches.
I scrambled to the door and pounded it, ignoring the splinters digging into my flesh. “Is anyone out there? Please let me see Erasmus Lenard, the royal inspector!”
My plea was met with silence. Echoes of the other prisoners’ cries seeped in through the stone, but no answer to my request. I banged the door again. “Please! Someone call for Erasmus Lenard! I’m innocent and I can prove it!”
The slot above my head slid open.
“Quiet down,” a gruff voice of a guard said. I didn’t recognize the bushy brows and creased eyes, which was a good sign. Maybe he didn’t know I was a witch.
“Please, sir! There’s been a misunderstanding. I’ve been wrongly accused. I can prove my innocence if I see Erasmus Lenard, the royal inspector. ”
The bushy brows lowered. “You’re the witch?” he said. “The one who has been poisoning Her Majesty the queen?”
“I-I didn’t poison Queen Cordelia!” I said. “I can prove it—”
“You’re a witch?”
“Well, yes, but—”
The guard snorted. “Then it doesn’t matter if you poisoned the queen or not. Either way your trial and execution are in one week, when the king and crown prince return from overseas.”
The air seemed to be sucked out of my lungs. “What? Trial and execution?”
“That’s right. Save your breath for the king. I don’t want to hear your jabbering.” He began to close the slot, but I stuck my fingers in before he could.
“B-but sir, I’m begging you—”
The guard’s eyes narrowed. “Make any more noise and you’ll be executed tomorrow.”
He slammed the slot closed. I yanked my throbbing fingers out and kicked the door in frustration, stubbing my toe. Tears welled up in my eyes and fell down my face in fat droplets.
I had one week. If I didn’t prove my innocence, I’d die. And if I did, I’d die. All because I was a witch.
Lana had been right all along. Witches could never live among humans. They could never trust us, especially those with power.
How could I have been so blind? Of course Ash felt the same way about witches—he was a prince. He wanted to be involved in royal business. And he was taken aback by the idea of me associating with witches. Even after what I had done to help him, he still believed Narcissa over me .
“Miss Flora? Is that you?” A faint voice came by the wall I was sobbing against. I paused.
“Who is it?” I said hoarsely.
“It’s Greenwood.”
The captain’s voice was just as I remembered. From a gap between two stones, a sliver of an overgrown beard and crinkled eyes appeared.
“I’m guessing you heard everything,” I said, embarrassed to be caught in hysterics.
“I did.” To my surprise, there wasn’t a hint of fear or disgust in his tone. He sounded almost defeated. “I suppose I’ll be joining you in a week.”
I sank onto the floor and hugged my knees. “No, you won’t. You’ll be released. There’s no reason to keep you here when they have me. I’m the witch and therefore the only culprit.”
“Make that two culprits. I, too, am a witch.”
I paused. Had I heard him wrong? “Pardon?”
“I am a witch,” the captain said simply, as if he hadn’t shocked me to the core. “Or, was. I had my magic removed, but I’ve hidden the fact for far too long. It’s only fair for me to bring it up at our trial. You mustn’t shoulder the burden alone.”
“W-what?” I sputtered. “Why aren’t you down in Witch Village? Why did you decide to stay here?”
“Simple. I was curious and then I fell in love,” he said.
Curiosity and love. It seemed that all they did to witches was kill them.
I laughed bitterly. “Do you regret it?” I said. “Was your wife worth the trouble?”
“It...wasn’t my wife,” he said. “It was Wilhelmina.”
Yet again, I found myself at a loss for words .
The captain continued. “She was a different woman once, if you can believe it. Jealousy ruined her. I will always treasure our love, even if it was fleeting.” He sighed heavily. “The only thing I regret is leaving my daughter with her.”
“You had a daughter?” I said.
Dread pooled into my gut when I realized who she was.
“Yes. You know her as Lady Narcissa.”
My fists clenched. I dug them into the floor. “Narcissa is half witch.”
“Yes. An herbwitch, to be exact. She was born between two worlds, but was as carefree as any other child. I’d let her use her magic when she visited me. She had a wonderful way with animals,” the captain said wistfully.
Animals. Narcissa had a way with animals. “How did her magic work, exactly?” I said.
If he noticed how tense my voice was, he didn’t show it. “She could read their thoughts and feelings and persuade them to do things for her. One time her favorite kite got stuck in a tree. She asked the pigeons to retrieve it,” Captain Greenwood said with a chuckle.
“Would it be possible for her to convince swans to flip over a boat? A cat to do her bidding? Or maybe mice to spy for her?” I said stiffly.
“Yes. I would imagine she could,” he said, “but Narcissa never used her magic for harm. She had the kindest heart. She used to help the neighborhood squirrels prepare for winter.”
It was difficult to imagine the snobbish, cruel Narcissa as the girl Captain Greenwood was talking about. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the duchess had stripped all the good from their daughter, so I merely grunted .
One thing was clear, though. The duchess and Narcissa were behind everything. And they made sure a witch would be blamed for all of it.
I DID NOT KNOW HOW many hours passed when I woke up to a noise at the door. A tray clattered in through the lower slot. The contents rolled onto the ground—a stale hunk of bread and a bowl of watered-down porridge.
My stomach turned. I was in no mood to eat, but I reached over nonetheless.
“Psst. Little flower.”
There was only one person who called me that. “Erasmus?” I scrambled to the floor and peered through the slot.
Sure enough, it was the inspector.
“I heard through the grapevine you wanted to see me,” he said, squinting through the poor lighting. He was sprawled on the floor too. There was no sign of guards around him. “They found out, huh?”
“Yes.” I shifted closer on my elbows, ignoring the straw digging into my skin. “I wanted to see you but it doesn’t matter now. They’re going to kill me in a week.”
Erasmus grumbled. “I see. To think I wasted a dose of sleeping draught to hear that.”
A thunderous snore sounded from outside.
“Thank you for visiting, anyhow,” I said. “You’re the only person in the palace who isn’t afraid of me.”
“What about that prince of yours?”
My throat tightened at the mention of Ash. I wiped the spilled porridge away with a handful of straw .
“Ah. I see.” Erasmus harrumphed. “I’ll give him a good talking to after this.”
“Don’t bother,” I said quietly. I shut my eyes and sighed. “But since you’re here I have a favor to ask.”
Erasmus left shortly after with instructions to notify the Strongfoots what had happened. Genevieve would have to pass on the news to Theodora and Rowena.
My heart ached to think how they would react. My nannies would no doubt blame themselves for not taking my magic away in the first place. Too little too late. I had made the choice to be a witch. Magic was in my blood.
And I loved it.
If only I had listened to Lana. If only I hadn’t been so stubborn, so adamant to prove to her that I could use my magic to help humans.
I curled into a ball and buried my face between my knees. Moisture soaked my dress. Whether it was my tears or the porridge I left untouched, I did not care to know.