6. Charlotte
CHARLOTTE
C harlotte came around slowly, grogginess making everything fuzzy for several seconds. Logically, she knew she couldn’t have passed out for more than a minute or two, but thankfully someone—or multiple someones—had used that time to move her the rest of the way into the house and lay her down on a sofa.
Natalie’s mother—had someone called her Patti?—had even produced some bandages and was in the process of binding the wound properly. She tutted to herself quietly as she secured the final knot.
Charlotte sucked in a breath, but the pain quickly receded to a more manageable throbbing ache now she wasn’t being jostled around.
“Does it need stitches?” she managed in a quavering voice.
“You woke up.” Natalie stated the fact without emotion, wandering over to gaze down at Charlotte. “For a second, I thought you’d died.”
Patti heaved herself to her feet, rolling her eyes at her daughter. “There’s no need to be so dramatic, my dear. Of course she wasn’t going to die over a little gash like that.”
“Little,” Charlotte repeated in the same faint voice, trying to get a proper look at her bandage. “Is it going to need stitches?”
“Don’t you worry.” Patti gave her a comforting pat. “It’s bad enough I thought it might need stitches at first, but now that I’ve had a good look, I think you’ll be all right after all. Which is a good thing since we don’t have any doctors on hand. I’ve seen plenty of gashes in my time, and that one should heal up just fine. I’ve slathered it in salve—it’s one we make ourselves from a plant found only in the high mountains. It’s better than anything you have in the lowlands for healing wounds, or so I’ve heard. Our salve fetches a very pretty price when the traders take it through those new passes.”
“Oh.” Charlotte felt like her brain was packed with cotton wool.
She tried to pull herself up to a sitting position, and Patti swooped in to help her. Once she was upright, she had to wait a moment for another head rush to die down before she could get a proper look at the room.
She was sitting in a living room of medium size and full of furnishing that wasn’t new but instead looked well used and comfortable. Overall it was a welcoming place, but her focus skipped over the room itself to the three people standing several steps away.
Natalie’s father and brother had disappeared, so the only one of the three she recognized was Easton. And she nearly didn’t recognize him since his back was to her and most of his body was obscured due to the hug he was receiving from the older woman. She had tears running down her face and appeared to have no plans to let go anytime soon.
The man looked equally shaken, standing close and alternating between patting Easton on the back and the woman on the shoulder. He was the only one whose face Charlotte could properly see, and he looked remarkably like—
“Are those Easton’s parents?” she asked, feeling a sweeping wave of emotion. No wonder the woman looked like she would never let him go again. They must have spent ten years fearing for him.
Natalie rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t wipe the grin off her face. “I knew it was going to be satisfying to bring him home. Aunt Lydia is going to shrivel up after losing all that moisture.”
I gave her a knowing smile. She had talked as if having Easton’s parents in her home was a burden, but it was obvious she actually held them in affection.
She cackled. “Uncle Jett doesn’t even know what to do with himself.” She raised her voice. “Oi! She’s awake! Are you finished over there?”
“Oh, leave them be,” Charlotte protested, but it was too late.
Easton’s mother finally broke off the hug, and Easton quickly turned to face the rest of the room. Charlotte bit back a grin when she saw his look of relieved rescue. He must have shared their concern that his mother was never going to stop crying.
His mother rushed immediately to Charlotte’s side, dropping to her knees beside the sofa and warmly clasping her right hand.
“Thank you, thank you,” she said wetly. “I heard you protected our Easton. I’m Lydia, by the way.” She glanced up at her husband, who had followed her at a more decorous pace. “And this is Jett. You have our gratitude.”
Charlotte smiled weakly and extracted her hand. “To be honest, I didn’t really do it for him.”
Lydia stood slowly, glancing between Easton and Charlotte. “You’re not…” When Charlotte looked blank, she gestured between them. “The two of you aren’t…”
“A couple?” Charlotte asked, finally realizing what she was trying to imply. “Oh goodness, no. I’m married. To someone else. Of course I didn’t want the bears to hurt Easton, but I didn’t jump in because of him. I did it for Henry. And Gwen too, of course. It’s because the plan hinges on Easton not being recognized.”
“The…plan?” Lydia and Jett exchanged a look of bewildered incomprehension.
Easton grimaced. “We hadn’t gotten to the explaining part yet.”
Charlotte grinned guiltily. “I’m gathering that.” She tried to swallow the smile. “The crying part seemed to be lasting a while.”
Easton rubbed the back of his neck, and she relented. “Of course it would! You haven’t seen each other for ten years! I think you should be the one to explain everything, though.”
“Wait!” Patti cried. “We should get Dane and Baden first. Natalie, you run and fetch them.”
Natalie looked like she was about to protest but thought better of it and left the room. Within less than a minute she returned with only her father in tow. Her mother looked as if she was going to say something, but when she saw Natalie’s defiant expression, she sighed and remained silent.
Natalie sat on the sofa beside Charlotte. “Fetch Baden? What a joke,” she muttered. “When everyone knows he barely tolerates all this stuff.” She waved around them.
“The rebellion, you mean?” Charlotte whispered back, eyebrows raised.
Natalie snorted. “He’s at that age where he thinks he knows better than everyone. He’s convinced we’re going to get ourselves killed.” She rolled her eyes contemptuously, while Charlotte stared at her.
Baden thought he knew better than everyone? She blinked several times in rapid succession wondering if there was anything to be said in response to such a statement from Natalie. She concluded there wasn’t.
“You don’t agree with him?” she whispered instead, curious. “You’re not worried about the risk?”
Natalie gave her a contemptuous look. “The only thing I can’t understand is why it’s taken the grown-ups so long. If you want something to change, it’s simple. Change it.”
Charlotte sat back, not sure whether to laugh or cry. Had she ever possessed the naive certainty that exuded from Natalie? The girl was so clearly young, and yet at the same time, she’d already achieved more in her life than Charlotte had done. Could she really dispute Natalie’s philosophy?
While the two of them were whispering, Easton had started the explanation to the older couples. When he got to the part of their plan where he married Gwen and became king, the story broke down, overwhelmed by their exclamations. He eventually had to start again and explain it all to his mother a second time.
“You will be king?” Dane asked, clearly incredulous. “Our son?”
“It wasn’t my idea,” Easton said, sounding defensive. “But if we want to break the enchantment…” He trailed off, running a hand through his hair. Clearly he lacked the confidence to baldly state that he was the only one Gwen loved and therefore the only one who could break the enchantment with her.
“It’s not a terrible idea,” Patti said thoughtfully.
Her husband threw her a look, and she shrugged. “You know how the people of the city talk about Easton. And even if their ideas are fanciful, it’s true that at only thirteen he had the courage to stand up to Celandine. Who else in the kingdom can say that? And he and his family have suffered at her hands. They have the bloodlines to satisfy the courtiers and the credibility to be accepted by the city folk.”
Dane nodded slowly. “As always, you speak wisdom, my dear.”
Patti winked at Lydia, who smiled warmly back. “If we have any standing here in the city, it’s because of your family’s support.”
“Support that you’ve earned,” Patti said firmly. “And that you’ve worked tirelessly to repay. You haven’t had an idle day since you came here.”
Charlotte stood to her feet, unable to take any more.
“Speaking of idle days,” she said. “Are we really supposed to sit around here and do nothing while we wait to see what happens to Gwen?”
As soon as she spoke Gwen’s name, Easton tensed.
“No,” he said shortly. “Obviously we can’t do that.”
“If you’re going to be accepted as king, we’ll need to make some discreet introductions,” Dane said. “Let people know you’re back.”
“No,” Charlotte said sharply. “That’s the opposite of what we’re supposed to be doing. We have to keep his identity—and even his return—a secret.”
“A secret from the queen’s supporters,” Jett said. “But we have to think beyond the wedding. Just succeeding in the marriage won’t be enough. We still need to put them on the throne. And for that we need supporters. We’ll be careful and keep the circle small. Just the most influential among the rebels. The people we need to speak up in our support at the crucial moment.”
Charlotte bit her lip. His words sounded sensible, but her instincts still protested. The more people who knew, the more likely someone would make a mistake. If this was their only chance to free Henry, then everything needed to go perfectly.
“What about me?” she blurted out instead of the protests she really wanted to make. “What am I supposed to do?”
No one answered, looks of discomfort on their faces. They felt for her situation, but they didn’t need her for what they were trying to accomplish.
When they began a conversation about who to introduce first, an unexpected arm slid through hers. “You’re with me,” Natalie said quietly. “Someone has to plug the rather glaring hole in the count’s plan.”
“Hole?” Charlotte asked.
Natalie raised an eyebrow. “The bit where the queen is restrained at the crucial moment during the ceremony, of course. Were you thinking that would be easy to achieve?”
Charlotte blinked. “No, I’m guessing not. With so much going on, I hadn’t thought yet about—”
“Exactly.” Natalie gave a long-suffering sigh. “I’m fairly sure everyone is hoping one of the others will think of a solution for that. So I guess that means it’s up to us.”
Charlotte shook her head. This was the girl who thought everything was possible. Charlotte should definitely be interjecting some realism into the situation.
Natalie lowered her voice. “I’m thinking we’ll need to sneak into the palace grounds as a starter. We’re not going to be able to restrain her without more information on both her and those enchantments she’s got locked up.”
The protest died in Charlotte’s throat. Go to the palace, to Henry? She felt no desire to talk Natalie out of that.
Natalie gave her a sly smile as if she knew exactly what Charlotte was thinking. Internally, Charlotte winced. Natalie had clearly been waiting for a partner in crime as reckless as herself, and a more sensible part of Charlotte knew she shouldn’t encourage the other girl.
But it didn’t matter what sensible thoughts Charlotte tried to think. Henry was in the palace right now. It had been too long since she’d seen him, and she couldn’t bear to sit in Natalie’s house waiting for someone else to figure out a way to rescue him. Easton could meet the rebels and make connections. Charlotte was going to do what she’d come to the mountain kingdom to do—she was going after her husband.