9. Gwen
GWEN
G wen ran straight to the nearest exit into the garden, weaving through the paths as she rushed toward the spot she had seen her friend. She stayed close to hedges as much as possible, hoping she wouldn’t be spotted from any of the palace’s windows, and so she nearly missed the two slim figures huddled together in quiet conversation in one of the more secluded spots in the garden.
“Gwen!” Charlotte called, her cry muted, and Gwen swung around.
Racing through the archway in the tall hedge, Gwen came to a stop in front of her friend.
“What are you doing here?” she panted, struggling to catch her breath. “You can’t be here. Seriously, I mean it. It’s too dangerous.”
A militant light came into Charlotte’s eyes. “Henry is here.” She raised her chin stubbornly. “I won’t leave him in danger while I lurk behind in safety.”
Gwen huffed in frustration, distantly noting that Natalie had slipped away. She was too focused on Charlotte to ask what harebrained scheme the two had concocted.
“Henry being here is exactly why you can’t be!” she protested, struggling to keep her voice low. “The queen is already threatening you to manipulate him, and that will only get worse if she captures you as well.”
Charlotte’s eyes lit up. “You’ve seen him? Is he all right? The queen hasn’t hurt him?”
“Not physically,” Gwen said, unable to help reassuring her friend. “At least not that I can see. But he’s desperately worried about you.”
Charlotte smiled softly, a dreamy look in her eyes. “Of course he is. That’s very Henry.”
Gwen sighed in frustration. Were she and Easton this irritating?
Discomfort filled her as she remembered that she and Easton were far from the position of Charlotte and Henry. The other two were not only married, they had each declared their love already. Gwen still had no idea how she was going to find out Easton’s true feelings.
“The best thing you can do for Henry is leave immediately,” Gwen said, trying again.
Charlotte shook her head stubbornly. “I won’t leave without seeing Henry. There has to be a way to see him. I’m not going to sit around and wait and hope for the best without doing anything.”
Gwen frowned. “Don’t you trust us?”
Charlotte sighed. “I’m not saying I don’t trust the count, but Henry isn’t his priority. He’s focused on breaking the enchantment, saving your kingdom, and putting you and Easton on the throne. That makes sense, but now that he knows Henry isn’t part of breaking the enchantment, Henry has become little more than an afterthought for him.”
Gwen sank back and let out a slow breath. She couldn’t deny her friend’s words. And while she wanted to assure Charlotte that Gwen herself wouldn’t forget about Henry’s safety, could she really guarantee it? She couldn’t even guarantee her own safety.
She sighed. She didn’t have the words to convince Charlotte to go back to the city, and neither could she physically force her to do so. In fact, Charlotte would only be in more danger if Gwen didn’t get moving soon. Gwen’s best hope for helping her friend was to think of a way for Charlotte to safely see Henry. But with Henry locked up and the key with her mother, how could Charlotte possibly get in to see him secretly?
Gwen strode across the small garden and back again, wracking her brains for a solution. As she walked, the apple in her pocket bumped lightly against her leg, causing her mind to briefly wander. With the apple, they could discover the extent of her mother’s power. They might even be able to find a weakness they could use to bring her down or an object they could use to restrain her during the wedding ceremony.
But the apple hadn’t revealed much the first time it came into contact with the plaited cords. It was as if it needed to get to know the other object first. And that meant if Gwen broke into the queen’s display room right now, the apple wouldn’t do her any good at all.
She groaned in frustration. Did she really need to break in more than once? The impossibilities only seemed to be mounting. Why couldn’t she find solutions instead of more problems?
“What is it?” Charlotte asked, watching her pacing with concern. “Is it Henry? Is there something you’re not telling me?”
“It’s not that…” Gwen’s voice trailed off as something occurred to her. What if there was one solution to multiple problems?
She turned to Charlotte. “I have an idea.”
Charlotte rushed forward to take her hands. “What is it?”
“I’ve been trying to think how you can get in to see Henry without the queen knowing, but what if you don’t try to avoid the queen?”
Charlotte frowned, letting Gwen’s hands drop. “I thought you said I had to avoid getting captured at all costs?”
“I’m not saying it’s not without risks, but your being here is already a risk. My preference would be for you to agree to leave now…” She looked at Charlotte inquiringly, but Charlotte shook her head, so Gwen continued.
“This is the solution.” She drew the apple out of her pocket, extending it on her palm so the late afternoon light caught on the gold.
Charlotte sucked in a breath. “What is that?” she whispered.
“I got it from my godmother, which means it’s the bait we can use for the queen. If there’s one thing she’s obsessed with, it’s accumulating godmother objects. They’re the basis for her power. If she sees this, she’ll want it.”
Charlotte frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“Offer it to her in exchange for seeing Henry,” Gwen said simply.
Charlotte stared at her blankly. “Why would she agree to that? Surely she’d just arrest me and steal it?”
“That’s the beauty of using this.” Gwen smiled triumphantly. “All you have to do is tell her it’s one of the objects that stops working completely if it’s taken by force. It will only work if given willingly.”
Charlotte’s mouth dropped open. “That’s actually brilliant!” she exclaimed. “Lots of godmother objects do work like that, so she’ll likely believe it.”
“As long as you make a deal that includes you being free to leave after seeing Henry, she’ll have to keep to the terms of the bargain, or she’ll lose the power of the object,” Gwen added.
Charlotte reached eagerly for the apple, only for her face to darken and her hand to drop. “But I can’t take this. It’s yours. Your godmother gave it to you. I should use mine.” She pulled out a smooth golden ball. “I was given something on the way here as well. If we have to give her a godmother object in exchange for my seeing Henry, it should be mine.”
Gwen looked at the ball curiously, but their time was running out. She didn’t have the luxury of idle curiosity. She wasn’t her mother—she didn’t need to own every powerful object she encountered.
“No, it has to be the apple.” She pressed it on Charlotte. “I want the queen to have it, and this is a way to get it to her without her suspecting an ulterior motive.”
Charlotte put away her ball and slowly accepted Gwen’s apple. “Why would you want her to have it?” she asked. “What does it do?”
“It tells the person holding it about the power of other objects,” Gwen said, watching Charlotte’s face.
Her friend gasped, her eyes flying to Gwen. “I can sense my ball! It’s like I can see it in my pocket. Well, not see it. More like I can taste it.” She laughed. “No, that’s not right. I don’t know what sense I’m using, but it’s there. And I can feel the golden halter you entrusted to me too.” She frowned. “But I can’t tell anything about either one’s purpose, just their presence.”
Gwen nodded, glad to have her experience confirmed. “That’s why we need to get it into the queen’s hands. She’ll put it in her display room with all her other objects and that’s what we need. It seems to need time around another object before it will reveal that object’s purpose. We have to give it a chance to warm up to all the objects in that room, so that when we break in there, it’s ready to tell us what they each do.”
Charlotte shook her head. “Two birds with one stone,” she murmured.
Gwen grinned slowly. “Exactly. I’m ready to start solving problems instead of amassing new ones.”
Charlotte grimaced. “I know I’m one of those problems. But I can’t just walk away from Henry knowing he’s right there.”
Gwen nodded. For all her initial frustration, she understood. If there had been a way for her to get to Easton anytime in the last ten years, she would have done anything to reach him.
“Don’t worry,” Charlotte said, determined. “I’ll explain everything to Henry and make sure he goes along with the plan.”
“Unless you can find a way to get him out immediately?” Gwen challenged, a brow raised.
Charlotte hesitated, her bottom lip gripped between her teeth. “No,” she finally said on a sigh. “I won’t try that. I know you need the queen to continue planning this wedding.” She looked sharply at Gwen. “That is what’s happening? She hasn’t hurt you?”
Gwen nodded. “She’s fully focused on the wedding. Henry will be safe until then. As long as he doesn’t do anything foolish himself.”
She didn’t say aloud the rest of her thought. Helping Charlotte to make direct contact with Henry was as much about ensuring his compliance as anything else. From his level of agitation earlier, now that he knew Charlotte was in the mountain kingdom—and under open threat from its queen—Gwen didn’t put it past him to make some foolhardy attempt at escape before the wedding. But even if he wouldn’t listen to Gwen, surely he would listen to Charlotte.
Gwen froze, her ears pricking. Footsteps on gravel sounded from more than one direction, and from the measured cadence, it wasn’t courtiers out for a casual stroll.
“Hide!” she hissed, giving Charlotte a light push. “Get out of sight somewhere while I distract them. And then get somewhere close to the palace walls, on the south side. Get the apple out and just throw it around a bit, like you’re playing. I guarantee my mother will see you.”
Charlotte hesitated for only a moment before nodding decisively and diving into a nearby clump of bushes. Gwen smiled for a fraction of a second at her friend’s enthusiastic and literal interpretation of her instructions before she hurried back through the arch.
No guards were in sight yet, but from the sound of the footsteps, she would see them soon. She considered hurrying in the other direction, but after only a moment of indecision, she sank onto the closest bench. As far as the queen knew, Gwen had been overcome with embarrassment and rushed out to cool down. The last thing she wanted was to create the impression she had been attempting to run away.
Slumping down, she leaned her forehead against one hand, breathing slowly.
The footsteps drew closer.
“Your Highness!” The gruff voice made her look up, disappointment rising when she didn’t recognize the speaker or his companion. She shouldn’t have been surprised, though. Of course her mother would send her most loyal guards to retrieve her recalcitrant daughter.
Gwen stood up slowly, trying to look unaffected.
“Is my mother looking for me?” she asked, careful not to look toward the arch leading into the garden where Charlotte was concealed.
“She merely wants to assure herself of your safety,” the guard said, exchanging a quick look with his partner.
Gwen nodded as if that was understandable and started back toward the palace. The guards fell into step, one on either side of her. When the second pair appeared, a silent communication passed between all four guards, and the newcomers fell in behind the existing two.
Gwen expected them to lead her to her mother, but they merely kept pace as she chose her own course. Unsure what else to do, Gwen traced the familiar route back to her room, pausing for a moment in the corridor and gazing down toward Henry’s door.
Shaking her head at herself, she pushed open her own door and paused to give the guards a firm look. None of them protested when she shut the door in their faces, and she breathed a sigh of relief. As much as she wanted to go and test Henry’s door, she couldn’t risk it. Charlotte might already be on her way to the part of the garden closest to Celandine’s wing, and Gwen had to give her friend a chance to get to Henry before Gwen disrupted anything else.
She only wished she was as close to being back in Easton’s arms again.