11. Charlotte
CHARLOTTE
F ear rolled through Charlotte, hot and slow and then swift and overwhelming. Something was wrong with Henry.
She held her breath as she leaned over him, placing her cheek in front of his lips. When she felt his soft breath against her skin, her knees nearly collapsed. She grasped the bedcovers to keep herself upright, sucking in sharp gasps of relief. He was alive.
She cupped the warm skin of his face in her hands, calling him softly to wake. She shook his shoulders so hard that his body rolled from side to side in the bed. She even shouted, her fear and anger growing as she commanded him to wake up.
The more vigorous efforts made him groan and roll away from her, but nothing made his eyes open. Henry was deeply, impossibly asleep.
Charlotte dashed away the tears on her cheeks, her anger burning hot. The queen had betrayed their agreement. But even as she thought it, Charlotte was kicking herself. She had thought to demand the whole night and to specify they had to be alone, but she had made a mistake. It had never occurred to her to require him to be conscious. The queen had stolen her night with Henry, and now she had Gwen’s apple.
Charlotte squeezed her hands into fists, feeling her nails dig into her palms. She forced herself to relax her muscles, releasing her fingers and holding for a moment before squeezing them back into fists again. She completed the exercise over and over until her mind calmed.
It wasn’t a total disaster. Gwen had wanted the queen to have the apple, so at least Charlotte had delivered it in a way that allowed the queen to believe herself the victor.
The calm, rational thoughts were hard to maintain, though. It felt to Charlotte too like the queen was the victor, and defeat was a bitter taste in her mouth.
At least I’ve seen him, she told herself. At least I can see he’s physically unharmed—apart from the sleeping, that is.
The day before, she would have given much for a mere glimpse of him, but it no longer felt like enough. Perhaps there was still hope, though. Whatever enchantment the queen had used on him might run out before morning. He might wake up at any moment, and they still had hours before them. Charlotte would keep watch, ready for the first sign of his waking.
But sitting by the bed, so close and yet so far from him, was unbearable. She climbed in beside him, slipping beneath the covers and curling at his side where she could feel the reassuring warmth and solidity of him. She would still stay awake and keep watch, she would just do it from the bed.
But staying awake became harder and harder as the night hours wore on. The pillow was soft and the mattress comfortably firm, and more importantly, Henry’s breaths were steady and reassuring, setting the rhythm of Charlotte’s own breathing. She had lain beside him for so many nights, reassured by his presence, and her body remembered those nights despite her mind’s efforts to stay alert.
Eventually she couldn’t resist any longer, and she slipped into the welcoming embrace of sleep—the deepest since she had lost Henry.
She woke to spears of sunlight and turned her head sideways. For the first time ever, she had a morning view of her husband still in bed beside her. A rush of joy filled her, only to immediately be doused by the memory of where they were. They weren’t in their castle in the forest. They were in the mountain kingdom, and Henry was a prisoner under an unnatural sleep. She flung off the covers, crawling over to shake him again.
She had slept the night away, and now morning had already arrived. She had to wake him before it was too late. The queen’s guards could burst in at any moment—she was surprised they hadn’t already arrived.
“Henry! Henry!” she cried, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks.
He stirred in response, groaning and running a hand over his face, his eyes shut.
“No,” he grumbled, his voice rough with sleep. “I want to stay in this dream. Lottie’s here.”
Charlotte’s tears fell more thickly, blurring her vision. “Wake up, wake up!” she cried. “I’m really here, but we only have a moment. Wake up!”
His eyes sprang open, and for a silent second she stared down into the piercing blue eyes that had haunted her every moment since he’d disappeared. Then he surged into a sitting position, his arms sweeping around her and bundling her onto his lap where he held her tightly against his chest.
“Lottie,” he said thickly. “Lottie.”
Pressed against his strong chest, safe within the circle of his arms, her tears turned into full sobs. She knew she needed to regain control—that they had important words to exchange—but she couldn’t do anything but revel in the moment.
He was the one to recover first, pulling back slightly to look down at her.
“Wait,” he said, his clarity returning by the second. “What are you doing here? You can’t be here, Lottie!”
She wiped at her cheeks, trying to remember what she needed to say.
“I’m so happy to see you again,” she managed instead. “I missed you so much.”
His arms tightened again, his eyes piercing into hers, devouring her face.
“It seems impossible.” He cupped her face gently in his large hands, his eyes slipping down to her mouth. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
Charlotte angled her face up invitingly just as he pressed his lips down, meeting hers in a fervent kiss. She sank into it, absorbing all his longing and relief and desire and returning it in equal measure.
The door banged open, startling them apart. Awareness rushed back to Charlotte, and she gasped. She had been given two precious minutes, and she had spent them crying and kissing him.
“Wait,” she cried as the queen swept into the room, a line of guards behind her.
She tightened her grip around Henry’s neck, leaning forward to murmur in his ear. “I only bargained for the night. I’ll be safe, but only if I leave now. You have to play along and do what Gwen says.”
His head moved as he looked toward the queen, and Charlotte could feel the horror in every line of his body.
A guard seized her from behind, prying her away from Henry. When she didn’t let go, another guard came forward to help.
The second she ripped free, Henry leaped from the bed, fists raised, fury on his face.
“No!” Charlotte lunged forward, surprising the guards enough that they momentarily lost hold of her.
She placed both hands on Henry’s chest in a restraining gesture. “You can’t fight them.” She captured his eyes with hers, holding them with determination. “You have to let me go. I told you I have to leave now. I said I’ll be safe.”
The guards leaped forward again and took hold of her, dragging her away from Henry. He swayed toward her, his hands still fisted, and she shook her head frantically. Reluctantly, he looked at the massed guards and then the queen and remained in place.
“And the other thing!” Charlotte cried as she was dragged backward from the room. “Promise me, Henry. Promise me!”
She caught the moment of acceptance and begrudging acquiescence in his eyes just before she was pulled out into the corridor. As soon as they stepped sideways away from the door, the guards stopped, holding Charlotte in position, just out of sight of those in the room.
She looked toward the door, presuming they were waiting for the queen, but Celandine didn’t appear. Instead, Charlotte heard Henry’s voice, the angry rumble too low for her to catch the specific words, and then the queen’s response, colder and higher, easy to decipher.
“I told you before,” she said, “and I’ll tell you again. There is an easy solution to any legal dispute. And as you can see, such an action is well within my power. If you want that girl to live, then you will cease any useless attempts at defiance.”
Charlotte went cold all over. It was just like Gwen had said. Celandine was using Charlotte to control Henry.
She wanted to scream and fight, to run back in there and tell him to ignore the queen’s words. But she knew it would do no good. She would never convince him not to protect her over himself. She had thought she was so clever, tricking the queen, but she was the one who had been tricked. Everything had played right into Celandine’s hands.
Even the few extra moments past dawn that had been granted them had been done with a purpose. She was taunting them, reminding them who was in control, and making sure that Henry saw for himself that Charlotte was there, within the queen’s reach.
Charlotte wanted to kick and punch at the guards around her, just for the satisfaction of unleashing the rage inside her. But she couldn’t give way to it. She couldn’t give them any excuse to violate the rest of the bargain.
The queen stepped out of the room, making a show of shutting and locking the door behind her. At her appearance, Charlotte shook off the guards’ hold. They let her do so, stepping back.
Charlotte met the queen’s eyes, barely reining in her anger to speak calmly.
“Call off your guards,” she said. “The bargain was that I walk out of here unharmed and alone.”
The queen gestured down the corridor. “By all means. No one is stopping you.”
Charlotte narrowed her eyes, disliking the slight smile that hovered around the queen’s eyes and mouth. But there was nothing left for her to do except take the offered chance to escape. A direct confrontation with the queen wouldn’t achieve anything good. Not yet, anyway.
She held her head high as she spun on her heel and walked down the corridor. She wanted to sprint as fast as she could run, but she had specified that she be allowed to walk out of the palace, and she wouldn’t risk changing a single aspect of the bargain in case it provided the queen with a loophole.
At walking pace, it seemed to take an eternity to find a door that opened to the outside, but she finally stepped out into the morning air. The gravel paths of the gardens stretched before her, and she picked up her pace slightly. Every time she glanced over her shoulder, there was no one in sight, and by the time she was halfway through the grounds, she concluded she wasn’t being followed. It seemed impossible that the queen was just going to let her walk away, but apparently the pull of the godmother object was as strong as Gwen had claimed.
She still jumped at every minor sound, flinching away from every moving shadow. She wouldn’t be safe until she’d made it back to Natalie’s family.
She had been too distracted by Henry all night to spare a thought for the younger girl, but she remembered her guiltily as she traversed the gardens. Surely Natalie had returned home before dark rather than risk being caught in the streets at night.
Charlotte’s hand moved to her arm where thin bandages still lay beneath her sleeve. The salve had worked wonders already, but Charlotte could feel the ache of it whenever her mind quieted.
The outer edge of the garden approached, and Charlotte’s attention shifted to the streets beyond. As predicted by Natalie back in the basement, there was a steady trickle of traffic on every street within view, although the ones nearest the palace moved about their business quickly, their eyes averted from the looming structure.
Charlotte’s family had traveled through Rangmeros when they moved from Northhelm to the valleys. It was her only visit to a capital city, so she still remembered it vividly. She had been nervous because the other kingdoms considered Rangmere to be a cold, hard place, but the city had bustled with life, and she hadn’t sensed any of the fear that radiated from the mountain people.
Charlotte’s shoulders hunched, her senses on high alert. Everything about this place put her on edge.
She stepped onto the cobblestones of the closest street, taut with tension. Her heart lay behind her in the palace, and her mind was leaping ahead to her destination, but a prickle in the back of her neck placed her firmly in the moment.
Her eyes darted to various side streets, her mind instinctively looking for routes she could take to escape nonexistent pursuers. Her measured steps took her further into the street as she remembered she didn’t have to walk anymore. She could run all the way back to Easton and Natalie if she wanted.
No sooner had the thought occurred to her than doors opened in several directions. Guards poured out of the surrounding buildings, streaming toward her from every direction she had just scoped.
Charlotte froze, spinning to look behind her. Guards had even appeared from the gardens, closing off her retreat.
“Nononononono.” The syllables poured out of her in a constant stream as her eyes and brain scrambled to find a solution. She couldn’t allow herself to be captured and used against Henry.
The guards closed in, not bothering to run given they had her surrounded. She backed toward one of the few buildings that hadn’t disgorged guards.
“Here!” a high voice called, dragging her attention upward.
A hand was hanging down from the portico above the front door, gesturing for her to approach.
“Hurry!” the voice said again, and Charlotte thought she recognized it.
Leaping the rest of the way to the house, Charlotte jumped onto the rim of one of the large clay pots that flanked the door with decorative flowers. Taking the hand held out to her, she gripped the other person’s wrist while they did the same to hers, securing the firmest hold they could manage.
The person above hauled upward while Charlotte jumped and caught the edge of the portico with her free hand. Her legs waved helplessly for a moment while the person above her grunted and pulled. Then she was high enough to get the forearm of her other arm over the edge of the roof, allowing her proper purchase.
Shouts from behind made her redouble her efforts, grunting as she scrambled inelegantly onto the small stretch of roof that jutted out over the door. As soon as she had her knees under her, she looked up and met Natalie’s eyes.
“Totally predictable,” the other girl said with rolled eyes. “You need to learn to word your bargains better. You’re lucky I was hiding nearby to hear what happened and could easily see how it would all end.” As she talked, she climbed onto a protruding window ledge above them and from there up to the two-story roof of the house, using a vine that wound down the stone for purchase.
Charlotte winced and tried to hurry after her. The guards were already on the ground below them, attempting to climb up without assistance from above. It wouldn’t take them long to manage it.
She scrambled from the bottom of the window ledge to the thin lip above the window, wobbling dangerously as she clutched at the ivy around her. The greenery began to tear away from the building, and she screamed as her body swayed backward away from the wall.
Before she could topple far enough to lose her foothold completely, however, Natalie’s slim, firm hand grabbed the shoulder of her dress. A seam somewhere in the material tore, but the dress itself stayed in place, and Natalie’s intervention steadied Charlotte.
With a helping hand, she managed to pull herself all the way onto the roof. Once she had both feet under her, she breathed a sigh of relief, careful not to look toward the edge.
“Come on,” Natalie said shortly, sprinting off across the sloped surface.
Charlotte’s face paled, but she followed at a slower pace. She didn’t want to escape the queen’s guards only to fall and break her neck.
When they reached the edge of the house, Natalie didn’t slow. Taking a running leap, she flew across the narrow gap between the house they were on and the one behind it.
Charlotte gulped, eyeing the narrow alley that lay between the houses. But she couldn’t stop. The angry cries behind her had already reached roof level.
Backing up a couple of steps, she ran forward, pushing off against the edge of the roof and sending her body flying into the air. For a heart stopping moment, she soared, certain she was going to slip when she hit the other side and bounce her way to the ground below.
She landed on her feet, falling to her knees but remaining firmly on the new roof.
“See, it’s not that hard,” Natalie said from where she had paused to check Charlotte’s progress.
A chuckle burst out of Charlotte. “It was actually sort of fun.” A glance over her shoulder quickly sobered her. “But please don’t tell me we have to do a lot more of those before we get to your house. And I definitely can’t jump over the width of a full street.”
“We’ll never make it to my house via rooftop,” Natalie said undaunted. “But we don’t need to stay up here much longer anyway. We just needed to get you out of that trap.”
She took off running sideways, skipping across a row of connected houses. Charlotte followed, finally finding her gait on the rooftops as she got the hang of how to keep purchase on their surface.
The last house in the row stood on a corner of two minor streets, and a balcony wrapped around the front and side of the building. Natalie slid down the roof, dropping onto the balcony below. Charlotte followed her, feeling the rush of free falling, her heart soaring into her throat. Despite their situation, she landed with a smile on her face.
Natalie had already disappeared, so she hurried to follow her down the trellis that stood against one end of the balcony. After their route so far, the trellis seemed as secure and simple as a staircase, and both girls reached the ground in less than a minute.
“And now,” Natalie said, tucking her head down, “we run.”
Charlotte didn’t have time to catch her breath before they were both off. Pumping her legs as hard as she had ever done in her life, Charlotte flew down the street behind Natalie. They wove in and out of foot traffic, carts, and carriages as they crossed the city’s streets.
When a small dog turned unexpectedly, putting itself in her path, she didn’t even break stride. Leaping over it in one smooth motion, she immediately had to duck beneath a giant crate being carried by a man two steps further down the street.
“In here,” Natalie panted, turning into yet another narrow alley.
Charlotte followed, acutely aware that their pursuers were in human form this time. A narrow alley wasn’t going to foil them.
But the guards had fallen behind, slowed by the need to clamber up and down roofs to follow where the girls had gone. So when they darted out of the alley into another street, there was no one visible behind them.
Natalie looked over her shoulder, checking the street behind them was clear before she swerved suddenly into yet another alley. Charlotte followed, nearly colliding with her three steps in.
Instead of the usual hodgepodge of walls and doors that lined most of the alleys, this one contained one smooth, unbroken wall as if the whole length bordered a single property.
“What—?” she asked, but Natalie was already moving again.
Climbing onto a crate, she strained upward, just managing to reach the top of the wall. “Give me a boost!” she whispered, and Charlotte rushed forward, offering her laced hands as a foothold.
Natalie stepped into her fingers, pushing off and hauling herself over the edge of the wall. Charlotte stepped toward the crate, ready to follow her—or at least attempt to do so—but Natalie’s head was still poking over the wall, now on the other side.
“Go further down,” she hissed. “I’ll meet you there.”
Charlotte hesitated, struck with the irrational anxiety that Natalie meant to abandon her. But the girl had been the one to lie in wait for her with a plan for their escape. Charlotte would trust she knew what she was doing.
Running down the alley, she heard footsteps keeping pace on the other side of the wall, reassuring her that Natalie was still with her. As she reached a small door in the stretch of wall, it swung open. Charlotte slid to a stop, panting.
Grabbing at the edge of the wood, she pulled herself through and slammed it closed behind her. Her breaths rasped in and out as she stared at Natalie, the two girls now safely on the other side of the wall together. Laughter bubbled up inside her, pushing its way out, and she doubled over, giggling.
Natalie stared at her doubtfully before giving in and laughing along with her.
“L…Latch it,” Charlotte managed to force out, and Natalie leaped into action, securing the door behind them.
They both quieted down, the emotional release giving way to labored breathing that slowly calmed.
Charlotte looked around. “Where are we?”
They stood at the end of a stretch of greenery that was denser and less sculpted than the palace gardens. Some distance away, a large house rose above the green, its crisply painted walls shining in the morning light. Charlotte didn’t remember many details of Natalie’s family home, but it definitely wasn’t this mansion.
“I told you,” Natalie said. “My house is too far. This is Count Oswin’s city home.”
Charlotte whistled softly. “He really is important!” She glanced around, uneasy. “But will he be angry that we turned up like this? What if we led the guards to his house?”
Natalie shrugged. “I checked before we dashed in here. There wasn’t anyone in sight.”
Charlotte frowned, not quite satisfied. “They might ask around. Someone might have seen us.”
“The people of the city won’t help Celandine’s guards,” Natalie said dismissively. “I’m not saying they’d risk their hides to help us, but not getting involved is the safest option anyway, so they’ll all say they didn’t see anything and get away from the guards as quickly as possible.”
Charlotte sighed, having to accept Natalie’s greater understanding of the city and its people. She still didn’t like involving so many other people in her own folly, though.
She didn’t regret the time with Henry, and at least she’d sent Gwen’s apple where it needed to go. But in every other regard…She sighed again.
“There’s no need for the count to know anything about it, anyway,” Natalie said carelessly. “We can just wait here in the garden until the guards give up and go back to the palace and then slip out again.”
“No.” Charlotte shook her head decisively. “We’re here now, and we should go in and find the count. He said everyone in his household is trustworthy, so we don’t have to worry about being seen.”
Natalie gave her a doubtful look, but Charlotte held firm.
“Thinking I could foresee and control all the variables is what got me into this trouble,” she said. “I’m not making the same mistake again. We need to tell him what happened and the danger that someone might trace us here.”
“I suppose—if you insist,” Natalie said a little sourly. But she made no further protest, leading the way through the garden to the back door of the mansion.
When she went to open it, Charlotte leaned around her with a warning look and knocked on the wooden panel instead. Natalie rolled her eyes but stepped back, crossing her arms and waiting silently.
It didn’t take long for footsteps to sound from inside. When the door swung open, the footman on the other side regarded them both with raised brows.
“We don’t usually get visitors to the back door,” he said.
Charlotte smiled as sweetly as she could manage. “I’m guessing most of your visitors don’t come over your back wall.”
The footman’s brows drew together.
“We’re here to see Count Oswin,” she hurried to add. “He’s not expecting us, but he’ll know who we are. You can tell him Charlotte and Natalie are—”
An instant change came over the footman’s face when he heard the names. Leaning out, he pulled them both inside and shut the door behind them.
“They’ll be glad to see you,” he said with an easy grin that took her by surprise. “Come on, I’ll show you the way.”