Foremost (The Lost Princesses Book 2)

by Jody Hedlund

  Adelaide hesitated, looking as though she wanted to touch Maribel too. But she held herself back.

  “I never dreamed I had sisters.” Maribel moved her hand to the queen’s arm and examined her from her head down to her boots. “I always thought my entire family died, that I was the only one who survived.”

  I was fascinated by the similarities between the two women. Their hair was spun of an identical golden hue, their eyes of the same bright blue. Their features were delicate and elegant. And both were stunningly beautiful.

  From the admiration radiating from the faces of the other men, I realized I wasn’t the only one fascinated by the resemblance of the two women.

  “I held you when you were but a newborn,” Adelaide said softly. “And now look at you. You are a grown woman.”

  “I am grateful God has spared us and kept us safe all these many years.”

  “So many lost years,” Adelaide said wistfully, finally lifting a hand and grazing Maribel’s cheek.

  “I have had a good life,” Maribel replied. “The convent has been a wonderful home, and everyone there has been family.”

  The queen studied Maribel and fingered her hair.

  When the broad-shouldered man next to her cleared his throat, Adelaide dropped her hand. “You will tell me everything about your life. I am eager to hear it all. But presently, we must be on our way. Captain Theobald has scouts swarming the Highlands and will learn soon enough we have found you. We would do well to put as much distance between our forces and his before that discovery.”

  Her words set the soldiers around us into motion—all except the guard at my back, who still held me with an iron grip.

  “Your Majesty,” he called. “What would you like me to do with this one? When I found him, he was molesting the princess.”

  For the first time since we’d been discovered, the queen seemed to notice me. “Molesting?” Her voice sharpened as her eyes narrowed.

  “He was taking advantage of your sister, Your Majesty.” The knight yanked at my arm, sending pain shooting through my shoulder. The move left me no choice but to drop to my knees or pass out.

  “No!” Maribel cried out. “Edmund is my best friend. He would never compromise me.”

  “Firmin is my most trusted guard,” the queen replied. “Are you accusing him of lying?”

  Silence descended. With my back bent, I tried hard to focus on the unfolding situation. But the guard knew how to cause me pain and was taking full advantage of incapacitating me. I could hardly lift my head, much less speak through the burning sensations running up and down my arm and back.

  “Edmund is a good man,” Maribel said, “and he has been helping me escape from King Ethelwulf’s soldiers.”

  “So Firmin is lying?” Adelaide persisted.

  What could Maribel say? That she had initiated a kiss with me this morning? She’d been half asleep and probably hadn’t realized what she was doing. If she confessed, she would bring shame to herself in front of everyone, especially in front of her sister.

  I couldn’t let her do that.

  I lifted my head as much as Firmin’s hold would allow. “The guard isn’t lying, Your Majesty. It’s my fault. I took advantage of Maribel. I should have kept better control of myself.”

  The queen scrutinized me before returning her attention to Maribel who shook her head. “No, Edmund is trying to protect me—”

  “Do what you wish with me, Your Majesty,” I called out, “but I would have no blemish rest upon Maribel.”

  Was I imagining things, or did Firmin loosen his hold on me?

  “We’d just escaped from the labyrinth.” Maribel’s voice was threaded with panic. “There was a horrible creature there, and we were tired and hungry and cold.”

  While I appreciated her effort to spare me any discipline, I was more determined to protect her. “I have no excuse, Your Majesty.”

  “Labyrinth?” The queen interrupted us both. “Here?”

  “Yes,” Maribel responded. “And if not for Edmund, we would be hopelessly lost in it.”

  “What kind of labyrinth?” Adelaide asked, but the broad-shouldered man next to her gestured, drawing her attention.

  “We shall have plenty of time for conversation once we are far from the Highlands,” he said. “For now, we must be on our way.”

  Adelaide nodded. Then she crossed to me with determined steps. When she stood directly in front of me, Firmin repositioned his hold, giving me no choice but to look up at the queen.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  “Sister Katherine tasked me with accompanying Maribel to Norland and seeing her safely into your hands, Your Majesty.”

  “Yet you have sullied her reputation and in so doing have cast a stain upon our fledgling cause. Furthermore, you have likely harmed Maribel’s chances of making a good match.”

  Even though we’d done nothing more than kiss, I understood how compromising our predicament appeared. We’d been sleeping together very closely with our arms around each other.

  “Have no fear,” Maribel said. “I am in no need of a match. I am a postulant and will soon take my vows to become a nun.”

  The queen ignored Maribel and kept her focus upon me. “Tell me your name and where your family is from.”

  “I am Edmund Charles Chambers. My family was from East Mercia of Chapelhill. They are all dead. Murdered in the purge during the early days of Ethelwulf’s reign.”

  “And you alone escaped?”

  I nodded but said nothing else. I wasn’t willing to revisit the past, not even for the queen.

  Her brow quirked, and she studied me more carefully. “Chambers of Chapelhill?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  “How old were you when your family perished?”

  “I was but a lad of four.”

  Adelaide looked again at the broad-shouldered man who’d been pushing us to go, and silent communication passed between the two. “Then you are Lord Chambers of Chapelhill.” Her words were a statement and not a question.

  Since I was the only living son of my father, I supposed his title had passed to me. Nevertheless, I’d been raised by a simple soldier turned blacksmith, and the idea of being considered a lord was almost laughable.

  “To what lengths will you go to protect Maribel’s future and her reputation?”

  “I would die for her if need be.” The words were out before I realized just how passionate my tone was.

  Again, I couldn’t be sure, but Firmin’s hold seemed to ease even more.

  “Then you will marry her.” The queen’s declaration contained a finality that echoed against the stones around us. She didn’t wait for my assent. Instead, she spun and strode away.

  Chapter

  15

  Maribel

  I stared after Adelaide. She wanted Edmund to marry me? She couldn’t be serious.

  “Edmund and I cannot get married,” I said.

  “You must.” Adelaide climbed up the embankment without breaking her stride.

  Scrambling after her, I bunched my long gray habit to keep it from impeding me, but still, I lacked the physical prowess Adelaide clearly had. “You have apparently misunderstood me. I have made plans to become a nun and will do so when I turn eighteen.”

  “I understood you,” she replied, leaping from one rock to the next. “But you are royalty and as such must resign yourself to a new life and the roles that come with being a princess.”

  “Surely a princess can also be a nun, can she not?” At least I hoped so.

  “As the firstborn twin, if something happens to me, you would become the heir.”

  I’d never considered such a possibility. “I should like to give that role to my twin sister, if I may.”

  “You might not have that option.”

  I heard what Adelaide was leaving unspoken, that we had no way of knowing if Emmeline was still alive. And if she was, we’d likely need to fight against King Ethelwulf to claim her. “Nevertheles
s, I have never intended to marry. And I plead with you to reconsider what you have requested of me.”

  Adelaide stopped so abruptly I almost toppled backward. With her gloved hand on the hilt of her sword and the wind billowing her dark cape, she looked every bit a warrior and queen. “I can forbid my soldiers to speak about your indiscretion with Lord Chambers, but the word will leak out eventually.”

  Lord Chambers? For a moment, I was confused about who Lord Chambers was until I remembered that was what Adelaide had called Edmund when he’d shared his identity. “I shall bear the burden of a ruined reputation myself.” I lowered my voice, aware we were drawing the curious looks of Adelaide’s men. “Moreover, since I have no need of a match, the soiled reputation will not interfere with my future.”

  “It will interfere with our cause.” Adelaide spoke with a gravity that made me realize just how little I knew about the cause. “We have many supporters for the rebellion both within Mercia and Norland. They long to rid the isle of the evil practices, lewdness, and corruption King Ethelwulf’s reign has brought. I chance losing their support if I tolerate improprieties among my courtiers, especially from a sister.”

  “I claim an abiding friendship with Edmund and nothing more.”

  “You have been traveling with him unchaperoned and sleeping with him.”

  The heat of mortification speared my cheeks. “Only for warmth.”

  Adelaide lifted a brow, her eyes telling me she’d seen the truth of the situation between Edmund and me, and I wouldn’t be able to hide anything from her.

  “In addition to being titled, wealthy, and landed, it is clear Lord Chambers loves you and will marry you,” Adelaide continued more gently.

  Edmund loved me? Of course Colette had said as much, but how could Adelaide conclude something so soon after meeting us?

  “If he is willing to suffer death on your behalf,” Adelaide said, as if hearing my question, “then he will find it no hardship to marry you.”

  I glanced down the hill. The ox-like guard who’d discovered us together had released Edmund. In the gray morning, he was pale from his injuries, but he held his head with dignity, his lean face containing strength and appeal that would likely turn the heads of many women.

  When he sensed my attention upon him, he looked up. His bright green eyes were filled with his concern. For me.

  Adelaide followed my gaze. “’Tis evident you also care about him.”

  “I do care,” I admitted, picturing the labyrinth when I’d thought he’d died. I couldn’t claim we were only brother and sister or only friends. My relationship with him had changed. My feelings for him had blossomed from some part of me I hadn’t known existed.

  Nevertheless, it was a part of me I needed to shut off and lock away, a part of me that would cause us trouble if I didn’t utilize self-control.

  Adelaide’s keen eyes swept over the silent terrain. “The truth is King Ethelwulf seeks you for the purpose of marrying you to his son and uniting the houses of Warwick and Mercia. If you wed Lord Chambers with all haste, we shall eliminate King Ethelwulf’s motivation to kidnap you. In doing so, we shall also eliminate his attempt to subdue the rebellion.”

  The night of the attack, Colette had spoken of the king’s marriage plans for me. But at the time, I hadn’t understood what that meant. Now I shuddered at the reality of his plans.

  “With so much at stake,” Adelaide continued, “I hope you can resign yourself to my decision. Perhaps someday you will even thank me for bringing you together with the person you love.”

  She turned, then, and resumed her climb, leaving me to stare after her. I wanted to deny her, to call out my objections, to tell her I’d never thank her for preventing me from realizing the goal I’d worked toward my entire life. After all, she’d only just met me. How could she presume to know more about my feelings for Edmund than I did? And how could she think that I could so easily give up my plans to become a nun?

  But this was neither the time nor the place to raise further objections. Besides, she was the queen, and as such, I must treat her with the respect she was due as my sovereign, even if she was my sister.

  On the slope, a bitter, winter wind slapped my cheeks and stung my ears. I resolved to speak with her later. Surely she’d accept my plans if only I could explain to her how important they were, how long I’d dreamed of becoming a nun. Perhaps if she witnessed me using my physician’s skills, she’d understand.

  The stones bit into my hands and occasionally my knees as I climbed to the level area where a band of soldiers waited with the horses. When I reached steady ground, Adelaide was already in conversation with her scouts, who were monitoring Captain Theobald’s position in the west.

  We were soon on our way through the craggy outcroppings that led farther into the higher mountain passes. The climb in elevation was gradual but slow due to the rocky terrain. In order to steer away from King Ethelwulf’s soldiers, who were still distracted with the labyrinth, we kept to the east but always veering north to Norland.

  Adelaide relinquished her horse for Edmund and me and rode with the broad-shouldered man, who I learned was her husband, Christopher, the Earl of Langley. As the path was narrow and we traveled single file, I didn’t have the opportunity to get to know her.

  Instead, I plied Edmund with my questions.

  “She lived at Kentworth Castle with the Langleys while growing up,” Edmund whispered in answer. “The former Earl of Langley appeared so loyal and dedicated to King Ethelwulf that no one had reason to question Adelaide’s identity. It was the perfect hiding place for her all those years.”

  I tried not to lean back into Edmund—for fear of putting strain on his injury and also to prove to my sister that although I might care for Edmund, I could control my feelings and actions around him. She need not worry I would bring any further blemish to her efforts to reclaim the throne.

  “So, Christopher was one of the earl’s sons?” I wasn’t sure how Edmund was privy to the information surrounding my sister. But I suspected Wade had divulged more to Edmund after his trips than I’d realized.

  “The oldest of the brothers died in childhood, leaving Christopher the heir.”

  I watched my sister’s profile from a short distance behind. Her poise, her beauty, and yet her fierceness. There was so much about her I didn’t know, that I longed to learn. “I wonder why she chose to marry Christopher?”

  “He rebelled and ran away to Norland many years ago. Once there, he proved himself a valuable asset to King Draybane of Norland, becoming like a son to the king. Their marriage solidifies an alliance between Norland and Mercia.”

  “Then she did not marry him for love?” With Adelaide’s talk of love regarding Edmund and myself, I had expected it was important to her—that it would play no small role in her own match.

  Edmund’s gloved hand rested on my waist. His fingers pressed slightly, making me all too conscious of his nearness, of the heat of his touch through the layers of my garments.

  He shifted as though he, too, was aware of our closeness. But the movement only reinforced the fact that there was no place to go, that his thighs securely hugged mine within the tight confines of the saddle. He lifted his hand from my waist and rested it on his leg as if that could somehow make the difference, but I was only made all the more aware of his long fingers.

  “From what I have heard and now seen,” Edmund whispered, “theirs is indeed a match of love, as well as one of alliance.”

  I studied the couple and noted the trusting way Adelaide reclined against Christopher to converse and how he bent in and spoke into her ear intimately. “Yes,” I whispered over my shoulder to Edmund. “They do seem to love each other.”

  Edmund didn’t respond, making me conscious again of his nearness. I could almost feel the beating of his heart against my back.

  “What shall we do once we are in Norland?” I asked, bringing up the question that thus far during our ride we’d avoided. “Adelaide surely will not fo
rce us to get married against our wishes.”

  “Then it is still against your wish, Maribel?” Edmund’s voice rumbled low near my ear.

  I knew he was referring to our talk down in the labyrinth after we’d kissed, when he’d asked if I was ready to forsake my plans to become a nun.

  My chest constricted. I didn’t want to hurt him, didn’t want to make our situation difficult, and most certainly didn’t want to cause strife with my sister so soon after meeting her. But I’d never imagined anything beyond the convent walls. How could I start now? What would that kind of life be like?

  Everything I’d labored over for years was at the convent in the apothecary—all my herbs cataloged so carefully, all my experiments recorded in detail, all the medicines I’d developed. I couldn’t give everything up and waste the countless hours I’d spent trying to become a master healer.

  Of course, I loved the simplicity of a cloistered life, the community of sisters, and the devotion to God. I wanted to serve Him wholeheartedly. But if I was completely honest with myself, I knew my desire to become a nun had more to do with retaining my right to act as a physician than with my desire for a holy, secluded life.

  I only had to think back to all the times I’d longed to explore, see more of the world, and have adventures beyond the convent walls. Would I have those longings if I was destined to be a nun?

  What if I considered Adelaide’s plans? What if I married Edmund and started a new life elsewhere? For a heartbeat, I imagined myself by his side as his wife, never having to leave him. But in the next heartbeat, I pushed away the fantasy. Even if I moved my herbs and medicines to a new home, how could I continue to practice as a physician? People accepted nuns who were skilled in medicine. But outside of midwifery, women weren’t allowed to be physicians or surgeons. In fact, those who dabbled in medicine were often considered witches.

  I sighed. “If God has gifted me with a healer’s touch, how can I not use the gift?”