“Babs? Why?”
“It’s personal,” Avery said, forcing a smile.
It was clear Kate was hurt, but she said, “Whatever you wish, Your Highness. I’ll start looking right now.”
When Kate was gone, Avery quickly unrolled the painting again, and with it unrolled years of memories—her mother’s easy laugh and gentle manner, her timeless wisdom and beautiful stories. How was it, Avery wondered, that she had never noticed till now the similarities between her mother and Kate?
Light hair, delicate features, sunny smile.
Was it possible they were related? She couldn’t imagine. All the secrets within the castle walls were causing her to question everything.
Chapter 22
The Search
Finding Thomas was not going to be as easy as his older brother assumed.
Avery knew that to survive, princess or not, she had to please the king. History was littered with kings who sent their own flesh and blood to the gallows. Pleasing him was difficult because it seemed everyone watched the king’s family and reported everything back to him for their own advantage.
Thomas’s brother had warned her to tell no one about releasing him. That was easy. If word of such a task got back to the king, it would be the end of Avery for sure.
Kate proved as good as her word, at least as it related to Babs. After lunch he appeared at her door and bowed. “You sent for me, Majesty?”
Avery motioned him in and closed the door. “I need you to take me to the dungeon.”
Babs shook his head, slicing the air with a hand. “I’m sorry. Even knowing now that you’re royalty and could have my head for refusing, I’m not doing that.”
Avery signaled for him to lower his voice and whispered, “I’ve lived in the tunnels and spent days and nights at the tower prison.”
“Not as a princess you haven’t, and they are not the same thing.” His eyes darted toward the door. “There are things down there no man should see, let alone the king’s daughter. I can have nothing to do with this.”
“Then I’ll go myself.”
“I can’t let you, Your Grace! I’d be responsible for whatever happened—and for what? Give me one reason.”
Avery hesitated. She knew she could trust Babs, but why drag him into this? She shrugged. “I want to make sure Henry is not there. It’s possible he was captured with Edward’s army.”
“I’ll look myself and let you know,” Babs said, turning to the door.
“No, wait! I need to see the dungeon for myself. As heir to the throne, I need to know what this place is all about. You don’t have to take me, and no one needs to know I told you I was going. Just tell me how to get there.”
Babs’s face grew red until finally he exhaled. “Late tonight, after the king retires, I’ll come for you.”
“Good! Thank you, Babs. And if the guard in the hall stops you, tell him the king sent for me.”
“What if that gets back to the king?”
There was no way the guard would risk getting Avery in trouble when she was his only hope of seeing his brother freed. “Let me worry about that,” Avery said.
“Well, be sure to change out of that,” Babs said, motioning to her silver gown.
Avery nodded. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, pray I don’t lose my life for doing this.”
That pierced Avery’s heart. She wished she could tell him what was going on. But that would put both of them at risk.
Hours later, Avery sat waiting in a simple blue dress—the color reserved for servants—when Babs arrived wearing armor and carrying a lantern.
“If you’re sure about this,” he said, “follow me.”
“The guard didn’t see you?”
“I told him what you said to tell him.”
They silently tracked a maze of hallways and balconies that led to a stairwell descending farther than Avery had ever gone beneath the castle. The air seemed to grow colder with each step, and she wished she’d thought to bring a shawl.
The lower they went, the darker it grew, and the fainter the hissing flames in Babs’s lantern and the scant torches protruding from the walls flickered. “How much farther?” she whispered as the scent of wet earth grew stronger.
“’Bout four stories,” he said. “That’s why they call it a dungeon. It’s a long way from the rest of civilization.”
Even after they seemed to reach bottom and level off, Babs led her through a dank passageway for several more minutes until they came to a thick wooden door, from behind which came a strange and terrible roar.
“What is that?” Avery asked.
“The Salt Sea. We’re going to have to move quickly. Understand?”
“Not really, but I trust you, and I’m ready.”
“You sure? Because it seems you’re limping.”
“I’m fine. Not stopping now anyway.”
Babs pressed his ear against the door and waited. With each minute, Avery felt less confident than she had tried to sound. In fact, she was now convinced: I should not have come!
The roar slightly abated, and Babs leaned into the door.
Outside there were steps carved into stone. Squinting against a raging wind, Avery saw at the base of where they were headed a door nearly submerged by the sea.
Babs shouted over the din, “When the tide recedes to a foot beneath the door, we’ve got seconds to get inside!”
Avery froze.
One misstep could send her out to sea where, unable to swim, she would never survive.
Babs hurried down, calling over his shoulder, “Come on!”
Avery tried to stay as close as she could, but she slipped on the last step and slid into the icy water. As she went under, her mind’s eye filled only with the three people she cared most about in the world: Henry and her parents.
“God, take me quick or save me!”
At first she didn’t know if the powerful hand that yanked her from the water belonged to God or to Babs. But the old man planted her next to him as the deafening roar came again—and with it a massive wave rolling right at them.
Feeling limp as a rag doll and weirdly aware that she had lost her shoes, Avery dug both hands into Babs’s arm as he shoved open the door and slung her to safety before the roiling water slammed the door.
Avery sat with her back to a wall, cold and panting, as stench and noise overwhelmed her. It smelled worse than any outhouse, and the cacophony made her cover her ears.
Men begged for mercy and for pardons from the king.
Women wailed for their children.
Kids cried for food.
And still the Salt Sea roared just outside.
Avery wanted nothing more than to run back to the warmth and safety of her room, but she was determined not to leave without Thomas.
Babs pulled a long, scratchy scarf from inside his armor and urged her to dry off with it the best she could.
She felt sorry for the guard who, with a vicious stare sat at the inner entrance twenty feet away. Those relentless, horrible sounds had to be a punishment of their own.
When she was ready, Avery reached out to Babs, who helped her stand. She found it bizarre that either the cold sea or all the stairs had made her ankle feel better.
She walked ahead of Babs, who held the lantern above her head. Each time it cast its light on something new, Avery recoiled.
Down the center corridor they went, peering into cells on both sides, cells which were jammed with prisoners. Arms extended through every bar, desperate to reach them, and shouts overwhelmed Avery.
“Help me!”
“Save me!”
“Food! Anything!”
“Water!”
The deeper into the dungeon they went, the more faces Avery recognized. She fought off tears as she met the gazes of the thirteen-year-olds she had lived with in the kids’ quarters.
“What are you doing here?” a girl cried out. “Have you been sentenced?”
Of course it looked th
at way—her padding along barefoot on the frigid floor next to a man in armor.
Avery stopped to search for the girl and recognized in a teeming female cell a seamstress who had worked with Kate on Angelina’s wedding gown. Timid, soft-spoken, and shy, she was the furthest thing from a traitor.
“No, I’m looking for someone,” Avery said. “A boy—three years old—light hair and—”
“No little boys here,” a male said.
Avery whirled. Edward!
He pressed his face between the bars. “And I wouldn’t tell you if there were. Rumor is you were the one who told the king we were coming. True?”
Suddenly the cells quieted and murmurs spread up and down the hall that their traitor was here. Avery looked helplessly to Babs and then back at the prisoners.
Edward laughed. “So it was you! And I told everyone here it couldn’t have been you, because you were our friend.”
“I was!”
Suddenly all the prisoners were shrieking again and waving their fists at her.
Avery yelled, “You put your followers in here by dragging them into a war you could never win!”
Edward smiled strangely and motioned Avery closer. “Henry’s not here,” he said. “But I know where he is.”
“Edward,” she whispered desperately. “If you’ve heard the rumors, you know who I am now.”
“’Course I do, Your Royal Highness Majesty Grace. Surprised you’re not wearing your tiara.”
“Just tell me what you want for telling me where he is. Anything. Name it. You want out of here? I’ll find a way.”
He spoke so quietly that Avery had to turn her head to hear between the bars. “I know where your little brother is, and I know where Thomas is. But you have to choose. You get only one.”
Chapter 23
The Choice
“How did you know I was looking for Thomas?”
Edward sniffed. “Word gets around. Won’t be long before the king hears you were here.” He nodded toward Babs. “Better hope he doesn’t kill your friend.”
“She’s royalty now!” prisoners were shouting.
“A traitor to the cause!”
“Daddy can’t protect you down here!”
“Open one door and you’re dead, Princess!”
Avery sneaked a peek at Babs, who stood somberly, arms folded, the fading lantern dangling from his fingers. He gave her a small nod, as if they’d better go.
“Time’s up!” Edward said, but she could barely hear him over the crescendo of threats bouncing off the stone walls. “Choose now or I withdraw my offer!”
Avery squeezed her eyes shut. If she didn’t deliver Thomas, Henry was as good as dead anyway. And if Henry was not here, there was always hope she could find him.
“You had your chance,” Edward said, and she opened her eyes in time to see him move away from the bars.
“Edward!” she said, and he turned back. She beckoned him close and whispered, “Tell me where Thomas is.”
Edward raised his brows and nodded. “I’m impressed.”
“Just tell me. And hurry.”
Edward backed into two prisoners crowding him and hollered at others to move aside. He looked back at Avery and then peered into the far corner of the cell, where a young man lay shivering, his knees pulled to his chest as he tried to cover himself with a threadbare jacket.
“Babs,” she said, pointing, “help me get that kid out of here.”
“Highness, we have neither the authority nor the keys.”
“Sure,” Edward said, dripping with sarcasm, “open this door and these loyal rebels will tear you to pieces.”
“Unless you tell them not to,” she said. “Which is what you’re going to do, or you can forget anything you want from me.”
“Fair enough,” Edward said. “Come on in. I don’t think Thomas is up to resisting.”
Avery looked to Babs. “Help me! What can we use to get in there? A hairpin, a nail, what?”
“This is no latch you can pick, Your Grace. If you don’t have a key that fits this lock, you’re out of luck.”
“Get one from the guard! I must have authority over him!”
“You do, but the king will know before you’ve locked it again. Unless you want that, we need to go.”
“We can’t!” she said, tears gathering. “I must get him out!” She turned back to Edward. “Tell me where Henry is.”
Edward motioned her closer. “You betrayed me—all of us—to the king. Until my dying day, I will never tell you where your brother is.”
Avery tried to reach through the bars, but Babs pulled her back—kicking and thrashing—tucked her under his arm, and carried her back the way they had come. Edward’s laughter made Avery want to scream.
And it proved contagious. As Babs dragged her toward the entrance, prisoners in every cell they passed jeered and catcalled and cackled.
“Bye-bye, Highness!”
“Good luck next time, sweetie!”
“Traitor!”
“Loser!”
“Next time stay home and send food!”
“Yeah, scraps from the king’s table!”
Soaked and shivering, Avery trudged behind Babs all the way back to her room, her feet numb. All was lost.
At her door, Babs set down his lantern and turned slowly, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Here’s what I’m going to do, Your Highness, and then what you’re going to do: I’m going to have your ladies come and pour you a hot bath and get you cleaned up and back to bed. And you’re going to tell me the whole truth next time I risk my life for you. You know the second it reaches the king that I took you down there, I’m a dead man.”
Avery nodded. “Forgive me.”
“Just don’t tell a soul where you’ve been.”
“I won’t, but listen—just send me Kate, okay? No one else.”
“As you wish.”
Her door opened, and Kate poked her head out. “Not necessary, sir,” she said. “Already here.”
“Thank you, Babs,” Avery said, embracing him.
When Kate pulled her into the room, she found Tuck there also.
“You look awful,” he said.
“Nice to see you, too,” she said, suddenly light-headed.
“Tuck, get some help and bring me six buckets of hot water.”
“That might take a while.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
“Remember, we can’t stay long,” Tuck said. “I can’t be seen here, and—”
“Then send the water with others, but go!”
As soon as he was out the door, Kate wrapped two huge towels around Avery. “I hope you learned your lesson about the dungeon.”
Avery’s jaw dropped. Were there no secrets in this place?
“Don’t look so surprised. You don’t think you still have a scout following you everywhere? And where do you think it looks like you’ve been in that soaked, muddy dress—lying in the sun?”
“A scout?”
Kate laughed. “Since the day you got here, Avery! Excuse me—Your Grace. But especially now.”
“Weren’t scouts watching all of us since the day we got here?”
“Seriously?” Kate said. “If they were, we would have known why so many were disappearing.”
“So how long have you and Tuck known who I really am?”
“Your necklace gave you away the first night. No one else wore rubies that once belonged to the queen.”
“I could have stolen it.”
“But then you wouldn’t have worn it so shamelessly, and your mother wouldn’t have instructed you not to take it off.”
“That’s it? You knew because of my necklace?”
“And your stories,” Kate said. “You knew so much about a castle you’d never been to.”
Avery waited by the fireplace as the hot water was delivered and poured into a large basin in her dressing room. When the others left, a bearded young man under a big, floppy hat stayed. He quickly
pulled off the hat and the long whiskers.
“I’m going to need those again when I leave,” Tuck said.
He waited in the main room while Kate readied Avery’s bath. “So you knew about me from the beginning, too?” she called out as she shed her dress.
“I did,” Tuck said through the door, “because of your courage. You always chose to do the hard thing, even when it was foolish. Not to mention you look like Queen Elizabeth.”
Avery was glad he couldn’t see her face flush. Not knowing how to respond, she turned to Kate. “Weren’t you the one who stole the necklace from my pillow?”
Kate nodded. “I wasn’t going to keep it. I gave it to Babs to see if he could verify that it had once belonged to Queen Elizabeth. That would prove you were her child.”
So you could have destroyed me a long time ago.
Avery took some comfort in the fact that Kate had not already discarded her as the old woman had instructed. Was it possible she could trust Kate after all?
“You’ll make a good queen,” Tuck said, “so long as you stay out of the dungeon.”
If they only knew what hung over Avery’s head. But she heeded Thomas’s brother’s warning and said nothing, which was also Babs’s advice.
As Kate finished helping Avery into her nightgown and robe, she said she and Tuck needed to get going.
“I want to go with you,” Avery said, following her into the main room.
“Your Highness can do whatever you wish,” Tuck said, his emerald eyes shining, “but can you imagine the trouble you’d be in if you were seen about the castle at this hour? Don’t worry. We’ll talk again soon.”
As Avery drifted off, she tried to push from her mind that she had accomplished little beyond knowing where Thomas was and that he was still alive.
She had two more days.
Chapter 24
A Gift
“I feel I still owe you an apology about what happened in your office, Your Grace,” Avery said the next morning in the near-empty Throne Room, curtsying deeply. If he’d been told of her visit to the dungeon, that would draw it out. She was relieved when the king waved off her words.
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