“Borloff?” Disbelief and shock washed across Alexei’s face.
“Strizich told us Borloff was operating under the orders of the Princess Valentina.” He looked at Alexei. “Exactly as you thought.”
“Valentina’s involvement comes as no surprise, however, this gives me the proof I need to deal with her. But the count...” Alexei drew a deep breath and shook his head. “I have known him most of my life and I trusted him implicitly. Indeed, I considered him”—he uttered a short, mirthless laugh—“a friend.”
“Your Highness.” A page stepped forward, a worried look on his face. “Count Borloff requested I deliver this to you when your cousin arrived. I thought it unusual but...” He shook his head helplessly and handed the prince a sealed note.
Alexei tore it open and scanned it quickly, then glanced up to meet Rand’s gaze. “Valentina has left the country and Borloff demands safe passage to the border. If he is interfered with in any way he threatens—”
“What?” Rand said sharply, already knowing the answer.
“To kill your wife,” Alexei said simply.
“Kidnapped? Again?” Richard said in disbelief.
“That will make her peevish,” Thomas murmured.
“If not dead,” Rand snapped.
“Captain.” Alexei addressed a uniformed officer of the guard. “Station some of your men outside the palace and have as many others as possible scour the north wing. Search every room, particularly those that are not in use. Keep in mind most of those chambers are connected to one another by doors hidden in the panels. We may be able to catch them before they leave the palace itself. Once they are outside, it will be impossible to approach Borloff without notice. You and the rest will come with me.”
He looked at Rand. “The palace has been built and rebuilt over and over again. The rooms are not only connected to one another but the ancient part of the building is riddled with secret entrances to a passageway that leads to a tunnel and an exit into the woods. It is the only way to escape the palace undetected. Fortunately, while one can move from room to room without entering the hall, there are only a dozen or so entrances to the passageway. And only a handful of people who know where these are, including myself.”
“And Borloff?” Rand asked.
Alexei nodded and blew a long breath. “I never suspected...”
Rand started toward the door. “Let’s go then.”
“Rand.” Alexei caught his arm and met his gaze. “I cannot permit Borloff to reach the border. Do you understand? I cannot allow him to escape.”
“Regardless of the cost?” Rand’s gaze bored into his cousin’s and he read resolve and genuine regret in his eyes. At once he understood he and Alexei were more alike than he’d ever suspected. Each would do what had to be done for the sake of his country. No matter the personal sacrifice or how great the price.
A price Rand would not pay without a fight.
He grasped Alexei’s hand, his voice as unyielding as any prince’s.
“Then we shall make certain it does not come to that.”
Chapter 21
Jocelyn had lost all sense of time and place. She might have been wandering through the twisting, turning passageway for minutes, or for hours, searching for a way out. The ground beneath her feet was uneven, cobwebs caught at her hair, the walls were rough, unbroken stone on one side and, here and there, wood on the other. She suspected the way into the palace itself was behind the wooden sections and she would stop and press her ear against the wood hoping to hear voices. So far she’d heard nothing save the scurrying of tiny feet. She tried not to speculate on what kind of creatures they belonged to but the word rats kept coming to mind.
Jocelyn realized it would be wiser to stay in one spot, but fear would not allow her to keep still. Terror would crowd in on her if she stopped moving. Even so, she was exhausted. She held the heavy pistol in one hand and the cumbersome torch before her with the other—and she grew weary of struggling against an ever-growing desperation.
Would Rand find her? Would anyone!
She tried to fill her head with thoughts of her husband, the joy they’d shared, and the future they would have, but she could not escape the specter of Borloff’s vile charges.
He couldn’t possibly be right. No matter what Rand ultimately found in Avalonia he would not abandon her. He loved her. He’d said so.
Still, hadn’t his country, hadn’t England, always come first with him? Hadn’t he risked his life over and over again to ensure his nation’s victory? And if he decided Avalonia was indeed his country, wouldn’t his sense of responsibility and honor dictate this land would be his first priority as well?
No. She pushed the thought firmly aside. Only madness and despair lay in dwelling on such things, and in this eerie passageway she needed all her wits about her if she was to survive. And she was determined to survive.
She rounded a bend and pulled up short. Her heart plummeted.
“I wondered when you would get here.” Borloff leaned insolently against the wall, no more than ten feet away, barely within the range of the light from the torch and her own poor vision.
“Do forgive me for keeping you waiting.” Her voice was surprisingly clear and calm, and the sound of it boosted her courage.
“You’ve been a great deal of trouble, Princess.” Borloff straightened. “My head aches and my hand throbs and I am not at all inclined to patience at this point.”
“Again, my apologies.”
“Now.” His tone hardened and he took a step forward. “If you would hand over the firearm we shall at last be on our way.”
She stepped back. “For a clever woman that would be an exceedingly stupid thing to do.”
“Come now, you won’t shoot me.” He took another step and again she backed up. “I can well see you can barely lift the pistol. You can’t hold the torch and shoot at the same time.”
“Then it seems there is only one thing to do.” She tossed the torch aside and grasped the pistol with both hands, holding it out in front of her. Aiming at his heart. “You’re right. This is much better.”
“Very good. I should have expected as much.” He chuckled and the sound echoed in the distance, mixing with the scrabble of the movement of unseen creatures. She shivered in spite of herself.
“However, as you might notice, on the ground the torch is already beginning to burn itself out. I have no doubt as to my ability to disarm you once that occurs. And I have no fear of the darkness nor of those who inhabit it.” His eyes gleamed in the faint light. “Do you?”
“No,” she lied and swallowed hard, vaguely noting the sounds of tiny feet seemed to be getting closer.
“We can wait until the light fails but it would be wise of you to give me the pistol now and save yourself undue pain.” His voice was cold. “At the moment I am not inclined toward treating you kindly.”
“I will shoot you.” She struggled to keep her hands and her voice steady. The torch flickered and dimmed.
“I doubt that. You don’t—” He paused and abruptly she realized the approaching sounds belonged to creatures much more substantial than rats.
“Rand!” she screamed.
At that moment the torch died. Unyielding darkness enveloped her. A body slammed into her, knocking her to the ground, snatching her breath. The pistol flew out of her hands and exploded. Pain ripped through her leg. Loud voices sounded.
Abruptly light from a dozen torches seemed to surround her. She was swept up by strong arms and stared into Rand’s wonderful, worried face. She gazed at him and said the first thing that came into her mind. “Where have you been?”
———
A scant half hour later, Jocelyn reclined on a chaise in her rooms. A physician had proclaimed her wound not overly serious. It was cleaned and bandaged and throbbed painfully, but it scarcely mattered.
Rand was finally here and that was all that mattered.
She was surprised to see Richard and Thomas had arrived as well
. They stood near the door with Alexei, speaking to her husband and the physician. Rand caught her gaze and crossed the room to join her.
He sat down on the edge of the chaise and took her hand. In spite of everything she wanted to say to him, everything she wanted to ask, at this moment she was oddly uncertain and couldn’t find the words. Abruptly she realized they’d been apart longer than they’d been together.
“Are you all right?” Rand asked politely as if he too had no idea how to proceed.
“Quite. Thank you for asking,” she said, her manner equally reserved. “Of course, I’ve been kidnapped, kicked—”
“He kicked you?” Anger burned in his dark eyes. “I should have killed him.”
“Probably,” she said primly. “However, as satisfying as that might be for us both, it’s, well, wrong, and it would no doubt be best to let Alexei deal with him. Although it is entirely Borloff’s fault that I’ve been bruised, lost, and shot.”
“Actually, you weren’t exactly shot.” He grinned. “Apparently the bullet hit the wall and it was a shard of stone that wounded you. Fortunately Borloff took most of the damage. He will not be sitting easily for quite some time.”
“Good.” She narrowed her eyes. “As you are allowing him to live, it’s good to know it will be an uncomfortable existence.”
“Well, there is a great deal more. He will face—”
“Rand.” She struggled to sit upright and drew a deep breath, searching his eyes. “What took you so long?”
“Jocelyn, the passageway is convoluted and lengthy and we had no idea where Borloff—”
“No, not that.” She shook her head impatiently. “What took you so long to get to Avalonia? I’d begun to think you weren’t coming. That you didn’t trust me. And you didn’t love me and”—she swallowed an unexpected sob—“it was all a lie.”
He looked firmly into her eyes. “I didn’t lie to you.”
She stared at him for a long moment and then she was in his arms, his lips crushing hers. He gripped her tightly and she wanted nothing more than to stay in his embrace forever. He smelled of horse and man and open road, and at the moment she’d never smelled anything as wonderful.
“Well, that’s a good sign,” Richard murmured.
At last Rand drew his head back and gazed at her. “When I arrived home and found you were gone, I feared I might never see you again. I have never been so scared in my life until, of course, we got here and discovered Borloff had taken you.” He blew a long breath. “And then I knew true terror.”
Her heart twisted. “I’m sorry about leaving. I couldn’t say anything to you.”
“I assumed as much.” He shook his head. “But I knew, the moment I saw your ring—”
“Did you bring it?” she said quickly.
“Yes.” He grinned and released her. She held out her hand. He pulled the ring from the pocket of his waistcoat and slipped it on her finger. “And this time do not take it off.”
“Never.” She beamed at him. “Unless, of course, I have the need to leave you a message as to why—”
“There will be no more such need,” he said in a no-nonsense tone that sounded very much like an order. For now she’d let it pass.
“Here. We found these.” He pulled her spectacles from the same pocket and passed them to her. She put them on at once. He studied her, and his forehead furrowed. “I am curious, though. How did Alexei get you to go with him anyway?”
She shrugged. “He threatened to have you killed.”
“What?” Rand’s voice rose.
“I say, that is bad,” Thomas said under his breath. She hadn’t noticed the rest of the gathering had joined them.
“Not at all sporting of him,” Richard added.
Rand gripped her shoulders and his gaze searched hers. “You should have told me. At once. I would have dealt with it.”
“I couldn’t tell you.” She smiled weakly. “I couldn’t take the chance. It was, dear husband, my turn to save your life.”
Rand considered her silently for a moment, then nodded. “I should have known it was something like that.”
“And I needed you to come to Avalonia,” Alexei said simply.
Rand turned to him. “Now you’ve gone to all this trouble, do you really think my presence will make a difference?”
“I don’t know.” Alexei ran his hand through his hair, and for a moment Jocelyn could see beyond the prince to the man. “The public revelation of Valentina’s and Borloff’s treachery will have an impact of course, but whether anything else will make a difference remains to be seen.”
“You have to help him,” she said to Rand, pinning him with a firm look.
“Help him?” Rand blew a short breath. “Why should I help him? The man kidnaps you and threatens to kill me—”
“Not at all the way to win friends,” Thomas said under his breath to Richard.
Jocelyn ignored them. “Yes, I know he did and that was wrong of him.”
“Wrong?” Rand’s brow lifted.
“Very wrong,” she said firmly.
“Given his actions, tell me, dear wife, why I should help him in any way whatsoever.”
“I knew you would ask and I have given this a great deal of thought.” She met her husband’s gaze directly. “I can give you any number of reasons why you should help him.” She ticked them off on her fingers. “Because, first of all, whether you like it or not, he is your cousin. Your blood relation. Unless I’m mistaken, aside from your mother and Nigel you have very little family, very few relations. You can’t afford to squander them aimlessly.
“Secondly, again whether you like it or not, this tiny realm you have never claimed is a part of your heritage. As much a part of who you are as anything else about you. Some Avalonian blood does indeed flow in your veins.
“Your grandfather died for this country. Your great-grandfather was king. And until today, you have never been asked to so much as acknowledge that fact. Now you are needed. If you owe nothing else to your ancestors you owe them this. In a very real sense it is, well, your duty.” Even as she said the words she wondered if this was a mistake. If indeed Borloff was right, that encouraging Rand ... No. She firmly set the thought aside. “And because”—she lifted her chin—“I think it is the right thing to do.”
Rand stared at her.
“Good argument,” Thomas murmured.
“I didn’t know she had it in her,” Richard said softly. “I am extremely proud of you, little sister.”
“Thank you.” She turned to her husband and held her breath. “Well?”
Rand heaved a resigned sigh and glanced at Alexei. “What exactly do you want me to do? Crush peasants? Lead troops?”
“My dear cousin.” Alexei sniffed with indignation. “This is the nineteenth century. The House of Pruzinsky rules not merely by virtue of heredity but by the will of the people. And it is to the people we must appeal.”
“How progressive of you,” Rand muttered.
“He’s very progressive.” Jocelyn nodded. “However, he doesn’t need you to crush peasants, which does sound rather ridiculous, but he needs you in the same way he needed those jewels he was looking for. The whole concept is really rather simple.” She pulled her brows together. “I find I think better when I walk. Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” A slight smile lifted Rand’s lips and he helped her to her feet.
She hooked her arm through his and started to pace. Her leg ached a bit but she had no problem walking. “As I started to say, you represent the third branch of the House of Pruzinsky. With you at Alexei’s side, the people will see the royal family is truly united and because of that can be trusted to lead. People do need to have confidence in their leaders, you know. Once they see the two of you, meet you, speak with you, or whatever else Alexei has in mind, well, with luck, any dissension Valentina and Borloff might have encouraged can be laid to rest.”
She waved her free hand for emphasis. “It’s symbolic more than anything
else and has to do, on the surface at least, with tradition and the hereditary monarchy. But it’s really a matter of politics, as everything is these days. It all strikes me as being very similar to campaigns for Parliament, at least that’s the way I understand—” Abruptly she realized all four men stared at her with similar expressions of surprise. She halted and looked around the group. “What?”
“It’s the glasses, isn’t it,” Richard asked cautiously.
“Excellent analysis.” Alexei smiled.
Thomas stared. “I never knew she had this in her either.”
“I did,” Rand said staunchly and drew her back into his arms. “Pretty, smart, and long legs. I am indeed a lucky man.”
“Yes, you are.” She grinned up at him.
Alexei cleared his throat. “If you are quite finished, we need to be on our way.”
“Now?” She pulled away from Rand and glared at Alexei, not bothering to hide her disappointment. “This minute?”
“I am sorry to cut short your reunion but it is necessary to leave at once.” Alexei’s voice was curt. “We have engagements around the country that we have-been forced to rearrange overland over while awaiting your husband’s arrival. Additional delay would only hurt our cause.”
“Doesn’t he have time for ... well”—she slanted an innocent glance at her husband—“a quick bath?”
Rand choked back a laugh.
“Our first meeting is in a town about an hour’s ride from here. You may bathe and change there.” Alexei flicked his gaze over Rand. “I have arranged for suitable clothing.”
“You do think of everything.” Rand studied him. “How did you know I would agree?”
“I didn’t.” Alexei smiled at Jocelyn. “She did.”
Thomas nudged Richard, and her brother stepped forward. “We’re coming too.”
“Why?” Alexei frowned.
“We think it’s in Rand’s best interest that we accompany him.” Thomas crossed his arms over his chest. “You did threaten to kill him.”
“He threatened to have him killed,” Jocelyn pointed out. “It’s not the same thing at all.”
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