Casimir's Journey

by Lisa Manifold

  Roysten’s anger had calmed. “All right. I can do that. Let’s get ready.”

  They were interrupted by a knock. Roysten went to open it, and Thea stood outside.

  “Would you care to join us for some refreshment before retiring?” She asked, actually smiling. It showed just how lovely she was, Hadden thought.

  “I am tired still, my lady,” he said, stepping forward. Roysten held the door open wide. “I will take a cup, however.”

  “I’m pleased to get it for you,” Thea’s smile faded somewhat.

  As before, Hadden watched her go to a tray on a table next to the far wall of the solarium. He motioned to Roysten to come and watch. Thea had her back to them, and they could see her doing something and then suddenly—there it was. She reached into her pocket and pulled something out.

  “The jeweled locket,” Hadden whispered.

  Then she returned it to her pocket, and came back to them, carrying two cups. “I thought you and your esquire might like some,” she said.

  Hadden peered at her. She looked as though she was going to burst into tears. She wasn’t hiding it very well.

  Even Roysten looked closer at her.

  “We thank you for your kindness in serving us yourself, my lady,” Hadden said.

  Apparently, that was too much. She choked back a sob, handed the cups to them, and rushed away.

  Hadden closed the door, and turned to Roysten. “Looks guilty as can be, doesn’t she?”

  Roysten was thoughtful. “She looks like she’s going to fall to pieces.”

  “Not such a cold fish now, is she?” He felt protective of her.

  “I’m willing to be wrong, if we make it out of this,” said Roysten.

  They walked to the window, and Roysten opened it. Together, they poured the cups out the window, and set them on the table near the bed.

  ***

  They both lay under the cloak. The night was very still, and Hadden felt himself jump at every noise. At last, when it seemed it would never happen, he heard the whisper of people outside his door. He nudged Roysten. “Close your eyes.”

  He closed his, and listened.

  The door opened. “Is he sleeping?”

  Hadden heard a sigh. “They both are. Come. It was a false hope.” That was Thea, he was sure of it.

  Less quietly now, the door closed, and voices rose beyond it.

  Then they faded, and he tossed back the blankets. “It must have been the cloak,” he said. “I’m not sleepy in the least.”

  “Nor I,” said Roysten. “Get going.”

  “Wait for ten minutes, then see what you can find,” said Hadden. “Good luck.”

  “See you later,” Roysten gave him an intense glare. “Don’t be late.”

  Hadden tossed the cloak around his shoulders and slipped out the door.

  He barely made it down the stairwell, just as before. He wondered what would happen if he was caught halfway in or out? Would he be cut in two? It wasn’t a pleasant thought.

  The princesses were moving fast tonight. Why? They reached the shore, and the men and boats were already waiting.

  This time, Hadden got into the boat with Thea. He knew he was taking a risk, but he wanted to be near her.

  “Is all well tonight, my lady?” The man asked. What was his name again? Hadden searched his memory, and couldn’t find it.

  “I am sorry, my lord Roderick,” said Thea. “We were detained above.”

  “But you’re here now!” He was cheerful.

  “Roderick, don’t you wish to go home? To see your family? I am sure your father misses you. You are his heir.” Thea’s tone had desperation in it.

  “My father?”

  “Yes, your father. The king. Do you not help him now that you are grown?”

  The man was a prince? Prince Roderick? Hadden thought about it. Roderick…he couldn’t place him. If Roderick was a prince, were the rest of these men? He looked around in alarm. That would mean twelve royals were trapped down here. Why wasn’t this news being screamed across the countryside?

  This was a problem of a different sort. Twelve princes, gone from their homes. How had war not started over this?

  Focus, he thought.

  “My father will be fine. My younger brother, Ulric, can manage while I am here,” Roderick said. Good lord, the man was beaming.

  Ulric? That was the prince who’d died first.

  Hadden was glad he was covered by the cloak. He was so shocked, he could barely think. The crunching of the boat landing on the shore below the castle dragged him from his thoughts.

  Once Roderick had helped Thea out, he followed. In the castle, he prowled around the edges of the ballroom. As before, he got a sense of others in the room, but he couldn’t see anyone.

  “I know you’re there,” said a voice behind him.

  He whirled, forgetting in his shock to be careful. He stopped immediately hoping that he hadn’t shown any of himself from under the cloak.

  “I can’t see you, or tell who you are, but I know you’re near,” said the woman. It was the same older woman he’d seen two nights before. “I shall find you and discover just how,” her voice dropped dangerously, “You’ve managed to get to my private enclave. Enjoy it while you can, little stowaway.”

  Her words chilled him to his core. This was a dangerous woman. No wonder Thea and her sisters were afraid. She didn’t even have to raise her voice.

  Avoiding the woman kept him preoccupied the rest of the evening. When the music stopped, and all the princesses and their partners stopped to applaud, he was eager to get back to the boats. He moved ahead of the couples, and waited to see where Thea and Roderick would go.

  He stepped in behind Thea.

  “Roderick, if you wish to leave, all you have to do is say so,” Thea was weary.

  For once, Roderick didn’t respond cheerfully and immediately. “I…I am not sure why I don’t want to leave, Thea. I’m sure there are things I ought to be doing. Important things.” He frowned, slowing his steady movement on the oars. “But…”

  If Hadden hadn’t seen it, he would not have believed it. Lots of that going around. He was watching Roderick as he spoke, and it was as though someone had taken a cloth and wiped the thoughts from the man’s face. “But there is nothing more important than being here, in the castle, at the service of the Lady!” He exclaimed. The cheerful courtier was back.

  Thea sighed. Hadden nearly sighed with her.

  She didn’t speak again until the boat landed on the shore. Roderick helped her out, and called cheerily to her, eliciting a mumble. Thea hurried up the path through the forest, her sisters following.

  Hadden hung back. He wanted to be near her but he was concerned that if he positioned himself near, he’d run into one or more of the sisters. He’d kept himself hidden thus far. He didn’t want to give himself away on the last night.

  When all the princesses had gone up the stairs, he ran up them, and moved past them as they went towards their beds. He practically sprinted down the hallway, and burst through the door of his room.

  Roysten was sitting on the bed, and he jumped up when Hadden entered.

  “I’m so glad to see you!” He exclaimed. “It’s worse than a tomb in here!”

  “Is it? Does everyone sleep?”

  Roysten nodded. “I went into their chamber, feeling like a thief. There’s an older woman, one of the queen’s ladies, I think, and she may as well be dead to the world. I went out into the main hallway, and the guards at the door were asleep. I even ventured down towards the kitchens. The farther away I got, the less sleepy I felt. When I came back, it was all I could do to stay awake. Enchantment,” he nodded. “What did you find?”

  “All the men down below? I think they are princes. I know the one who partners Thea is. His brother was Ulric, the first man who tried to solve the riddle.”

  Roysten sat back, grasping the implications immediately. He whistled. “They need to be freed.”

  “They all do
. The men, the women, this castle, all of it. I was nearly caught tonight.”

  “What?”

  “The enchantress. She told me she knew I was there. Could feel me, she said.”

  “Did she see you?” Roysten was wide-eyed.

  Hadden shook his head. “No. She even said she couldn’t see me, but that she knew I was there and would make me pay for breaking in.” He shuddered. “If that is the woman who is threatening the princesses, I can see why they’d obey. She was terrifying, and she never even raised her voice.”

  “Well, let’s try and get some sleep. We need to be ready for the audience with the king tomorrow.”

  He didn’t say it, but Hadden wondered at the woman who’d spoken to him tonight. If she’d gone to all this trouble, would she really let this go so easily?

  He’d have to find out. Even if she didn’t, he had to tell the king. He had no intention of dying two days hence.

  In spite of his troubling thoughts, and the worries that ran round in his head, he fell asleep shortly after getting into bed.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Hadden found that he was once again nervous, jittery, and unable to stay still. With the end of the third night, knowing that he had the answer, there was only one conclusion. That today, on the fourth day, he would tell the king about the underground castle. He would let him know of the princes there. Of all the things that he’d seen, that was one that bothered him the most. That there were twelve men trapped somehow below, and he hadn’t found a way to release them.

  Before that, however, before he made his grand gesture to the king, he needed to talk to Thea. Had it been less than a week that he’d been here? How did one feel so strongly for another person with less than seven days acquaintance? It made no sense to him, allowed for no reasonable answer. Nevertheless, it was there. When he was around her, he felt drawn to her in a manner that he had never felt for another.

  Roysten thought him mad. It was a fair concern. To Roysten, to everyone else, she was a cold fish. Wrapped in her ideas of duty, of what was right and what one was supposed to do—it made her a cold and lonely young woman.

  Not with him, though. She was like the sun, so bright and blazing that he thought he might catch flame. She cared for him, or at least found him attractive. Would it be enough?

  He took a deep breath. Grabbed the handle to his door, and before he lost his nerve, pushed himself out of his room and into the solarium.

  As he’d hoped, Thea was sitting, alone, in one of the settees near the window. He glanced around. He didn’t hear a lot of noise, so perhaps the other princesses were still abed. It didn’t matter. He needed to talk to her before he met with the king.

  He took a few steps closer to her and she whirled around. Her face was red, and her hair was disheveled. She’d been crying.

  “My lady,” he said quietly. “May I be of assistance? What is wrong?”

  She didn’t answer, only sniffled. Tears leaked from her eyes, and she wiped her face with a handkerchief that looked as though it had been in service for some time.

  He hurriedly crossed the solarium to her. Knelt down near her. “My lady, please, what can I do to help you?”

  “There’s…there’s nothing…you can do, Sir Hadden,” she said. More tears, which she wiped. “I thank…thank you for your concern.” She looked away and out the window again.

  He was being dismissed, but he ignored it. “My lady, is this because today is the day I must speak to your father? Could it be you are concerned for me?”

  That made her sob harder, but she didn’t answer.

  It’s now or never, he thought. He took her hand. She tried to pull it away, but he held on.

  “My lady, I am going to tell him where you go at night. I have discovered the secret. We shall help the men below be free.”

  Her eyes went wide, and her breath caught. She gasped, and then again. And again. Then she burst into noisy sobs, covering her face with that poor handkerchief.

  He let her cry for a moment. He knew that she needed to release this. After last night, after hearing her speak to Roderick, he knew that she felt overwhelmingly guilty and carried it like a millstone around her neck.

  Then she looked up at him, fear on her face. She looked around the solarium, and there was a tinge of wildness and desperation in her gaze. He looked around with her, unsure of what she was seeking.

  He did not wish to attract anyone else to them, so after that moment, he took her hands from her face. “I know that you need to take all this in, but there is more I must speak to you about.”

  Her face showed she had no idea what he might want, but she nodded slowly and calmed herself.

  Hadden took a breath. “I must choose a wife from the twelve of you. I cannot explain why, but I wish to choose you. My question is can you accept that? Will you accept me? I would prefer to be happy, and I feel I have that chance with you.” He looked at her, unwilling to break eye contact.

  Thea’s mouth had fallen open, and Hadden thought, somewhat irrationally, that she really looked very charming.

  She also took a few breaths, and looked down. It looked as though she was gathering courage. He braced himself for her refusal.

  She looked back up, and spoke. “I will accept you, Sir Hadden. I believe you are a good man. The sort of man that…” she looked out the window. It was obvious that she was struggling. She was no coward, though. He knew this about her, and knew she would tell him the truth. So he waited for her to continue.

  “You are the sort of man I could fall in love with, provided I had not given my heart to another. I could have, in time, offered my heart to you, but the fact remains that I have given my heart to another. He is gone, and the part of me that was there to give is gone also. I cannot love you the way you wish, the way you deserve. I wish that I could!” She looked earnest now. “You deserve it. You are one of the best men I’ve ever met.” Tears welled in her eyes, and she looked down at her lap. “But I gave my heart to Casimir. I cannot love another as I did him.” She raised her eyes. “I am sorry. I will understand if you wish to choose another.”

  He rocked back on his heels. This was not what he’d been expecting. Reluctance due to his birth, to his current station, he was prepared for. But how did one compete with a dead man?

  He opened his mouth, and then shut it. He wasn’t sure what to say. “I am grateful for your honesty. To say that I am surprised is not enough. I hadn’t thought that would be your objection.”

  “Do you think me fickle?” She asked sadly.

  “No, my lady. Not at all. It was just not a scenario I’d considered. That’s all. You are fair in telling me this. I do not know if I love you, Thea.” He deliberately chose to use her name, rather than ‘my lady.’ “I cannot tell as of yet if this is love. What I do know is that I prefer to think on marriage with you over anyone else, and you are blessed with a lot of fine sisters.” He grinned at her. “We both know that marriage without love as a basis is a gift that is not offered to all. We like one another, and I hope respect one another. I feel that would be a good foundation for marriage. I also think that the Prince Casimir must have been a fine man to earn your love.” He took her hand in his own. “Can you care for me at all? I ask you this in hopes of complete honesty.”

  She did not look away, but met his gaze directly. “I already do. I think I will be able to care for you a great deal. But I find that I am someone who loves deeply, and I have given that away. If that will be enough, I think we could have a good marriage, and a good life together.”

  Her speech was not polished, and he could tell she wasn’t happy about having to say it, but he was glad she’d done so.

  He kissed her hand, the first time he’d kissed her since he’d found her two days ago near his room door. “Then I will be happy to ask your father for your hand. And Thea?”

  Her brows raised.

  “We will name our first son Casimir.”

  Her eyes widened. She began to weep, and he pulled her t
o him, allowing her to lean on him.

  Her crying subsided, and she sat up. “Hadden, there is still the issue of Sebastian. He did not take Casimir’s statements well, and I fear he will be even less chivalrous in regards to you.”

  Hadden laughed. “My dear, will you believe me when I tell you that I have sorted Sebastian? He will not object.”

  “How did you manage that?” Her voice was a whisper.

  He wondered again if she knew that Sebastian and Adelaide had feelings for one another. He chose his words carefully. “I believe he will be relieved to know that he is free to marry where he loves. While he might have regret, real regret over what he has lost, he will gain greater happiness in what he is now free to pursue.”

  Tears fell again, but they fell on a smile. “Oh, that makes me very happy! He and Adelaide—” He held up a hand. It was good to know that this didn’t come as a surprise to her.

  “I am happy to be released from a connection that would bring more sorrow than happiness,” she said. “Thank you, on behalf of myself, and…of others.” She smiled, and it was a genuine smile of happiness.

  His heart lightened. While he hadn’t articulated such, he had hoped they would be able to love one another in time. Hearing her declare her love dead with Casimir was crushing. But watching her be happy for her sister—his hope rose. They would not be what she and Casimir were to one another. Perhaps, however, they could be something else. Something different, but just as fulfilling.

  He’d never thought about love before, never considered marriage. Here, kneeling with this woman, such thoughts overwhelmed him.