Let it be no, Vasco prayed. Bianca deserved better. A prince he might be, but he and his brothers were kin to toads, not kings, if they thought to treat her that way. She was far too precious to be thrown away on such men who were so far beneath her they did not deserve to even look at her.
He snatched up the empty goblet and tucked it under his cloak with the tree branch. This would end tonight.
Vasco marched through the dancers, taking the stairs two at a time in his hurry to leave. Choosing the nearest boat, he jumped in and poled himself back through the mists to shore. Dawn was whispering her way into the sky already, but the sun wasn't up yet.
When he reached the beach, he leaped onto the sand and shoved the boat back out onto the lake. If he was lucky, the princes would assume it had drifted away on its own.
Only when he was outside the palace proper did he remove his cloak, using it to wrap the goblet and branch as he strode to the Lord Steward's chambers. He had solved the mystery of the princesses' shoes, and it was far more sinister than he'd thought.
Twenty-Eight
Brenna didn't release Bianca's arm until they'd reached the surface. "What are you thinking?" Brenna hissed.
Bianca folded her arms across her chest. "I'm thinking of my future. I don't know that man!"
"Who cares? Do you think our father would let you get to know a man if he promised you in marriage?"
Still Bianca didn't budge. "If he intended to use us to forge a marriage alliance, we wouldn't be here. We'd be in the women's palace still, under the queen's watchful eyes. He sent us here to become spinsters. He will never let us marry."
"So take your life in your own hands! Now you have a chance to make your own choices. To marry, have children. Don't you want children?" Brenna demanded. "Or do you want to have a succession of dogs that die too soon?" She swiped at her tears.
"I'm sorry about your dog, Brenna, and yes, I would like to marry and have children," Bianca said carefully. "But…"
But…what? Corbin was everything a prince should be. Charming, courteous…handsome, even. She could do worse.
"You have known the freedom of the Summer Palace for many months. I have scarcely tasted it in my few weeks here. Why, this is my first night dancing with all of you. I would like a little more time," she finished.
Brenna closed her eyes. "I understand. Truly, I do. But you must understand that there is far more at stake. At any time, our father might recall one of us back to the palace, to marry the man he chooses. And the princes themselves…they are cursed, and they suffer so. They are confined to these chambers during daylight hours, only venturing out at night under the light of the moon. They need our help to break the curse. All of our help. There are a dozen princes, and twelve of us. In order to break the curse, they must each find a maiden willing to pledge her love and life to them. All at the same time. Only then will they be free."
Bianca couldn't seem to close her mouth. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" she demanded. "The princes are prisoners? Who would do such a thing?"
Brenna shook her head. "A wicked witch cursed them for some imagined slight. She did not bother to tell them her name. But we can release them, sister. And take them as husbands. Princes – our father cannot object when we marry princes! Tell me you will accept his offer, Bianca. All of our futures depend on it."
Bianca turned away, not wanting Brenna to see how torn she was. On the one hand sat Corbin and his brothers, trapped by a terrible curse that she alone had the power to free them from. Yet on the other hand stood Vasco, who would die if he did not share the secret of the princes with Cousin Efe.
She bowed her head. "Very well. I shall marry Prince Corbin."
"Did you hear that? She says yes!"
Bianca whirled to find Corbin and one of his brothers only a few yards away. She and Brenna were led back into the ballroom, where Corbin announced what he'd overheard to everyone, prince and princess alike.
A rousing cheer erupted, and Bianca began to believe she had made the right choice. What was one man's life compared to the fate of a dozen men, not to mention her sisters?
"Tomorrow, we will be wed. What say you?" Corbin boomed.
More cheering, drowning out Bianca's surprised exclamation. Tomorrow? She would marry the man tomorrow?
She swallowed. Why wait? If she had made her choice, there was no sense in delaying the inevitable. Summoning a watery smile, she joined in the celebration.
Twenty-Nine
"…And that's how the girls dance their shoes to pieces every night," Vasco finished triumphantly.
The Lord Steward continued to stroke the golden goblet. "So let me get this straight. They have a secret trapdoor in their bedchamber, which is how they escape to the lake where a pack of ruffians claiming to be princes carry them to a secret underground ballroom where they dance all night until their shoes are destroyed. Then the ruffians bring them back, so the girls can get some sleep and new shoes before doing it all again the following night."
Vasco nodded. "I think they mean to carry them off, but they haven't yet. I heard two of them talking, but I didn't hear enough to be certain."
The Lord Steward rose, setting the cup on his desk. "Very good, soldier. You have earned a reward. I shall send these with a note to the king this very morning. I will have a flagon of my best wine sent up to help you sleep, for I am sure you need rest."
Vasco tried and failed to smother a yawn. "Yes." He gave a perfunctory bow and left the Lord Steward's chambers. He limped all the way up to his pallet and struggled to remove his boots so he could sleep.
Gentle laughter made him look up. Gerel stood in the princesses' audience chamber, holding what Vasco presumed was the promised flagon. "I can help you, if you wish."
Vasco grunted and with one final effort managed to pull off one boot. The other took even longer.
He stared longingly at the flagon. "What's in it?"
Gerel set his boots neatly side by side at the end of his bed, then smoothed the folds of his cloak as she hung it on its customary hook. "Wine from the hogshead you were so interested in yesterday morning."
Vasco had almost managed to lie down, but he shot up again. "The one with the crow?"
Gerel wrinkled her nose. "The one with a bowl of dead rats in front of it."
Vasco swore, then apologised. "Why did you draw the wine from that cask, and not one of the others?"
"Lord Steward's orders. Otherwise, I would've chosen any cask but the one with the rats."
Absently, he thanked her and dismissed her.
Did the Lord Steward know it was poisoned? And if he did, why would he want to poison Vasco, after he'd finally solved the mystery?
Movement outside caught his eye. Vasco crept to the window, peering out carefully so that he could see without being seen.
On the beach, he saw the Lord Steward standing by the water's edge. He drew something out of his pocket that glinted in the morning sun, then pitched it into the lake. The golden goblet flew in a glittering arc for a moment before it plopped into the depths.
All thoughts of sleep fled. The Lord Steward wasn't sending anything to the king. Instead, he'd destroyed the evidence Vasco brought him and tried to poison him. Did he want the girls to be carried off by these mysterious princes to dishonour and who knew what else?
Well, Vasco wouldn't let them. He might not be a prince or even a lord, but he knew where his duty lay. He had to protect the princesses, even if it cost him his life. Except…he didn't know how he could possibly do that now.
He needed someone who understood intrigues and politics to tell him what to do. So he did the only thing he could think of.
It was time to ask Princess Bianca for help.
Thirty
It felt like Bianca's head had barely touched the pillow before she was awake again. Someone was calling her name.
"Mm?" she said, hoping this was a dream.
"Princess Bianca, I'm sorry to wake you, but I need your help. Mistress Kun
told me if I ran into trouble, I must ask you. Please, Princess Bianca." Vasco's voice was far too earnest for this to be a dream.
"Give me a moment to dress. I shall meet you outside," she mumbled, prying her eyes open. The light streaming through the open door told her it was dawn. Ugh. She shouldn't have drunk so much wine last night. Surely it had only been two cups. Perhaps three. Surely not four or five. Her sisters had drunk more, she was certain of it. They would sleep for hours yet, while she had a promise to Kun to keep.
The moment her feet touched the floor, she regretted it. Her head ached, but it was nothing to the tenderness of her feet. Dancing all night, dancing so much she wore through the soles of her shoes, was not something she ever wanted to do again. She'd taken her ruined shoes off in the boat, letting her feet soak in the surprisingly warm lake water, but the walk up to the palace from the lake had been tortuous. The path had been littered with so many sharp rocks she feared her feet had been cut to ribbons. She would not be dancing tonight, that was for certain.
Shielding her eyes from the far too bright light in the audience chamber, she could barely make out Vasco, silhouetted against the window. "What is it?"
"I followed you last night. I now know the answer to how you and your sisters dance your shoes to pieces every night," he said gravely.
Good, she thought muzzily. Then she had no need to venture to the island or dance until dawn ever again.
"I brought back some items from the island, and showed them to the Lord Steward when I told him my story."
Bianca nodded, then winced as the movement only made her head ache more. She'd wager Cousin Efe had been shocked by Vasco's discovery. Now he could claim the palace and his bride and…
Bride. Her memories of last night threw up an image she'd forgotten until now. Tonight, there would be a wedding in the underwater ballroom. Someone called Corbin was going to be married, or was it one of her sisters? More than one, maybe. Bianca wished it weren't so foggy in her head. There'd been much celebration and cheering, hence the wine, and…
"He promised to send the evidence with a note to the king, then gave me a flagon of wine, before he threw all my evidence in the lake. It was poisoned wine. The Lord Steward doesn't want the mystery solved. He wants me dead, and you and your sisters carried off to dishonour. I need your help to stop him."
Vasco's words started to sink in, and Bianca stared at him. Surely she hadn't heard right. "You think Cousin Efe is a traitor, who would deliberately withhold information from my father, the king?"
Vasco looked scared. "Perhaps. That is why I need your help. If the Lord Steward is not to be trusted, the king will never know I solved his mystery, and you will be…those princes have plans for you and your sisters, princess. They mean to use you to break some sort of curse, but they will discard you the moment the spell is broken."
"I know about the curse," she said absently. She did. She couldn't remember what she knew about it, but it certainly sounded familiar. It didn't matter, though. What mattered was saving Vasco's life. Vasco shouldn't die if he'd solved the mystery. He should present his case to the king in person. "You must tell the king what you know."
Vasco laughed mirthlessly. "The king will not listen to a common soldier."
Bianca knew he was right. Her father was a busy man.
"Then we must return to the island on the lake and gather as much proof as we can." Bianca surprised herself by the vehemence in her tone.
"Thank you, princess. I will find us a boat." Vasco sketched a hasty bow and hurried away.
"And I will find the kitchens, and some willow bark tea," she muttered to herself, vowing never to drink wine again.
Thirty-One
Vasco asked a manservant whose name he did not know where he might find a boat.
"There is a whole fleet of pleasure boats in the boatshed, usually," the man said, pointing. "But the Lord Steward went out on the lake this morning. The boat he used should still be on the beach, as he hasn't asked me to put it away yet."
Vasco thanked the man, offering to return the boat to the boatshed when he was finished with it. That way, no one would know when he and Bianca returned from their errand – or see what evidence they carried. Vasco trusted no one now, except perhaps Gerel. Bianca…that remained to be seen.
He paused by the kitchen to ask for a basket of provisions for the day. Gerel smiled broadly when she heard him ask for food and drink for two, but she didn't ask questions. Perhaps she already knew his partner in the day's activities would be Princess Bianca, and she fancied some sort of romance between the two of them. Vasco suppressed a snort. As though a princess would stoop so low as to fall in love with a soldier. He should be thankful she had agreed to help him at all.
Her life depended on the outcome of today's expedition just as much as his did. He couldn't forget that. Still, that didn't mean she needed to put herself in danger. He could easily go to the island and return while she stayed in the safety of the palace. More than anything, he wanted to protect her.
Lifting his chin and straightening his spine, he marched to the dining hall to tell her what he'd decided.
"You should have some breakfast, Vasco," she greeted him, gesturing for him to sit down.
Obediently, he sat, and reached for some fruit. "I've been thinking, and it seems to me that it is too dangerous for a princess to be haring about across the lake. You should stay here, where you will be safe."
"Where the Lord Steward is cousin to the queen, a woman who likes me so little she exiled me out here? To a man who poisons people." She sipped from her cup and set it down. "It seems to me that I will be safer outside the palace than in it."
"But – " he began.
She interrupted, "Last night seems like little more than a fever dream, with boats in the mist, charming fairy princes, and dancing until dawn. I need to see where it all happened in daylight, to know I did not dream it. I need the evidence of my eyes as much as you want items you can take to prove what you have seen."
"But Princess Bianca…"
She waved him into silence. "If we are to sneak around the island, I cannot be a princess today. I am merely Bee, as my mother liked to call me. Buzzing around, butting my head into matters that do not concern me. Though today, they most certainly do concern me."
Curiosity got the better of him. "What does your father call you?"
Bianca sighed heavily. "I do not know. I'm not sure my father even knows my name. He has so many children, so many daughters, that I am just one in a multitude." She flashed a rueful smile. "So while you call me princess, the pampered daughter of a king, which I am, were anything to happen to me…I'm not sure my father would know, or even care."
"I would know, and I would care a great deal," Vasco said gravely.
"Truly?"
He nodded. "I have no right to give you orders, though I wish you would stay here. But if you will not…then it is my duty to go with you and protect you."
She drained her cup and set it on the table. "I'm ready when you are. You might want your cloak, though." Bianca winked. "It might be helpful for sneaking around."
It sounded almost as though she knew its magical properties. Had Kun told her? Or had she glimpsed him last night and said nothing?
"As you wish," he said. He rose, bowed, and went to retrieve his cloak.
Thirty-Two
Bianca caught Vasco stealing glances at her last night when she wore the ornate silk dress her sisters had insisted upon, but today he'd gone back to not meeting her eyes again. As though he fancied himself a servant, and not the rightful lord of the Summer Palace. Which he was, now, by her father's own conditions. Never mind that Cousin Efe had rejected his claim to have solved the mystery – Bianca knew he had.
Even the drab clothes she'd donned today did little to dispel his servility. Sure, she was a princess, but she was a woman first. Last night, he'd looked like he recognised that. Now, she wasn't so certain. Still, if he called her Bee, just the once…
&
nbsp; He took her down to the beach that last night had been littered with lantern-lit pleasure boats, but now only held one aging boat in need of fresh paint, which had oars instead of a pole. Unlike the pleasure boats, this one could have held at least half a dozen people comfortably – maybe more if they were as slim as her sisters.
He said little as he rowed out to the island, except to comment on the absence of last night's mist.
That meant that anyone could see them on the lake. Bianca felt the hair rise on the back of her neck, as though hostile eyes watched her.
"Put on the cloak," she ordered.
"There is no point. It won't cover the boat," he said, rowing steadily.
"Put it on anyway," she insisted, biting her lip as she started to cast a spell that would hide the boat from sight as well.
"If you sit here beside me, it will cover us both," he said.
Bianca considered telling him she was quite capable of taking care of herself, thank you, but something in the way he held out his arm, ready to pull her to his side, melted something inside of her. Instead she said, "Thank you," and carefully shifted to the bench beside him.
The prickling sensation was gone almost instantly, replaced with the warm presence of the man beside her. She could feel the hardness of his muscles as he rowed, the lulling sensation as they contracted and relaxed around her. His chest, his arm…oh, it was everything she'd imagined as she watched him work on Kun's house.
When her father asked Vasco to choose one of his daughters to be his bride, Bianca wanted it to be her.
The boat grated on sand, jolting her out of her fantasies.
"We're here," Vasco said.
He helped her out of the boat and they both stood on the shore, surveying the island.
"What sort of evidence did you give to Efe?" Bianca asked.
Revel: Twelve Dancing Princesses Retold (Romance a Medieval Fairytale Book 4) Page 9