Holding her breath in the darkness, she edged toward the play castle when something rushed her, nearly knocking her over, making Refuge whinny.
“Bronte?” she whispered, dropping to her knees to scratch the dog’s ears and bury her face in the matted fur. Her pet was the closest thing to family she had seen since she had been carted out of these very woods.
And now they were both strays.
This dog was all she had.
With Bronte at her heels, Avery stepped across the threshold and climbed to the highest point before stretching out on the floor, her head on the dog’s back. Exhausted, lonely, and hungry, she once would have been terrified that the shadows in the woods would come alive once her eyes closed.
But not tonight.
The warmth of her furry companion brought her some comfort, and she fell fast asleep in the castle her father had built, sheltered by huge familiar trees, missing those she loved more than ever.
Snap!
Avery awoke to the sound of someone just outside her tree castle.
Crunch.
The sounds were loud and too distinct for an animal.
It took a second for her to realize light shone through the windows of the play castle and morning had arrived. The hunger pains that twisted her stomach confirmed the fact.
Easing the dagger from her pillowcase, Avery moved quietly to the watchtower window and looked down on a young man pacing, staring at his boots.
She couldn’t defend herself against a strong young man like this, but whoever he was, he easily could have entered the play castle if he wanted to. The fact that he waited meant maybe he didn’t intend to hurt her.
He turned to take another pace, and Avery caught sight of his face. Though she had never spoken to him, she knew instantly who he was.
Chapter 32
The Return
“Edward?” Avery called out.
The young man looked up with an impish grin, his cheeks red from the cold.
Avery quickly descended the stairs, Bronte on her heels. She had a sudden urge to hug him but refrained. She hardly knew him, though his name had been on the tip of her tongue since the night he disappeared.
“What are you doing here? Are you okay? How did you get here?”
Edward held up a hand. “I could ask you the same, but there will be no questions until we eat.”
Eat! The word was music to her ears.
Dizzy from hunger, Avery looked around for any sign of food but did not find anything.
“Follow me.”
Avery slipped the jeweled dagger into the pocket of her dress and followed Edward deeper into the woods. They stopped at a tiny clearing in the thickets where Avery and Henry used to play together.
Avery gasped.
In the center of the clearing was a short, round table, presumably created out of tree stumps, and covered in elaborate tablecloths that had belonged to her mother. A tall, unlit candle stood sentinel to the plates of food.
She didn’t ask for an explanation. She didn’t request permission. She sat and ate eagerly. The stale bread and cold mushroom soup were not her usual breakfast, but today they were as good as anything she had tasted in the castle.
“Thank you!” she managed around a mouthful. “Did I look that hungry?”
Edward laughed. “Trust me, I remember how starved I was my first night here.”
Avery swallowed. “Your first night here? In my woods?” That sounded ridiculous, even to her.
Edward shook his head. “Not exactly. You always talked about how wonderful your home was, so when I left the castle, I went in search of it. Hope you’re not mad.”
When did I tell Edward about my home?
Avery set her food down.
“You chose to leave? You weren’t forced?”
Edward nodded.
“You weren’t sent to the Forbidden City?”
He laughed. “If I had been sent to the Forbidden City, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you. You don’t leave the Forbidden City.”
“Edward! Everyone is worried sick about you, and Ilsa hasn’t been herself—”
“Is that a bad thing?” he asked with a chuckle. But when Avery didn’t laugh, he cleared his throat and averted his gaze.
“Why did you leave?” she asked, taking a sip of lukewarm coffee.
“Same reason you did, I suspect.”
Avery bristled. “And you’re staying at my house?”
“Well, not anymore. I distracted the men from following you, and now they aren’t happy with me. I’ll go back tonight and beg their forgiveness. I do the cooking, so they’ll accept my apology.” He smiled. “And I’m hoping you’ll come with me. They’ll eventually warm to the idea of a girl being part of our effort.”
“Who are they?”
Edward kicked at a rock. “It’s better I not tell you yet, but I’m safe and happy. And I’m hoping you will be, too. Tell me why you are here.”
“I left the castle because I thought my father was home. Now I have nowhere to go.”
Edward looked embarrassed. “That’s it? You didn’t leave to join the effort?”
Avery shook her head. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Fat white snowflakes began dusting the ground and collecting in their hair. “What am I going to do?” she continued. “Winters here can be brutal, leaving people to hunker down for weeks. No way I can survive in my play castle for long.”
Edward extended his hand, and she let him help her up. When she stood, he didn’t let go. “There is another option,” he said. “Join me.”
“Where? How would we survive?”
“We’d have each other,” he said, quickly looking away. “We could start our own home, and then, if we’re discovered or if a battle breaks out as it’s rumored to happen, we could survive it together. I’m confident I could protect you.”
Avery had a sudden image of the country brides with their daisy-chain crowns.
She yanked her hand away. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
Edward’s face flushed, and he pawed at the ground with the toe of his boot.
“Marriages of convenience are made all the time,” he said. “You have nowhere to go, and I’m offering you safety.”
“You don’t even know me,” she continued. “We’ve never even talked before.”
“I used to watch you. Not in a weird way. It was my job to guard the vents. I saw you and Kate explore the castle. I heard you talk about your past and your plans. I watched you in the library. I know your mother’s stories. Who do you think notified Tuck every time you got in trouble?” He looked her in the eyes. “I was almost always near you. It was my job. Did you not know?”
Avery shook her head.
But she remembered Kate once telling her she was never more than ten feet from a scout. Apparently she had always been ten feet from Edward, specifically.
“I’ve come here every day hoping you might show up,” he said. He reached again for her hand, but Avery quickly brushed a strand of hair from her face.
I can’t marry Edward. I don’t care if the other option is being alone.
Another name and another face were imprinted on her heart.
Tuck was honorable. He led by example and acted with wisdom and integrity older than his age. He was kind to everyone and sought solutions where others only saw problems.
“And apparently I have been hoping for something that was never mine to hope for,” Edward said. “Let’s go back to the castle, then,” he said, resignation in his tone. “I suppose you’re right that Ilsa deserves to know I’m alive.”
“Everyone does,” Avery said. “But first I need to show you something.”
She led Edward back to the play castle where she retrieved her pillowcase. She pulled out her pages of notes and handed them to him. “You watched Angelina. What did you discover? What facts have I left off this list?”
Edward read the pages carefully.
For a moment, Avery was certain he wou
ld give her nothing, making this entire trip home a waste of time. But then he said quietly, “You are right that Angelina and Elizabeth are sisters. Angelina’s older sister was the first queen. Angelina was only able to force her way onto the throne because she knows secrets that could jeopardize the future of the entire kingdom, and the king knows it.”
“Tell me the secrets.”
“I wish I could. I don’t know them. I do know it has only ever been Angelina’s goal to rule the kingdom, not as the wife of the king, but as the sovereign. She wasn’t content being the younger sister and the closest adviser to the most powerful woman. Her older sister stood in the way, and so she had her sister discarded.”
That word again.
“I thought Elizabeth died in childbirth.”
Edward glanced both ways before saying in a quiet voice, “She died after childbirth. She was fine one moment and gone the next. Rumor was, she died of a broken heart after learning that something was wrong with her child.”
“What was wrong with her child?”
“I don’t know. But now the only one who stands in Angelina’s way is the king. And he is sick.”
“So the king is not the one we should fear?”
Edward nodded. “He may not know it, but his life is in jeopardy more because of Angelina than his illness.”
Avery nodded. This was a good start.
“One more thing,” Edward said, pointing to a section of Avery’s notes. “You’re wrong about the old woman. She has never been your enemy. She cared for Queen Elizabeth until her dying day. If you can get the old woman to talk to you, you may discover some of the castle’s deepest secrets.”
“Thank you.”
“Now we need to get you back to the castle. Queen Angelina’s coronation was this morning, so the doors will remain unlocked until sundown. If anyone can get you back inside, I can.”
The thought of Angelina sitting in the ancient coronation chair draped in the royal coronation robes made Avery’s stomach clench. Angelina was one step closer to getting everything she wanted.
The time to act was now.
Avery looked toward the woods in the direction of her home.
She couldn’t imagine abandoning her search for her father and Henry now. But what choice did she have? She had nowhere to live, and the castle might actually need her help. She had important information for the cabinet. They needed to know about the threat on the king’s life. They needed to find the entrance to the tunnels. She needed to talk to the old woman.
One thing Avery would not do—leave Bronte a second time, especially having no idea whether she would ever return to these woods.
Edward seemed to be watching her with gentle eyes, despite that she had turned down his offer, and she was pleased to see only kindness on his face. He patted his leg, and Bronte joined them.
Avery cleared her throat. “Before we go, I need you to know it means a lot to me that you asked me to stay with you. No one has ever cared for me like that before.”
Edward snorted. “You’re kidding, right? Half the boys in that castle would offer marriage if you let them, including him.”
Avery didn’t have to ask whom he meant.
Avery told Edward how she had come by Refuge as he hoisted her up onto the horse and then joined her. Bronte followed as they started back to the castle.
Strangely, the castle seemed to be calling her back.
And she was eager to go.
Chapter 33
The Deadly Blunder
Avery made sure Edward was careful on their trip back to the castle. In broad daylight, they had to take side roads and stopped briefly only twice.
First, Edward bought warm croissants and fresh cheese from a street vendor. Avery ate gratefully without asking where he got the money to pay for them.
She accepted a news bulletin from a young woman in a head scarf, but when she read it, Avery clasped a hand to her mouth. A blind old woman had been discovered in the village with the first queen’s pearls and had been hanged at dawn.
“I gave her those,” Avery whispered, but when Edward demanded an explanation, Avery could only shake her head. Leaving the castle had cost at least two people their lives, and the day wasn’t over.
Another story in the bulletin—involving the king—might prove useful back at the castle, so Avery folded the page and slipped it into her pillowcase.
The only other time they stopped was to drink from a freshwater stream.
As Refuge and Bronte slurped, and she and Edward scooped the winter water in cupped hands, Avery said, “You said you saw me reading in the library.”
Edward nodded, looking embarrassed again.
“What happened in there? Hundreds of books were ripped from the shelves. Who did it? What book were they looking for?”
Edward shook his head. “A small band posing as staff ransacked the east walls in many rooms throughout the castle. I don’t think it had anything to do with a book. My guess is they were looking for a door, some secret access to who knows what.”
The passage that connects the castle to the tunnels—it must be in the library.
“Come back to the castle with me,” she said. “I am so close to getting so many answers. Together, we could figure everything out.”
Edward’s eyes grew dark. “I can’t.”
“What’s keeping you out here? Stop trying to protect me. Tell me the truth.”
Edward looked both ways before whispering, “A band of soldiers is beginning to form with plans to overthrow the king once and for all. Many of the soldiers once served as staff in the castle before Angelina turned them away. If we can overthrow the king before he has a recognized heir, then Angelina has no rights to the throne when he’s gone.”
Avery stared at Edward before whispering, “You could be killed for treason!”
“I am inviting you to be on the winning side of history,” he continued.
“But what do you mean by overthrow?”
Edward averted his gaze.
By late morning, because of the speed of the horse, Avery and Edward were within half a mile of court. Edward tied Refuge out of sight, and Avery led the dog the rest of the way. Thanks to the throng waiting for a glimpse of the king and queen, they were able to slip back into the stairwell via an access point Avery had known nothing about, looking like some sort of young married couple and not a pair of thirteen-year-olds.
“Thank you for your help, Edward,” she said as stoically as possible. “Be careful, and take good care of Refuge.” She turned to leave, but Edward grabbed her wrist.
“You still have time to change your mind,” he whispered. “Come with me, and help us change history.”
“I can’t,” Avery whispered. “I can do more good for our future within these walls.”
Edward leaned forward and spoke in Avery’s ear. “Not all fairy tales end the way you want them to.” He let go of Avery’s wrist. “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
“How will I know if my father ever makes it home?”
“I know where to find you. I’ll be watching.”
Edward reached forward and kissed Avery on the cheek.
Avery sensed a flicker of movement at the top of the stairs and glanced up to see a child darting in the opposite direction.
A scout? No doubt Tuck will be notified of my return before I reach my room.
When Avery looked back, Edward was gone.
She led Bronte to a storage room then stole away to the bunk room to gather blankets and a bowl of water. Hurrying back to make a dog bed, she promised the mutt she would bring food after dinner.
“You’ve got to be quiet in here,” she whispered into Bronte’s ear. “I can’t get into any more trouble right now.” Avery thought the dog somehow understood, considering the tilted head and wagging tail. She scratched the dog’s fur and considered what she should do next.
She prayed the dog would be safe—and remain undetected.
And she beli
eved God took interest in the smallest details in life.
Avery dreaded facing her friends, but even so, she had no idea how upset they would be.
Avery sat on her bed while Kate paced before her.
“Everyone thought you’d been sent to the Forbidden City,” Kate said in a tone Avery didn’t recognize, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. “Tuck almost left to look for you. He could have died trying to find you.”
“I’m sorry,” Avery said. “I left the tiara and the ribbon so you’d know it was my choice.”
Kate did not respond.
Avery narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t tell people I left of my own will, did you? You wanted them to worry.”
Kate averted her eyes.
“You wanted Tuck to find me and bring me back, didn’t you?” Avery stood and spun Kate around. “You are the one who would have risked his life! Why is it so important to you that I stay here?”
Kate’s eyes filled and looked past Avery to the door. “I know things,” she whispered. “And not everything I know is information I asked to know. You need to stay here for everything to work. You are our only chance of survival.”
“Who are you?” Avery burst out. The words escaped her lips before she could stop them.
“I have been put in charge of your safety and well-being.”
“By whom?”
Avery never could have prepared herself for the words Kate said next—
“Someone who knows your mother.”
Avery learned at supper that Ilsa had been installed as the new child queen. At first, Avery didn’t care. She hadn’t wanted the title to begin with, but as the reality set in, she couldn’t shake the thought that Tuck had wasted no time replacing her with Ilsa, and something even more ominous: Now I don’t belong anywhere.
Late that night, after Avery had sneaked some good scraps to Bronte when everyone else was participating in a chess tournament, Tuck summoned her to the dining room along with Kendrick, Kate, and Ilsa.
Tuck paced while Kendrick sat, elbows on the table and hands folded. Avery sat next to Kate, stealing worried glances at her and trying to avoid Ilsa’s self-satisfied smile at all costs.
The Glass Castle Page 13