Tempting Fate (The Immortal Descendants Book 2)

by April White

  The walls of the Tower rose up from the river like a solid, unclimbable barrier. An arched gate was visible in the darkness. Water lapped at the steps beyond it, and I knew without a doubt that was the Traitor’s Gate. They may not call it that yet, but they would. The sound of small waves against the solid walls sounded deceptively peaceful.

  “There. Down low in the wall. Bars.” Ringo’s voice was a whisper as he pointed out the sewage outlet on the wall.

  Oh, yay. Bars.

  He ignored my snort of disgust and pushed the little craft closer. When the nose of the boat bumped the stone, he grabbed one of the bars and pulled us around so we were up against the side of the small, gated opening. There really were no hand or footholds in the solid face of the river tower, and based on the grunts and whispered curses from Ringo, no way into the sewer tunnel either.

  Our scouting mission was starting to feel like a bad idea. “We should go back before Archer heads down to the river looking for us.” I couldn’t tell if it was just the smell making me feel gross or if it was something else, but I was sick to my stomach.

  “Oy! You, there! Hold fast!”

  The dark shape of a boat loomed up behind us, effectively pinning our small craft to the wall. I had no idea how many guys were in the boat, but at least three of them were Mongers. I could feel them. The crap was just piling on tonight.

  “Can ye swim?” Ringo whispered directly into my ear.

  “Yeah.”

  “Do it then. The inlet were we got the boat is a hundred yards that way.” He nodded in the direction we’d come from and there was calm urgency in Ringo’s whisper. It was weird to be ordered around by him, but I knew I was going to do what he said.

  “Right. On three then?”

  “No. Go now.”

  He gave me a little shove, and I tensed at the anticipation of impact with a river so full of sewage it stank like a train station toilet at midnight.

  “Oy!” The yell behind me was one of outrage, and I didn’t stick around to find out what they were going to do about it. I just hoped Ringo was right behind me because there was no way I was going to tread water in that cesspool. I grabbed a big breath of fetid air and dove under so I couldn’t be seen, then swam underwater until there was no air left in me. I broke the surface with a great gasp that I immediately regretted.

  The Tower walls didn’t loom anymore. I’d managed to leave them behind in my mad underwater dash for the inlet. I searched the river surface for signs of Ringo swimming behind me, but spotted nothing breaking through the water. The inlet was only a couple boat lengths away, and I ducked under again to get there. When I finally hauled myself out of the revolting river, I could barely stand to gasp for breath because the stench on me was unbearable. Clearly, my sense of smell was still intact.

  “Saira!” Archer’s whisper was fierce and angry. I looked up into his face above me. Every muscle in it looked clenched and I could see his jaws grinding. He reached down to haul me up but I stopped him.

  “Don’t touch me. I reek.”

  He ignored me and pulled me to my feet. And I was grateful he wasn’t totally disgusted by the horrible smell rolling off me in waves. But then he pulled me into his arms and that was too much for my conscience. I pushed him away.

  “Don’t. You’ll stink too.”

  His expression was still unreadable, but I could feel the anger rising to the surface of his skin. His voice was controlled and tight. “Where’s Ringo?”

  “He was behind me. Didn’t he make it back yet?” I scanned the river for signs of a swimmer.

  Archer ground his teeth. “Ringo doesn’t swim.”

  His words hit me at the same moment I spotted the boat with the Mongers in it. We both dropped to the ground, and I was very glad there was still some dark outside. My stomach was churning ice-water.

  The boat skimmed fairly close to the shore and one of the Mongers called out to his buddies. “There’s naught in the water. Perhaps ‘e went ashore, aye?”

  “Or drowned.” Another guy growled.

  “Well, we’ve got the one, anyway. Let’s go back in.”

  I couldn’t breathe as the boat turned around and headed back toward the Tower. I watched it land at Traitor’s Gate where the guards disembarked, pushed someone up the steps, and went in.

  “They’ve got him.” The words came out in a desperate whisper.

  “What did you do?” Archer almost shook me in his frustration. The accusation hung in the air between us, worse than the rot of sewage could ever be.

  I set my teeth against the defensiveness that threatened to set in. “We had time. We were looking for a way in.”

  “You just couldn’t do it, could you? You had to go in without me. And so close to dawn when I couldn’t get to you if something happened. It’s like Whitechapel all over again.” He ground the words out through clenched jaws.

  Whitechapel. Where I’d gone after my mother. And where Archer had almost died to save me.

  A spark was lit somewhere in the region of my gut and I lashed out. “This is nothing like Whitechapel. I didn’t withhold information. I didn’t lie to you! You knew we were coming down here to scout. And I wasn’t alone, I was with Ringo!”

  His anger was a quiet, cold thing. “Right, and where is he now?”

  The fire went out with a sputter and puff of smoke. And with that, a chill set into my bones. I stumbled. “Oh, God.” Archer caught me in strong arms and pulled me to his chest.

  He smoothed my hair back from my face as I began to shiver.

  “I didn’t know he couldn’t swim.” My voice was small, and Archer sighed.

  “Well, he’s found a way in, I suppose.”

  Wait, what?

  And it hit me. It wasn’t how I would have chosen to get any of us into the Tower of London, but at least for the moment, Ringo was inside the walls.

  “And now it’s time to get you out of those clothes.”

  For the briefest of moments I thought Archer had forgiven me and might even be coming on to me. Until he spoke again.

  “You stink.”

  Pancho was waiting for us back at the Crosse Keys Inn. The remains of a meat pie sat in front of him on the table, and he was practically asleep in his seat. Archer propelled him toward the stairs, called out for another meat pie for me, and thrust the poor kid up in front of him.

  A few moments later the Innkeeper pushed a meat pie into my hands and wrinkled his nose. “There’s a well out back. Get the stench off ‘afore ye sleep in me bed.” I was about to protest that I had absolutely no intention of either a. sleeping in his bed or b. washing in cold water in an outdoor yard, when a breeze ruffled my clothes and the reek hit me like a sledgehammer to the face.

  “Right. Do you have a towel I could use?”

  He looked like he was going to say no, but then the Innkeeper finally shrugged and tossed me a dingy bar towel. Awesome.

  I took a bite of the meat pie and stepped out into the big, cobblestone courtyard. There was a water pump at one end like something from Little House on the Prairie, and I finished the pie in a couple of bites so I had free hands to wash with.

  The water was fricking cold. It took every ounce of willpower I had to strip off my stinking sweater and douse my whole body in the freezing stream. I scrubbed at my hair and skin as well as I could until shivering stopped my hands from working properly. I wrapped my hair up in a knot, then used the dish towel to put some circulation back into my skin. Archer found me outside, teeth chattering so loudly I couldn’t even smile at my cloak in his hands. I’d left it behind on the horse and it felt like Christmas when he wrapped it around my shoulders.

  “I think perhaps it’s time to change into that dress now?”

  My chattering teeth wouldn’t let me tell him to go to hell, but he could see it in my face. He didn’t smile exactly, but I could see amusement lurking under the residual anger.

  “You’ll learn to like dresses, I’m sure.” He wrapped his arm around me to keep
me from punching him and led me up the back stairs to the room he’d gotten for us. Pancho was already passed out on a pallet on the floor and didn’t even twitch when I stepped around him toward the single bed.

  The sun was just starting to pink the sky, and Archer hung his cloak over the small window to black out the room from the daylight. “If you wake before me, take Pancho with you to find out the gossip. Don’t ask a man, he won’t tell a woman anything of importance. But if you find a charwoman or shopkeeper’s wife, she’ll be full of news from the Tower. Just promise me you won’t go in without me.”

  I must have looked away before nodding because Archer gripped my upper arms tightly and forced me to meet his eyes. “Promise me.”

  I had no choice. I promised.

  My teeth finally stopped chattering when I was fully laced up into the dress Archer had been carting around England. I was still having fits of shivers, so he pulled me down onto the bed and wrapped me tightly in my cloak. I tried not to dwell on worry for Ringo, but it wasn’t helping my chills. Archer settled himself behind me and snaked his arms around my body. He’d been angry, but he hadn’t pulled away from me, and after a few more violent fits of the chills, I finally dropped off to sleep.

  Inside

  “So, are ye keepin’ the princess in the Bell Tower or the Royal Apartments?”

  The Yeoman Warder holdin’ my arms behind me stumbled a bit.

  “Are ye tryin’ t’ get yerself killed, boy?” ‘Is voice was low and in my ear. “If ye were after breakin’ the Lady out, fer God’s sake, don’t admit it out loud. Ye’ll bring harm t’ her as well as yerself.”

  “I was merely wishin’ t’ pay my respects with a nod in the right direction.” The Yeoman Warder and four of ‘is mates were marchin’ me around the outer compound of the Tower. I recognized the Royal Apartments from Saira’s map and tossed my head at it. “If she’s there, I just want to walk a little straighter, that’s all.”

  My guard was grim. Then ‘e gave a quick nod. “Walk straighter then, and I won’t fault ye.”

  I got a look at ‘is face. ‘E was not young, and there was more gray in ‘is beard than black. But I made note of ‘im. It could be useful to know where loyalties lay among the guards.

  We went toward a white timber building in the inner court, just inside the walls. One of t’other guards knocked on the door.

  “Prisoner for the Lord Lieutenant.”

  The door swung open and we were shown into the Lord Lieutenant’s quarters.

  “’E was found at the sewer gate on the river, Sir.” My Yeoman Warder spoke to a man in full uniform sittin’ behind a desk. The Lord Lieutenant of the Tower, if I had to guess. ‘E looked up sharply and studied me like I was under glass.

  “People don’t generally break into a prison unless there’s something inside that they want. What is it you want, lad?”

  The Lord Lieutenant’s voice was tired, but ‘is eyes missed nothin’ and I knew this one wouldn’t be easily fooled. Didn’t stop me from tryin’ though.

  “I work for the Lady Elizabeth.”

  Made ‘im sit up at least.

  ‘E looked at the men behind me. “Get her.”

  Well, this was going to be interestin’.

  I tried to stay busy lookin’ anywhere else but at the Lord Lieutenant, though I knew ‘e was studyin’ me closely. Too closely, it turned out. “To hear you speak I’d guess you were born not a mile from here, but you appear to have spent time elsewhere. Perhaps another court?”

  “I’ve never left England, Sir.”

  “But your garments are like nothing I’ve ever seen. Finely woven, an odd style, and leather footwear of a nature I’d like to own myself, yet have no idea where to procure.”

  I looked down at the Lord Lieutenant’s feet. ‘E wore simple leather shoes that slipped on without ties, with soft leather soles. “My uncle was a cobbler, Sir. ‘E tried ‘is designs on my da, an’ when they both died, I got these boots. ‘Tis all I ‘ave left of my da.” I added the last bit in case the Lord Lieutenant was thinkin’ of takin’ ‘em off my feet.

  ‘E said nothin’ more, but kept ‘is eyes on me until the door burst open and a young guard tumbled in. “The Lady comes.”

  All eyes went to the door as a woman entered the chamber. She was young, but not a girl anymore, and the eye didn’t know where to land with ‘er. She wasn’t pretty. That would be too common. She was … arrestin’. Pale skin like the finest, thinnest silk. Hair near to ‘er waist the color of a copper kettle where the sun hit it. And practically bloodless. She’s been ill, that was clear as day. I’d never bowed to a monarch before, but goin’ down on one knee hardly seemed enough to show ‘er respect.

  The other men in the room all bowed at the waist, so I was the only one who saw ‘er eyes never left mine. There was a question in them, so I did the only thing I could think of. I nodded, and smiled.

  And she smiled back.

  “I see you’ve brought Ringo to me. Thank you, Lord Brydges.”

  That brought me up short. The woman who’ll be queen someday knew my name?

  The Lord Lieutenant arched an eyebrow. “Ringo?”

  She nodded in my direction like it was obvious. “My taster, of course. Obviously your kitchen staff have informed you that I can barely eat for fear of poison. I am, after all, completely at the mercy of my sister and her … advisors.”

  Lord Lieutenant Brydges had nothin’ but a rock and a hard place for company. I tried not to grin, but I’ve never had much luck hidin’ cheek. His eyes narrowed at me and then he finally sighed.

  “Of course, My Lady. We shall bring him to you with your meals.”

  “You’ll do no such thing, Lord Brydges. Ringo will sleep on a pallet in my sewing chamber. You’ll see that it’s provided, please.”

  She held her hand out to me without another look at ‘imself.” “Come, lad. Tell me news of my household.” She was almost as tall as Saira, and she tucked my ‘and in her arm like I was a child. I suppose it wouldn’t be seemly for ‘imself to think of me as aught but young or ‘e’d never allow it.

  We were followed by the Yeoman Warder, but not handled by ‘em now as the princess walked me across the compound to ‘er apartments. She didn’t speak until we were inside and the door closed.

  She dropped my hand and stepped back to face me.

  “If you’re here to kill me, you’d better get on with it.”

  I jerked awake just as Archer clutched me to him. Another vision. Happening now, or about to happen? I turned to face Archer and saw he was conscious too.

  “She protected him. How did she know?”

  “She must have seen him, in her own vision.”

  I winced and scrubbed my eyes. “At what point did our journey to the past to save Ringo cause the harm in the first place?”

  “You can’t think that way. You’ll make yourself insane.”

  I scoffed. “Right, ‘cause that’s not already a statistical probability.” I sat up and swung off the bed. I forgot I was wearing the dress and instantly regretted the move because I got tangled in yards of fabric and almost landed on my butt. “Hey, where’s Pancho?”

  Archer was much more graceful in his leap up. I was perversely glad to see hair sticking up on one side of his head. Not so perfect with his Calvin-and-Hobbes-bed-head. “Gone, apparently.”

  “To bust us, do you think?”

  Archer shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. So much for Calvin. “No, he has too much to lose. If the wrong person recognizes him he joins his brother in the Tower.”

  “I was thinking about how to sneak him in. Could you find a dress that would fit him?”

  A slow grin spread across Archer’s face. “He would hate that.”

  I guessed I was forgiven for the moment, since Archer was playing with me again. Relief trickled through my veins, and I answered his smile with a devious one of my own. “I know, that’s why it’s perfect.” I started to pace the room and got hung up
on a chair. Seriously, this long skirt thing as daily wear was going to kill me. I picked up my still-damp jeans from the fireplace and sniffed them. Ugh! I didn’t think the stink would ever come out.

  “At what point do we just leave?”

  Archer tried to hide his smile. He knew what I was really mad at. “Maybe he’s just being a boy and exploring London.”

  “Or maybe I got supper for grumpy companions.” Pancho appeared in the doorway holding a bag of something greasy. He handed each of us some sort of pastry-wrapped meat pie, though Archer broke his in half and handed them back to us. Pancho accepted it without question, but I looked at Archer with a raised eyebrow. He nodded briefly, then pulled on his cloak. “I’ll go scout the Tower entrances while you two eat. I’ll return as soon as I’ve found something.” I knew the ‘something’ was more like ‘someone,’ and his gaze avoided mine as he closed the door softly behind him.

  Pancho spoke after he swallowed a huge bite he’d taken. “I can get us in.”

  “Not through the sewer.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Obviously. Through the old Beauchamp Tower gate. Almost no one uses it anymore.”

  “It’s not guarded?”

  He shrugged. “It is a small gate. There is only one Yeoman Warder. We shall bribe him.”

  Of course. “Will he let us in at night?”

  “I do not know. I have never attempted entry at night.”

  Right. I kicked off my boots and pulled my stinky jeans back on. Pancho’s eyes got big at the sight of my bare legs, but I ignored him. When my boots were re-laced I felt better. I could tie the damn skirts around my waist if I had to climb or run. I was not going to rely on the casual confidence of a twelve-year-old Lordling.

  I was trying to stay calm doing yoga stretches when Archer finally got back. He was barely in the door when I grabbed my cloak. “Let’s go.”

  Archer grabbed my arm and pulled me to him. I met his eyes. “Thank you,” he said. His voice was as warm as his skin.