Defending the Duchess

by Rachelle Mccalla

  “Maybe they thought they were making it better?” Sam suggested halfheartedly.

  Oliver, the tech expert among them, shook his head. “It seems doubtful. In his letter, Fletcher called them horrifying alterations. Surely other engineers would recognize the danger.”

  “Chen and Balfour,” Linus repeated the names of the engineers who’d died testing the SE323. “I read the newspaper articles about the crash—the reports Scott tried to give to Julia. Basically any time the car went over 75 mph, it overheated and crashed. The occupants were either injured or killed.”

  Julia tried to put the pieces together. “Pendleton’s original design was altered before it went into production as the SE323. It seems he believed the malfunctions that caused injuries and, ultimately, the deaths of the Balfour and Chen, wouldn’t have happened if Seattle Electronics had stuck to his original design.”

  Jason sounded disgusted. “So why did they change it? And why did Balfour and Chen test the model themselves when they already knew it had problems? Isn’t that what crash test dummies are for?”

  Julia couldn’t help feeling suspicious. “You’d think they’d know better.”

  “I don’t recall ever seeing the engineers’ credentials,” Linus mused. “Perhaps we should look into it.”

  Oliver stood. “I’m on it.”

  Linus grinned appreciatively. “See what you can learn about the crash that killed Balfour and Chen. There were other incidents, too. Learn whatever you can about those accidents. We still don’t know how this connects to Scott or to Julia, really.”

  “Where there’s murder, there must be motive,” Oliver quipped.

  “Yeah,” Linus agreed sullenly. “And Julia’s not going to be safe until we figure out what that motive was.” He met her eyes.

  In spite of the warning in his words, she saw reassurance there. He was watching out for her. He was determined to protect her. She just hoped that would be enough.

  THIRTEEN

  “I had an idea last night.” Monica burst into Julia’s room bright and early the next morning. “I couldn’t sleep until Thaddeus gave me a map.”

  “It’s a treasure map!” Five-year-old Peter followed his mother into Julia’s bedroom and flung himself onto her bed, leaping excitedly. “It’s how we found my mom when Octo-man had her!”

  “Peter, please remember your manners. We do not jump on beds.” She addressed her son in a firm tone, then turned to Julia, who’d been reading her Bible in the window seat. “It’s not a treasure map. It’s a map of the secret passages in the palace. And those did come in handy when Octavian wanted to kill me. That’s what gave me the idea.” Monica spread out a large roll of paper on the bedside desk.

  “Secret passages?” Julia felt intrigued, but she wasn’t sure she understood her sister’s plans. She closed her Bible and stood beside her sister as she looked at the hand-drawn map. “What are you thinking?”

  “I know the guards keep saying your attackers won’t come after you inside the palace, but what if they do?”

  “You don’t need to worry,” Julia rushed to assure her sister.

  “I won’t worry if I know that you know how to find your way through all the secret passages. That way, if anything happens, you’ll have a means of escape.”

  Julia tried to absorb the intricacies of the maze of passages. “How am I supposed to learn them all? I hardly know my way around the not-so-secret parts of the palace.”

  “You can learn them by walking them. You have three days.”

  “So you’re planning to drag me through all these passages yourself?”

  “No. I have an appointment this morning, and other things on my schedule later today. But Linus can explore them with you. He’ll be your escort Sunday, so he’s the most likely person to be with you if you need to duck through a wall or—look at this one—around a rotating bookshelf. Isn’t that clever?”

  “Clever,” Julia repeated, already thinking about seeing Linus again, and her sister’s convenient plan to shove them together for the morning. “Very clever.”

  * * *

  Julia spotted Linus as he entered through the back gate, casually dressed in cargo shorts and a blue-and-red plaid madras shirt. She met him before he reached the royal guard headquarters.

  “What are your plans today?” she asked breathlessly, the map rolled up like a baton in her hand.

  Linus looked slightly sheepish. “I’m supposed to have the day off—”

  “Oh.” She took a step back, instantly feeling guilty that she’d bothered him during his personal time. “Don’t let me interrupt you.”

  “I was going to take another look at the burned documents today. I couldn’t fall asleep last night, trying to figure out what they meant.”

  Julia realized Linus looked tired. She wanted to smooth away every trace of exhaustion from his eyes.

  “Did you need help with something?” Linus glanced from the map in her hand back to her face.

  Julia realized she’d been looking overly long at his warm brown eyes. Instead she turned her attention to the map rolled up in her hand. “Oh, it’s not anything that important. Just an idea Monica had—”

  “What is it?” Linus lowered the bag he was toting onto the cobblestones.

  “I don’t want to bother you on your day off—”

  “I’m already bothered.”

  “But you’ve already done so much—”

  “I haven’t done enough. You’re not safe yet.”

  “I don’t want to trouble you.”

  “It’s no trouble. What’s worse? For me to work with you on whatever idea Monica had, or for me to stare at those burned papers until I go crazy trying to figure them out?”

  “You’re sure you don’t just want to go fishing like a normal day off?”

  “I’m not that much into fishing, actually.”

  Julia realized she didn’t know what Linus did with his spare time. She’d never known him to have any. He’d only ever been at her side. “Hunting, then?”

  “I don’t like to shoot things—not unless they’re threatening me or someone I care about.”

  Whether it was the meaning of his words or the tenderness in his eyes when he spoke them, Julia felt a ripple of affection as he spoke. “Hiking?”

  “Hiking.” He nodded. “I like to hike. But not today. I’d only be worried about how you were faring in my absence.”

  Julia liked to hike, too. And she’d never been keen on fishing or hunting. The similarity in their interests made her smile. Distracted, she hardly noticed Linus reaching for the map until he had one hand cupped over hers.

  “Is this what Monica gave you?”

  She couldn’t lie to him. “Yes, actually, but I don’t want to keep you from anything important.”

  “There’s nothing more important than your safety.” He’d gotten the map from her and spread it wide, a grin forming on his face as he recognized it for what it was. His eyes sparkled when he turned to her again. “I’ve heard of this, but I’ve never had clearance to look at a copy. Only royals are allowed to know the secrets of the palace.”

  “My sister got it from King Thaddeus,” Julia said, instantly feeling guilty for being given something so precious when she didn’t really deserve it.

  “You’re royal.” Linus seemed to sense her hesitation. “You have every right to it.”

  “Not technically, not until Sunday.”

  He exhaled impatiently, as though implying that her protests were as unsubstantial as the air around them. “What’s the plan, then?”

  “Monica thinks we should explore the secret passages. If we’re familiar with them, we can use them to escape or hide if anyone comes after me within the palace walls.”

  Linus let the map roll back with the snap. �
��I’ve always wanted to explore the secret passages of the palace. And you thought I’d rather go fishing? Let me stash my bag in my locker and we can get started.”

  * * *

  Linus pulled open the drawer were he kept extra high-powered flashlights. They’d surely need an alternate light source in the secret passages, some of which were tunnels that ran between walls, up and down various levels of floors, and underground. There were even rumors about tunnels that connected with the catacombs of Charlemagne that ran beneath the city, though those were all supposed to have been filled in years ago.

  His grandfather, who’d been a member of the royal guard during World War II, had told tales of sneaking the royal family out under the cover of darkness to escape threats from Nazi double agents. Part of the reason Linus had become a royal guard was because he’d always enjoyed his grandfather’s stories. As a child, he’d imagined what it might be like to explore those ancient corridors.

  He’d never dreamed he’d get to do so with a beautiful duchess at his side.

  But even as he gripped his flashlight and turned to face the lovely lady waiting in his doorway, Linus knew the task before him was far more serious than any enjoyable exploration he might have dreamed about as a child. “Ready?”

  Julia grinned at him, sending his heart into a dizzy dance. “I’m looking forward to it. I’ve always wanted to explore the palace—the secret passages are like an added bonus. This may be the most fun I’ve had in Lydia.”

  Recalling how her jog on the beach had gone, Linus couldn’t help agreeing with her. “Where do you want to start?” He spread out the map on his desk and studied the mazelike layout.

  “Anywhere.” She stood beside him to look at the large map.

  Linus nearly cut off her words as he sucked in an excited breath.

  “What is it?” Julia asked, leaning closer.

  With his elbow holding the map flat against its preconditioned roll, Linus pointed to hand-lettered markings. “Executioner’s Escape,” he read aloud, the two words transporting him back in time to the stories his grandfather had told him years before.

  “Executioner?” Julia repeated. “Was capital punishment practiced on the Lydian palace grounds?”

  Linus closed his eyes and tried to remember. His grandfather’s stories had focused on the events of seventy years before, not seven hundred. And yet, he’d asked that same question of his grandfather once. He tried to recall the answer.

  “The royal family of Lydia didn’t always live in the palace in Sardis. For many hundreds of years they lived in a castle at the end of a peninsula that extended beyond the mainland. But centuries of storms have washed away the land, leaving the archipelago of islands we have now. The ruins of the first Lydian royal castle are on what’s now called the Island of Dorsi.”

  Julia listened in rapt attention, her eyes aglow as he recounted the changes that had taken place in Lydia’s storied history.

  “I can’t remember when it was, precisely,” Linus said, “but there came a time, I think several hundred years ago, when the kingdom of Lydia was under assault from her enemies. This palace was under construction. It would have been outside the walls of the city of Sardis, then. When Lydia’s enemies attacked, they took possession of this palace. They planned to execute their Lydian war prisoners in the central courtyard, but they feared the Lydians would try to rescue the prisoners at the last minute, so they built an escape passage for the executioner.”

  Julia’s eyes were wide. “What happened?”

  “The people of Lydia came to the aid of their prisoners. It seems to me they rushed into the passage after the executioner, but I’m not sure exactly what happened after that. Anyway, it turned the tide of battle, and Lydia took back these surrounding lands.”

  Julia blinked down at the words on the map. “It’s not clear where the tunnel goes. The map doesn’t show the different levels, but it seems there are stairs connecting through that wall.”

  Linus smiled. That was the part of the story he was most familiar with. “It’s a spiral staircase. It goes up and down from that point. My grandfather’s been inside it. I always wanted to explore it myself.”

  “Then that’s where we’ll start,” Julia said as she beamed up at him. “And you can tell me the story of why your grandfather was inside it—if you don’t mind.”

  “I don’t mind at all.” Linus carried the map and the flashlights as he led her across the rear courtyard, past the west gardens with their arched arbors canopied with climbing roses, and beyond them, a graceful fountain and picturesque maze of hedges. They ducked through a wide rose-covered archway and entered the interior palace courtyard, a massive, mostly enclosed space surrounded by three levels of continuous balconies, all rimmed with stone balustrades and topped with columns and arches. Above those, smaller balconies jutted out here and there, some with stone stairs winding downward for access from below.

  Linus spread the map wide and held it out until it aligned with the architectural masterpiece before him.

  Julia held on to his arm near his elbow as she peered at the map, glancing back-and-forth before pointing to a second-floor archway ahead of them. “There,” she whispered, as though speaking in a louder voice might somehow give away their plans.

  The moment she pointed to the spot, Linus recognized it. Instead of wide windows lined up in orderly rows, the alcove sheltered only a blank stone wall. The arch above it matched all the others, and so masked the significance of the paneless spot.

  Rolling up the map again, Linus led the way to the stone steps that curved upward along one interior corner of the courtyard. His heart beat with excitement as he approached the stone wall.

  “Now what?” Julia asked, placing her hands almost reverently against the solid stones.

  “I’m not sure. The map didn’t say how to get through, only that there is a passage beyond.” He thought back to the story his grandfather had told him all those years before. The hidden door was designed to swing outward—that detail had been important, because the open door itself had blocked the way of those pursuing his grandfather and the royals, and they’d pulled it shut behind them quickly to cut off anyone who might try to follow them as they escaped.

  “There’s got to be a handle of some sort to pull on. It can’t be very complicated to operate.” He ran his hands along the stones, their rough surfaces protruding from the ancient mortar, in some places by several inches.

  “Here.” Julia slipped her fingers over and behind the jutting face of a stone.

  He clasped his hand over hers and they pulled back together. With the sound of grating rocks, the door shifted from its long held jamb and swung out toward them. The momentum of their tug sent the heavy stones swinging with force, and Linus scooped one hand around Julia’s waist as he pulled her to the side, out of the way of the swinging door.

  Slowly, the pivoting portal ground to a stop, revealing a shadowy space beyond. With the balcony above them blocking much of the sun’s rays, there was little to light anything beyond the door. Linus flicked on a flashlight and illuminated the forgotten space, its interior filigreed with drooping spider webs. The dust stirred up by the opening door danced in motes along the beam of his flashlight, veiling what lay beyond.

  The duchess linked her fingers with his. “Ready?” she asked in a voice that was half eagerness, half uncertainty.

  “I think so.” They stepped inside the cool stone-enclosed space. A few paces ahead, Linus could see stone stairs winding upward, and more steps twisting downward the other way.

  “Should we leave the door open behind us?” Julia’s question carried a tremor of apprehension, as though she feared they might seal themselves inside the tomblike space.

  Normally Linus would have agreed with her, but he knew the passages were to be kept a secret. Julia’s own safety might well depend on it within
just a few days’ time. It wouldn’t do to leave the entrance gaping open, exposed for anyone in the household to see. “We need to close it behind us so it stays a secret.” He reached past her to pull the heavy stonework toward them.

  “Wait.” Julia’s hands landed on his shoulder and arm. “Are you sure we won’t seal ourselves in?”

  She was suddenly so very close, looking up at him through the settling dust and lone beam of light, her expression a mixture of trust and uncertainty. Linus realized what a very great gift she’d given him, entrusting herself to him as they explored the long-forgotten corridor together. Rather than allow her to continue to be afraid, he assured her gently, “I know where these stairs lead.”

  “But how can you? I couldn’t tell from the map.”

  “My grandfather’s story,” he reminded her.

  Her face relaxed. “That’s right. I suppose he told you how he got out.” She pulled her hands away and tucked them penitently behind her back. “Maybe you should tell me the whole story before I let my fear get the best of me.”

  “Good idea.” Linus pulled the stone door closed, and it settled into place behind them with a solid thud that reverberated through him ominously.

  Julia shuffled closer to him again, sharing his tiny alcove of light in the beam of the torch he carried.

  He was glad to have her close. The corridor was chilly, and her presence provided warmth, as well as the fresh floral scent that had become so familiar to him over the course of the time he’d spent at her side. Jason had warned him not to get too close to Julia, but here in the long forgotten stone passageways, no one would see if he held her close.

  She snuggled against him, away from the chill of the dark space around them.

  It would be okay. He wasn’t going to cross any lines. He just wouldn’t shove her away, either. Settling his hand at her waist again to guide her as they stepped cautiously forward, he began the tale his grandfather had recounted many times.

  She listened until he paused at the steps. “Up or down?” she asked.