I sighed, letting a little wistfulness creep into the sound. The curse hadn’t touched my love of the small tropical paradise. Celine patted my hand comfortingly.
“We can ask Rafe to let us stop on the way back. I’m sure Marie would love to visit Inverne.”
I smiled at her. “I’m sure anyone would.”
William pulled out his book, and Celine groaned. “Can’t Inverne, at least, remain untouched by that monstrosity?”
William ignored her and began to read in a lofty tone. “The small island of Inverne is the smallest of the inhabited Lanoverian islands.” He broke off to look back out over the water. “People live there?”
“Of course they do! Look at it. Who wouldn’t want to live there.”
“Umm, me.” Celine shook her head at me. “It’s nice to visit, but can you imagine how boring it would be to be stuck there all the time with only a handful of other families.”
“Sounds idyllic,” I murmured under my breath, but I had to admit I would probably go crazy after a while.
“I suppose it would depend who the other inhabitants were,” said William, his eyes sliding sideways to rest on me. I pretended not to notice.
He looked back down at the book, but Celine snatched it from his hands. “Absolutely not,” she said. “The question of living aside, Inverne is a paradise to visit, and I won’t have it spoiled by a dry list of its imports, exports, trade patterns, demographics and historical significance to Lanover.”
William tried to wrest the guide back from her, but she clambered up onto the coil of rope and held the book over the railing.
I laughed. “Celine, don’t!”
She ignored me. “No more.” She looked at William. “No more of this book for the rest of the week, or I drop it over.”
“What about the rest of the day?”
“The week, or it goes over.”
I was fairly certain William only read the book in the first place because it annoyed Celine so much, but I didn’t like to ruin his fun by suggesting that to her. I stepped up onto the rope and snatched the book from her hand.
“Hey! Celeste!” Celine pouted at me.
“All books must be respected.”
“Even boring ones?” She quirked an eyebrow at me.
“Especially boring ones,” I said firmly. “What else do they have going for them, after all? Their status must be respected, if nothing else.” I handed the book back to William. “A bit like Uncle Horace.”
“Lettie!” Laughter exploded from Celine. “You say the most outrageous things.” She sighed, collapsing onto the rope. “I think he would actually explode in apoplectic rage if he heard me say half the things you do. You get away with everything.”
“Do I?” I looked at her innocently.
“You should leave your sister alone.” Our mother glided over to us, the picture of serenity despite the hot day.
“You should tell her to leave Uncle Horace alone,” said Celine.
“Your uncle doesn’t need my protection, but I’m glad to hear you so quick to defend him.”
Celine made a face.
“In fact, here he comes now.”
Celine jumped up and looked around. “Where?”
Our mother sank into the spot Celine had just vacated and then smiled calmly at her daughter. “I can’t see him now. Perhaps I was mistaken after all.”
“Mother!” Celine rolled her eyes and threw herself down onto the deck. “I guess I can’t blame Lettie when it’s so obvious where she got it from.”
William watched us all, slowly shaking his head.
I smiled at him. “A little different from Northhelm?”
He met my eyes. “You have no idea.”
A warning twinge in my stomach told me I’d been a little too astute. I forced my smile brighter. “It’s always cold in Northhelm, isn’t it? Nothing like this.” I waved around me. “Do you even have sailing ships there?”
William looked a little taken aback, visibly reassessing my earlier comment.
Celine sighed. “Really, Lettie? Of course, they have ships. Ships can sail in the cold as easily as the heat.” She turned to face our mother. “We were talking about Inverne. Is it on the schedule for our return?”
I tried not to look too attentive, but I had been hoping to turn the conversation to our return voyage. I still needed to somehow convince my family to detour past Banishment Island.
“You would have to ask Rafe about that, dear. All I know is that he won’t consider stopping before Largo.”
“Largo? Is that another island?” William asked.
Celine shook her head. “No, it’s our southernmost port. We’ll turn around there and come back north.”
“Goodness!” I looked around at them all with wide eyes. “Largo. I hope the captain knows what he’s doing. I don’t know if the dolphins could rescue us all.”
“Dolphins?” Celine looked at me as if I were mad.
“Her fear of the sea has been lifted because she places her trust in the dolphins to rescue her if she should happen to fall in.” William delivered the line with a straight face, but Celine laughed anyway.
“Can you imagine getting a ride on a dolphin?” She gazed over the side. “It almost makes me want to ‘fall’ in.”
“Celine don’t you dare,” said our mother before turning to me. “Our captain is the very best, Celeste dear.” She patted my knee. “But what makes you so concerned.”
“Largo is so far south, it must be near…and Father said…submerged rocks…and reefs…” I hit my aim of incoherent perfectly, and Celine looked confused. Understanding sprung into William’s eyes, however, and I guessed Banishment Island had already been on his mind as well.
My mother also seemed to follow my train of thought. “There’s no need to be afraid, my dear. We’ll pick up one of the captains who knows the area in Largo.”
“Wait, what? What area?” Celine frowned, trying to catch up.
“I have decided to make a slight diversion.” Our mother spoke as if she was merely suggesting we embark on a stroll around the deck. “We will be stopping off to attempt to make contact with your aunt.”
Celine’s shriek nearly covered William’s small indrawn breath. I only wished I had the freedom to make either expression of astonishment.
Despite the restraint of his reaction, William couldn’t hide the awe on his face. He clearly thought Aurora had worked her hidden influence. But I knew the truth. I could take no credit for this announcement.
I sat back and watched the curious questions pour from Celine’s mouth. Somehow, our mother avoided answering any of them directly without ever actually refusing to respond. By the time she left us, I had reached an inescapable conclusion.
I wasn’t the only one with a hidden agenda on this ship. And I wasn’t the only one with an interest in my aunt and that island.
“I am once again humbled in your presence.” William gave an exaggerated bow to match his statement.
I still had no idea why my mother wanted to make contact with my aunt but, since I had no intention of admitting as much to William, I graciously accepted his compliment before continuing to warm up.
“Huh?” Celine looked back and forth between us. “Why do I always feel like I’m missing something?”
“It’s because you’re so young and insignificant.” William tweaked her nose. “We’re always talking about important stuff and then saying ‘let’s not tell Celine since she’s such a baby.’”
Celine glared at him. “Not funny, William.”
“Really?” He sat down to stretch before grinning over at her. “I thought it was hilarious.”
She picked up a small lump of unidentified something that had fallen from one of the cargo bundles and threw it at him. It made an unpleasant squelching noise when it hit, and she laughed triumphantly.
“Why, you…” William started to push himself onto his feet, when I interposed myself between them.
“Come on, you two. Stop
bickering. What am I supposed to be, your mother?”
Celine snorted. “Hardly. You can’t be more than, what…twenty-one?” The gleam of curiosity in her eye betrayed the casual tone. And William was just as bad. His attempt to look uninterested in my answer failed badly.
I rolled my eyes. “Nice try. If you two are so distracted today, I’m going to win easily.” I took off without waiting for a response and smiled at the sound of them scrambling to catch up.
We were half way round our second circuit when an unexpected sound caught my attention. I slid to a halt, listening hard. My hand snapped up, signalling the others to stop. When I recognised the sound of someone coming through the hatch into the cargo hold, I gestured for them to hide themselves.
Halfway to my own hiding spot I remembered William and Celine weren’t my agents. I looked back, afraid I would see them standing in confusion in the middle of the hold. But William had already disappeared, and I could only see the swish of Celine’s skirts as they disappeared around a pile of small barrels.
I found a position between several large crates, my back pressed up against the side of the ship. The footsteps of two people reached the bottom of the ladder.
“We’re not supposed to be down here.” The man sounded uneasy.
“Well we’re acting on the major’s orders and I, for one, don’t plan on going against him. Do you?”
The first man only grunted before following the second one in my general direction. I held my breath as they passed mere steps away from me. The shadowy outline of their forms confirmed they were guards.
They wrestled open a crate and pulled out a rectangular box. From the little I could see in the darkness, it looked different from the storage containers around us. More like the expensive receptacle for a valued item or weapon.
“What is it?” The voice of the uneasy guard echoed my own curiosity.
“How would I know? All I know is that the major originally wanted it packed down here, but now he’s changed his mind. Thinks it will be safer in his cabin.”
“Safer from who?”
“I already told you, that’s all I know. Probably those good-for-nothing sailors. Wouldn’t surprise me if they rummaged around down here whenever the fancy took them.”
I frowned at his words. Guards and sailors didn’t traditionally get along, but the sailors on the royal yacht seemed like the peak of the trade as far as discipline and reliability went.
The two men clomped their way back to the ladder and then up and out of the hold. I waited two full counts of a hundred before emerging from my nook. William and Celine followed my lead.
“Well, that was…odd.” William rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze fixed on the now-empty ladder.
“There’s something odd about all those guards.” Celine wrinkled her nose.
I frowned, giving her my full attention. She had noticed my agents following her back at the palace, after all. If she said something was off now, I was all ears.
Chapter 18
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I’ve been talking to Tom.”
Ah, her lieutenant friend. I nodded in understanding. They already assumed Aurora knew everything that went on, so I didn’t need to act dumb. Plus, I was too busy feeling proud. From the sound of things, my little sister was a natural. Already she was using her connections, keeping her ear to the ground and developing her own contacts.
“Who’s Tom?” William wasn’t quite as well-informed.
“He’s a lieutenant, and an old friend. He used to be the cabin boy when we were children.”
William gave her an easily interpreted look, but I wasn’t worried. I’d initially wondered if she was romantically interested in her old friend, only two years her senior, but I’d been watching her closely during the day, and she didn’t show that sort of preference for him. I’d seen enough of her brief infatuations to know what they looked like.
“Everyone knows sailors and guards don’t get along.” The scepticism was thick in William’s voice.
“Of course not. I know that.” Her defensive response came a little too quickly, reminding me she was only fourteen. “But this is different. He said all the sailors are on edge about having so many soldiers on board.”
I sighed. Perhaps the sailors saw it as a slight on their ability to watch over the royal family. Usually the king himself only brought fifty guards with him.
Celine shrugged. “It isn’t anything overt. He said that none of the sailors know any of the guards, and none of them are at all sociable with the sailors. They act a bit strangely.”
“Definitely something to keep our eye on,” I said. “And good work talking to Tom.” Celine visibly swelled with pride. “Keep it up, and let us know what you hear. For now, I want to know what was inside that box.”
“It looked like a sword box to me,” said William.
“A sword box?” Celine made a face. “Who would keep a sword in a box?”
William shrugged. “It’s not that uncommon for ceremonial or ornamental weapons. Family heirlooms and the like.”
“All right, but why would the major bring his heirloom sword on board with him?” asked Celine.
“That is, indeed, the question.” I tapped my leg as I thought, and William and Celine both waited silently for my conclusion. “The major likes to make surprise visits to his men on night watch. To check that they’ve remained alert.”
William and Celine exchanged looks but didn’t ask how I knew that.
“None of the cabins on ship are locked. We’ll wait until he leaves and then go find out exactly what’s in that box.”
“All of us?” The breathy excitement in Celine’s voice made me question my plan to take her along.
“I don’t think we should all go.” Apparently William agreed with me. “I think you should stay behind, Aurora.”
Wait, what? “Excuse me?” I injected as much frost into my voice as the humid air of the hold would allow.
He ignored my tone. “If the major discovers Prince William and Princess Celine in his cabin, what exactly can he do about it?” His look said that he knew I knew he was right. “If the major discovers you, on the other hand…”
I let out a slow breath, turning his words over in my mind. As much as I hated to admit it, he did have a point. This ship wasn’t my usual territory – the cabin had only one exit, and there was nowhere to run. What would happen if I was discovered?
But at the same time, I had already been reminded once tonight that William and Celine weren’t my agents. I couldn’t trust that they wouldn’t miss something, or leave behind some trace of their intrusion.
After a long pause, I shook my head. “It’s not ideal, but I have to be there. We’ll just have to make sure we aren’t caught.”
William looked worried, but I didn’t give him any time to think about it, leading the way towards the ladder. Celine followed eagerly, not willing to speak up and risk us changing our minds about taking her along.
Moving through the upper decks required extreme caution, so our progress towards the major’s cabin was necessarily slow. And once we arrived there, it was no easy feat to find places for each of us to wait out of sight. By the time we had accomplished all of that, the guards delivering the box had long gone.
Thankfully, since a cramp had begun to form in my leg, we didn’t have to wait more than half an hour before the major emerged. I couldn’t even see his cabin from my vantage point, but I did see him go past as he left.
Creeping forward, I soon felt the others at my back. As expected, the door opened easily. The tiny cabin on the other side had to be the smallest on the ship. The major probably considered himself fortunate to have a cabin at all, considering how many royals were on board.
A second’s glance revealed the bare surface of the small desk, so my eyes moved first to the chest at the foot of the bed and then to the tiny wardrobe. The chest, built into the wall like the bed, didn’t appear to have a lock.
&n
bsp; William moved towards it, so I stopped him with a hand to his arm. He froze beneath my touch, looking down first at my fingers and then up into my eyes. I forced my mind to stay focussed and not to respond to the uncertainty in his face. Especially since I could feel Celine’s curious gaze on us.
“Be careful,” I whispered. “Take the time to look at how everything is positioned before you touch anything. The major will expect the waves to disrupt his possessions slightly, but we don’t want to leave anything different enough to make him suspicious.”
He nodded, so I let him go, turning towards the narrow wardrobe. I had barely opened the doors when a low cry from William made me spin back around. He held the box from the hold in his hands.
“Well, that was easy.” Celine sounded disappointed. “Maybe it’s not important, after all.”
I shook my head. Easy was good. Much better than the alternative.
“Open it.” I needed to know the contents before I decided if this was merely a scouting mission, or if it was an extraction.
William opened the box and, sure enough, an elegant sword lay inside on a bed of red satin. We all drew close to examine it. Even in the faint moonlight from the single porthole, the metal of the blade gleamed. My fingers itched to pick it up and test its balance.
I could tell from William’s expression that the simple leather of the hilt didn’t fool him any more than it fooled me. He held an expensive and valuable weapon.
Celine looked less impressed. “It’s just a sword.” She grabbed the box from William and carried it over to the porthole to get a better look. “Maybe there’s something written on it or something.”
I took one step towards her before I heard quiet voices outside the cabin door. For the briefest moment, the three of us stared at each other. Then William’s eyes moved from the sword box in Celine’s hands to the wardrobe. My thoughts followed his gaze. Celine and our prize would just fit inside the narrow space.
Strong hands lifted me off my feet and two wooden doors shut in my face. I swallowed a gasp. It had all happened too quickly to follow. In the few available seconds, William had acted to protect me rather than the sword. I wanted to curse his protectiveness, but a moment’s reflection reminded me of the danger of my being caught. Gratitude washed over me as the cabin door opened and a startled exclamation rang out.
The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping Beauty (The Four Kingdoms Book 4) Page 14