Undercover Princess
Page 26
Lottie hiccupped back another sob as Ellie rushed to her side and squeezed her. ‘I’m so stupid. I’m sorry. This is all a stupid misunderst–’
Lottie was cut off by a furious growl from Edmund. He looked down at his blood-covered hands and cringed. ‘You filthy little commoner!’
Oh no, thought Lottie.
‘How dare you interfere –’ He stopped as Ellie turned and gave him what could only be described as a death glare, her eyes like daggers. It was as if there were tendrils of electric air surrounding her, threatening to awaken a storm. Edmund hesitated for only a moment before continuing. ‘You broke my nose … you … you animal!’
‘I’ll break more than just your nose if you don’t keep your dirty mouth shut,’ she barked, her face contorting into a furious snarl.
What is it with these people calling each other ‘dirty’ and ‘filthy’? Lottie couldn’t help but think.
‘That’s enough.’ Jamie’s voice came out clear and sensible, his pragmatic manner welcome under the circumstances. ‘Ellie, see if you can fix Lottie’s dress, and, Prince Edmund –’ he turned sharply to the bloody mess that was the prince, his eyes and voice becoming icy – ‘I will fix your nose.’
Edmund froze as Jamie approached him, his whole body going rigid as the dark shadow of an uncompromising Partizan stepped closer, hands outstretched.
‘Don’t touch me!’ Edmund cried dramatically, covering his face with his other arm.
Jamie let out a terse growl and pushed the prince’s arm out of the way, holding it firmly so Edmund couldn’t move. ‘Don’t be melodramatic; I just need to look at it.’
Edmund remained cowering, backed against the wall like a scared little mouse, while Jamie turned to Lottie and Ellie, still holding Edmund’s arm to stop him from making a run for it.
Ellie looked at Lottie, who gently reached out her hand and gripped it tightly. Choking back another sob, she took a deep breath and spoke as clearly as she could. ‘He’s not going to hurt you, Edmund.’
Edmund stared at the two girls, eyes wide as if seeing them properly for the first time, then slowly he relaxed. He’d managed to leave a bloody handprint on the soft floral wall behind him. Carefully Jamie let go of his arm and silently began working his fingers over his nose. Edmund watched as Ellie, who was simply the dark-haired girl to him, assisted the princess in trying to salvage the dress. His vision blurred, the two fading from human figures to a white-and-black glittering haze that danced around each other and an unpleasant feeling in his stomach began to build, as if his own blood were telling him to be ashamed of himself.
‘Keep your eyes forward.’
Edmund jumped as Jamie’s voice yanked him back to reality, pulling his eyes to his so he was face-to-face with the burning hazel of Jamie’s irises.
‘She was … I didn’t … I mean … I thought she was like me!’ Edmund spewed out the words quietly, tripping over his tongue as he said them. Jamie remained silent as he continued to delicately feel the bridge of Edmund’s nose. ‘The dress was an accident.’
Jamie’s fingers carried on with their methodical work, the lack of response making Edmund tense.
‘I know,’ Jamie said finally, his face remaining blank.
Edmund regained a semblance of his previous posture, mistaking the reply for Jamie being on his side. ‘Good, because I’m really completely innocent. I was just –’ Edmund yelped as Jamie pushed his nose back into place.
Jamie leaned forward slowly, so his lips were in line with Edmund’s ear. His words came out cold and ominous, leaving no room for misinterpretation. ‘If I thought for even one second that you’d intentionally hurt her, you’d be leaving this room with more than just a broken nose.’
Edmund gulped. He managed to muster an indignant pout, but his silence made it clear he’d got the message.
Lottie watched Jamie as he expertly dealt with Edmund; somehow he’d managed to keep him keep silent for a while. She turned her attention back to Ellie as she attempted to pull the back of the dress up with no luck; it was well and truly broken and yet … Lottie found she didn’t care any more. She was still upset, mostly with herself, but she’d realized something when Ellie and Jamie had gallantly appeared. She’d been wrong. She’d spent all this time dreaming of her wonderful Prince Charming who would sweep her off her feet, but the truth was she didn’t need a valiant prince: she already had two. She’d had them all along. Their names were Jamie Volk and Ellie Wolf and they were more courageous than any prince from any fairy tale she’d ever read. But she couldn’t always rely on them; she needed to be strong herself. She needed to show she could be tough in her own princess way.
‘It’s OK, Ellie. The dress is a lost cause.’ Lottie carefully sat up and rescued her tiara from the floor. She slowly lowered it on to her head, feeling it rejuvenate her.
Kind, brave, unstoppable.
Righteous, resolute, resourceful.
‘As long as my shoes are OK!’ She allowed herself a little laugh at that. ‘I think what we all need now is to –’
‘What on earth is going on in here?’
Lottie faltered as an unexpected voice came from the door and the group looked over in surprise to see a mop of thick blonde curly hair. Saskia.
Even Jamie appeared caught off guard. Lottie assumed he had been too preoccupied with Edmund’s nose to be aware of his surroundings.
‘Lottie, your dress!’ Saskia gasped. ‘Are you OK?’
Lottie was amazed it was her dress and not Edmund’s bloody nose that caught her attention.
‘Saskia, what are you doing here?’ Lottie asked. The last thing she needed right now was another person getting involved in this mess.
‘I saw you come up here and then I heard some commotion and, well, here I am.’ She smiled at her and Lottie found that even Saskia’s brazen personality felt comforting under the circumstances.
Ellie sat up, taking in the situation. ‘It’s fine – we’re fine. Lottie’s just upset because she ripped her dress.’
‘Oh! I can help,’ Saskia chirped. ‘I brought loads of spare dresses. We’ll get you cleaned up no problem.’ She winked at Lottie, who had to admit the idea of getting out of that unpleasant room was very welcome. The three looked at each other in silent deliberation.
Jamie gave Saskia a once-over before reluctantly nodding his head. ‘We’ll meet you downstairs in the hall by the ballroom in twenty minutes,’ he announced, leaving no room for discussion.
‘Perfect,’ Saskia replied with a reassuring smile. ‘I’ve helped other girls in situations like this a million times.’ She held the door open for Lottie, a practical look on her face. It made sense that Anastacia would be drawn to someone so straightforward.
Lottie paused, decidedly ignoring Edmund. She gave her best I’m OK, really smile to Jamie and Ellie before leaving with Saskia.
Saskia escorted Lottie quickly to a room at the end of the wing they were in, which overlooked the back of the manor through a large white-panelled sash window that was cracked open slightly. Lottie thought it a little strange to have the window open on such a cold day but found the coolness in the room soothing.
Saskia poured Lottie a cup of hot tea from an ornate flask on a side table before going to the wardrobe. ‘Anastacia’s father requested they could keep some extra outfits in here. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to lend you a dress.’ Somehow Lottie doubted that and the grin on Saskia’s face suggested she knew very well how Anastacia would really feel about it.
A thought crossed Lottie’s mind. Maybe this is a good time to ask Saskia about Anastacia. She couldn’t pass up any opportunity to get more information.
Lottie took a small sip of tea, letting the warmth calm her. ‘That’s really kind of you, both of you. I’ll take anything that fits really. I’m not fussy. Actually … I wanted to ask you about Anastacia,’ Lottie said, smiling awkwardly at her. Saskia didn’t respond. ‘If that’s OK …’ she added, feeling a chill creep up her spine.
I’ve been poisoned.
She gasped, trying to muster the breath to scream. Saskia kept smiling, a nasty tranquillity resting on her features, and then it hit Lottie.
‘It was you … the note …’
Her thoughts became hazy and she lost control of her senses. She dropped the teacup and could barely register it smashing on the wood floor.
‘You could ask me about Anastacia, I suppose –’ Saskia’s tone changed dramatically, her voice dripping with an icy humour – ‘but she’s not the one you should have been watching.’
The room began to spin around Lottie and she desperately tried to make sense of the words as Saskia stepped towards her. She frantically reached a hand out to the bed as her knees gave way.
‘Five, four, three …’ said Saskia.
Lottie gripped the bedding, trying to pull herself towards the door, but her limbs weren’t cooperating. I have to do something. In a moment of clarity, she kicked her left shoe off and shoved it under the bed.
‘Two … one …’
Saskia’s voice slowly faded away and everything turned to black.
50
Only nine minutes had passed since Lottie had left with Saskia to find another dress, and Jamie was already getting agitated. He put a last bit of tape gently over the bridge of the prince’s nose. He saw no point in causing more commotion by hurting him unnecessarily, the broken nose Ellie had gifted him was harm enough.
Ten minutes.
‘Finished,’ Jamie said matter-of-factly, pocketing his emergency mini first-aid kit.
The prince let out an exasperated groan, which was very clearly a desperate attempt to regain some composure. ‘Finally. I need to get away from this –’ he turned to scowl at Ellie – ‘unsavoury company.’
Eleven minutes.
Jamie rolled his eyes discreetly. He knew he could easily put this spoiled boy in his place, but felt no need to lower himself to his level. Ellie let out a cackle and ground her knuckles into a fist. This was exactly the behaviour that worried Jamie the most. Ellie was tough, and the truth was she could probably handle most situations on her own, but she was undisciplined and irrational, and he worried that one day she might take on someone and be out of her depth. And that’s exactly why he needed to be by her side.
Twelve minutes.
‘I thought you liked wild girls, Ashwick?’ she said mockingly, cracking her knuckles again in a particularly menacing display.
The prince glared at her, his face twisting into a snarl. ‘Only pure breeds like myself,’ he spat furiously, ‘not some common rabid mutt like you who’s somehow wormed her way into our society.’
Jamie couldn’t stop a chuckle escaping his lips at the irony.
A look of total bewilderment planted itself on Ellie’s face before she let out a sardonic howl. ‘This is too much!’
She laughed, clutching her stomach. Jamie gave her a sharp look and she held up her hands to reassure him she wouldn’t say anything stupid.
Edmund stared at them in irate confusion, frustrated at being the butt of a joke he didn’t understand.
Thirteen minutes.
‘This is ridiculous,’ he declared. ‘It’s your princess’s own fault that she created something sentimental between us.’
Ellie instantly stopped laughing and Jamie tensed, prepping himself in case he should have to intervene.
Fourteen minutes.
They needed to get out of there and back to the ballroom before people started getting suspicious.
‘Sentimental?’ Ellie questioned, a furious calm in her voice. ‘How can you expect her not to be sentimental when you sneak love letters into her dorm?’ It took Jamie all of three seconds to realize what this meant. Ellie and Lottie had been keeping another thing from him.
Fifteen minutes.
‘Love letters?’ Edmund almost spat the words as if they left a bad taste in his mouth. ‘What on earth are you talking about?’
Jamie turned to face Ellie, his hands crossed over his chest in a questioning stance.
She glanced at him with obvious guilt before quickly turning back to the prince. ‘You know,’ she demanded, though he continued to stare at her as if the very idea were outrageous. ‘The one you had left in her letter box at New Year’s?’
Sixteen minutes.
Edmund’s face turned from disgusted to genuinely perplexed, and acid began to creep through Jamie’s body.
‘I’ve never sent a love letter in my life.’ Edmund’s confusion was turning into mockery. ‘Why would I waste the energy on such an easy conquest?’
They both ignored the childish jab, but Jamie could feel the acid in his veins bubbling away as his mind began to clear.
Seventeen minutes.
‘I mean, it wasn’t a love letter,’ Ellie began. ‘It was more like a see-you-soon kind of thing.’ She was rambling, so Jamie knew she was getting nervous. ‘The one in the golden envelope? That said you’d see her at the ball?’ She continued staring at him as if this would jog his memory, a hint of desperation creeping on to her features.
Jamie turned to Edmund, his face serious as he looked him in the eyes.
Eighteen minutes.
The prince exhaled sharply through his nose and raised his hands. ‘Listen, I know you both despise me,’ he said slowly, ‘but I’ve never sent a card like that.’
‘Well, then who –’ Ellie blinked, but Jamie had already arrived at the terrible truth.
Nineteen minutes.
Whoever had left the death mark had also left the ‘love letter’. Ellie’s eyes were electrified as she locked her gaze with Jamie’s.
‘Lottie’s in trouble!’
51
Biting cold nipped at Lottie’s nose. She imagined droplets of ice surrounding her in a quiet floating pool.
Where am I?
She was awake, but her eyelids were leaden, too heavy to open. Her fingers felt stiff and numb as the cold wriggled over her skin.
You have to open your eyes, said a distant voice inside her head.
Who is that? A metallic thumping noise made its way through the fog in her mind. I’m in trouble.
Unstoppable. Resourceful.
Lottie willed her eyes to open and made out the shape of a van, and it was getting closer. Tiny dust like snow was falling around her.
I’m tired. Her eyes became heavy again.
The voice chimed in: The prince and princess need to be able to find you.
What prince? Her body was numb, but she could feel herself being picked up and tumbled into the van.
Ellie … Jamie. Tendrils of the memories of the night flittered in her mind but she struggled to grasp them.
She blinked and looked about groggily. The van door was open.
Resourceful.
One foot felt lighter than the other. She remembered – her shoe had come off; she’d hidden it. She frantically kicked off the other one before sinking back into sleep.
‘She’s not here.’
They had run back to the ballroom as fast as they possibly could, leaving Edmund alone and confused.
They’d checked the buffet, the stage and every inch of the marble floor.
‘She’s not here,’ Jamie repeated. His face was inscrutable, but Ellie knew he was worried. She’d never seen him this concerned about anyone except … well, except her. Lottie should have been there ten minutes ago, according to their arrangement, but she was nowhere in sight.
‘I can’t believe you two kept something so important from me. I can’t believe you would do something so stupid.’
Ellie looked away in shame, her fingers curled into fists at her sides, nails biting into the skin of her palms so hard sh
e thought they might draw blood. It took all her self-control not to start trashing the buffet. She so badly wanted to break something; she had half a mind to storm back upstairs and pick a fight with Edmund, but she knew it was nobody’s fault except her own. Jamie was right, how could she be so stupid? STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!
She inhaled sharply and squeezed her eyes shut, preparing to say the most difficult thing she’d ever had to say. They would have to tell her parents that Lottie was missing. She opened her eyes and turned to Jamie. ‘Jamie, we have to –’
‘Is something the matter?’
Ellie shut her mouth suddenly at the sound of the cool voice from behind them.
The two turned to find Anastacia, poised elegantly in her lavish red dress, her calm demeanour the total antithesis of their frantic energy. ‘You both seem awfully disturbed.’
Jamie tensed noticeably and Ellie took this as a sign not to say anything.
‘Everything’s fine,’ she lied, her teeth gritted.
Anastacia seemed unaffected by Ellie’s taut mood. ‘Are you sure there’s nothing at all that I can help with?’ She spoke so steadily that Ellie didn’t catch the edge in her voice.
Jamie instantly picked up on what Ellie missed, his eyes narrowing before he discreetly, but very firmly, took Anastacia by the arm and moved to the edge of the room. Ellie flinched – not at the sudden movement but at the deadly look on Jamie’s face, one she recognized well.
‘What do you know?’ he whispered sharply.
Anastacia laughed, patting Jamie condescendingly on his chest with her free hand.
‘A true Partizan,’ she said, the humour not quite reaching her eyes. ‘Nothing gets by you, does it?’
‘Don’t play coy, Anastacia,’ Jamie growled. ‘If you know so much about Partizans, you should know that they’ll do anything to protect their masters.’