***
Susie Biddle threw another log onto the fire. What a disgusting day, she thought as she glanced out the window. Rain since dawn and still not any sign that it would stop. Susie turned as she heard a soft whimper. Bonnie, ears drooped, lay stretched before the door, her chin resting on her folded paws.
“I can’t stop the rain,” said Susie.
Bonnie lifted her head and Susie tried to keep the smile from her lips as the dog’s gaze practically screamed boredom. With another deep pathetic sigh, Bonnie returned her chin to her paws. Shaking her head at her hound, Susie wiped her hands on her apron and went into the sitting room. From a large basket by the hearth, she retrieved wool and needles. Just as she had settled down in a cushioned rocking chair, needles poised to start knitting, a loud, ear-shattering barking erupted in the kitchen. Needles and wool flew through the air as Susie jumped in her chair.
“Bonnie!” she yelled in fury. “What the devil was that for?”
But if Bonnie had heard her, she wasn’t heeding her. In fact, the barking increased, each booming vocalization pounding on Susie’s eardrums. Grumbling curses under her breathe, Susie rose from her chair and entered the kitchen. There she came across the most peculiar sight.
What the devil, indeed. It was as if someone had flicked a switch. Just before, Bonnie could barely make herself move for lethargy, but now she was quivering with excitement. She danced, leaped, and barked before the door, her black tail swishing at breakneck speed. It was as if she were torn between wanting to run in circles around Susie and scratch the door down. Susie watched in stunned bafflement as Bonnie pressed her nose as hard as she could to the crack at the bottom of the door, whimpering and crying in a mixture of joy and desperation.
Then the knock sounded. Even Bonnie froze, staring up at the door transfixed. The knock seemed hesitant, then rushed. Susie frowned, wondering who would be visiting her in such miserable weather. In a few swift strides, Susie crossed the floor, Bonnie watching her every move, and flung open the door. The sight of her visitor completely and utterly took her breath away.
Shivering and dripping, Mally stood on her doorstep. Her hair was limp and heavy about her face; her clothes clung to her as if she’d swum across a lake. She wasn’t even wearing a cloak! The freckles that splattered across her cheeks stood out in stark relief against the paleness of her skin.
“Hello, Mom.”
Susie’s heart nearly froze at the quivering in her daughter’s voice.
“Mally!”
In one swift movement, Susie had scooped her into her arms and led her to a chair. Immediately Bonnie leapt to Mally’s side.
***
Something in Mally sighed in relief at being back home, sitting once more in this chair, seeing her mother. Even though her nerves were shattered, a soft grin tugged at the corners of her mouth as she watched her mother fuss about her, gathering towels, scooting her chair closer to the fire, and bringing forth a giant mug of tea. Dear Lenzar, how she had missed her. Bonnie sighed contentedly, resting her chin on Mally’s knee.
“You’re home!” Susie exclaimed, tugging the towel closer about Mally’s shoulders. “I’ve so missed you! You should have written that you were coming—I’d be more prepared!” Susie tucked a wet lock of hair behind Mally’s ear fondly. “Why didn’t you wear your cloak, you silly child?”
Mally smiled slightly and shrugged. Now that she was home, sitting before her merrily gibbering mother, how could she even possibly ask? Her mother didn’t know the real reason she had gone to Bosc and Mally didn’t want to admit that she had fooled her. That she had deliberately risked her life after telling her that she would be safe.
Something in Mally’s countenance made Susie still. Susie stared at her face and then her eyes roamed over her.
“Where is your traveling bag?”
Mally froze. If her mother wasn’t already suspicious at her sudden appearance then she was now.
“Mally, has something happened?” Susie asked in a low voice.
Mally couldn’t bring herself to look at her. She couldn’t make her throat work. Where to start? The ambush? The truth of what she had been doing these last months? The rebellion?
“Princess Avona is alive.”
Mally kept her eyes fixed on her mother’s apron.
“Alive?”
The disbelief forced Mally’s head up and she nodded emphatically.
“Yes. Her casket is empty—we just found out last night.”
Susie’s eyes widened beyond their measure.
“What were you doing in the catacombs?” she demanded. At Mally’s uncomfortable silence, Susie added with more force, “What has been going on?”
Mally’s eyes swam with tears.
“Ivan is a rebel. He asked me to help him. That’s why I’ve been in the castle—I’ve been helping him to find the princess!”
Susie looked like she’d been slapped.
“I’m so sorry!” Mally sobbed.
Susie swallowed with difficulty and sat down in silence, watching Mally shiver and tremble.
“Have you eaten anything?” Susie asked in a very quiet voice.
Mally shook her head, wiping her nose.
Susie rose and ladled her a bowl of soup from the stove.
“Enough of that,” Susie ordered softly, placing a tray on Mally’s lap. “Eat.”
With each bite, Mally calmed. Even her toes were starting to warm. Mally looked up and noticed that her mother had pulled a chair up to the fire as well, facing her, watching her every move.
Suddenly, the beef in her mouth tasted like plaster. She had to say something. Even if they ended up laughing at the ridiculousness of the doctor’s raving, she had to tell her. Mally doubted she had ever seen her mother’s face so full of worry.
Mally put down her spoon.
“The rebels were ambushed. Last night.”
“Is that why you came back?” Susie asked.
“Partly.” Mally shot her mother a quick glance. “We’d just informed them about the princess. A few of us got away—they’re in hiding … but Ivan was captured.”
“Are you all right?” Susie demanded, leaping to her feet. Her eyes scanned Mally’s body, searching for blood.
Mally shook her head.
“I’m fine.”
Now was the time, but suddenly she couldn’t keep her eyes on her mother. Instead, she focused on a lump of beef, floating in the broth.
“Did you know that Princess Avona had a birthmark?” Mally asked quietly.
“No,” replied Susie, confused.
“The doctor who oversaw her birth saw to the injured rebels. A Doctor Keaden. He told me.”
“That’s … interesting.”
It was clear to Mally that her mother found the fact that a doctor would say such trivial things while patching up the wounded baffling.
“He told me because he saw mine,” Mally explained, finally unable to restrain herself. “He told me because he recognized it. He told me …” her voice caught in her throat as if someone had gripped their hand around it and squeezed.
Susie sat as rigid as a board, her eyes transfixed on Mally. The paleness of her face was increasing at a frightening rate. Mally wouldn’t have been surprised, even with their close proximity to the fire, to have found her mother’s skin as cold as marble.
Panic flooded Mally with uncontrollable force. Though her mother hadn’t uttered a sound, her countenance answered her more clearly than any words.
“My God, it’s true!” Mally cried. Tray forgotten, she jumped to her feet. She hardly noticed a crash as a buzzing filled her ears.
“Mally! Mally, calm down! It might not be,” said Susie quickly, rising to her feet as well. She tried to grab Mally, but Mally viciously jerked away.
“Might not be? You’re my mother! How can you not know who I am?” Mally demanded so loudly that her voice cracked and Bonnie huddled under the table.
“Because I adopted you!” Susie yelled back.
Mally stumbled backward as if Susie’s voice had pushed her.
“You—”
Susie breathed heavily as she continued.
“I couldn’t have a child. My aunt lived in Bosc and she was getting very old and sick. Jonathan and I went to Bosc to bring her back to Blighten with us, but she was such a stubborn old woman. We stayed in Bosc longer than we had intended, trying to convince her to come with us. Then, one night, a friend of mine who worked in the castle appeared at my aunt’s home. She had a baby in her arms. She told me that the baby had been abandoned in the work shed on the castle grounds. I was horrified. You were so dirty—you were only wrapped in a dishtowel.
“She told me that the baby would be taken to an orphanage in the morning and that if I wanted her, I could have her,” Susie continued after a pause. Her eyes swam with tears as she looked at Mally. “I so wanted a child.”
Mally sat down heavily. She was an orphan. But if—her heart raced—if she had been abandoned, dirty and uncared for, then she couldn’t be the princess. She couldn’t!
Against her better judgment, Mally asked, “Who was this friend?”
“Cayla Black,” Susie answered.
That name rammed the fact of her heritage right through her soul. It was too many coincidences for Cayla Black—the princess’s nursemaid—to be on the streets giving away a baby just when the baby princess disappeared. She must have removed the baby’s clothing and dirtied her face to make her appear discarded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mally demanded weakly as her vision blurred.
“I had no reason not to believe Cayla,” said Susie. “It wasn’t unheard of—to have babies left on the doorstep of the castle. I haven’t once considered it until now.”
“You believe the doctor? That was seventeen years ago!”
Susie blinked her eyes sadly.
“You know what I know, Mally. Now you must decide what to believe.”
“And what do you think?” Mally asked. She searched her mother’s face, willing her to scoff at the doctor’s ravings. To convince her that it was absurd.
Susie paused and placed a hand on Mally’s knee. She raised her pale eyes so that they met Mally’s.
“I think it’s possible,” she said very quietly. “Possible.”
31 Bones Manor
The rest of the day seemed to go by in a drunken haze. Mally wasn’t ever fully aware of where she was or what she was doing. More than anything she was highly attuned to the overwhelming sense of panic that constantly swirled beneath her chest. In towering waves it would engulf her, causing her body to tense into knots, her breathing to hitch, and her vision to spin. She was the princess. Her biological mother and father were the late king and queen of Lenzar. She had studied their portraits in King Salir’s chamber … her mother and father. She must have been happy with them. She frowned. She had been taken away before she was a year old—but she must have been happy. Why was it that she wanted so desperately to know if she had been happy?
Mally shook her head and felt the waves gathering speed once more. She already had a mother and father. Susie and Jonathan Biddle had played those roles; she didn’t want more. And in all honesty, there was still a chance that Cayla’s story had been true. Mally could have been abandoned by her uncaring birthmother in the storage shed beside Jack’s shovels and pails. Cayla could have found her there and tried to find her a decent home. That could have happened …
Mally grimaced and squeezed her eyes shut. Her fingers gripped her head and pulled at her hair. Guilt. All this panic … the fuel for it was guilt. If she was the princess, she could fix Lenzar. It was her duty … her job to return to the throne and fix everything … or, at least, it was what Dr. Keaden, Ivan, and everyone else would think she should do. But what about her? Mally nearly screamed the question aloud. What about her? Didn’t her happiness count for anything? Didn’t her opinion matter? No, Ivan’s voice sounded in her head, his firm eyes glaring at her.
“No,” Mally whispered to the empty room, for she finally realized she was in her bedroom. “No,” she repeated more forcefully, angry tears stinging her eyes.
If Ivan wanted to save Lenzar so badly then he could take the throne. Mally would gladly pass it to him.
There was a sudden commotion downstairs. Bonnie was barking and Susie yelled at her. Mally stood and inched toward the window, pulling the thin drapes aside. A young man on horseback had appeared in their yard. From his clothing, Mally knew he was a letter-carrier. She watched from the safety of her window as the man handed Susie something small and rode away. Mally turned to face her bedroom door, listening to her mother’s footsteps traveling up the stairs and padding their way to her door.
“Mally?” Susie’s voice sounded soft and gentle. “You have a letter.”
A thin envelope was slipped under her door and the retreating sounds of Susie’s footsteps returned to the stairs. Mally picked up the letter. With trepidation she slipped the envelope open and pulled out the folded paper within.
Mally,
Dr. Keaden told me who you are, or who he thinks you are. And I understand why you ran, but I do wish you had left us some kind of message. Lita’s in a mess. I have no idea whether or not you are safely with your mother, but I hope this letter will find you.
I really don’t know what I want to say … come back? Stay hidden? I realize that we’ll probably never see each other again—but I can always hope. Please allow me that hope.
Lita and I will keep your secret.
Please, stay safe.
Galen
Mally stared at the letter. For nearly five minutes she just stared at his signature. Then she became aware that teardrops falling from her cheeks were spattering the ink. She roughly wiped her face, more moved than she could explain that he’d called her Mally and not Princess Avona.
***
Susie was now very worried. She understood that Mally needed to be alone to sort this out … it wasn’t everyday that you found out you were adopted and the lost princess to boot. Susie just wished that there was something she could do … something she could say.
After she’d slipped the letter under Mally’s door, she had returned to the kitchen to continue with dinner. One thing was for sure, Mally had to eat. Such stress could easily make her ill—she needed all the strength she could get.
When the roast was on the table Susie decided it was time. Slowly, but purposefully, she climbed the stairs to Mally’s bedroom. She knocked but only silence greeted her. No … Susie frowned and leaned closer to the door. Sobbing. Mally was crying. Without hesitation, Susie opened the door.
Mally sat hunched over on her bed, a letter clutched in her hands.
“Mally.”
Susie rushed to her and sat beside her. Mally looked up, her red eyes locked on Susie’s.
“You will always be my mother,” she choked.
“Oh, Mally.”
With a great sob, Mally threw herself into Susie’s arms, clinging to her shirt like a child.
***
Mally ate her dinner quietly. Susie kept trying to make small talk, but Mally wasn’t in the mood for conversation. Her mind was busy with what she was going to do once her mother fell asleep. She had made her decision.
She couldn’t live with this guilt. She couldn’t move on, knowing that she might have been able to save the kingdom. She had to know for a fact if she was the princess and there was only one person who could give her that information—Cayla Black. But Cayla lived in Leaveston, a day’s journey from Blighten. From there, depending on the information Cayla gave her, she would return to Bosc.
Her mother would refuse to let her leave alone. But Mally was not about to risk her mother’s life, too. So with a warm smile, she said goodnight to her mother and waited in her bedroom until she was sure she was asleep. She inched down the stairs and left a note on the kitchen table.
Dawn rose in an array of pale peaches and apricots. It was still terribly cold, but the wind had mer
cifully stopped. This time, Mally had been sure to wear a cloak. The rain had turned to snow in the night and the roads glistened and sparkled in the early morning sun. The farmhouses she passed looked like they were made of gingerbread.
Mally tried not to think about how her mother was reacting to her empty bed or her note. She was much too far from Blighten now to turn back, or for her mother to catch up with her.
Thrilled to be on the road again, Sam trotted along happily, twitching his ears in merriment and causing a good number of passerbies to turn and stare. Mally couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips.
Mally suddenly realized that Sam would be even more stunning with a gleaming royal saddle instead of the plain and battered one now on his back. His arched neck, high gait, forward ears, flicking tale—his very blood proclaimed his right to be front and center. Mally shook her head, marveling at how fate itself seemed to be trying to make her accept the truth. What if she’d had a horse worthy of her rank all along?
Mally shook herself, still keeping the tiny ounce of denial left firmly in place. She wouldn’t accept it yet—not fully. Not until she’d spoken to her.
Mally only knew that Hebitha Bones lived in Leaveston. As to the exact location of her abode, she had no idea. But upon entering the large city, she received directions from the toothy proprietor of a vacant bar and twenty minutes later stood stunned before Bones Manor.
Madame Bones had seemed frivolous and eccentric, so Mally shouldn’t have been surprised that her home was just as over-the-top. The house was large and squat with multiple towers shooting off like sprouts from a chopped trunk. Someone had painted the wood and plaster a horrifying baby pink. With its white decorative edges around the windows and doors, it resembled a frosted cake.
Mally bit her lip. Sam snorted beside her.
After tying Sam to a waiting post beside a large and sweeping front stairway, Mally made her way to the front door. Hebitha had decorated many of the statues littering the entrance with wreaths round their stone necks. After tangling herself in a giant, ornamental fan with strings of beads and dried vines, Mally finally managed to pull the bell on the front door.
The Tale of Mally Biddle Page 29