by C. J. Archer
To my surprise, she wasn't much older than me. Nor was the man seated beside her. He had a youthful face, despite his balding head. These could not be Laylana's parents.
The woman suddenly let out a small squeal. "Dane? Dane, is that you?"
I stared at her, stunned, as she charged forward. The man followed in her wake, his eyes wide. Dane stepped back as they crowded close. He'd gone pale.
"Merdu, it is you," the man muttered. "Where have you been? Why didn't you tell us you were alive?"
"Has Laylana been with you this entire time?" the woman cried. She picked up a fan from the table and flapped it in front of her face. "Hailia and Merdu, I am shocked. Shocked! But that's nothing to how your mother will receive the news of your survival. Have you seen her?"
"My…mother?" Dane glanced at me. He looked all at sea, a drifting boat in need of an anchor.
I went to him and took his hand.
Both the man and woman noticed. His nostrils flared. "What is the meaning of this? If you are alive, and my sister too, then you are still betrothed."
Dane's hand released mine as if scalded. Suddenly I was the one in need of an anchor. But my anchor had closed his fist and turned even paler. Dane stared at the man, his throat working but no sounds came out.
It was Balthazar who spoke. "Would you care to explain?"
"Dane and Laylana," the man said. "If you spoke the truth to my guard, and my sister is alive, then their betrothal stands. The agreement was struck two years ago and cannot be broken without severe financial consequences. Is that clear?"
This last he said to Dane, but Dane didn't look as though he was listening. He was as white as snow.
"A chair!" I ordered.
The man slid a chair behind Dane just as Dane collapsed into it. He wasn't unconscious, but he wasn't well either.
The woman flapped her fan at Dane's face. "He used to be more robust than this."
"He's injured," Balthazar said. "He recently lost a lot of blood."
"Do you have smelling salts?" I asked the woman.
She retrieved a small bottle from a sewing basket and passed it beneath Dane's nose. He blinked and rubbed his forehead.
"Do you need to lie down?" I asked.
"I'm fine." His gaze held mine. "You?"
My heart felt like it had a deep hole in it, my thoughts were scrambled, and I'd never wanted to cry as much as I did at that moment. But I smiled and nodded. I wasn't sure if I did it for his sake or mine. The reaction was mechanical.
Dane looked to the man. "I've lost my memory. Laylana has too. Tell me who I am. Tell me everything."
"Lost your memory?" The woman laughed nervously, but it quickly faded upon Dane's glare. "How peculiar."
Balthazar sat without being invited. "Let me explain. They both showed up at the Glancian king's palace without any knowledge of their pasts. All they knew were their names. I employed them. Dane worked as a guard, and Laylana worked in the kitchen garden."
The woman snorted softly, only to try to cover it up with a cough. "Laylana a gardener? That is quite amusing."
The man lifted a finger and she fell silent. "My name is Ewen Rotherhyde, and this is my wife, Eeliss. Laylana is my sister. You must understand, this has come as quite a shock. We thought Laylana dead."
"No doubt you have questions," Balthazar said.
"I do. Firstly, if you have no memory, how did you know to come here?"
Balthazar told them about the poster with Tabitha's picture on it and how that led us to their house.
Laylana's brother drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "This is overwhelming. I can barely comprehend it."
Balthazar studied Dane, who in turn studied the Rotherhydes. "It's not just overwhelming for you. Dane has just learned that he not only has a mother but is betrothed to a woman he has had little do with over the past few months."
He did not mention that Laylana's memory kept erasing itself every few days. The insecurity frightened her. Early on, some thought her mad. She'd even tried to escape the palace, then locked herself away in her room. Without daylight and exercise, her health suffered, and I'd ordered her to get outside. That's when she'd started working in the garden and writing notes to herself, so that when she did awaken without her memory again, she was not completely in the dark. One of the footmen had sketched the faces of people she could trust. She'd added notes to those pages to help her quickly adjust to her strange existence. She and the footman had become quite close. While Laylana and Dane had always been friendly towards one another, there'd never been any attraction that I could tell.
Yet he was betrothed to her. He could not marry me. Not until he'd spoken to her and explained the situation. I knew Dane well enough to know that he would want to do the honorable thing and break it off with her gently before making any promises to me.
I glanced at him and felt ill. What if he was too honorable and wanted to go through with the marriage? He was a rescuer by nature, and Laylana needed rescuing more than anyone.
"We know Laylana was arrested and sent to the prison mine outside Gull's Wing," Balthazar was saying. "We also know you were told she escaped, along with the other prisoners, but the escape failed and they were all executed for murdering the guards. But we think Tabitha and Laylana did manage to escape and traveled to Glancia. Dane too."
"I must have been with them in the prison mine," Dane said. "Do you know why I was arrested, Mr. Rotherhyde?"
"Call me Ewen, and my wife Eeliss. Anything more formal sounds strange coming from you." He laughed as if he'd told a joke.
His wife did not. "I think we should take him to his mother immediately. We can explain on the way." She looked to her husband and he nodded.
The footman was summoned and arrangements made for a carriage to be brought around. "We can only fit four," Ewen said, eyeing me. "Perhaps the girl should go home, Dane. This doesn't concern her."
"Her name is Josie, and it concerns her very much. I have another two friends at the front gate. We'll need to collect them."
Ewen asked the footman to prepare two carriages. We followed Ewen to the front door where a maid placed a fur stole around Eeliss's shoulders and handed her a pair of white gloves.
Ewen took the opportunity to study Dane. "You've changed. Palace life has hardened you." He slapped Dane on the shoulder, rather awkwardly. "You look stronger."
"That was probably prison life," Dane said. "You haven't told me why I was arrested."
Ewen dismissed the maid and waited for the footman to leave through the front door to greet the carriages. "I'll tell you in a moment."
The carriages arrived and Balthazar agreed to ride in the second carriage so that I could sit with Dane and the Rotherhydes in the first. Ewen informed the drivers to make sure they weren't followed then joined us in the cabin.
As soon as the door closed, Dane again asked why he was jailed. "And why didn't you want your servants to overhear?"
I didn't like Ewen's smile. It was smug, as if he were pleased to have knowledge of Dane that Dane didn't have himself. His wife's smile matched her husband's. She looked as though she couldn't wait to see Dane's reaction.
Dane sat gingerly on the seat beside me, his lower back not quite touching the leather fabric. I wasn't worried about him fainting again, however. His color had returned and his gaze was sharp as it drilled into Ewen.
Ewen cleared his throat and stretched his neck out of his lace collar. "My sister was very loyal to you. That was her greatest fault."
Beside him, Eeliss rolled her eyes. "She had others."
"It got her arrested," Ewen went on. "She tried to break you out of the prison cell after your arrest. She hired folk from the slum to cause a scene outside the prison, and a small group of mercenaries to take advantage of the ensuing chaos to break into the prison and set you free. Her plan failed and she was arrested too, her trial quickly arranged, and the real reason for her arrest suppressed."
Dane closed his eyes and tipped his hea
d back. "She was arrested because she was trying to free me."
"I see it bothers you."
"Of course it does," Eeliss said. "Dane was always a decent man. He never shirked his responsibilities, never blamed others for his mistakes. His mother brought him up well."
At the mention of his mother, Dane reopened his eyes.
"You owe Laylana," Ewen said darkly. "The predicament she's in now is your fault."
"Do not lay that at his feet," I snapped. "She had a choice."
Ewen's lips flattened. "I did not ask for your opinion."
"I believe I am free to give it anyway. Isn't that what your revolution was all about? Giving a voice to the people?"
Eeliss put a hand on her husband's thigh. In warning? To calm him down? It wasn't needed. He chuckled to himself, as if I'd told a joke.
"Why did the authorities want to keep the reason for Laylana's arrest a secret?" Dane asked Ewen.
"If it became known that she was trying to free a prisoner, the public would wonder why a Rotherhyde would risk her life for a nobody."
"Because she loved him," I said simply.
"Don't be ridiculous," Eeliss scoffed.
"I don't understand," Dane said. "Why did it matter if the public knew she was helping a nobody like me?"
Ewen smiled that smug smile again. "They would be curious as to her reasons. Curiosity leads to suspicion, and they would dig and dig until they unearthed the truth. That's what the authorities were afraid of. So everything was hushed up and rushed through. You were both sentenced before we knew she'd even been arrested too."
Dane tilted his head to the side. "What truth?"
Eeliss placed a hand on her husband's thigh again. "We should let his mother tell him."
Ewen gave no indication he'd heard her. He stroked his chin and regarded Dane. "You really have no idea, do you?"
"About what?" Dane's patience was stretching thin, and I'd wager he was still in considerable pain from the cut in his back. The carriage ride had not been a smooth one. His temper would be bubbling to the surface.
"Think about it. Why would a man such as myself betroth my only sister to a nobody?"
"A man such as yourself?" Dane echoed. "Who are you?"
Eeliss laughed until her husband hissed at her to be quiet.
"I'm Ewen Rotherhyde. My family is the richest in Freedland."
"Congratulations."
Ewen's jaw hardened at the note of sarcasm in Dane's voice. "My family are merchants, and I am the head of the family company. Our ships travel to Zemaya and everywhere in between, trading goods. My father also started his own bank, and I have extended our banking interests. I even loan money to the government."
"Is this important?"
"I ask you again. Why would I allow my sister to be betrothed to a nobody?"
Dane shifted in the seat, but I wasn't sure if it was because he was physically uncomfortable or what he was about to say bothered him. "The same reason people usually marry."
Eeliss snorted again. "He means love, Husband. The commodity that only the poor can afford."
"Am I not poor?" Dane asked. "Am I from a wealthy family too?"
"Oh, you are quite poor," Ewen said with delight. "Your father is dead and your mother relies on handouts from those who call themselves friends." His supercilious tone grated on my nerves.
"So why am I worthy of marrying your sister?" Dane asked.
"Because you have something more important than wealth. You have pedigree."
Dane leaned forward ever so slightly. "Who are my relatives? Wealthy folk who cut me off? A minister?"
"Royalty."
Dane went very still. I gasped.
Opposite us, both Rotherhydes smiled those smug smiles as they watched Dane, seeming to delight in his shock and confusion.
When Dane asked no more questions, I took over. "I thought the Freedland royal family all died in the revolution. Is Dane a distant relative of the last king? Was he so distant that the authorities never bothered to track him down?" The revolution had occurred forty years ago. It would have been Dane's parents who'd somehow escaped General Nox's troops. Dane was certainly no more than thirty.
"You are right in that he is a relative of the last king of Freedland, or of Averlea, as it was known then," Ewen said, watching Dane closely. "But he is not the king's distant cousin or nephew. He is the king's own grandson."
Dane's hand curled into a fist on his thigh. He made no other movement. Not even his chest rose and fell with his breathing.
Eeliss tapped Dane's knee with her gloved finger. "Did you hear my husband?" She spoke loudly, as if Dane were deaf. "You are the direct descendant of King Diamedes. You are the heir. The only heir. When the royalist supporters learn of your survival, they'll waste no time in carrying out the plans they were forced to abandon upon your arrest last year. You'll be sitting on the throne in no time. As king," she added, when he didn't respond.
Ewen turned to me. His lips thinned as his smile spread. "And my sister will be your queen."
Chapter 18
Balthazar, Erik and Quentin knew something was amiss the moment they alighted from their carriage in front of a cottage at the edge of the city. Dane's pale face was clearly visible by the light of the carriage lanterns.
"Is he going to faint?" Quentin asked me. "Because I don't think I can catch him alone."
"He has learned something about himself," I said quietly. "Something you will never believe."
Dane flipped up his hood and advised me to the do the same.
"Very wise," Ewen said. "If someone who knows your true identity sees that you're alive, your life will be in danger."
"Someone already knows," Dane said as he glanced around. "I was attacked yesterday."
"Merdu! We must get inside." Ewen banged loudly on the door.
Quentin nudged me. "What does he mean by the captain’s true identity?"
"Apparently Dane is the heir to Freedlandian throne," I said.
"Averlea," Eeliss corrected me with a sniff.
Balthazar, Quentin and Erik stared at me. "You joke," Erik said.
I shook my head. "He's the direct descendant of King Diamedes, the last king."
"The tyrant?" Quentin asked.
"Hush," Ewen snapped. "Don't call him that. Not in this house. She'll throw you out. She might throw all of us out."
It just dawned on me who we were about to meet. This woman wasn't just Dane's mother. She was the daughter of the last king of Averlea. She was a princess. I wished Kitty were here. She'd know how to talk to a princess.
I suddenly felt lost again. Give me a wound to stitch any day over meeting princesses.
I glanced at Dane to find him watching me from beneath lowered lids.
"Josie," he began, his voice full of ache. His hand found mine and his thumb caressed my knuckles before he released me.
I wanted to reach for him, but the door opened to reveal a woman. At first I thought her too young to be Dane's mother. But as she stepped closer upon seeing him, I noticed the small lines around her eyes and lips, the strands of gray in her dark hair.
She emitted a small squeal before throwing her arms around him. He rocked back with the force of the embrace, his arms at his sides. Slowly, he raised them and embraced her too.
"We must get him inside, Yelena," Ewen said, making a shooing motion. "He has been recognized. There has already been an attack."
"Attack!" Yelena took Dane's hand and pulled him into the cottage. "Why were you not more careful?"
"He has lost his memory," Ewen said. "He has no idea who he is."
I hung back as Ewen and Eeliss followed Dane and Yelena. Erik, Quentin and Balthazar remained on the porch too. Like me, they must feel uncomfortable intruding on an intimate moment between mother and son.
Our hesitation cost us. The door was slammed in our faces.
"They do not have manners," Erik said, turning his back on the door and crossing his arms.
"I don't unde
rstand," Quentin said with a pout in his voice.
"What don't you understand?" Balthazar asked.
"Should we call him highness now?"
The door reopened to reveal Dane. "Come in."
"I'm not sure we should," I said.
"You should."
I glanced at Balthazar and he nodded, but it was Dane taking my hand and drawing me in that got my feet moving.
"Quentin and I will keep watch," Erik told him.
Dane gave a nod of thanks.
"But I want to go inside too," Quentin whined as Dane closed the door.
Going by the glares I received from Ewen and Eeliss, there had been a brief debate over whether I should be allowed inside. Dane had won.
The cottage was small but neat. It reminded me of my own house back in Mull with a modest entrance hall, a parlor to the right, a kitchen ahead, and staircase leading upstairs. Yelena stood in the parlor, gazing at Dane.
"Come, my son," she said, her hand outstretched. "We have much to discuss."
A low fire made the cottage feel warm, welcoming. It was a comfortable and clean space, although there were not enough chairs for all of us. A woman wearing an apron rushed in behind us, only to stop and stare at Dane.
"Merdu and Hailia!" she cried, tears blooming in her eyes. "You're alive!" She clasped his hand and bobbed a curtsy at the same time. "Welcome home, sir."
Dane nodded his thanks and waited for an introduction.
"Martha, fetch refreshments," Yelena said. "And cake. We have much to celebrate tonight." She beamed and took Dane's hands in her own. "My dearest boy is home. My son, my only hope, has come back to us alive. Everything will be well again."
The maid hesitated. "There is not enough for everyone, madam. Sorry, madam."
Yelena's rapid blinking was the only sign this news bothered her. "The Rotherhydes will not be staying."
"But we must!" Eeliss cried.
"I wish to be alone with my son."
Eeliss's gaze slid to me. "Then Dane's friends will leave too."