Discomfort filled Elise’s belly. Both at how much she didn’t want this woman to touch her now and how much she’d enjoyed it at times. Often against her better judgement. She refused to show any of it. “Never mind that. If you do not require me to come back to marry Macray, then start explaining what you do want with me. And why your ‘play time’ had to be so elaborate.”
Her Royal Highness strode closer, her long dress hiding the heeled boots that clicked menacingly on the black stone floor. She reached out a hand and ran her finger along Elise’s left cheekbone. Her hand was cold, but that wasn’t why Elise shivered.
The Queen spoke slowly and precisely. “Remember what I used to say about you, my sweet Lady Falk? You make the whole world…”
“…into a tinderbox,” Elise finished quietly.
“Exactly. You would, without meaning to, make any place in the world a proverbial tinderbox. Even the most peaceful, calm, and boring place would become ‘flammable’ when you arrived. All turned into a huge tinderbox, just waiting for your next action or your next word to start a fight, a small war, or a slew of broken hearts – setting it all ablaze.”
The Queen paused to laugh. “The others at court hated it, wanted me to get rid of you. I stood my ground and said that you were needed, that your light eyes proved that we had diversity at court and such nonsense. The truth was that your fire-starting was entertaining. We would visit somewhere and, in the blink of an eye, you would have enraged the lord of the manor. We would do a tour of my grounds and, in no time, you would have caused trouble with some pretty milkmaid. You rush into situations and make them… interesting. I wanted to keep that.”
Elise frowned. “Keep that? What do you mean?”
“I mean that I wanted you to marry my dull brother so that I could keep you around. Ladies of court come and go whenever alliances need to be made. It was only a matter of time before you were sent out to pasture, married off to someone in the highlands or something. Making you my sister-in-law would keep you within my grasp. I could visit you on my trips south and share your bed if I liked. After all, you are notoriously talented between the sheets, little fire-starter. If I got bored in Highmere, I could send for you and make you accompany me on my trips around Arclid. Well, all around the Orb. I know you would love to see the other continents. So far you have only seen this one and Obeha, correct?”
Elise waved the question off. “Yes, but that is not relevant. You called me a toy, this sounds more like a pet. A pet you plan to bed. I am quite sure that is illegal in Arclid, Your Majesty. Especially as it would not be consensual. I never wish to see you again, much less touch your pasty, bony body.”
The Queen beamed. “Ah, tempestuous as always. Imagine speaking like that to your Queen. The gall! The absolute nerve! Excellent. Where my Elise goes, drama and trouble are never far behind. So wonderful to see you again, little fire-starter. And you brought friends. Do not be rude, introduce us.”
Elise tried for a calming breath. “This is Cai and Fyhre, I am afraid I have never learned their surnames.” She held out her hands towards the Queen as she addressed her friends. “And this is our sovereign. In all her manipulative and mentally unstable glory.”
The Queen merely laughed. Then she turned to Fyhre. “Did Elise say your name was Fire?”
Fyhre squared her shoulders. “Uh. Aye, it’s pronounced fire. But spelled F-Y-H-R-E, your Majesty. I’m Fyhre Stockton an’ this is Cai Weybourne.”
The Queen didn’t look like she was listening. She seemed busy raking her eyes over Fyhre’s body. “I see. My, you are a well built one. You look like you could carry me all the way to bed and not even be the least fatigued when we got there.”
Fyhre blushed, and Cai reached out a hand to place it protectively around her waist.
The Queen jeered. “Oh, do not look so flustered. I am not here to bed factory workers. I came here to have some fun with the escaped Lady Falk and bring her home.” She returned her gaze to Elise. “If you will not be my sister-in-law and the powers at court refuse to allow you to be a lady in waiting, then I shall have to keep you as something else. Shan’t I?”
Elise rubbed her forehead. “I am predicting that you do not mean a groomsman or a cook.”
The Queen’s giggle was condescending. “We both know I will have you as one of my mistresses. It will shame your family, of course, but you are bound to find new friends amongst the women and men lucky enough to be my lovers. Most of them are quite like you — carnal, hot-blooded troublemakers. Exactly my type. I will have them introduce you to the job thoroughly one night.”
The Queen smiled wolfishly, her meaning all too clear to Elise.
Suddenly, Nessa’s clear voice rang out. “That’s it!” She shoved her way to the front of the throng. “I was going to stay out of this because I felt this was between you and Elise. But I won’t let you talk about her like that. She’s not a toy, not a pet, not some bed slave for you to throw to your other bed slaves to break in. She’s not your little fire-starter, tinderbox maker, and certainly not your prey. She’s a human. A strong, sweet, intelligent, and generous one.”
Nessa stomped her foot hard before continuing. “If you think that you can own her because of your past together, your status, or because Elise’s parents gifted her to you, you’re wrong. She belongs to herself and will do whatever she wants.”
The Queen paced towards Nessa, making every step ring out in the much too quiet room. Every person there – brawler to barkeep – looked on in stunned silence. When the Queen stood in front of Nessa, she towered over her.
“You are incorrect. Lady Falk belongs to me. She forgot that and ran off. Probably because some little country wench convinced her to,” she retorted, each word clipped with regal rage.
Nessa’s open face was the picture of defiance. “No one had to convince her of anything. You sent her off to marry your brother. She didn’t want to. She was sure no one would miss her if she left, so she ran off. I had nothing to do with that.”
“Well, she was mistaken. I miss her,” the Queen said, a snakelike smile playing on her purple-painted lips.
Nessa shook her head. “As a toy, as a possession to laugh at and to mount at will. That. Doesn’t. Count. I would rather die than let you take her away against her will. And I will never let you convince her she is nothing more than someone whose quick temper and erotic drive can be entertaining. She’s the real queen here. You? You’re just a spoiled, heartless child.”
The Queen’s smile dissolved. “I am your Queen. I can kill you. Kill your family. Burn that ugly little village of yours to the ground.”
Nessa snorted. “Really?”
She looked around the room, addressing the people sitting slack-jawed at tables or standing wide-eyed by the bar. “Let it be known that if anything happens to the village of Ground Hollow, or to Jon and Carryanne Clay, that it was the Queen who did it. It was only a generation ago the people of Arclid last rebelled because these Royals thought they could do whatever they wanted. If she burns down an innocent village – one that supplies you with the grain for your bread, and the fruit for your alcohol, I might add – then revolt again. Start by spreading the fact that those deaths happened because the Queen desired to enslave a woman who simply wanted to be free.”
The silent crowd was stirring. People moved in their seats, fists clenching, arms crossing over chests. Shocked faces were turning to scowls.
Elise wanted to shout with glee. Nessa was right: the people of Arclid were docile up until rumours of abuse of power and attempted slavery started to fly. Especially slavery for sexual purpose, which had been the reason for the last sizable revolt. The Queen could not risk it. Her reign was already on thin ice as she had yet to choose a husband and have children.
Elise stepped closer to the Queen, looking away from Nessa and back to her former mistress. Somehow, the Queen looked less formidable now.
Elise tilted her chin up. “She is right. Nessa is always right. You know she has you n
ow. It was our luck that you happened to be here tonight. You ran into us in a situation that you did not set up, that you cannot control. Look at all these witnesses. Look at these tough, salt-of-the-earth people. They will not bow to you and look the other way, not like the slime at court. Tell me, did you recognise Nessa right away?”
The Queen adjusted her sleeve, feigning indifference. “It was a few hands into the game when I realised that I had seen her before. I had seen her with you, stumbling home after a night in a tavern. Walking arm in arm down these filthy streets. Saying farewell to you in the morning, before you went to that ridiculous printing job. I recognised the dull, dowdy farm girl you were playing house with. You turned down being a princess for this? Pathetic.”
There was a fire burning in Elise’s chest now. “Stop it! She is anything but dull and dowdy, and you know it. I see the way you look at her. You know she is everything you can never be. Honest, kind, loving, loyal, conscientious, unselfish. Not to mention that she is the most interesting person to ever walk the Orb. You simply cannot stand that I would choose her over you, even if it meant death for me. So, out of jealousy and spite you decided to win all her coin and toy with her a bit? Was that it?”
“Does it matter, fire-starter? Make this easy on all of us, come with me and discuss this at court like civilised people. I can pay you handsomely. Perhaps even find you a more legitimate position at court than mistress. The royal theatre might have a vacancy?”
Elise shook her head in disbelief. “You simply cannot grasp this, can you? I do not want to be your diversion, your toy, your lover. I want nothing more to do with court or Highmere. No more schemes, no more games.” She stopped to take a breath, she had to remember to breathe. “I wish to be my own person. To get by through hard work and newly learnt skills. I wish to – what was it you called it? – ‘play house’ with Nessa. She is my everything, and if I am lucky enough that she will still have me, I want to spend the rest of my life by her side. She has earned my love, respect, and admiration — something you could never do.”
She and the Queen stared at each other in silence. Those cold, dark, regal eyes didn’t blink. Her purple lips twisted, making her look like she had tasted something sour. Elise forced herself to stand tall and maintain eye contact. Her brain was frantically trying to figure out what to do next but coming up with nothing.
“That makes it all clear, doesn’t it? Elise is leavin’ here with us, an’ ye will let her go,” a voice said, sounding like it was stating the obvious.
The Queen, Nessa, and Elise all turned to the speaker. It was Fyhre. Her features were a mask of grim determination, her feet planted, and her bulky biceps contracting under the tight shirtsleeves as her hands balled into fists.
The Queen raised her eyebrows, a smile now twitching at the corners of her mouth. “Oh, really? Will I? And where would be the fun in that?”
Cai butted in. “Honestly, Your Queenliness. Wouldn’t it be easier an’ more fun to scurry off an’ find a new toy? Then, if ye got bored with him or her, ye can start chasin’ Elise again. Just leave everyone else out of it. Leave Ground Hollow an’ Nessa’s parents in peace. An’ stop ruinin’ everyone here’s night. There’s a bleedin’ fight scheduled tonight. Jhones against Calder. An’ because of ye, there hasn’t even been any bettin’!”
All of a sudden, there was a roar of displeasure from the crowd. Clearly these people took their fights seriously and disliked that the unpopular Nobles had waltzed in and interrupted their fun.
Elise watched as the Queen looked around. She could almost see the cogs moving in her sharp, twisted, sovereign brain. So many witnesses. People who didn’t like the royalty or the rich on a good day. Ones that were now drunk and angry. Ones that probably had knives and brass-knuckles.
Elise smiled to herself. Regretting that you did not bring your guards, Your Majesty?
The Queen sniffed. “Fine. Conceivably, it might be more fun to find someone new. Someone younger and with actual curves. I shall take that into consideration.”
“Consider it swiftly. Because I and my friends are leaving,” Elise said, loud and clear.
She grabbed Nessa’s hand and headed for the door, trusting Cai and Fyhre to know when it was time to scurry away. Their footfalls behind her confirmed her assumption.
The door seemed so very far away. Every step she took, Elise was terrified that she’d hear the loud clicks of the Queen’s heels. Or hear her shriek out an order to “seize them” to some hidden guard or hired muscle. Elise just wanted to be outside, where she could run without looking like a frightened field mouse.
“Go left,” Nessa whispered. “There’s a secret backdoor that Hunter showed me.” Elise obeyed without question.
Finally, they were all out the door and in an unfamiliar alley. It was pitch dark, and Elise’s frightened mind saw guards and hired assassins everywhere. The door slammed close, and Elise wasted no time in running towards the distant light of streetlights.
Are the others with me? Yes, you idiot. You are the only one with heeled boots and the one in the worst physical condition. If you can keep this pace, they certainly can.
They got out of the dark alley and kept running. Their steps pounded the streets of Nightport, and soon Elise realised that she didn’t know where she was leading them. She was just running away.
“Where should we go?” she panted to the two locals.
“Let’s find Hunter,” Cai shouted back. “He’ll know where to hide ye. Jus’ in case her Queenliness comes after ye.”
“Fine. Where would he be?” Elise replied breathlessly.
“He said something about rounding people up for the Goblin’s Tavern tonight. He might still be there,” Nessa replied, annoyingly not the least out of breath.
“There’s a shortcut,” Fyhre said and took off running to the right.
They all followed without question. Elise was doing a lot of that tonight. As she ran, she realised that she couldn’t ignore the smell of lavender and purified alcohol which, real or imaginary, still clung to her nose. It was threatening her more efficiently than words ever could. She ran faster.
Chapter 30
Mad Heart
As they saw the sign for the Goblin’s Tavern, fires and all, Nessa was relieved to spot a glimpse of cobalt. Thank the gods for Hunter’s unique style. She headed for the man head-to-toe in blue.
“Hunter! You have to help us,” Elise panted as she almost ran into him.
He took a step back and surveyed them. “I… I… what now? What in the name of the gods has happened to you four?”
“We had to run,” Fyhre said.
Hunter put his hands on his hips and glared at her. “Sweetest heart, I can see that. But why?”
Nessa grabbed his elbow to get his attention. “That harmless table you led me to? It didn’t stay harmless for long. A new player joined, and it turned out that she was the gods-forsaken Queen.”
Hunter scrunched up his nose. “The queen of what?”
“Of Arclid, you imbecile,” Elise snapped.
His eyes grew big. “What?”
Cai chuckled while pointing to Elise. “Seems our mate ‘ere is secretly a big deal. Close to the bleedin’ Queen. Even underneath the Queen some nights, it seems.”
Elise groaned. “Thank you for adding that last bit, Cai. Yes, I am afraid I have lied a little, Hunter. The truth is that I was a lady-in-waiting before being shipped off to marry Prince Macray. Neither he nor I approved. I came across Nessa, through a long story which involved her climbing to my window, and we both wanted to leave. So, we travelled here together. My real name is Lady Elisandrine Falk. I am so terribly sorry for deceiving all of you.”
Fyhre and Cai looked shocked but said nothing.
Hunter smiled widely. “Aha! I know you had a juicy secret. How splendid! A real Noble in the flesh. Hmm, but you said you were born in Silverton? Not Highmere? Was that a lie, too?”
Elise put her hands on her hips. “We are not all gathere
d in Highmere, as if under some form of house arrest, you know. There are Nobles in quite a few of the towns scattered around Arclid, actually. Newhaven, Chislehurst, Crawley, and of course Silverton, to mention a few.”
“Can we get back to the main story here and stop reeling off facts about Noble life?” Nessa muttered.
Hunter shook himself alert. “Yes, of course. I wish you would have confided in me, but no matter. So, am I to understand that the Queen came to fetch you back tonight?”
Elise looked down at the ground. “In a manner of speaking, yes. She has in fact been here for quite a while, it seems. She has been incognito while toying with me. Trying to confuse and scare me before swooping down and picking me up in her long talons to take me back to Highmere.”
Hunter made a sound, half scoff and half hum. “Well, this is not Highmere. This is Nightport. Here we see Royalty as a necessary evil at best and a disruptive, power-hungry nuisance at worst. You, however, have become one of us. At least that is the way I see it. And Nightport looks after its own. Like a harsh but loyal parent.”
He stared into space before shaking himself out of his reverie. “We need to hide you deep in the city until she tires of playing with you and goes back to court. Or transport you somewhere further into the lowlands or the highlands, by carriage or ship. What will it be, heartling?”
“No. Further away. In case the Queen hunts ‘er,” Fyhre said.
Elise nodded. “Fyhre is right, I need to get far away. I doubt the Queen will chase me, but tonight has shown that I cannot predict her behaviour. I should leave Arclid. However, leaving for one of the other continents… means that visiting will be hard,” she said, facing Nessa.
Making a Tinderbox (The Tinderbox Tales Book 1) Page 29