The Fairytale Keeper: Avenging the Queen
Page 21
“Elias? He’s sentenced to die in the stocks for heresy,” he replies and gives me a strange look.
“I set him free a few hours ago. He’s resting in my room at the White Stag.”
“Does your father know about that?” he whispers. I shake my head and smile devilishly.
He laughs and shakes his head. “Let me walk you to The Stag,” he offers, but I shake my head.
“I should wait for him.” I say and look upon my Father, sitting sadly in his workshop. “Besides your family is worried for you.”
I place my other hand in his and tears pool upon my eyelids. I smile through my sadness and with a single blink, the tears stream down my face. Ivo leans down and we linger in our last kiss. I follow him down the stairs and watch as he walks out the door into the smoke-filled streets.
I turn to check on Father, intending to give a half-hearted apology. I feel badly for hurting him, for worrying him, but, if given the chance, I would live this night again in exactly the same way.
“Leave me,” his voice cracks. “Go back to the room. We leave at the strike of seven, whether you are there or not.” I think I’d rather have him yell at me than look so terribly disappointed.
***
It is the dawn that lights the sky now for the cathedral fire has been quenched. Clouds of smoke hang heavily over the city and float through the streets. I hold my cloak to my nose so I can breathe easier. I think of Ivo as I head back to the White Stag, careful not to get lost in the dense fog. I hope he isn’t caught, though who would suspect him of burning the cathedral? As long as no one saw him light the fire, he should be safe. I shall pray for it every day until I can return to Cologne and we can be married.
I walk into the White Stag which is empty and up the stairs to my room. Elias sleeps on the bed. I sit on its edge and look over the city of Cologne. Artisans and merchants make their way through the cloudy market to set up their stands. Their faces are soulless masks. Unlike me, they aren’t happy to see our cathedral burned down. But they do not know the Archbishop for the scoundrel he is, that he doesn’t deserve a cathedral and the tithes that come with it.
It is half past six when Elias stirs, which is a good thing for I was just about to wake him.
“Is this a dream? Am I dead?” he asks, and I shake my head.
“You’re free. Remember last night?” I say and see the recollection in his face. He nods and I smile at him. He sighs.
I kneel beside him. “Elias, do you remember how I said that I needed you to live?”
“Yes,” he replies, though he looks a little afraid of what I am about to say next.
“I need you to do something for me,” I say and he nods. “There is a boy, named Ivo, son of Erik Bauer.”
“Yes, I know of him,” Elias says.
“I need you to teach him to read.”
“I cannot stay in Cologne. I’ll be killed!” Elias argues.
“There must be someone on the outside of the city who would house you.”
He shakes his head.
I pull out my purse and place it in his hand. It holds all the coins that I’d been saving so Ivo and I could run away together. “Here, pay someone to take you in. The people on the outside of the city do not know you’re an outlaw.”
He nods reluctantly. I take a few coins from the purse before he can change his mind and go down to the tavern. I purchase enough bread and wine to last him two days and another night in his room. I head back to the room and set the food on a small table.
“Once you are safe, find Ivo and figure something out,” I say and start to wrap my cloak around my shoulders before I realize Elias shall need it more than me. I set it on the edge of the bed for him. “Be careful Elias. The cathedral was burned to the ground last night. Cologne is a dangerous place now.”
I turn the door knob and step outside.
“Addie!” he calls and I turn.
“Thank you,” he says. Little does he know, he owes me nothing. What I have done for him I have done for myself. I nod and close the door behind me.
***
The brown carriage horse paws at the ground, ready to head into the fields. I pet him on the nose and he snorts. I step into the carriage without bothering to hide my tears.
“Addie,” a voice calls and I see Levi running toward me carrying my mother’s tunic. “You almost forgot this.” I step out of the carriage and take the tunic. I place it to my nose and breathe in the lavender scent of my mother.
“Thank you,” I say, and he wraps his arms around me, squeezing me tightly.
“Oh, and Ivo wanted me to tell you something.”
“Is he all right?” I ask.
“Vatti was going to beat him, but when he found out that Ivo was with you all night, he patted him on the back and said: ‘That’s my boy.’”
I roll my eyes. “So what did Ivo say?”
“Do not make me say it. It’s gross,” Levi sneers.
“Please,” I plead with a smile.
“He says that he loves you,” Levi huffs. “And that he’ll never ever say no to you again.”
I laugh. “Tell him that I’m going to make him write that down. Oh, and I love him too.”
“You two are gross,” Levi says with a sneer. He hugs me one more time, says goodbye, and runs home. I climb back into the carriage, put my head in my hands, and sob.
We depart Cologne before the sun has fully risen with Galadriel and only the clothes on our backs.
We say no departing words to our many friends.
I look out the window as we ride through the city that has been the only home I have ever known. I can feel my mother die again. I shall never walk the Christmas market with her. I shall never run into the house caked in mud, have her clean me up, and call me her “little Snow White.” The only item I have of hers is the tunic Ivo had rescued from our house before all of our things were destroyed. I hold it in my arms and smell it, wishing with all my heart that I had her comfort at this moment. But if I had her none of this would be happening at all.
It shall not be long, I tell myself. Galadriel and Father’s affair has begun to unravel already and I shall pull the strings until there is nothing between them but animosity. We shall be home in a month. Then Ivo and I shall be married and no one shall ever take me away from the people I love ever again.
It shall not be long.
Coming Summer 2013
Book Two in The Fairytale Keeper Series
For more information or updates on The Fairytale Keeper series or the author, Andrea Cefalo, visit www.andreacefalo.com or join her fan page at www.facebook.com/andreacefalo
Table of Contents
11 March, 1247 Afternoon
11 March, 1247 Night
12 March, 1247 Early Morning
12 March, 1247 Afternoon
12 March, 1247 Late Afternoon
12 March, 1248 Evening
13 March, 1247
14 March, 1247
15 March, 1247
17 March, 1247
17 March, 1247 Evening
17 March, 1247 Night
18 March, 1247
22 March, 1247
23 March, 1247
24 March, 1247
25 March, 1247
26 March, 1247
26 March, 1247 Evening
26 March, 1247 Night
27 March, 1247
27 March, 1247 Night
28 March, 1247