She ran to the hole in the corner and threw up.
Sober crossed the room and stood by, holding her hair back and rubbing her shoulders.
As soon as she finished retching, she wiped her mouth and screamed. "Get out!" She stood and beat on his chest. "It's your fault. Your fault! You told. Why did you tell?"
He dropped the soup bowl, grabbed her hands, and held them still. "I never told anything."
"You didn't come to lunch. You were avoiding me."
"My mistress wouldn't let me come. Calamity told her trouble was blowing on the mountain. He told her you were involved and I needed to stay home so no one would connect us."
"You told someone." She searched his eyes for the lie she was sure was lurking there. "I never told anyone else that the king was too weak to use me as a concubine. No one knew but you, Sober."
"I wish I could take the blame, if it would ease your pain, Repentance." He put both arms around her and squeezed her against his chest. "I never told anyone," he whispered.
"My Lady?" Tigen said, his voice thin and shaky.
She pushed herself away from Sober. Tigen stood as white as the wall behind him. She shouldn't have screamed. She'd scared the poor boy out of his wits.
"My Lady?" he said again.
"I'm sorry I scared you, Tigen."
"One day ... one day ... I was by Mist Lake, and I heard you talking to someone."
Oh no.
"I heard you say that the king was sick and he only took you because you reminded him of someone he knew."
She groaned. It couldn't have been Tigen.
"Later when Gaylor and Baeler were calling you a whore, I told them that you weren't our old-uncle's concubine."
And so she would die.
She had befriended a little overlord boy and made him want to defend her honor, and now she had to pay with her life. That's how it worked when you went against the order Providence had set for your life.
She would die and what would she leave behind? She'd screamed at Sober, blaming him, and by doing that she'd laid a burden on Tigen that would likely crush him. Now when she was hanged, Tigen was sure to blame himself. He would grow up thinking he'd as much as slipped the noose around her neck.
She reached out to him and he came into her arms. "Tigen," she whispered as she hugged him. "I love you. I don't care who knows it. I don't care that you're an overlord boy and I'm a lowborn girl. I love you because you're good and loving and kind. You didn't do anything wrong."
She wept into his hair for the second time that week.
When she released him he was still white, but he gave a brave, trembling smile. "You're not a lowborn girl, though. You're an overlord lady."
She touched her neck. "Not that anyone can tell."
Color flushed back into his cheeks and he squirmed around, all excited, like a piglet at feeding time. "Everyone will be able to tell soon enough," he said. "We have clothes for you. You will wrap the turban around your head and all people will see is your eyes. Your light eyes. They don't look like slave eyes. You could look like an overlord from Norbank."
"What are you saying?"
"I'll be your slave," Sober said. "And Tigen will be your younger brother. No one will suspect."
"We are to kidnap the prince's son?"
"Only until we get out of the city. We'll send him back when we get to the wall."
She shook her head. "It's too risky. What if you get caught?"
"I'm not leaving you here, so there's no sense in arguing."
"How am I going to get out of the dungeon?"
Sober pointed to Tigen. "Who else knows all the hidey holes in a palace if not the young prince?"
"Tigen, you know a way out of here?"
He puffed his chest out.
"We leave now?"
Sober put a hand on her arm to hold her back. "We'll be back tonight. We don't have much time so listen carefully. When we come back and open your door we won't have a key. We're going to knock the handle off. Tigen knows how to do it. But the floor of your cell is set to slide back into the wall if the door is opened without a key. It's an escape deterrent. The lake lies right beneath your floor, and if you fall in, you'll freeze immediately. Do you understand?"
She nodded. And shuddered. She knew about the lake. Tigen had told her he fished in it.
"When I open the door, you need to be prepared to jump over to me."
"But I can't run away. My family—"
"—will be fine," Sober said, finishing her sentence for her. "I've taken care of everything. We've got to go before the dungeon master gets suspicious. We'll be back with the clothes, and everything you need. Trust me."
And he and Tigen were out the door.
In the quiet after they left, Repentance stared at the square of light on her floor, thinking.
She couldn't run. By law, after he executed her, the king could take a sister or a brother to replace her.
But she was sure he wouldn't hurt them. He wasn't vindictive. He loved her overlord father and he had been learning to love her. He wouldn't take any pleasure in punishing her family after she was dead.
Running was different from an execution, though. He might feel forced into going after her family to publicly humiliate her. To show that no one could escape from him without paying a heavy price. He was so determined to punish disobedience, so as not to appear weak.
And Sober couldn't run, either, or his parents would be forfeit to his mistress.
But Sober said he'd worked it all out. She had to trust him.
He told her to be prepared.
So she would prepare.
Reaching her hand into her pocket, she felt her little parchment book and her char-stick, and she counted her buttons with her fingertips. "One, two, three. There we go," she whispered. "All packed."
Love gives birth to courage. It turns the smallest of lizards into mighty dragons.
~Professor Pottamous Scroll, Harthill University
Chapter 29
Sitting on her lava cloth in her dark dungeon cell, she stirred the buttons in her pocket around with her finger, and she laughed and laughed and laughed.
She'd come up the mountain with nothing. Once there, she'd gained beds and books and bathing pools. Now she was to go back down the mountain with nothing. No fancy clothes, no rich foods. Just her grimy self and her three gray buttons.
But she would be free.
Was it possible?
Hours later, a small knock sounded on her door. She jumped up and looked out the square window. Sober stood outside, his finger to his lips.
She positioned herself in the center of the room figuring whichever way the floor slid, the center would be the safest place.
She heard a muffled clunk. The door handle popped off and skittered across her floor. The door swung open.
With a soft, grinding sound, the floor began to slide into the back wall. Mist billowed up from the underground lake beneath the palace.
"Come to me," Sober whispered.
She stepped to the edge of the floor, feeling carefully with her foot, not really able to see with all the fog swirling through the cell.
"Jump!" Sober gave a whispered command.
She hesitated. The mist cleared a trickle—enough for her to see the lake several feet below her, the surface reflecting back the light from the hallway in dizzifying motion.
"Jump!" Sober said again.
She barely heard him over the grinding of the floor. He seemed too far away.
"Repentance, you have to jump now."
She'd waited too long. She'd never make it across.
"Catch this!"
Something hit her hands. The end of Sober's button scarf.
"Got it?"
"It's too far," she said.
"You jump, Repentance. One, two, three!"
He yanked.
She hung onto the button scarf and let it pull her off balance, but she didn't jump in time. She tried at the last moment to push off, but as
soon as her feet left the floor she knew she didn't have enough momentum. She was going to land in the lake.
Holding the button scarf for dear life, she gave a little scream. Then she slammed into the ice wall below the doorway where Sober stood. The ice bit into her hands, and she almost let go of the scarf.
Sober grabbed a hold of one wrist. "Tigen, where are you?" he whispered loudly.
"Pull me up," Repentance said, frantically. "My feet are in the lake." Panicking, she tried to scramble up, but when her wet feet touched the wall, they froze to it as quickly as a dampened corner of a suncloth would have done. "Oh, dear Providence, my feet! Sober, my feet are frozen."
"Repentance, look at me," Sober said. "You'll be fine. Stay still."
"I'm here." Tigen's voice came from below her.
Something bumped into her legs.
They heard a splash and a muffled scream coming from the direction of the cell next door.
A look of shock crossed Sober's face. "Tigen, when you open one door, all the floors slide back?"
Repentance looked down. Tigen sat in a rowboat, right underneath her, his face white and his eyes round and terrified.
"Never mind," Sober said. "Tigen, you have to catch Repentance when I let her go. Put your arms around her waist and ease her into the boat so I can come down and get her feet loose."
Tigen grabbed her and Sober let her go. Tigen swayed under her weight, the boat rocking crazily underneath them.
"Sit down," Repentance said, in an urgent whisper. "We'll tip!"
He half fell underneath her so they were both lying in the rowboat anchored to the wall by her frozen feet.
Sober dropped down, the boat once again rocking wildly as he swayed and finally got his balance.
He lifted Repentance enough so Tigen could crawl out from under her, and then he set to work freeing her. Scooping icy water from the lake with his hands and dumping it on one foot, he yanked it quickly from the wall. "Wrap her feet in lavacloth," he told Tigen, as he freed her other foot.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Repentance said. "I didn't jump. I was too scared."
"You've nothing to be sorry about, Repentance." He reached under her arms and pulled her more fully into the boat, sitting her on the floor in front of the middle seat. "You've hardly had anything to eat in over a week and you're in shock. You've done fine. Rest, now. The lavacloth will warm your feet up in no time. We'll be fine."
He twisted so he was sitting on the middle seat, with his back toward Repentance. Tigen, done wrapping her feet, turned his back on her, as well, so he could face the prow.
"Row straight ahead, Sober," the boy said. "You're all clear until we come to an island halfway out."
Sober rowed, and the boat skimmed under the wall that separated Repentance's cell from Consecration's. Light falling from the small windows in the doors above cut through the murk at regular intervals, making the shadows between feel all the darker.
Something clunked against the boat. Repentance glimpsed Consecration's frozen, white face and quickly looked away in horror.
"He froze that fast." Sober said, looking over his shoulder.
Horror filled her. And pity.
And fear.
She looked at Tigen as he leaned forward in the boat, trying to see through in the blackness and the fog. "Don't lean so far, Tigen. You might fall out."
"I'm the one who brought the boat in, my Lady," he said. "I've done this many times."
They skimmed along in silence after that, bypassing the island Tigen had mentioned, and then heading for the moonlight that seeped in at the end of the palace. They had to crouch down to get out from under the palace wall, the boat barely scraping through.
Silvery, moonlit fog shrouded the lake. Repentance shivered and whispered a prayer of thanks for the fog that hid them.
Sober bumped the dock, tied the boat off, and helped the others out.
Tigen pulled a bundle of clothes from under the bench on the dock. "Wrap the scarf around your head, my Lady—like a turban," he whispered. "And put the robe on over your smock."
The turban was lopsided and lumpy, though she pushed and tucked as best she could with cold, clumsy fingers. The robe, lava cloth woven into thick, velvety material, warmed her instantly and made her feel like an overlord lady despite the dirty work smock beneath.
"But I can't walk," Repentance whispered when Sober directed her to jump down from the dock.
Concern filled his eyes. "Your feet? They're frozen?"
"They're warm, but still wet." The dock was covered with lavacloth so nothing would freeze to it. But she knew as soon as she stepped onto the icy ground her damp feet would stick in place.
Sober grabbed the lava cloth from the floor of the boat and tore it in two. The ripping sounded too loud in the still night. Repentance looked around frantically, sure a skein of troopers would attack at any moment. Sober wrapped each foot, applying the cloth right over top of her shoes.
The three sneaked along the back wall of the palace, staying in the shadows. When they reached the point where the two wings met, Sober made to leave the palace's cover to cross the exposed kitchen courtyard. Repentance yanked him back. "Stop," she whispered.
"We have to get to the yak barns."
She shook her head. "The prince will see us. He watches out the window. He's watching, I'm sure."
"How would you know he's watching?" Sober said. "If he is, he won't recognize you. You look like a noblewoman."
"What would a noblewoman be doing wandering around in the night?"
"We have to go. People are waiting to help us—the longer we make them wait, the greater the danger. Pray Providence you're wrong and the prince is not watching."
She couldn't go. The prince had seen her the last time she'd crossed that courtyard by moonlight. Thinking about being caught and thrown back in the dungeon, she stood trembling. "I can't do it."
Sober took her shoulders and looked at her intently. "Much is at stake. You cannot selfishly sit here and wait to be caught. Your friends have risked their lives to free you."
At the other end of the palace, yellow light splashed into the courtyard when someone opened the kitchen door. Generosity came through the door, grabbed the garbage sled, and started in their direction.
Dragging the sled noisily behind her, she came. She was nearly even with them when she saw them and jumped back, a hand over her heart. "You scared me that much," she whispered, once she'd caught her breath. "I wondered where you'd gotten to. I meant to go around by the lake to see what I could see. Figured I'd take the garbage sled along as an excuse, though it's empty. And then I see movement in the shadows and I think I'm as good as caught by the swingman for sneaking about with an empty garbage sled."
"We're stuck here," Sober said. "Repentance is afraid to move, lest the prince see us from one of the palace windows."
"Get in the sled then, and be quick. Crouch down. I'll pull you to the yak barn."
"The garbage sled doesn't go to the yak barn," Repentance said. "The garbage goes to the other side of the palace."
"But the prince, should he be looking from the palace windows, will not know that, will he?" Generosity said. "He's never taken the garbage to the burn pit, I'll wager."
Repentance and Sober climbed in and lay on the bottom of the sled. Tigen stretched out on top of Sober.
Generosity threw her cloak over the piled bodies in case someone should look down from an upstairs window. She grunted and puffed and panted, getting the sled moving, but once she got them gliding along, they moved at a steady clip, the ice squeaking under the runners, and sounding way too loud in the clear air of the mountain evening.
Repentance looked through a gap, and saw the stars, shining brilliantly in the cold, crisp sky. She remembered the first time she'd seen a starry sky. Sober was lying next to her that time, too. Tears filled her eyes when she remembered how she'd hated him that night. How could she have ever hated him?
The way to the yak barn ran o
ver even ground, fortunately, and Generosity pulled without stopping. Repentance, through her peep hole, counted the barns as they passed. The top of the last barn slid into view and disappeared behind them before the runners slid to a stop.
They disembarked on the far side.
Repentance hugged Generosity. "Thank you, my friend," she said softly. Her friend. She had found dear friends on the mountain. She wasn't cursed after all.
"You are most welcome," Generosity answered.
Sober, with Tigen on his heels, peered around the corner of the barn. "No one following," he said over his shoulder. "But we must move on."
"Did I not tell you he was in love with you?" Generosity whispered, giving Repentance another squeeze. "He risks his life for you."
Repentance felt her cheeks flame. "That means nothing. Tigen risks his life as well."
"You make my point for me, Repentance. For we all know young Tigen is utterly smitten." She turned then, chuckling, and pulled the garbage sled back toward the palace.
Sober and Tigen joined Repentance. She took a final backward glance toward the courtyard, wondering if she'd ever see Generosity again.
Sober tugged on one of her arms and Tigen on the other, and the three hustled toward the bluff that overlooked the city.
As they neared the bluff, Shamed separated himself from the dark silhouette of the pine tree, which stood on its brow.
Repentance hugged him. "Thank you, Shamed."
His blush was dark enough to show in the moonlight. Repentance turned away so as not to embarrass him further. She looked out over the city, stretching out below the palace. The night was dark, but the city streets were well lit.
"You first, Miss Repentance," Shamed said, as he held up a rope with a loop tied in it. "Step into this."
"What am I first at?" she asked, stepping in.
He pulled the loop up to her thighs. "You're going to sit down on this and I'm going to lower you down the cliff. Hold the rope right here." He showed her where to put her hands and slipped three pickles into her pocket. "Give Bramble my regards."
"Wait! You're going to lower me down? How far is it?"
He shrugged. "I've got sixty feet of rope and you'll hit bottom before I run out."
The Button Girl Page 24