He wasn’t alone this time. A woman stood at his side, but a little behind him, her face partially hidden by the hood of her robe. Strands of long silver hair peeked out. The man did the talking. “The woman wants to know your name before she tells you where the marker is.”
Robin took a few steps closer to see them both better, but it wasn’t as dark as it had been. Dawn was truly on its way, and their time was slipping. There was something familiar about the woman. “It’s better if I don’t say.”
“Then she has nothing more to share with you.”
“Does she know where my…” He caught himself. He’d almost said my mother. “Where my relative is buried? Please. I’d just like to see her resting place.”
The woman’s hand came up to rest on the man’s arm, and she stepped out from behind him. “Robin?”
Her voice was soft and weathered with age, but it shot through Robin like a pulse of electricity. The reason for her familiarity was plain. It couldn’t be. But then, it had to be. He spoke without thinking or caring. “Mom?”
She pushed her hood back and smiled. “Hello, son.”
Chapter Thirty
Theo flew behind a tree and shifted back into herself, then went straight to Robin’s side. He wasn’t in that spot long, however. He started toward his mother and she toward him, and they met halfway in an embrace that almost made Theo weep.
Robin clung to his mother with a desperate joy that Theo completely understood. She would have hugged her mother the same way if she’d been able.
After a long moment, Robin pulled back and looked at her. “You’re alive. I thought—”
“It had to be that way.”
“But why? And why didn’t you answer my letters?”
“There isn’t time to fully explain, but it wasn’t safe.” Pryn shook her head. “It’s not safe now. You shouldn’t be here. If the queen were to find out…”
“I’m here for you. Come with me.” He glanced at Theo. “With us. Back to Shadowvale.”
“Where you were exiled?”
He nodded. “It’s safe there, and life is good. Please. You’re right that there isn’t time to fully explain. Just trust me. Please come.”
Pryn looked at the man behind her. He nodded. “Go. It’s the only way you’ll ever be safe. We’ll be fine.”
Pryn nodded. “Thank you for your kindness and your protection, Marken. Thank your wife and boys, too. And everyone else who’s helped me.”
“I will. It was our pleasure to be of service.” He smiled and then looked at Robin. “Maybe someday the throne will be yours again, Sire.”
Robin shook his head. “I doubt that. But I am forever indebted to you for the help you’ve given my mother.”
Theo glanced at the sky. “We should go. We have to get back to town, and darkness won’t hide us much longer.”
Marken stepped aside. “Be well.”
Pryn touched his arm. “Be well.”
The trio made the return trip in silence and with as much speed as possible, but the sky was nearly lavender by the time they reached the servants’ gate. And the guard had returned from his job in the dungeon.
They huddled in the same hiding spot as they had before. Theo groaned softly. “I don’t think the leaky-wall ruse will work twice.”
“We have to get into the castle?” Pryn asked.
“I’m afraid so,” Robin answered. “The portal is in the courtyard.”
Pryn snorted. “It’s one guard. I say we take him out. The odds are in our favor.”
Theo’s brows shot up. “I like your mother a lot. And that gives me an idea. Since time is running out, we really have no other option but to just do this. Let’s go.”
Robin’s hand on her shoulder stopped her. “What do you mean just do this? What are you going to do?”
Theo grinned. “Act like we belong inside. And if that doesn’t work, tell him the truth. Either he lets us through, or you’re going to toss him into the moat.”
Pryn nodded. “Solid plan.”
“There’s nothing solid about that.” Robin shook his head. “What if he sounds the alarm? Which is highly likely.”
Theo understood Robin’s concern. He had his mother to think about now. “Then you toss him into the moat and catch up to us, because we’re already going to be at the fountain.”
Robin frowned. “This is not a good plan.”
Pryn gave him a stern look. “You have a better one?”
“No, but I don’t want to see you in Vesta’s clutches.”
“I don’t see what other choice we have. We need to leave.” Theo checked the guard again. “There’s no change. We just have to do this.” She started walking toward the gate.
She heard a grunt of disapproval behind her, but it was quickly followed up with soft footsteps. Good. Robin and his mother were coming along. Theo did her best not to smile. She was supposed to be a servant arriving for work at the castle.
The guard tracked her as she approached. She yawned like arriving for work was the most boring, mundane thing. When she was halfway across the bridge, she made eye contact with him. “Two kitchen staff.” She hooked her thumb over her shoulder at Robin and Pryn. “And another maintenance crew behind me.”
His eyes narrowed. “You don’t look familiar to me. None of you.”
“New hires,” Theo answered. “Part of the twenty who were brought on yesterday.”
“Twenty?” He frowned. “I wasn’t told about that.”
She put her hands on her hips as Robin and Pryn came to a stop behind her. “Something to do with a leak in the dungeon and being short staffed and it not happening again.”
He grimaced slightly. “That’s been fixed.”
Theo shrugged. “Whatever. But if the queen’s getting fresh biscuits for breakfast, you’d better let me through.”
He hesitated. “IDs, and you’d best sign in.”
Robin snorted as he looked over the man’s shoulder. “Sign in on what?”
The guard went over to the small alcove that housed the lever to raise the bridge. There was a clipboard there, but it was empty. He grumbled something under his breath about not being able to do his job properly.
“Listen,” Theo said. “I was told she gets cranky if those biscuits aren’t hot and ready. Let us in, and I promise to run back here with a basket of them for you as soon as she’s served. I’ll even put some nightberry jam in there for you. It’s our first day. Cut us a break, will you?”
The guard stopped muttering. “Nightberry jam, eh?”
Robin cracked his knuckles while making an impressive scowl.
Pryn laughed and put her hand on his arm. “Now, now.” She smiled at the guard. “Jeb has a tendency to overreact when things don’t go his way. And I probably shouldn’t have told him the eels will eat just about anything that falls into the moat.”
The guard swallowed. “Go on. Go.” He stayed by the alcove as they passed, moving only to call after Theo, “Don’t forget those biscuits.”
“I won’t,” she answered. “See?” she whispered when they were a safe distance away. “It was a good plan after all.”
Pryn was still smiling. “You are an impressive liar, my dear.”
“Thanks. Self-preservation is a great teacher.”
“Hold up,” Robin said as they rounded a bend toward the large open courtyard. “We need to make sure there’s not a patrol going by. Although there should be a shift change coming up soon.”
They took refuge behind an enormous potted elestia tree. They peered between the seed pods to check every direction of the courtyard.
“Looks okay.” Robin pushed a branch out of the way, snapping a piece as he did so. “But with all the plants and trees, it’s hard to say if there’s anyone else here or not.”
A soft splash echoed from near the servants’ gate. The three looked at each other. Pryn shrugged one shoulder. “Probably the kitchen dumping scraps in the moat. The eels have to eat something.”
; She went back to surveying the courtyard. “That’s all who’s awake right now. Servants and Overwatch. I don’t think the queen ever gets up before the sun. And thankfully, I don’t see any Overwatch.”
Theo looked up. “Not even on the walkways.” Which seemed odd. A little warning bell went off in her head. “Something’s not right. It’s too quiet.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” Robin scratched at his beard, and a clump of hair came off in his fingers. He made a face. “Either way, we should take advantage of it and get to that fountain now.”
Theo couldn’t argue with that, but the feeling of unease remained with her. Getting out seemed like the best possible solution. “All right.”
“I’ll lead. Mother, you stay in the middle, and Theo behind. On three.”
“On three,” Theo repeated.
He counted down and on one, they took off for the center of the courtyard. The fountain bubbled like an oasis in the desert, the frothy palms and blooming plants surrounding it only adding to that illusion.
A few feet to go.
Vesta stepped out of the greenery in a dress patterned with leaves and fronds and flowers. Obviously, her attempt at camouflage. A successful attempt, sadly. In her hand gleamed the royal sword known as the Heartseeker. It was nearly half her length and held a ruby the size of a toddler’s fist embedded in the pommel.
With a speed that surprised Theo, Vesta brought the sword to bear on Robin’s chest, stopping him from doing anything with the dagger he’d pulled from his hip sheath.
“Drop that, or Heartseeker will taste blood.” There was nothing pleasant about Vesta’s smile.
He let the dagger fall.
Her nasty grin widened. “Did you think a ratty moustache and beard would fool me, husband dear?”
“We aren’t married, Vesta. And haven’t been for nearly twenty years. Now let us pass, and I’ll let you live.”
She laughed and leaned on the sword a little harder. It bent slightly as the tip dug deeper. Theo prayed Robin’s battle leathers were doing their job. “You always were given to flights of fancy. But it’s time for you to come down to earth and see that I have the upper hand. I have had it since day one. And now that you’ve threatened my life, I cannot allow you to go unpunished. Guards!”
A small troop of Overwatch sprang from the recesses of the courtyard, swords drawn. Theo wanted to cry and scream and launch herself at Vesta, no matter the outcome. She didn’t, though. She stood there and watched the guards surround them. Four of them. And Vesta. She must have expected them to fight.
Or she was far more afraid of Robin than she let on.
Vesta was still smiling, her sword still against Robin’s chest. “I will kill you myself. I think that’s only fitting, don’t you?”
A soft whistle rang out in the otherwise quiet courtyard. It was loud enough to be heard above the water’s bubbling, but it ended as quickly as it had begun with five new sounds. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk-thunk. Crack.
Those were the sounds, Theo realized, of arrows finding their targets. The feathered shafts bloomed almost simultaneously from the backs, shoulders, and torsos of the men around them.
The arrow intended for Vesta sliced open her upper arm, but found its home in the palm behind her. Blood spilled from the wound, staining the sleeve of her green gown. Six inches to the right, and it would have pierced her heart. Terror filled her eyes. The sword in her hand had fallen away from Robin’s chest to tremble at waist-height. “What have you done to me?”
Robin looked as shocked as she did. “This wasn’t my doing, as much I wish I could lay claim to it.”
Marken and two other men ran in, bows strapped across their backs and swords in their hands. Marken addressed them while his men went to work securing the fallen Overwatch. “Sire, Lady Pryn, are you all right?”
Pryn nodded. “Yes, thank you for rescuing us.”
Marken grabbed the Heartseeker from Vesta’s hand and held it to her chest the same way she’d just done to Robin. “I hereby arrest you for crimes against the citizens of Limbo. On your knees.”
With a whimper, Vesta sank to the ground. She clutched her injury while glaring at Robin. “How dare you? You set me up. Once a traitor, always a trai—”
Marken closed Vesta’s mouth with the point of Heartseeker under her chin. “You will not speak to the king that way, prisoner.”
She made no further argument, other than some low, angry grunts. Another man with a bow strapped to his back joined them and began tying Vesta’s hands behind her.
Marken spoke to them while watching Vesta. “This is my son. I have more men outside securing the castle. Some of the Overwatch were already with us.”
Theo couldn’t help but ask, “And the guard at the servants’ gate?”
The corners of Marken’s mouth twitched. “Gone for a swim.”
Robin put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “We owe you a debt.”
“This kingdom owes you.” Marken switched swords then, exchanging his own for Heartseeker. That blade he held out to Robin. “The throne is yours again, Your Highness.”
Theo almost gasped. She never imagined this outcome. Robin, on the throne again. She would lose him if that happened, she was sure of it. But that was selfish of her. Limbo needed a strong, kind ruler.
Despite knowing that, she felt her heart ache with the loss that seemed inevitable. That was her life, though. The good things never seemed to last.
Robin shook his head. “My life is no longer here. I am sorry. I appreciate your loyalty more than I can say. And Vesta’s rule absolutely needed to come to an end, as does the magic she’s bound me with. But I am not the king this kingdom needs.” He smiled at Marken. “I believe I am looking at that man.”
Marken’s brow bent with sudden disbelief. “But I never intended—”
“Perhaps not.” Pryn stepped forward. “But you will be an amazing ruler, my friend. And Limna will be the kind of queen this realm has long needed. Say yes.”
“Lady Pryn, what you’re asking of me…”
“I know what I ask. What a sacrifice it is,” she said. “But I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think you are more than capable.”
His brow relaxed as the idea obviously became more palatable. “Will you stay?”
Her smile was slight but held a happiness that shone through. “I will go wherever my son goes.”
“Of course.” Marken took a breath, then straightened a little. A world of emotions seemed to pass through his eyes. “If my kingdom needs me, then I shall serve.” He looked at Robin. “You say the traitor has bound you with magic?”
“She knows what she’s done.” Robin looked at his ex-wife. “Remove it, Vesta. And perhaps the new king will grant you some leniency.”
Theo held her breath. Would Vesta do it?
The ousted queen glowered at him, but grudgingly mumbled a long string of fae words. “There. Your boundaries are dissolved.”
Robin smiled at Marken. “I look forward to your coronation. Now let’s get this woman into a cell. I have another life to return to and responsibilities there that require my attention.” He looked at Theo. “Unless you think we should stay here?”
“We should go back.” She shook her head, hoping the tears in her eyes weren’t obvious. She loved this man for so many reasons. “But is there any reason we can’t return at some point? Just to visit? With Shadowvale as our home?”
“No reason at all. If Marken will allow it.”
Marken snorted like that wasn’t even something that needed to be discussed. “I would be happy to entertain you anytime you wish.”
“Then it’s settled.” Robin took her hand. “What my queen wants, my queen gets.”
Chapter Thirty-one
Nearly a half hour later, most of Robin’s magical beard and moustache had fallen out or been scratched off. He imagined he looked about as awful as a person could look while feeling about as good as a person could feel.
In that half hour, he and Theo had assis
ted Marken’s crew of highlanders in locking down the castle, securing Vesta in a cell, and seeing to the wounded Overwatch. Vesta’s arrow scratch had been treated with a simple bandage.
As word spread throughout Limbo of what had occurred, the citizens arrived to cheer on the regime change and pledge their allegiance to the new sovereign. For all general purposes, Marken had become king the moment he’d taken Heartseeker out of Vesta’s hand.
The coronation would come in the days ahead, but no one doubted who the kingdom’s new ruler was. Robin had a good feeling about the man, and not just because Pryn liked and trusted him. Limbo had never been governed by a highlander before, and Robin thought the change in ruling style would be welcome after Vesta’s dictatorship.
At last, goodbyes were said, and Robin, his mother, and Theo returned to the fountain. He knew Welten and Amelia must be desperate with worry. The concern on Theo’s face made him wonder if she wasn’t thinking the same thing. “We’ll be back soon.”
“I’m ready.” She looked up at him. “But are you sure you’re all right with that? You could be king again.”
“I’m very much all right with it. I never intended to be king in the first place. Unless…” He tipped his head, squinting at her. “Do you…want to be queen?”
“Me?” She shrank back like the idea was unfathomable. “I would be rubbish at that. No, thank you.”
“You wouldn’t be rubbish. You’d be spectacular.”
She frowned at him. “Did you get hit on the head?”
“I’m serious. Even if you don’t see it, I do.”
“I just want to go home.”
Had she just called his house and Shadowvale home?
She shook her head. “I mean—”
“I know what you mean. I want that, too. I want to finally get to know the town I’ve lived in for the last twenty years. And I am very much looking forward to doing that with you at my side.”
“I can’t wait. I’m excited at the prospect of living somewhere besides Limbo. And not having to work every waking hour to get by. And not worrying so much about my father.” She smiled. “And the thought of spending more time with you is pretty great, too.”
Moody And The Beast (Shadowvale Book 4) Page 23