“It’s me,” came a voice that wasn’t Edison’s. "It’s River. Can I come in, please? It’s important.”
Pip opened the door immediately. Perhaps this new sister of hers had some news about Tate.
“We need to talk,” said River. “I went to the herbalist to find you, but she said you’d gone. Your father has had Tate thrown in the dungeon! We need to get him out of there.”
“I know,” said Pip.
“You know?” River’s mouth fell open. “Then what are you doing here? Why aren’t you trying to get him out?”
Pip sat down on her bed, the familiar feeling of shame washing over her. Was there nobody in her family she was able to save?
“This is all because of Edison,” said Pip, determined not to take the blame this time. Ariel had assured her she wasn’t responsible for her mother’s death. It wasn’t her fault Tate was in the dungeon either. “It’s always all because of Edison.”
River went to speak and seemed to stop herself.
“It’s okay,” said Pip. “I’ve seen him for who he is. I’ve been so stupid. So, very stupid. How could I have fallen for his charms so easily?”
“Oh, Pip. You’re not stupid.” River sat down next to her on the bed. “He’s a master manipulator. He caught you when you were vulnerable, that’s all.”
“What do I do? He told me just now that our marriage has been agreed upon. I begged Father to give us his support until he did, and I now want to run as far away from Edison as I possibly can.”
“You can talk to your Father,” said River. “When you ask him to release Tate, you can tell him you no longer wish to be betrothed to that monster.”
“You want me to ask Father to release Tate?” Pip picked up Prin, no longer caring what River thought. “I’m afraid you think I have a lot more influence over him than I actually do.”
“You stopped him from taking Edison’s head, didn’t you? That was so brave. You can do it, Pip. I know you can.”
“That was when I loved him.” Pip pulled at Prin’s dress, then worried she was going to tear it, she set down the doll. “My love for him gave me strength.”
“What opened your eyes to him?” asked River, placing a hand on her back.
“Ariel,” said Pip. “She opened my eyes to so many things. I walked into her kitchen as one person, and I left as another.”
“Pip, what happened to you?” River removed her hand and turned to her. “Why were you locked in your room wasting away? Tate said as a girl you used to run all over the palace. He said you were happy. Where did that girl go?”
“She died with my mother.” Pip got up from the bed and took a seat at her table. As much as she was beginning to like River, she needed her space.
“Broken hearts can mend,” said River, picking up Pip’s Guardian doll and turning her over in her hands.
“You don’t understand.” The urge to lift the burden on Pip’s shoulders grew. “I killed her.”
“How could you have killed her?” River put down the doll and stared at her. “Tate said she was very ill. That there was nothing anybody could do to heal her.”
Pip sighed. Was it really that hard to understand? “I made her ill. Edison had me swap my mother’s tonic. He said it would make her better, and it did for a while. But then she fell even more ill, so I stopped giving it to her. And… well, and then she died and it’s all my fault. I thought it was because I stopped the tonic, but now I wonder if that’s what was killing her all along.”
“Oh, Pip! You were only a child,” said River. “It’s not your fault.”
“It is,” said Pip. “That’s why I can’t bring myself to eat now. Or leave my room. I don’t deserve it. How can I run through the garden with food in my stomach when my mother is buried in the ground?”
“Because it wasn’t your fault,” said River, going to Pip and crouching down in front of her. “It sounds to me like it was Edison’s fault.”
“But why? Why, River?” This was the question that had been haunting her. “He had no reason to want her dead.”
“He must’ve had a reason. We just don’t know what his reason was. All I can tell you is that it wasn’t your fault. You were only a child and you thought you were helping her. You’d never have done anything to hurt her on purpose. You must forgive yourself. It’s time to move on.”
“But he was only a child, too. Just a few years older than me.”
“Edison was never only a child.” River screwed up her face as if she’d just swallowed a bitter tonic. “And besides, look how nicely he’s moved on.”
Pip nodded, wondering if it was possible to let go of her past. If only it were as easy as River seemed to think.
“My mother used to tell me a story,” said Pip. “About a girl called Snow whose jealous stepmother tried to kill her with a poison apple. Do you think maybe Edison was jealous of my mother? Because she was more powerful than his. Would someone really kill for jealousy?”
“I don’t know.” River stood up. “Maybe. But what I do know is that right at this moment Tate is locked in a dungeon and we need to get him out. Let’s go and talk to your father.”
“I’ll probably only make things worse,” said Pip. “The best thing I can do for Tate is stay right away.”
“That’s rubbish,” said River. “You already tried that for almost a decade and look what’s happened. Tate was there for you when you needed him. It’s time for you to do the same for him.”
Pip nodded slowly and River’s face lit with hope.
There was no way her father was going to listen to her.
He never had.
RIVER
THE NOW
River followed Pip into the throne room, hoping the King would listen to their request to have Tate released. Surely, he didn’t intend to keep him down in the dungeon for too long? He was his son! His heir!
The King smiled at them as if nothing was wrong. For once, he didn’t have any food in his hands, although the chicken carcass beside him explained why.
“We’ve come to request that you release Tate from the dungeon,” said River, surprising herself that she hadn’t been able to wait for Pip to speak first. “We’re attempting to produce you an heir, and that’s quite impossible with him down there and me up here.”
The King’s eyebrows shot up to greet his hairline. “I can arrange a double cell for you both, if you like?”
River watched as the King tipped back his head and laughed.
Both Pip and River fixed stony gazes on him as they waited for him to finish.
“Father,” said Pip. “Please, Tate’s your son. You can’t lock him up like this.”
“Why not?” he asked. “You locked yourself up for the best part of ten years and look at you now. You’ve never been better. It’ll be good for him. Give him some time to think.”
“Think about what?” asked River. “About how Edison is destroying this kingdom?”
“Watch yourself!” The King held a long, crooked finger up at her. “You’re overstepping the mark here. Do I need to remind you who your King is?”
“No, Your Majesty.” River bowed her head.
“Better,” he said, nodding his approval. “My son needs some time to think about his behavior. If I hadn’t arrived when I did, he’d have had Edison killed.”
“I thought you wanted him to prove his worth as future King,” said Pip, pulling her shoulders back. “You asked him to take charge.”
“Well, Phillipa, this is a development I didn’t see coming,” said the King. “Have you hardened your heart to your future husband? I only just agreed to your marriage earlier today.”
River held her tongue and waited. Pip had finally found her voice and her courage. It was important she learned to answer for herself.
“The wedding is off,” said Pip.
River could see a strong resemblance between father and daughter as they stared each other down.
“The wedding is not off,” said the King. “I’ve gi
ven Edison my word. You’re to be married in the morning.”
“But you said he could marry me if he restored the Guardians to health,” said Pip. “All he’s done so far is strip them of their rights and turn them into pawns in his game. They’re worse than ever, not better at all.”
“Sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better.” The King seemed happy with this statement, and River wondered if Edison had put these words into his mouth.
“It was only days ago that you wanted his head,” said Pip. “How can you change your mind like this?”
The King laughed. “Look who’s talking, Philippa. I’ve decided Edison talks a lot of sense. While your brother has been busy skipping through cornfields in the morning and failing to impregnate his wife, Edison has been making plans to control an army and bring strength and power to our Kingdom. It saddens me to say that Edison would make a far better King than my own son.”
“Edison can’t be King!” cried River. “Tate is going to be King. A wonderful King. And our children after him.”
“What children?” The King glared at her.
River’s hand flew to her stomach, wondering if the seed of a child had begun to grow in her belly after the last passionate nights she’d spent with Tate.
“We need more time,” she said. They hadn’t been married for long at all. How quickly did he expect this baby to be conceived? “You must release Tate!”
“Relax. I will. After Phillipa’s wedding.”
“Why not now?” asked River. Every day it took to release him was another day too long.
“We can’t have him interfering with the wedding,” said the King. “I’m happy with the husband Philippa chose for herself.”
“I choose him no longer,” said Pip, holding her voice level.
“Your choice remains,” said the King. “It cannot be undone. I’ve given my word. Go now and prepare for your wedding. I’m granting you your greatest wish. Edison shall be your husband. Whether you choose him no longer or not.”
“No, Father,” said Pip. “Please! He’s a cruel man. He killed Mother.”
The King’s head snapped to attention. “Your mother died of a weak constitution. That’s some claim to blame Edison for that. He was merely a child.”
“Edison was never merely a child,” said Pip, repeating River’s words from earlier. “He gave me tonics to give Mother that made her sick.”
“So, you killed her?” he asked, sitting forward.
“No! I just told you what happened.”
“And I just told you I don’t believe you. Now, leave me be. Both your requests are denied. Tate will remain in the dungeon for now and you, my daughter, will be married in the morning.”
“But Father!”
“Go now. Pretty yourself up in the way you women do. Curl your hair and try on your dresses. And be here in the morning for your wedding or I’ll see to it that far worse happens to your brother than being locked safely in a cell. Do you understand me?”
Pip nodded, leaving River to wonder if the King would really take the life of his heir. But Pip knew her father far better than River did and the frightened look on her face seemed to indicate that she believed him.
If only the Guardians knew what kind of King they’d spent their lives training and fighting to protect. It was like protecting the devil himself.
TATE
THE NOW
Tate sat up with a start.
“What the hell?” He brushed his hands across his face. Was that a rat? It was hard to tell in the dark.
He hadn’t been inside one of these cells before. Only seen them from the passageways that wound between them on the rare occasion he’d ventured down here. It’d always given him the shivers with the dank walls that seemed to close in the more steps he’d taken. He’d never imagined that one day he’d be locked inside one of these terrifying cells. He felt just like one of his rabbits caught in a trap. He could wriggle and squirm all he liked, but there was no way he was getting out of here unless someone took pity on him and turned the key in his lock.
A dim light flickered into life in the passageway and Tate rose from the hard bench he’d been lying on and went to the iron bars to peer out.
“Hello?” he called, hoping that whoever it was had brought him some water. He was going to have to start licking the walls soon in search of moisture.
“Tate?”
“River!” She’d come for him! It seemed too good to be true.
“Where are you?” she called.
“Over here.” He waved his hand furiously between the bars, hoping to attract his wife’s attention.
The light came closer and brighter as a familiar figure approached.
“River,” he cried again.
“Oh, Tate.” River held up a lantern. He’d forgotten how beautiful she was with the soft angles of her face illuminated by the light and framed by her golden hair.
“How did you get down here?” he asked.
“You forget who guards this place,” she said. “And that I was once a Guardian. I only wish I could convince them to let you go free, but that would be taking things too far. They’ve granted me a few minutes to see you and that’s all.”
She rested the lantern on the stone floor and reached into a sack handing him a cup full of almonds and a flask of water. He lifted the flask to his cracked lips and drank deeply, the water tasting like liquid magic as it swirled in his mouth.
“Have you talked to my father?” he asked.
River nodded. “He says he’s teaching you a lesson while he keeps you out of the way.”
“Out of the way of what?” Tate put a handful of almonds in his mouth and chewed, enjoying the feeling of the way they crunched under his teeth. His stomach groaned in response to the nourishment.
“Pip and Edison are getting married in the morning,” said River.
Tate swallowed and spluttered. “That was fast. I suppose Pip is happy about this.”
But River shook her head. “Not at all. She’s seen him for who he is. She’s frightened of him. This marriage is the last thing she wants.”
Tate set down both the empty flask and the almonds and reached through the bars for River’s hands, clasping them tightly. “You have to help her.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. I can be there for her, but there’s nothing I can do. Your father’s made up his mind. Says he’s made a promise and he can’t break it.”
“That’s never bothered him in the past,” said Tate.
The jingling of keys came from down the hallway. It seemed their time was up.
“I have to go, Tate. But I’ll come again just as soon as I can. And I’ll find a way to get you out of here. I don’t care what it is that I have to do. You’re going to be set free.”
River pressed her face to the bars and Tate found her sweet lips with his own, enjoying the softness and love in her kiss.
“Princess,” the Guardian called, growing impatient. “Your time is up.”
“I love you,” said Tate, realizing he’d never said this before, even though it was true.
“I love you, too.”
And with those precious words, River picked up her lantern and vanished down the passageway.
He took two steps backward and sat back down on the bench.
River loved him. Together, they’d find a way out of this. They were lucky. They had each other. But poor Pip was about to be married to a man who was as evil as River was good. She’d seen the truth in him, but she’d seen it too late.
How could their father do this to her? His only daughter! But what could he do to help her from here? Nothing.
He’d forgiven his father for so many things over the years. But there was no way he was ever going to be able to forgive this.
Although, as evil as his father could be, he was far from stupid. He’d have known when he’d sent him here that there was no chance of their relationship ever being repaired. Which meant he never intended to release him. H
e planned to make Edison his son and heir instead.
ARIEL
THE NOW
Ariel pressed her ear against the door and listened to Edison work in the kitchen. Her kitchen. What could he possibly be making in the middle of the night? The night before his wedding, no less.
The cooks in the palace would be working furiously through the night, having had a wedding feast foisted upon them at short notice, but Edison was the groom. There was nothing he needed to do, except make himself look nice and turn up.
She heard him chopping furiously as the fire crackled under the pot he’d brought to the boil. The undeniable smell of mushrooms leached under the door.
Ariel’s nose twitched. Years of making tonics had trained her nose to differentiate between scents. That wasn’t a regular mushroom that could enhance a person’s immune system and improve the health of the heart. This was slightly different. Had he mixed it with sometime else? Or…
A cold sweat raced down Ariel’s spine as another thought swept through her. What if…
She crept out the back door of her small home and out into the garden, pausing briefly to thank the full moon for giving her light as it cast its shadows across the earth. Picking up her shovel, she pressed on desperate to know if her suspicions were correct. Please, let her be wrong.
It was cold in the garden, with a light sprinkling of rain that was sticking her hair to her face. She slipped her shawl from her shoulders and knotted it over her head as she made her way to the parsley patch.
Squinting as her eyes adjusted to the dark, Ariel forced her shovel into the soil and pressed down with her foot. The earth was soft and pliable, used to being turned over to plant a fresh harvest. Lifting away the dirt, she pressed down again and dug the hole deeper. This wasn’t going to be an easy task.
She’d planted the chest deep in the earth, hoping it would remain undiscovered until she could one day pass it onto the right person. Nobody knew it was here. Not even Edison. Especially not Edison. For this chest contained the recipes to the most dangerous of her ancestors’ tonics. Recipes that would be deadly in the wrong person’s hands, a category that her son sadly belonged in. It was so long ago that she’d buried it, but she’d known as soon as she’d seen the interest Edison had shown in it what she’d had to do.
The Kingdoms of Evernow Box Set Page 82