“Lily! Sophie!” A small figure approached us at speed.
“Daisy? I haven’t seen you for a while.”
“No, I’ve been busy, like you told me.” The mood of the court didn’t seem to have touched the young girl. Her shining eyes and bright face were a breath of fresh air cutting through the stale tension.
“Busy with what?” Sophie looked between us in confusion.
Oh dear, I sent to Sophie, and then, “What have you overheard?” to Daisy.
She leaned in dramatically. “It’s Gabe.”
I exchanged a glance with Sophie. “What about him?”
“He says he’s not going to stand by to see any other young girls carried out of that room. He says he’s going with you all, to protect you.”
I paled and dropped to my knees, heedless of my gown, so I could look her in the eyes. “Daisy, tell me exactly what you overheard.”
She did. And any hopes that it had just been talk, more blowing off steam, evaporated. He really meant to do it. And tonight.
“Daisy,” I said. “You know that if he tries to interfere, he’ll die, don’t you?”
Her face dropped. “He said that other guard didn’t die, he’s just ill, and that maybe he can get around the magic.”
I wanted to scream at such foolishness. “The guard is deathly ill, Daisy, they don’t expect him to survive.”
Her whole face fell, and her lip began to wobble.
I spoke quickly to cut off any tears. “But it’s not too late. We can still save him. Daisy, I have a very important task for you. Do you think you can do it?”
She stared at me with wide eyes, and I knew she saw all this as an adventure, unable to fully understand the consequences.
“I need you to watch Gabe. Don’t let him out of your sight. I’m going to go get something. When you see me return to the ballroom, come and find me. Can you do that?”
“Of course!” Daisy sounded almost scornful. “That’s not difficult.”
“Thank you.” I stood and grabbed Sophie’s hand, dragging her along without pausing to explain first.
I don’t know how much time we have, I projected over the music as we pushed through the crowds near the door. The bell could go at any moment.
I can’t believe he’s actually going to try. There’s no way he could hide himself in that tiny room.
Yes, but he doesn’t know that. He doesn’t know what’s in there, or where we go, or how any of it works. And he’s been building himself up to this for weeks, even before Marigold. It doesn’t help that he knows Pearl and Opal are the most likely to be injured of all of us.
So what’s your plan? asked Sophie, running beside me down the corridor away from the ballroom.
The infirmary. I recognized something when we were in there after the fire. I kept berating myself for not seeing this coming. Sophie had even told me it would be Gabe who tried something, but I had been too distracted by fear for Jon.
The infirmary was deserted, which made my task a great deal simpler. Opening a tall cabinet, I located a large bottle. Can you see an empty one anywhere, something smaller? I didn’t want to lug the large one around, and I didn’t want anyone to notice it was missing either.
Sophie managed to find two small vials, and I carefully filled them from the main bottle. Come on, let’s go. I took off as soon as I had finished, tucking them both into my dress.
Every second I expected to hear the bell, but it had yet to ring. We slipped back into the ballroom and started looking for Daisy. She appeared almost instantly at my elbow, as if from nowhere.
“He’s over there.” She pointed to the far side of the room. “With the others.”
The three princes stood in a huddle, clearly waiting for the bell to sound. I knew from Daisy that they planned to open the door for us, and that the other two would shield Gabe from view while he slipped inside. With the number of people usually milling around the door, they trusted that no one would notice his disappearance.
It was a terrible plan.
As the princesses knew from Randolph’s attack, the trapdoor wouldn’t open with someone else in the room. Which meant that even if there had been cover in the room—which I knew there wasn’t—his presence would be discovered before he had any hope of doing good to offset his sacrifice.
Thankfully, I had previously set Daisy to work as a little spy, and she had an especial interest in Gabe. I hoped that one day he would realize his mistake and thank her. But it wouldn’t be today. Because I had no intention of letting him find out his errors when it meant destroying himself in the process.
Seizing a goblet of wine, I emptied one of the vials into the dark liquid.
“What’s that?” asked Daisy.
“Don’t worry,” said Sophie. “It’s just a sleeping draught.”
Daisy’s eyes grew round. “Are you planning to drug him?”
“We have to.” I met her eyes. “It’s the only way to save him. You don’t want him locked away forever, do you?”
“No…” She eyed the drink uncertainly.
“It won’t hurt him,” said Sophie. “We promise.”
I didn’t wait to hear my sister’s reassurances, hurrying across the ballroom toward the princes instead. Jon stepped forward to meet me, but I sidestepped around him, stopping in front of Gabe.
“Gabe.” I laughed and shook my head. “I’ve been assured that you’re parched and in need of a drink. And a dance. With someone more than four feet tall.” I gestured over to where Daisy still stood beside Sophie, watching us with a fascinated expression.
“Ah.” Teddy clapped Gabe on the back. “Your youngest admirer strikes again.”
“You have to drink it, you know.” I thrust the goblet into his hand. “Or you’ll hurt her feelings.”
He rolled his eyes but tipped his head back and drained the wine. I tried not to follow his movements too eagerly. Once he had finished, he thrust the empty goblet at Teddy and held out his hand to me. “And a dance I believe you said. This is the sort of tyranny I could get used to.” He flashed his charming smile at me. “A refreshing drink and a dance with a beautiful woman.”
I shook my head but accepted his hand. He led me away, punching Jon lightly in the shoulder as he went past. “Sorry, old fellow. I’m under orders.”
I glanced up at Jon through my lashes. He was glaring at his friend, his hands once more in tight fists at his sides. But then his eyes moved to me, and for the briefest second before I looked away, I saw that it was pain, not anger in his face.
I had sidestepped him without acknowledgement and gone straight to Gabe, laughing and joking. In fact, I rarely ever looked at him now, let alone initiated conversation. I wanted to drop Gabe’s hand and run to Jon, I wanted to tell him that if I had the choice, I would spend every moment with him. I wanted to wipe away all that agony of longing in his eyes.
But I didn’t. I entered the dance with Gabe instead. I laughed and chattered, until his eyes began to droop. Then I carefully maneuvered us to the far side of the dance floor, out of sight of the other two princes. I pulled him closer, so that his head could drop onto my shoulder as we reached the edge of the floor. I felt glad for all those times I had helped the younger princesses or hoisted Celine up the ladder. I could maneuver his weight more easily than I could have done before, given all the strength I had gained from so many weeks of events. Making one last turn, I deposited him into a chair which Sophie and Daisy had tucked behind one of the large potted plants. He blinked at me twice in confusion, and then his head dropped and lolled to the side.
“That was neatly done,” said Sophie admiringly.
The bell finally rang through the ball.
“And just in time, too.” I sucked in a relieved breath.
“I’ll stay here and watch him,” said Daisy, sitting cross-legged on the floor. “But, don’t worry.” She smiled conspiratorially up at us. “I won’t tell him what happened. I’ll just say he got very sleepy and decided to have a nap.”
Sophie snorted, but I pulled her away before she could argue. We rushed into line and pushed at the other girls impatiently. I could see Teddy and Jon looking around in confusion, and then the door closed. I sighed in relief.
“Goodness, what’s the rush?” asked Giselle, looking mildly put out.
I shrugged and didn’t answer.
The burst of fear, the rush through the palace, and then my hastily executed stratagems had left me buzzing with energy. I funneled it into the challenge, a different kind of race from the previous two.
It took place in the mirror palace’s library, the room stocked with books for the first time. We had to race against each other to find answers to a series of questions. After all my hours spent in the library, I thought I would easily win. But Sophie had spent large amounts of my study time just wandering the room, browsing the titles, so she had an excellent sense of where to go to find a book on any particular subject.
In the end I kept my lead, but only just.
I led us all back through the groves at a near-run. The others kept giving me strange looks, but I ignored them. I wanted to reassure myself that Gabe had woken up without incident.
For the first time, none of the princes waited to meet us in the ballroom. I overheard Queen Juliette telling Millie that Teddy and Jon had gotten into some sort of argument with Gabe and they had all left immediately after the ball. Daisy, standing next to her mother, gave Sophie and me an exaggerated wink. I interpreted it to mean Gabe was fine.
“That girl is a true treasure,” said Sophie, trying to hold back a smile.
“Absolutely,” I agreed fervently. Then I glanced sideways at her. “But I’m glad she’s not our little sister.”
Sophie snorted and Helena shook her head in confusion. “That event was one of the shorter ones and, thankfully after the last one, injury-free. So let’s get the two of you to bed.”
Chapter 30
Something changed for me after that. The fifteenth event had marked the end of the second stage, the last of the individual challenges. All that remained was the group competition on the final night of the Tourney. The first day of summer, the last day of my freedom, was only three days away, and I couldn’t get out of my head Jon’s expression as Gabe led me off to dance.
I slipped out of bed early, careful not to wake Sophie, and went for a solitary walk in the garden. Jon appeared so quickly, he must have seen me leave the palace and followed me. And not for the first time, either, I suspected, given how often we had stumbled upon each other amongst the leafy green paths.
He looked surprised and then delighted when I didn’t try to avoid him. Falling into step beside me, he kept the conversation light. But once we had exhausted the beautiful weather, the gorgeous flowers, and our plans for the afternoon, the topic inevitably turned to the coup.
“We’ve had word they have it planned for immediately following the Betrothal Ceremony. The ceremony will take place the day after the final event, and is the true end of the Tourney. They don’t wish to risk disrupting the Tourney and bringing a curse onto Marin, so they won’t act until it’s finished. But, as soon as the final words are spoken, the ancient laws will be fulfilled, and then they will have the ideal opportunity.” He sounded bitter. “It couldn’t be more perfect, really, with all the notable members of the duchy gathered ready, along with witnesses from all the kingdoms.”
“How do you know all this?” I asked.
“Some of the servants remain loyal even though their masters have felt obliged to change allegiances.”
A shiver ran through me. “Do you hate them for it? Does your father?”
He rubbed a hand down his face. “No. How can we? What alternative do they have? To leave things as they are and see their people starve or freeze come winter?” He growled suddenly. “Oswald, on the other hand, is a different story. And a couple of his closest supporters. They clearly have no concern for the people, they are merely seizing power while they can.”
I placed a hand on his arm. He looked down at it and then up at me. I could see it took all his willpower not to take me in his arms. With a shuddering breath, he tore his eyes away and continued. “We know that some of the more senior nobles have their own plans. They’re going along with Oswald now to secure the alliance and the aid, but then they plan to petition Lanover to have one of them replace Oswald as governor.”
He shook his head. “Apparently Oswald has promised that after my father and I have abdicated, our family will be merely imprisoned. These nobles plan to smuggle us to Trione and bring us back once Oswald has been ousted.”
A bubble of hope filled my chest. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
He gave an angry bark of laughter. “No, indeed. It is a pretty story to salve a throbbing conscience.” He looked sideways at me. “But you saw the fire, and you heard Corinna. If any of us so much as make it to the dungeons, I will be astonished.” His voice dropped. “I’m hoping I’m wrong, though. I’m hoping they’ll spare Mother and the girls. There’s a chance they will, since she was originally a princess of Trione. Maybe they will even let her take my sisters back home with her.”
I shuddered at the awful picture he painted, my bubble easily burst. Now that he had said it, it sounded all too likely. Jon and his father, at least, were too much of a threat for Sir Oswald to keep alive. And he had already demonstrated his lack of concern for the lives of others.
My voice trembled. “Perhaps it’s not too late to take up Corinna’s proposal?”
He was shaking his head before I had finished the words, stopping and pulling me into his arms without care for who might be nearby. “No. I won’t do it. You know I won’t.”
“You may not have a choice.” I hated how small my voice sounded. And how much I craved the comfort and safety of his arms. I tried to tell myself to pull away, but my body didn’t move.
The threat of my impending forced betrothal had made me cling to my last days of freedom. I knew I needed to cut Jon off completely, to free him to save himself, but when I saw the look in his eyes, I simply couldn’t do it.
“Oh Lily,” he breathed, looking down into my face. “How I have missed you.” He leaned down to kiss me, but I turned my face away.
“Jon!” I scolded. “Anyone might see!”
“Let them.” He tightened his arms around me.
I shook my head and lightly pushed him away.
“Very well, then.” He took my hand. “Let me show you some much more lovely parts of the garden.” His eyes grinned wickedly, and I knew I should scold him again but, instead, I let him tug me along. Laughing, even, because of the giddy feeling of holding his hand.
When we reached the secluded spot where Corinna had confronted me, and then Jon and I had shared our first kiss, he stopped. “This,” he said, gesturing with his free hand, “this is my personal favourite spot.”
I groaned, but he just laughed and tugged on my hand again, reeling me in toward him. He pulled me in gradually, his eyes on my face, and a delicious tingle shot through me. When he finally pressed me against his chest and lowered his face slowly toward mine, I didn’t even think of resisting.
As our lips finally met, I melted, his arms tightening to support my weight. I couldn’t think of anything at all, except to agree with his assessment, that this beautiful spot might just be my favourite place in the world.
For once he was the one to pull away, groaning and cradling my face into the crook of his neck. “Do you think, just for a few hours, we could pretend that there is no Tourney and no coup. That the Emissary just sailed into the harbor one bright Spring morning and brought me my heart’s desire, no strings attached.”
For a brief second, I thought I should be responsible and say no, but the thought dissolved before it had fully formed. After weeks of being responsible, surely I could let myself have a single morning.
I pulled out of his hold and stepped back. His face fell, but I smiled up at him and swept my deepest curtsy. “Greetings Yo
ur Highness, and thank you for your hospitality. They call me Princess Lily.”
A grin lit up his eyes, and he bowed equally low. “The pleasure is all mine, Princess Lily, I assure you.” He took my hand and pressed his lips passionately against each knuckle.
My knees began to melt again, so I pulled my hand away, giggling. “You would never have done such a thing when we first met.”
He pulled me close. “Only because I’m too much of a fool to instantly recognize the love of my life.”
He tried to snatch another kiss, but I pushed him away. “I would like to walk amongst these delightful gardens, Prince Jonathan.”
“Then it would be my pleasure to show them to you.” He tucked my arm into his, and we strolled along the closest path, content in our companionable silence. After a while he asked about the mare he had found for me to ride, and I ended up telling him about my beloved pony. He squeezed my hand, confessing that he, too, had once had a much-loved childhood mount, and that he had cried when the animal died.
“It comes from having three sisters,” he explained gravely. “It makes you very in tune with emotions.” He glanced at me, his eyes dancing and his mouth twitching upwards. “It’s what makes me such an excellent catch. I can assure you that not even tears are enough to dismay me. I’ve won over many a lady, old and young, with my handy handkerchief and complete lack of terror.”
I laughed, and the sound echoed back from the other side of one of the hedges.
“Quick,” said Jon, “someone’s coming.”
And the next thing I knew, we were both of us hiding behind a tree, Jon with his back pressed against the trunk, and me tucked into his chest.
“What in the kingdoms are we doing back here?” I tried to peer around him and the tree. “Is there some reason I don’t know about why we can’t be seen?”
He looked down at me and grinned. “None at all. I just wanted an excuse to do this.” And before I could realize what he meant to do, he pressed his lips down over mine.
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