Glass Kingdom

by M. Lynn

  Edmund’s eyes widened, and he ran a hand through his hair. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that. Secret tunnels under Madra? I thought that was just a myth.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t think my father even knows they exist. Stev and I found them when we were kids.”

  Edmund laughed. “I’ll bet your dad would love to know the heir to the Madran throne grew up playing in the catacombs.”

  She shrugged, a small smile playing on her lips. “My brothers and I have never exactly played by the rules.”

  “Do the rest of them know about the tunnels?”

  “I showed Kassander once. The others… no.”

  She glanced toward the ground, wanting this line of questioning to end. Her brothers were not a subject she enjoyed talking about.

  Each child born to the royal family had a purpose placed on them the day they first opened their eyes. Stev was to be the next ruler of Madra. Helena would lead the Merchant guild—the most powerful entity behind the king and the priesthood. Kassander was born to be a priest. Quinn and Cole were bastards but in an unusual move, the king recognized them so even they had roles within the kingdom. They were not placed into the line of succession, but were given posts in military command.

  Helena turned to Edmund. “Thanks for getting me this far, but I’m okay getting back on my own.”

  He shook his head. “Stev would kill me if I didn’t accompany you.”

  She narrowed her eyes, realization setting in. “Of course.” She walked back toward the street. “Big brother sent you to find me.”

  “He saw you leave.” There was meaning in his words that took her a few moments to understand.

  She slowed her steps. “He let me go?”

  “He wanted you to have your freedom, even if it meant defying tradition. I’ve been following you since you reached the columns at the end of the square. I only stepped in when I saw Dell fighting.”

  “Unbelievable.” She shook her head. “Stev is…” Her brother was always surprising her. He never spoke to her as if he cared, but then he did things like this.

  They made it to the far side of the palace where a grate sat above a hole in the ground. It lay hidden beneath a wooden platform. If anyone found it, they’d assume it was only a part of the vast sewer system consisting of shallow clay pipes. An innovation of her grandmother’s. Helena bent and lifted the wooden boards to reveal the metal bars. She pulled a rusted key from the string around her neck and bent to turn it in the iron lock. Edmund pulled the bars free.

  “Replace this once I’m through,” Helena instructed.

  Edmund gaped. “I don’t like the thought of you going down into that.” He stared into the dark.

  She shrugged and sat on the edge of the hole, swinging her legs in and dropping onto the ladder.

  As she cleared the entrance, Edmund put the iron bars back in place and stared down at her.

  “Thanks, Edmund.”

  He nodded and watched her descend.

  The musty smell of the tunnel enveloped Helena as she jumped from the ladder into the ankle-deep water. Kassander’s boots would be soaked, but her ten-year-old brother’s clothes were the only ones that fit.

  Running through the darkened tunnels, she skimmed her hand along the wall to guide her steps. She didn’t know how long she walked before a door appeared, light seeping out from underneath.

  She bent over, trying to catch her breath. Everything would be okay. Home was right in front of her. Her first ever trip outside the palace hadn’t destroyed her life. She glanced back over her shoulder as adrenaline pumped through her. Being out among the people thrilled her. It gave her something she’d been missing most of her life. A sense of connection with the kingdom her family ruled.

  She had to get out there again.

  As she set her hand on the door, she pushed just as she’d been taught. A soft click sounded and light flooded the tunnel.

  She tumbled into the bedroom that had gone unused since their grandmother was alive. The picture slid back into place to conceal the door. She laughed to herself.

  A cough interrupted her celebration, and she twisted on her heel to find Stev leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

  He didn’t say a word as he pointed to the table at his side. Her soft mask with ivory lace lay flat against the marble.

  She walked forward and picked it up. As she set it against her skin and tied the ribbons at the back of her head, she couldn’t help but feel as if the prison Edmund spoke of was now hers.

  Satisfied, Stev nodded and left without a word.

  It was only then Helena noticed Kassander sitting on the bed, his excitement making his limbs jump.

  “Hey buddy,” she said. “You can’t tell anyone about this, okay?”

  “I know. Stev already told me.” His bright eyes fixed onto her face. “I like it better when you’re not wearing the mask.”

  She sighed and wrapped both arms around her brother, pulling him into her lap. Resting her chin on his head, she spoke into his soft chestnut curls. “Me too, kid.”

  Chapter Two

  Dell’s life had never been a fairytale, but there was a time when he didn’t dread going home. A time when he’d run through the front door, skid to a halt in front of the table, and steal whatever his mother had spent the day baking.

  She’d scold him, but never without a smile on her face. Then she’d ruffle his hair.

  Until the day she no longer stood before him. The day they carted him off to live with a father he’d never met and half-brothers he knew nothing about.

  He’d been a sad boy with pretty dreams of being welcomed into a family when he’d lost the only one he’d known. But he’d soon learned fantasy only lived to tease you with what you could never have.

  His father had been kind, happy to bring Dell into the family. The first few weeks soothed his boyhood mind and made him imagine many years of such contentment. Then his father took ship on a trading mission, hitting the rough seas around the point of Cana in the middle of a storm. He never returned and Dell went from newfound son, to unwelcome houseguest, to stable boy in a matter of a month.

  He rolled over on the small cot in Mari and Corban’s shop. They’d left it closed for a few days while he was there. It couldn’t be said that the son of the great Lady Tenyson was frequenting a healer’s shop on the eastern side of the city. If any even knew he belonged to the Tenyson household. His parentage was a well-kept secret in Madra with his family not claiming any connection other than that of master and servant.

  The Tenyson’s were the current peak of the spiral. Each merchant family in Madra had a rank. Wealth and success affected rank as well as the king’s favor and one’s position on the council. Dell’s father had worked tirelessly to get the family where it was and Dell’s step-mother kept them there through nefarious means.

  The hierarchy in Madran society was a spiral with each family one step below the prior one. The rise was a struggle, and the fall was great.

  The door opened and Mari appeared. She smiled kindly. She’d taken a liking to the man in constant need of Corban’s healing.

  “How are you feeling, dear?” she asked.

  He struggled to sit up, his muscles aching. It was the first time he’d been truly awake since the fight. “You wouldn’t happen to have any ale, would you?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Afraid not. Is that what got you into this predicament?”

  “No.”

  She narrowed her eyes in disbelief. He didn’t blame her. He was lying after all.

  “I’ve known you since you first arrived in the city.” She crossed her arms. “You can’t lie to me.”

  She was right. He’d found comfort in sneaking away to Mari’s shop since he was a broken child in need of a friend. He rubbed his hands together, his leather boxing straps still sticky with blood. Not taking his eyes from her, he unwound the leather and released a sigh as cool air touched his bruised knuckles.

  “I work h
ard, Mari.” He tried to infuse more age than he had into his voice. “Yesterday morning, I was sent to help unload a shipment at the docks.”

  She nodded for him to go on.

  “I went for a midday bite at the Cooked Goose and who happens by?”

  “I can only guess.” She twisted around and slammed her palm against the wall. “Catjsa. That woman…” Shaking her head, she turned back to Dell. “You’re lucky Orlo didn’t kill you for whatever you did with his wife—”

  He threw his hands up. “I didn’t do anything! I can’t help it if she can’t keep her hands off me.”

  Mari advanced. “Dell, you’re a sweet boy, but sometimes I think all this fighting has scrambled your brains.” She bent down and gripped his chin. “This face, that bloody smile of yours, they’re weapons and they will be turned on you time and again.”

  “Aw, Mari, you trying to tell me you think I’m beautiful?”

  She released him and stepped back with a huff. “Do you take anything seriously? You’re a Tenyson, Dell.” She placed a palm over her heart. “The only one with anything in here since your dear father passed. I don’t want you to be taken advantage of by those wanting to start trouble.” Mari and Corban knew who he was even though Edmund did not. He couldn’t help that. She’d seen the Tenyson crest his brother burned into his foot when he was eleven years old.

  He climbed from the bed and stood, his tall frame towering over her. Putting a hand on each of her shoulders, he bent to look her in the eye. “Don’t worry about me.”

  She gripped his wrists and sighed. “I’ll always worry as if you were my own son. I’m not the only one either.”

  He released her and ran a hand through his sweaty hair. “I don’t know why Edmund bothers. He’s not even Madran. He—”

  She interrupted him. “You don’t know the kind of things that man has accomplished. If he sees something in you, it’s because you’re meant for more than scrubbing decks and cleaning stalls.”

  There’d been a time when he wanted more. A family. A piece of land to farm. His life with his mother had been simple. They lived in the countryside near a small village. They never had much, but it was a good life.

  He shook his head to clear it of those thoughts. “I need to wash this grime off my skin. Mind if I head out back.”

  “Make sure you aren’t seen.”

  He walked from the back room to a separate part of the building where a door led to an alley. The stiff reek of urine hit him as soon as the wind shifted, but he probably smelled just as bad.

  He glanced behind him to make sure no one followed and ducked around back behind the row of shops. They were near the docks where boats left to sail up the river and out into the sea. The river narrowed as it bent around to run along the city. A busy street stood between the alley and a row of trees that blocked the water from view.

  Dell took a quick glance each way before sprinting between carts ambling along the road and crashing into the tree cover on the other side. The river sparkled where the sun broke through the branches. It flowed slowly as if enjoying the nice day. Large boulders lined the edge of the water and Dell wasted no time stepping onto one and peeling off his shirt before dropping it on the ground. He kicked off his boots and slipped out of his trousers.

  Even as a member of one of the wealthiest families in Madra, he kept his dress simple. Okay, it wasn’t his choice to make. When he’d first arrived, he’d worn his brothers’ old clothing. But with the years of hard labor he’d outgrown them.

  A hiss left his lips as he sank into the icy water. His muscles pulled and screamed as he kicked toward the far bank and back again. As soon as his body loosened, he scrubbed the blood and sweat from his skin.

  He dipped below the water, the fight still strong in his mind.

  Orlo had beaten him. That was a first. In a rematch, Dell could take him down. He was a fighter. He was good. He was strong.

  He almost laughed to himself, but he was still under the water.

  Who was he kidding? Orlo was a monster of a man.

  He looked up and saw a shadow on the far bank. All he could make out through the distortion of water was a pair of trousers. Edmund checking up on him no doubt.

  Dell prepared to lunge, a plan forming in his mind. He burst from the water with a roar, water splashing his audience. He twisted to see Edmund’s reaction as his feet gained traction on the muddy bottom. The water barely reached his waist now. Rivulets of water streamed down his heaving torso, and his jaw dropped open as he took in the woman who was wringing a cap in her hands.

  He froze as she examined her sopping clothes, taking no note of him. When she finally lifted her head, red flooded her cheeks.

  She didn’t take her eyes away.

  Dell, gaining some sense, stepped forward.

  “Stop!” she screamed.

  He glanced down to see the water no longer covered him. His hands flew down, but he took another step forward.

  “I told you to stop right there.”

  “I don’t know you, miss, so I’d take it kindly if you refrained from giving me orders.”

  “But you… you—”

  He climbed from the water completely, no longer bothering to cover himself as he stopped at her side. “I what?”

  She turned away abruptly.

  He chuckled. “It’s okay, miss. I like Edmund. I won’t try anything with his…” His eyes scanned her body. “Woman.”

  The girl hugged her arms across her body.

  Dell laughed again as he bent to retrieve his trousers and stepped into them. “Do I make you uncomfortable?”

  “Yes.” She refused to look at him and amusement warmed Dell against the chilly breeze.

  He slid his shirt over his head, shrinking back at the smell. It would have to do.

  “Why are you here?” He bent to tie his boots as he waited for her answer. And for that matter, why was she dressed as a boy again? What was Edmund hiding?

  She clicked her tongue. “I couldn’t stop thinking about that fight the other day.” Her voice dropped. “I needed to see if you were okay.”

  He grinned and looked up at her. “Translation, the Madran girl was curious about the healing Corban did on me and wanted to see if it really worked or if she’d imagined it.”

  “That’s not what I said.”

  He straightened. “You didn’t have to. You’ve probably never met anyone with magic before that night–Edmund excluded—and the only stories you’ve heard have come from drunken soldiers who returned from the wars in Bela with tales of magnificent things.”

  “Even if all that is true,” she started stubbornly. “It isn’t why I came into the city.”

  “Ah, so you don’t live here.” He tapped his nose. “Careful, miss, or I will learn all your secrets.”

  He turned and walked back toward the road. The girl ran after him. “Where are you going?”

  He didn’t owe her an explanation, but he found himself in a giving mood. “I can’t be seen in this part of the city. Mari will disguise me.”

  “How?”

  He shook his head. “Don’t ask questions you won’t believe the answers to.”

  Mari awaited them in her shop, but she wasn’t alone. The crown prince of Madra loomed over her, his stern face scanning the room. Two guards stood on either side of the front door.

  Estevan Rhodipus turned toward them as they entered, his scowl deepening.

  What business did a prince have with Mari?

  The raven-haired girl behind Dell ran a hand down her still-wet clothing and sighed. “Stev—your Highness,” she mumbled, stumbling into a curtsy.

  Dell bowed dutifully, the act clenching something inside him. The Rhodipus line was leading their people into nothing but destruction.

  The prince ignored him and fixed his icy eyes on the girl trying to masquerade as a boy. She obviously hadn’t fooled many people with her delicate features and sparkling eyes.

  “He-” Prince Estevan started before seemi
ng to catch himself. “Hello, Len.”

  Was that her name?

  His eyes bore into hers as if speaking some secret language.

  “Yes, your Highness?” She stared right back, defiance in her gaze.

  She’d called him ‘Stev’. Something didn’t add up.

  The prince finally turned to Mari. “Len has duties at the palace that she has evaded. She’s a… servant there. One of my mother’s girls. The queen has asked me to bring her right away.”

  Right. The queen wouldn’t send the prince to fetch a servant.

  Dell’s eyes flicked between them, his mind putting the pieces together. Edmund hadn’t been protecting her for himself. She wasn’t his mistress, she belonged to the prince.

  If the prince knew how much she’d seen of Dell… her rosy cheeks came back into his mind. It didn’t fit. She didn’t seem the type to give herself to the prince. Dell barely knew her, but had thought she was more bull-headed than to be led as the prince was leading her now toward the door, his hands like shackles around her wrists.

  “Stev,” she said so softly it was as if she thought Dell and Mari wouldn’t hear. “Please don’t tell him. I—”

  He released her and turned to face her. She seemed to shrink into herself. “I won’t tell him. You will.”

  Her eyes widened. “No—”

  “Come.” He took her by the arm roughly.

  “No.”

  “You don’t have a choice.”

  Dell knew he’d regret his next actions, but everything inside him screamed to protect this girl, this Len.

  “The lady said she doesn’t wish to return with you.” He strode forward.

  The prince stopped and turned toward him. “This is no business of yours, commoner.”

  What would his highness think if he knew Dell was a Tenyson? That he’d just insulted the tip of the spiral. If the Tenyson’s no longer supported the royal family, Madra would be thrown into civil war.

  But he kept his mouth shut. The prince narrowed his eyes, taking in Dell’s filthy clothes, the disgust plain on his face.

  “I said, Len stays.”

  The prince barked out a sharp laugh. “Not on your life, boy.”