Dragonoak: Gall and Wormwood, page 6
“I think it’s nice. Getting to see how you were when you were younger.”
Hardly putting any effort into frowning, Claire said, “And now I am like this.”
Dry, spiteful humour laced her voice, and for a moment, I was too taken aback to say anything.
“But it got us into the castle, I suppose. I have been forged into the tool we need. If nothing else, I can send entire armies running at the sight of me. Better to flee than put themselves at risk of being caught staring.”
Claire brought a hand to her mouth, intent on running her fingers across her burns. How different it must’ve been, the last time she was in this room. Portraits may have lined the castle walls, capturing fragments of who she’d once been, but I couldn’t begin to understand what her life had been like.
I didn’t know what I could say to her that wouldn’t hurt.
There were no depictions of my past. I was the sum total of all I’d been through, and there was nothing to show people what I’d once been; there was no way for people to dwell on all the branching paths my life could’ve taken. There were only memories, and those were easily warped by the present. I hadn’t been a healer, all those years ago. I’d been a liar. There was nothing to show people what had been done to me, what I was forced to endure; and once I was gone, all record of me would be, too.
“Eden’s nice. I like her, and she didn’t desert us,” I said. I held out a hand but Claire didn’t take it. “What do we do next?”
She rubbed her right eye, fingers slipping beneath her eyepatch.
“Now we wait to see if Alexander has remained true to himself. We confront the King and Queen, and…” she paused, no longer able to break the last of her plan into manageable chunks. Get into Felheim. Reach Thule. Write to Eden. Get into the castle. Now that we were inside, every step became urgent and indistinguishable. “This all seems too understated to call it an invasion, but there you have it.”
And to think, I’d once believed things could only become easier, once I’d left my village behind.
“Is Alexander busy? With the celebrations?”
“Unlikely. He makes an appearance when the citizens first arrive, and again in the evening. He is fond of the people and wishes for them to have at least one day without any worries, but he doesn’t do particularly well with large crowds for long periods of time.”
“Shall I go find him?”
It was something I could do. Anything was better than sitting there, useless, not knowing what to say without patronising her.
“You don’t know the castle,” Claire pointed out. “Besides, you’d never get far. We ought to wait for Eden’s return.”
“I used to walk around Isin’s castle all the time. Nobody ever stopped me because they assumed if I was already inside, I had a reason to be there. Everyone thought I was just another servant, so why would it be any different this time? I could take the tray, pretend that I’m bringing tea for Prince Alexander, and you could tell me where to go. How hard can it be? The castle can’t have more than a few hundred chambers, can it?”
That forced the start of a smile out of Claire. She considered it, well aware that her other option was to sit and stew in the thoughts that were already clawing away at the better parts of her, and nodded shallowly.
Taking the last of the parchment from her bag, she hesitated and said, “You will be careful, won’t you?”
“Of course!” I said, urging the quill in her hand to meet the parchment. “I’m Lady Hawthorne’s new maid, remember? If I get into any trouble, she can vouch for me.”
Reluctant to let me leave but unsettled by the thought of continuing to do nothing, Claire started scrawling a map across the parchment.
“We’re here,” she said, drawing a cross in one of the corridors. “Turn right here and take the staircase up two levels. Alexander’s chambers are the second along, through the blue double doors. If he isn’t there, return immediately. We can afford to wait a few hours longer, Rowan.”
I studied the map and Claire searched her bag for something else.
“Show him this. He’ll have no choice but to believe you,” she said, and held her hand out to me.
It was the pendant she’d shown me long before I’d known her name. I took it from her, fingers curling around the phoenix encircled by a ring of gold.
“I’ll be back soon,” I told her. “With your brother.”
I checked the map one last time, and held it between my palm and the bottom of the tray. If I happened upon any guards, I hoped they wouldn’t notice that one of the tea cups had already been used.
The first person I happened upon was in too much of a hurry to do much more than huff and step around me. Once I’d survived my first encounter, my heart stopped pounding to the point of nausea. I took the wide, curved staircase as briskly as I could, cups and spoons rattling on the tray as I went.
I didn’t need to consult the map again. I found my way to my destination within a matter of minutes, and the guards stationed at the top of the staircase didn’t care to interrogate my tea tray. I darted between them, bowed my head without doing too much to avert my gaze, and headed straight for the blue doors.
It was some distance along the corridor, and a small cluster of people had gathered at the dead-end. I slowed my pace, acting in what I hoped was a natural manner, and forced my hands to stop shaking. The tray didn’t make a noise. The group of people were too caught up in conversation to notice me, but I faltered, trying to work out how best to go about opening the door without everything on the tray tumbling to the ground.
“The Prince ought to leave his chambers within the next half an hour. It’ll look wrong if he doesn’t,” came the voice of a man who’d been lecturing the others. “With the King unable to attend and Prince Rylan… well, we all know why he isn’t here. Prince Alexander and Queen Aren have to work doubly as hard, lest the crown goes woefully unrepresented.”
I took my chance.
Kneeling down, I placed the tray at my feet, and near-enough tumbled through the door. Someone within the chamber started at the intrusion, and I wrenched the door shut behind me, twisting the key in the lock before I could think how it looked.
“Excuse me? What is the meaning of this?” a man called from behind me. “Who are you?”
“Are you Alexander?” I asked, and belatedly caught myself. “Sorry, sorry. Prince Alexander?”
He was less surprised by the fact that I’d barged in and blocked his only exit than he was to meet someone who actually had to ask who he was.
“I… yes, that would be me,” he said slowly, brow creased.
I knew Prince Alexander was Claire’s age, but fresh layers of worry and exhaustion washed over him, making him look older than he truly was. He wore his hair long, though not as long as his brother’s, and dressed like every Prince from every story Michael had ever read to me. The embroidery on his high-collared shirt was more complex than the swirling, floral patterns stretched across the wallpaper, and a dozen servants had likely spent the last dozen days polishing his knee-high leather boots.
“Great. I need you to—”
“You need me to?” he asked, raising his voice in pitch, if not volume. I caught his eye and held my hands out in front of me. He cleared his throat, and in spite of the fact that I could’ve posed a very real threat, he said, “Sorry. It has been a terribly long day, and I’m sure you have a perfectly good reason for bursting into my chambers, locking yourself in with me, and then having to confirm who, exactly, I am.”
I didn’t know if I was supposed to laugh at what he’d said, and so blurted out, “It’s Claire. Come with me, please.”
Prince Alexander wasn’t an imposing man, but at the mention of Claire’s name, the exhaustion that had settled within him turned to rage. I didn’t have time to appreciate how deeply he cared for Claire. Instead, I flinched as he swept forward and grasped my arm, meaning to throw me out. He used his free, trembling hand to turn the key in the lock, and I couldn’t find my voice.
“Enough of this. You’re lucky I’m going to do nothing more than throw you out of the castle. Whoever thought this was funny will have to explain—”
“Wait, wait! Look!”
I pulled Claire’s pendant from my pocket. It slipped between my fingers and rolled across the carpet, clattering to a stop on the dark, varnished floorboards.
The glint of metal caught Prince Alexander’s eye. Loosening his grip on me, he crouched down to pick up the pendant. He didn’t take his eyes off mine until he was standing straight again, and ran his thumb across the metal bird as he watched the light play on the silvery surface.
“Where did you find this?” he asked quietly.
“Claire said you wouldn’t believe me without it,” I said. “Please come with me. I wouldn’t lie. Not about something like this.”
“Where… where is she?”
I could tell how furious he was with himself for so much as considering that I might not be lying.
“She’s in Eden’s chamber,” I said, unlocking the door.
Prince Alexander’s fingers closed around the pendant.
“If this is a joke,” he warned as he opened the door. We walked straight into the man who’d unwittingly kept the others distracted, and Prince Alexander said, “Not now. I’ve need of Lady Eden’s advice.”
The man, unused to Prince Alexander being so blunt, mouthed the first syllable of an objection. Prince Alexander whisked down the stairs and I did what I could to keep up. I sprinted ahead and opened the door to Eden’s chamber. I tried to poke my head in and let Claire know that there was no cause for alarm, but Prince Alexander swept past me.
He expected nothing and didn’t know how to deal with what was presented to him.
“Claire. You… your—”
His disjointed words failed him. Claire looked up at Prince Alexander and didn’t breathe a word. She didn’t turn from him. Taking hold of her cane, she pushed herself to her feet, having a harder time than she usually would, with all the travelling we’d done those past few days. Desperate to express something, Prince Alexander pointed at her, mouth opening and closing. Claire tugged on his wrist and pulled him against her chest.
His senses returned to him at the close contact. He wrapped his arms tightly around Claire, buried his face in her shoulder, and Claire placed her hand on the back of his head. She stared blankly at the wall. Being met with relief was one thing, but I couldn’t help but wonder how many times she’d had to endure all of that twisting into something else. What had happened was scrawled clearly across her, and she had no choice in who knew what.
In Orinhal, the people had trusted her. They’d respected her. They’d followed her, but they’d kept their distance, too. They’d pitied her, silently counting their blessings as they thought That could’ve been me. I could have it so much worse.
“Claire!” Prince Alexander managed, leaning back enough to clasp her shoulders. “You’re not dead! I knew you couldn’t be, and I knew you couldn’t have betrayed us either, not after all this… ah, never mind, never mind. Where have you been? What’s happened?”
He was wholly unwilling to let go of her. Claire tapped a hand against his cheek and said, “Perhaps you should tell me what you know, Alex.”
Belatedly realising that he was keeping her on her feet, he placed a hand on her elbow and helped her back to her seat. Claire let him guide her down and he stared at her. He didn’t think to take a seat of his own for a few long seconds.
He gravitated towards her, elbows pinned to the arm of the chair.
“When you disappeared, I thought you’d been assigned to some mission and failed to tell me. It wouldn’t have been the first time, and you’d been so distant. I thought… I don’t know what I thought. That you needed time and space, perhaps. But somebody came to the castle. A commoner from the south. He claimed you’d stopped by his village on your way to Canth, and wanted to return the compass you’d left behind in the inn,” Prince Alexander explained. “That’s how we knew there was some truth in what he was saying, though I didn’t for a minute think you’d gone to Canth.
“And then, ah. There were more troubling reports from Sir Luxon. He claimed you were actually heading to Kastelir, to defect. Father had sent him to track you down, and when he never returned, we… surmised what had happened. Isin fell shortly after. You were presumed dead, along with most of the city. It was around a year ago when the rumours started reaching Thule. Rumours of someone named Ightham leading the rebels, and fighting Felheim every step of the way. And that is it, I suppose. There was a lot more heartache throughout it all, but there are the bones of it.”
“None of that is untrue,” Claire said. “Not that I killed Luxon. He put the blades of his armour through me before I had the chance, and a friend ensured he could not do any more damage.”
“Why?” Prince Alexander asked, fingers digging into the chair arms. “Why would you do that, Claire? Why betray us? What could Kastelir possibly offer you that your family couldn’t?”
There was more hurt than anger in his voice.
“You still don’t know, do you?” Claire asked quietly.
“Know what?” he asked, as though it could possibly make a difference. “You know how much anyone ever tells me, Claire.”
“The dragons didn’t simply attack Kastelir, or indeed our own cities and towns. They have long since been under Felheim’s control.”
“What?”
Claire told him the truth from start to finish. She didn’t once stop to gather her thoughts, or let his reactions hinder her. Prince Alexander was on the verge of tearing himself out of his seat the entire time, and having always trusted Claire only made things worse. I could tell how deeply he wanted to believe that she was lying, but the weight of her wounds strengthened her case.
“But… our parents, responsible for this? Our parents? Our grandparents? This family has held the throne for almost three hundred years, Claire! And all this time…?”
“And all this time they have remained in power, unchallenged,” Claire said, concluding her point.
Prince Alexander shook, clasped his hands together when he realised his nails were digging into the furniture, and shot to his feet. I half expected him to start pacing as Eden had, but he made a straight line for me.
I’d kept myself to a corner of the room, wanting to give Prince Alexander and Claire time together, but I was just the distraction they needed.
“You. I must apologise. We got off to a rather bad start, didn’t we? I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that. I jumped to conclusions, thinking you deliberately unkind,” Prince Alexander said, holding out a hand to me. “But the question still remains: who are you?”
I took his hand and shook it warmly.
“I’m Rowan. Rowan Northwood. The person you were talking about, the one who came to Thule about Claire, I think that was my village elder. He wasn’t… too pleased with me, so I ran off with Claire. Back when she was still Sir Ightham to me. It’s good to finally meet you, Your Highness.”
“Please, please. Just Alex will do. I’ve had enough of titles and people keeping a respectful distance, lately,” he said, heading back to the armchairs with a sigh. “You don’t know what it’s been like these past two years, Claire.”
In his defence, he realised what he’d said almost immediately.
“I-I, I know that you’ve had it far worse than I can imagine,” he said. “I’m sorry. I just meant that things around the castle, they’ve…”
“What is it, Alex?” Claire asked, endlessly patient with him.
“Rylan’s been in Kastelir for more than a year and a half. Nobody knows what he’s doing, and he only keeps in contact so far as to demand more soldiers, more resources. And father, he can’t do anything about it. He’s ill, Claire. It’s healer’s bane, same as mother,” Alex grumbled, as he sunk into the armchair. “Same as mother had. I can’t begin to explain the change in her, grateful for it though I am. All of this is supposed to be under lock and key, but half the capital are doing a fine job of pretending they aren’t well aware of what’s going on.
“Which leaves me! Me, being pulled this way and that by every noble and advisor in the castle, when we all know that the sum total of my skills is taken up in planning parties.”
“M—Queen Aren is well again?” Claire asked. “And the King…”
Jaw set, Claire took hold of her cane. She moved to her feet, towards one of the windows, and spears of green and blue light pierced the stained glass windows and lit up her shirt. She unlatched the tall window, pushed it open, and let in all the sounds of the celebration beyond.
Alex turned to me, but I was already on the way over. I stood next to Claire and pushed myself up on tiptoes so that I could properly see out of the window. We weren’t on the right side of the castle for it, but with a little effort, I could just about see the citizens gathered at the far ends of the grounds. The crowd was far denser than it’d previously been. Claire stared at nothing, and I placed my hand on the back of hers and hoped she wouldn’t flinch.
She raised her brow at the contact, watching the latecomers trail in through the gate.
“What now? Do you have a plan?” Alex asked. “You always have a plan.”
Claire tapped the finger of her free hand against the windowsill, and hummed under her breath.
“I came here with the intention of setting things right, in Felheim and the former Kastelir alike,” she said bluntly. “If I told you that my plan revolved around dismissing the current rulers, what would your reaction be?”
“Honestly?” he asked, joining us at the window. “I couldn’t be happier. And I’m not simply saying this because I want nothing more than to be rid of all this responsibility. Somebody needs to rein Rylan in, and I’d say father would be only too eager for you to assume your promised title, if not for… the dragons.”
The truth had been my reality for years, but as Alex stood, watching his own birthday celebrations unfold, he was being forced to reassess his entire life. I glanced around Claire to watch the thoughts churn behind his eyes. Each decision he reached led him to the betrayal of yet another family member.
