The King's Daughters (20 page)

A ruckus coming from outside the chamber's door brought me back to reality.

"Eva, answer!" a voice boomed behind the door.

My stomach flopped. That was the king's voice. The stomping of heavy footsteps followed. By the sounds of it, there were at least a dozen men on the other side of that door.

"Eva!" I murmured, shaking her awake. "Eva, your father is at the door."

At those words her sleepy face turned into a mask of fear. "Grab your things, Amir. Hurry, hurry," she begged, while slipping into her nightgown.

I was already on the floor, gathering my scattered clothes, when I heard the king shouting, "BRING THAT DOOR DOWN!"

Without further thinking, I rolled under the bed, bringing my clothes with me. Lying naked on the icy marble floor, I watched the door burst open and armed men pour in.

"Father! What is this intrusion?" Eva exclaimed in false outrage. It was a good bit of acting, I thought while shivering from cold under the bed.

"Eva! Oh my dear daughter, you're still here." The king sounded extremely relieved.

"Where else should I be, Father? What is the meaning of this? What happened?"

"It's your sister, Thalia." The king paused, as if the words were too painful to say. "She's . . . she's been kidnapped."

"NO! PLEASE NOOO!" Eva yelled. She fell down on the bed, crying.

Stuck under the bed, I felt awful. I wanted to come out of my hiding place and comfort her. But I knew this was impossible—and I doubted that my getting killed right then and there by the king's men, which was sure to happen, would've comforted Eva very much.

Grinding my teeth, I stared ahead. What I saw then made my blood run cold. My turban, the darn thing was still on the floor beside the bed. I had forgotten to pick it up. I was doomed. It was just a matter of time before someone spotted it, because there were far too many people walking about this room not to. Holding my breath, I watched a pair of blue satin high-heeled shoes walk straight to my turban—
Diego?

"Your Highness, I have a suggestion," said the person with the blue shoes.

I'd guessed right. It was Diego; I recognized his affected tone. I watched his feet move into a flourished curtsey, and in the process the left one kicked my turban under the bed.

"Yes, Prince Diego," said the king.

"Now that we know that the princess is safe, perhaps we should give her some privacy."

"No. I want guards with her at all times."

I winced. I couldn't stay under her bed forever.

The king cleared his throat, paced around the room, then added. "I want every corner of this room searched."

I let my face drop onto my turban and sighed. Now it was certain. I was dead.

As the guards began spreading throughout the room, a high-pitched shriek echoed in the nearby corridor. Then I heard Diego shouting, "Your Majesty, the beast, the beast!"

"Where?" roared the king.

"Running down the corridor . . . I think it was going toward the garden door."

I silently thanked Diego for creating this diversion. It was a daring initiative—Diego was braver than I thought. The man kept surprising me.
I owe him an apology. He is truly my friend.
I heard the footsteps of the guards as they rushed outside the room, and then Eva's face popped upside down at the edge of the bed.

"Get out now," she breathed in a tone of urgency. "Hurry, before they come back."

I crawled out from under the bed, dragging my clothes along with me.

"This way, Amir." Eva was at the left corner of her room holding the servants' door open. "Don't stand there. Go! You'll dress later."

I didn't argue. I dashed into the passage completely naked. The door closed behind me and everything went dark.

* * *

Wasting no time, I dressed quickly, then hurried in the direction of the servants' quarters. Two things struck me when I came out of the passage. First, the servants' quarters were boiling with activity. Everyone in here seemed in a state of panic. Second, an out-of-breath Diego waited for me by the door.

Gulping air like a horse after a sprint, he waved a handkerchief at me while gripping his side. "I . . . I had to . . . to run. From . . . from the garden to here . . . all the way."

I grinned. "I see that."

Diego shook his head. "I have to admit I've misjudged you. You're far more audacious than I gave you credit for. Do you know how close you came to being discovered?"

"I was there, Diego. I know."

Diego produced a devious, yet charming, little smile. "Well, I hope she was worth the risk."

I was about to say yes and praise Eva's wonderful attributes and passionate nature when I realized that this was exactly what Diego wanted. He was fishing for lurid details. That was too bold. So instead of answering, I bowed to him. "Thank you for coming to my rescue with that diversion."

"Actually, about that." Diego grabbed my elbow and pulled me away from the servants' ears. "I intended to throw the king and his men on a wild goose chase, so you'd be able to escape . . . but it turned out quite differently."

I frowned. "What? You found Thalia?"

"No. She's still missing. We found someone else though."

"Explain yourself better."

"We caught her."

"Who?"

"Isabo. When I came through the garden door, with the king and his guards in tow, Isabo was already in the process of being arrested. Someone else, not me, saw her going out and rang the alarm."

"The alarm—Why? What was she doing?"

"She was leading a giant bear to the forest. I saw the tracks in the snow, Amir. I saw the beast too—its backside anyway."

"Are you sure that's what you saw?"

"In the dim dawn light it looked like a bear, big and dark. I only caught a glimpse of it because it was already entering the forest when we got outside. From what I was told, Isabo sent the beast off before the guards could kill it."

"What about Isabo? Did she try running away too?"

"I don't know. The guards already had her by the scruff of the neck and were leading her to the dungeons to be questioned, when I entered the garden. She fought back all the way to the castle though, and made threats against the queen, the king, the entire royal family really. She said they would all die if they imprisoned her, starting with the queen."

Too shaken by the recent events to make sense of what I was hearing, I asked again, "Are you sure of this?"

"Amir, I witnessed the whole thing, saw it with my own eyes. The woman is a sorceress."

Part of that morning was a blur to me. My head was too fuzzy to recall what else Diego and I had talked about. However, I remembered parting ways with him, and after that I somehow managed to shuffle my feet to my rooms.

I'd just gotten to bed after my night's adventure and desperately needed rest, when Milo burst into my bedroom.

"My lord, my lord!" he shouted from the foot of my bed.

Rubbing my eyes, I yelled, "WHAT?"

"My lord, something terrible happened."

"I know," I grumbled. "Thalia is missing and Isabo—"

"No, my lord, not that. It's something else."

I sat straight up in my bed. "Eva! Something happened to Eva after I left?"

"No. It's the queen, my lord."

"The queen?"

"She's dead, my lord. She passed away an hour ago."

"What! She's . . . no! That can't be true . . . that's. . . . " I was too shocked to say anything more. I had expected the queen's health to improve now that Isabo wasn't there to feed her daily doses of poison . . . . This didn't make any sense to me, none at all. After most of my shock had subsided, I looked up at Milo who was wringing his hands nervously beside my bed. "Milo, have you seen your cook this morning?"

Milo's face became void of all expression. "No. She found someone else."

"Oh—I'm sorry."

Milo shrugged. "Fine by me! It's not like we'd planned to raise a family."

To be perfectly blunt, I didn't know what to reply to that, so I continued as if it hadn't been said. "Milo, when you went out this morning you saw
other
people, servants, guards, all sorts of people. I know I've told you to never spread rumors; however, I think we can make an exception for this time. What did you hear so far about the queen's death? What are the people saying about it?"

Surprised, Milo stared at me silently for a moment, then cleared his throat. "That it's the witch's revenge. It's pretty much the opinion of everyone in the castle. Oh, and there's a mourning ceremony later today. You're expected to attend, my lord. And from what I've gathered, it would be best if you wore dark-colored clothes."

* * *

Fortunately, I had some dark-colored clothes. Dressed in midnight blue from head to toe, I made my way to the throne room where the mourning ceremony was being held.

Although I arrived there with very little time to spare, the tense, gloomy atmosphere of the throne room felt so tangible that I found it hard to actually cross the entrance. It was as if I had struck a solid wall of despair. Right now, entering the room wasn't an appealing prospect. Choosing to delay my entrance, I just stood in the doorway and surveyed the dark gathering of nobles clustered at one end of the room. They resembled a murder of crows in their black garments. All those nobles bore solemn expressions, except for Baron Molotoff. The man's expression never changed, it seemed. He still had the same stoic cold air as always. Apparently the queen's death left him unmoved. I turned to Diego, who was standing nearby. His handsome face was disguised by a mask of sorrow. Considering what I knew of him, I couldn't help wondering if his grief was an act. Had he known the queen well enough to be this affected by her passing? Was he mourning Thalia? I knew Diego wished to be free of her; therefore Thalia's disappearance should suit him just fine. So why the long face then? That was strange, I thought.

I directed my attention to the other end of the room, more specifically to the small raised dais. There stood the royal family . . . or what was left of it. Only three members remained: the king, Eva, and Lars. I observed that the king and Lars both wore broad black armbands over their dark purple coats. As for Eva, she was dripping in black lace. Even her head, which hung low, was hidden under a veil of black lacy fabric. The sight of this decimated family brought some unpleasant memories to my mind, memories of my own family, and how it had been decimated by an evil curse.

Reluctantly, I made my way to the small dais and bowed in front of the mourning group. "You have my deepest condolences, Your Majesty. I do share your grief."

To my utter disbelief, the king smiled kindly at me, and then he came down the dais and approached me. "I know you understand our pain. You've lived through something similar to this yourself."

I thought it best to speak as little as possible. So I just nodded.

The king shook his head. "I cannot believe that we nurtured that viper in our midst for all this time. And to think that if she hadn't been caught, I might have married her." Fists clenched, the king bared his teeth in a rictus of ire and disgust.

"Were there signs of her evil nature?" I asked.

The king regarded Countess Ivana, now standing at Eva's side consoling her as best she could. Regret darkened the king's face. "We were warned. But we didn't listen."

Hushed murmurs coming from the assembled mourners made me turn. The two barbarians were entering the throne room. They marched directly to the king. Stopping right in front of him, the barbarians raised praying hands to their mouths then foreheads and finally pointed their hands toward the king's heart. Although the gesture was done in total silence, it was clearly an act of respect and empathy. I watched the pair as they walked in front of Eva and repeated the same gesture. Once it was done, they just turned around and withdraw from the throne room.

I brought my attention back to the king. "What will happen to Isabo now?"

"Now? Nothing. For the next three days, all activity in the castle will cease as we mourn the queen. Even Isabo's execution is being delayed. The witch will burn after our last farewell to the queen."

Supported by Countess Ivana on one side and by Lars on the other, Eva slowly made her way to us. She extended a pale, trembling hand to me. I gripped it in mine. Her palm felt cold, her fingers icy.

"Why?" Eva sobbed. "Why hurt us? We've only been kind to her."

This fact was bothering me too. I looked at the king. "I'm asking myself the same questions. Why would Isabo attack the princesses? What did she want to accomplish by committing those crimes? What was her goal?"

Lars snorted. "Pf, stupid question! Evil doesn't need goals."

I thinned my lips. "Evil always has a goal—always."

"You're right, Prince Amir. It does," agreed the king, which made Lars red with anger. "Think I know that goal. I was the goal, or more exactly the Sorvinkian throne was the goal."

I waited for the king to say more, but he stayed silent. I turned to Eva. She was clutching my hand so tightly, it was as if she feared losing me if she let go. She had lost so much already. My eyes met Countess Ivana's. Her gaze was tired and empty; clearly those were the eyes of someone who hadn't slept for days.

"I should have figured it out," The countess said in a remorseful tone. "If only I had put it together before, the princesses would still be with us. I knew Isabo heard the king tell our beloved queen that he would only remarry if he had no children. But as he had beautiful ones, he saw no need to remarry. I knew Isabo heard this because I was there too."

The king emitted a bitter chuckling sound. "The worst in all this is that my dear departed wife had finally convinced me to remarry. I consented to it two days ago. Isabo didn't need to harm Thalia. She had won."

Lars blanched. He had just realized how close he had come to losing his position as the heir to the throne. Because if the king had remarried, chances were good that he might have had sons.

Straightening himself, Lars approached the king and snapped to attention like a good little soldier. "Have no fear, Uncle, as long as I breathe the Anderson name will rule Sorvinka."