Romana's Freedom (Soul Merge Saga Book 1)

by M. P. A. Hanson

  “I don’t have a reputation to shred.” She replied.

  Hana snorted, “If you didn’t before the ball you do now. I doubt there’s a woman in the human realms that hasn’t heard how well you dress or how wonderfully distinguished you’ve proven yourself to be.”

  “Apparently they’re right.” She mumbled. “I don’t suppose there’s a way that Prince Endis could be wrong, and I could just be a normal elf.”

  “Who knows?” Hana replied “I never claimed to be a genealogy expert, but I don’t think it’s likely that they’re wrong. They are elves after all, the most advanced humanoid species in the planet, as they like to remind us underlings.”

  “You keep using the words they and us. Have I not crossed that line?” She asked sadly.

  “Once a maid, always a maid.” Hana replied, “Even if you have royal blood. Besides I know and like you, whereas from my experience, most elves are too arrogant to be worthy of liking. There are a few exceptions of course; the good Lady of the Elves Queen Hira, so humble even for all her beauty and status, and her five sons. I’ve met them all in the past, and I should be glad to do so again some day. But enough of that, off to court with you now.” She made a shooing motion with her hands, and Romana obeyed, quickly walking towards the throne room.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  CALM

  Court turned out to be a vibrant colourful place, yet at the same time dull and repetitive. The ladies of the court spent every minute of their time dancing, sewing, gossiping or arranging flowers. And in between these various activities, they still found time to kiss up to the queen.

  Romana didn’t think she’d stopped once since she’d walked into the room. And now, as members of the court finally began to retire to change for the cotillion ball, she herself left, accompanied by an excitable Beatrice, who had stuck by her side since that morning.

  “We’re all wearing white dresses for the ball.” Beatrice informed her “So it will be harder for anyone to outshine anyone else and still conform to the dress codes.”

  “What were they again?” Romana asked.

  “The basic shape and measurements of the dresses have been given to the seamstresses; each one has to be white, but they can embellish them however they want, also, we have to wear elbow length silk gloves. They can accessorise with whatever jewellery they want, and there are no rules about the style of the upper half of the gown.” She recited with ease. “Oh, and sleeves cannot be long, obviously because of the glove rule. Personally I think we should just wear the same, like the men are.”

  “That would make the queen too frustrated at not being able to best all of us.” Romana replied.

  “I know.” Beatrice admitted “Sometimes that’s all these balls appear to be, entertainment for the queen, a chance for her to show off her wealth to the rest of the world.”

  “I didn’t think I’d ever hear that sort of confession from you.” But Romana had to admit, no matter how nice the queen was, Beatrice was right.

  “It’s entirely your fault.” Beatrice accused “You’re too easy to talk to. I say too much around you.”

  They were silent for a little while before Romana spoke again. “Do you think that Prince Marten will be healed in time for the ball?”

  “Oh of course he will. Prayer magic only needs a few hours to work. He probably didn’t come into court because he wanted to avoid the questions that would be asked.” Beatrice reassured her.

  “Did you hear about the bodies left out in the marketplace as well?” Romana asked?” Having heard vague reports of six bodies found at the marketplace directly outside the palace gates.

  “Oh they weren’t dead.” Beatrice shuddered. “I’m sure they were praying for it but they weren’t dead. My personal guards gave me the true report just a few hours ago.” She paused, and Romana could tell that the woman was trying to get up the courage to tell her what had happened. “There were three men and three women, found one after the other. Four alive, all clearly tortured, but those who were alive were chanting her name. When the captain asked them to explain what had happened, they said that their mistress who they ‘revere’ and ‘love’ did the torturing, and then commanded them to deliver a message after chanting her name five hundred times.”

  “They were insane from the torture?” Romana guessed.

  “Yes, so deep into the abyss that they could only blabber on about how loving their mistress is after they’d chanted her name the five hundred times she’d ordered them to.”

  “What was the message?” Romana asked.

  “It was to his highness the prince.” Beatrice replied “Here, one of my men wrote it down, I won’t repeat it.”

  She handed over a piece of paper that had been inside a hidden pocket, and motioned for Romana to read.

  The two men and two women, now known to be four highly stationed men and women in ‘Vipers Crew’ are to give this message to Prince Marten before Sunset. When asked what they would do afterwards they replied that they would await deliverance from their mistress. The message is: The men are examples of what will happen to Rolf and Endis. The women, well, this is nothing compared to what I will do to Arianne and Romana. The dead ones, they’re examples of what you and your loved ones will wish to be when I’m done. Just so you know what awaits them if you decide to mess with me. I hope you like my art, it’s a childhood hobby.

  “Somebody just threatened your life and that of four royal persons.”

  “Five.” She replied. “I share blood with Queen Hira. I only found out earlier, my eyes are apparently rarer than at first believed. This woman is either very mad, or very good.”

  “There’s talk of abandoning the conference, but the queen forbids it.” Beatrice informed her. “The nobility doesn’t want to lose the ruler and the heir, it would ruin us.”

  “I understand.” She replied “But I believe we should at least call off the ball until this matter can be sorted out.”

  “Perhaps it would be better to do so. I have heard of more than one annual conference only having one of the two balls due to security situations.”

  “I will ask Prince Marten about having it done.” Romana replied, just as they reached the stairs where they would part ways. “I shall send note by messenger if the ball cannot occur.”

  “Do it before my handmaids get round to my hair. I don’t want to have to go though all those hairpins to find out that the ball isn’t happening.”

  “Alright.” Romana replied, leaving up the stairs.

  She walked to Marten’s rooms at elvenspeed, only to find him in her rooms ordering the maids to pack for her.

  “What’s happening?” She asked.

  “There was a threat upon your life, I’m having you moved to a nearby town tonight in secret, you’ll miss the ball, but so will Arianne. Endis and my father are stubbornly refusing to go, but I will get them out of here somehow.”

  “Stop for a second.” She replied, grabbing his hand and leading him out of the room and into the corridor. “Now breathe.” When he went to interrupt she reached upwards to put a hand over his mouth, “Breathe for me, okay?” She looked imploringly at him, and she sensed him give in before she felt his deep breath against her fingers. “I’m fine, everybody here is fine and Arianne is fine. But we need you to be calm.”

  “I am calm.” He replied

  “You’re not.” She replied, “You’re panicked and it’s showing. All of this is unnecessary; we are not going to be attacked unless you do something stupid. And even then she wouldn’t manage it. Because I’m elven too, and so is Endis, we’d be able to hold our own. Besides is she really a threat, she did heal you, and save you, and then knock you out so that you wouldn’t feel any pain. If you think about it then she’s done more kindness than harm. Much of what she says could be taken as empty threats, which are created to keep you worried about us instead of finding out who she is.”

  “But there are no leads as to who she is.”

  “What about Endis. I th
ink he knows more than he’s letting on, for example; if you two grew up together, then how is Endis supposedly over a thousand years old?”

  He stood astounded. “Why did I never see that?” He asked, finally.

  “Because he’s your friend.” She replied, not wanting to set them against each other.

  “Friends don’t keep secrets from each other.”

  “Of course they do.” She replied. “You have your kingdom to protect, but so does he. You can’t let one friendship compromise the safety of your people.”

  Then the prince of the human realms did something she did not expect. He sank to his knees right there in the middle of the corridor. She sank with him, her gown pooling on the floor in waves of yellow. “I need to make it up with Silver.”

  “No, you need to sleep. You’re exhausted. But before you do that, write a letter to the nobles and have it delivered to your parents explaining that the ball cannot go ahead because of the threat posed by the increasingly aggressive gang and the woman taking them out. That will give us time to reassess security, and you must send a note to Silver apologizing, then get some rest, and talk to Endis tomorrow.

  “Will you go to the town, say you’re needed in Elvardis or something?”

  “I never wanted to attend the stupid conference anyway.” She replied. “What about Arianne?”

  “Protected by the fiercest guards in the army already and two of them are halflings. Harm coming to her is as unlikely as snow on midsummer’s day.”

  “When should I leave?” She asked. “And for the record I do not like running away, and I’m only doing it because I’m trying to accept ‘the whole package’.” She informed him.

  “Tomorrow morning.” He replied.

  “Good. Now, I’m going to sleep, is there any reason why I can’t? No guards in my fireplace, no spies on my windowsill?”

  “None.” He replied, “I’m patching up the hole in the palace wall however. Not that it’ll do much good against her. And security has been doubled. There’s also a perimeter set up on all passageways leading out of the palace.”

  “Okay.” She replied, pulling him to his feet. “Now get busy.”

  As she walked away she had the feeling that that was the most civilized talk they’d ever had.

  Of course, she couldn’t actually sleep. Not with Silver demanding out so badly. As soon as she was in her bedroom, it was no surprise to feel inescapable darkness lingering at the edge of her mind.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  THE KIDNAPPING

  So Marten was letting the girl out for a few days, interesting, but not fun. Silver thought as she leapt onto the tall branches of a tree, and used the height to catapult herself over the wall and towards the caves.

  She had a far more interesting idea than listening to his apology, and if it worked, then she would be able to have not just one night, but four days to herself, maybe more, since it had been proven that Romana couldn’t take over control by herself.

  Running at elvenspeed gave her just enough time to finalize the rest of her plan. The first part had been done when she’d vandalized Romana’s room to make it look like a fight had gone on. In her hand she held the two yellow sapphire earrings that Romana had been wearing, over her arm was a silk night robe and nightgown that had been in her draws.

  Inside the cave, she took her box from the set of twin boxes down from a shelf, and then snatched a piece of paper and a quill from her desk. The ink was her blood, much more dramatic, she thought, even as she penned a scruffy letter in the girl’s handwriting. When she’d finished she read it through.

  Dear Marten,

  I really don’t want to do this, but I really don’t have a choice because there’s a sword at my throat, and the person wielding it has already demonstrated she doesn’t mind using it. Silver says she wants to meet with you and Prince Endis at a time and place of her choosing. She wants you to know that if you don’t come I’ll die. Look after Katelyn.

  From Romana.

  She artfully arranged blood droplets onto the page, along with a few of her tears, and then folded the page around one of the yellow sapphire earrings, securing it with a black ribbon, before placing it in the tin box.

  Ten minutes later and her elvenhearing ensured she could hear his roar of anger even from where she sat.

  The reply came five minutes after that.

  We’ll meet with you at the memorial fountain in Stratford Square. Bring Romana.

  She made him wait for half an hour before running back to Morendor, with dried blood across her cheek. A little theatrical, but she liked making the human prince mad.

  As she approached she noted the archers on the house roofs and grinned. Pulling out several canisters filled with pungent herbs that would knock them out for hours, she flung them at the archers, and then at the guards that were lurking at a nearby alleyway. As a special treat for Endis’ magicians, she sent four canisters their way. They wouldn’t be waking for at least a day.

  They all went out like lights then, leaving the two princes standing at the edge of the fountain with its ridiculous stone dolphins seemingly leaping over the water.

  “Did you miss me gentlemen?” She asked, from her seat atop the largest of the dolphins. As they spun she chucked them a small cloth bundle containing a lock of Romana’s hair (her own turned black with the change) and the other earring, bloodstained of course.

  “What have you done with her?” Marten asked clearly still in a rage. But Endis put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, clearly attempting to remain calm, although, clearly he was also enraged by Romana’s disappearance.

  “Moi?” She asked, acting guileless. “What use would I have for a scrawny teenager?”

  “We know you have my cousin.” Prince Endis replied “She mentioned you in her letter.” The words were grated out in a forced calm; clearly neither man liked her at that moment. “We just want her back.”

  “Why?” Silver asked.

  “What do you mean why?!” Marten yelled. “Maybe we prefer that she isn’t being tortured when she’s done nothing at all against you.”

  That quickly she was right in front of him, nose to nose. “But you have.” She replied. “You tried to kill me. I didn’t like that.”

  “And he apologizes for that.” Endis replied.

  “I want to hear him say that.” She replied “Two words, come on little prince, two words to save your lady?”

  “I’m sorry.” He growled. Interesting, so the halfling had inherited that little animal trait had he.

  “That’s nice.” She replied absently, whisking back to the dolphin again.

  “Now where is she?” He asked.

  “In my dungeon.” Silver lied absentmindedly, “We had some…fun.”

  “What did you do to her?” Endis asked and his growl was as hateful as Marten’s.

  “I told you, we had some fun. You could say it was a real, slice. We repainted the floor of my dungeon red. But we have to wash it off before Lena gets back. You can have Romana back when I get bored. Which isn’t likely for your information, I don’t chuck out my playthings early if I can help it.” She stood and looked up at the moon. “She’s strong your elf; hasn’t broken yet. If she makes it to the weeks end without breaking, you can have her back. If she doesn’t, I’ll leave her body in your courtyard shall I? I hung her by the way, just a little, so you wouldn’t think I’d been making empty threats.”

  “She is a cousin of the royal house and as such is under the protection of Queen Hira and as a grand duchess is under the protection of King Rolf and Queen Claire. If you do not return her to us, then we will have no choice but to execute you.” Endis informed her.

  “Think about Katelyn.” Marten beseeched her. “I’m sorry I attacked you. But you have no motive to do this. She’s done nothing to you, or anyone else.”

  “I have a motive.” She replied, flitting down so she was right by his ear. “I’m bored. I want to have some fun.”

  Marten dived
for her at that, and she let him get in one or two punches, even as she moved with the grace of a leopard to swivel around, and backhand him into some crates. Endis came at her after that, and she ducked and dodged his blows before kicking his feet out from under him.

  “Goodbye, little princes.” She replied.

  “Touch one hair on Romana’s head, and I will hate you forever.” Prince Marten informed her as he pushed to his feet, bruised and bleeding.

  “Don’t you already?” She asked,

  “You never did anything irredeemable before this.” He replied, even as she leapt onto the nearest roof.

  “Why are you doing this?” Lena asked as soon as Silver got back.

  “Because I hate her, hate this.” She replied. “They deserve to pay.”

  “For what?” Lena asked. “She was an infant, it was your mistake. Are you trying to make Kate pay for your own ignorance? By hurting Romana and those she loves?”

  “That is part of it.” Silver replied, and she was cold enough to not care about the little girl who was crying her eyes out in the castle right this minute. And no she most definitely had not sent Marten a note written in Romana’s hand reassuring Katelyn she was okay. “I’ll need Leigh on Friday.”

  “So that you can have her torture you?” Lena asked.

  “No. I just need her to do the whipping, I can do everything else. What do you think about me slitting my wrists at the end? Or would slashing my throat be better?”

  “And when you changed it would be Romana suffering the pain, as we all know you can stand far worse and not flinch. When she gets out she’ll be in agony, if she even survives.”

  “I know.” Silver replied, unflinching under the brownies gaze.