by Lani Lenore
“It’s important,” he insisted firmly, leveling his gaze. The men were not moved, but they did lift their heads from the many books they were balancing.
“The crown prince has more important things to worry about just now,” Mr. Browning chimed in. “The king is dead. The prince has the coronation to prepare for, and nothing you have to say is important.”
“We all have jobs to do,” injected Swingler. “Dealing with outside matters is what he insists on keeping you around for. If it’s a matter of the sea, handle it. You’ve been given the means.”
The men began walking again, trying to muscle him out, but Nathan remained in their path.
“No, I need to speak with him in private.”
“I’m afraid that’s completely impossible. He has left for the rehearsal.”
Perhaps it was impossible, and maybe it served Ellister right to be left in the dark about this, since he was keeping Nathan at a distance for such a ridiculous reason.
Either way, it’s the same to me. But her…
“Then at least let me offer this,” he started. “The coronation: I heard it was going to be held on a ship in the bay. Is that true?”
“Yes, Ellister wants the people to gather, to show them that he isn’t afraid of the sea. He’s going to do what his father could not.”
“Then it’s important that I speak to him. It’s a safety matter.”
“The ship is already scheduled to be flanked by two naval ships,” Browning chimed in. “Now, we are very busy men. Would you move?”
“I mean from the nymphs,” Nathan said openly. The men shifted their gazes around them, and then one to another. “Aside from Ellister, no one knows more about this than I do. Let me talk to him, and then he can rest easy to focus on his speeches—and presenting his new bride. Isn’t that what you want?”
The advisors stopped, looking at each other in silent contemplation.
“Let me make it easier for you,” Nathan pushed. “Say yes. Trust me when I tell you that this is the least you can do to protect your king.”
The silence hung in the air for a few seconds, as another man left the prince’s audience chamber and walked past them. Finally, Nathan got his response.
“We’ll get you an audience with him—later. Make sure the harbor is secure before the coronation. Nets are to be rigged beforehand,” Swingler dictated to him. “There will be important nobles on the deck of the ship, and many common citizens at the docks. You are to remain unseen, do you understand?”
“Have I ever not?” Nathan asked snidely, “and don’t make me fight for entry. Remember, I know things.”
The men only eyed him as they pushed past. He let them go, trusting that they wouldn’t forget. He would remind them if need be. Nathan had never played the bribery card in the palace before, had never needed to, but he would use it if they made him. He could say a lot of things about the crown prince. He could bring light to the secret chamber, even if he was no longer allowed to go there himself.
The room ahead of him was still bustling with attendants, and though he could burst in and make a scene if he wanted, he would not. He’d secured an audience for himself. He could deliver the message, and at the very least, make sure that Treasure was safe.
Chapter Nineteen
All For My Love
1
“Again.” The insistence was automatic by now, and Treasure complied. Once again she practiced her bow, dipping low, bending her knees, lowering her head. Still, she was unsteady. The shoes coupled with the strain of the movement would not let her go down gracefully. Even the dancing had come more easily than this, but there was weakness in her knees that had been growing over the days—pricks of pain in her calves.
“No no no,” Danielle cried. “One would think you were a common barmaid. Is that what you are? Is that the impression you want to present? Once again.”
Treasure tried again. Truly, she was tired. She had been practicing all day, and Danielle was so hard to please. What she needed was a break. She—
Treasure felt a snap at her lower back and was startled, but did not shriek. Feeling the sting, she turned to see that Danielle had struck her with a baton. This was not the first time. The woman clung to the rod religiously. Though the strike was not entirely painful, Treasure felt the blow lingering, a reminder that now was not the time for rest.
“Keep your back straight. Don’t make me tell you again. Insufferable girl…”
“That’s quite enough,” a level voice intruded. Treasure knew it immediately, and she knew that Danielle did as well. She turned to see Thaddeus standing in the doorway, flanked by attendants, his expression cold.
The crown prince had not been active in Treasure’s lessons, but he had stopped by on occasion, as time had permitted. Since his father’s death, he had not had as much time to spend with her, but he had never been cruel. She found him to be charming and gentle, unlike this woman who’d been assigned to her. However, they were all still a far cry from what she had been accustomed to in the depths.
“Your Highness,” Danielle addressed with a reverent bow, backing away from Treasure.
Ellister stalked into the room, stepping leisurely. He approached the two of them where they stood, eyeing Danielle before casting a smile at Treasure. It was attractive; she could not deny it. She smiled back, but it did not make her heart flutter.
“How do you feel about her progress?” he asked Danielle. “Will she be ready for the coronation?”
“She is still a bit rough around the edges, but I’m preparing her as well as I can, Your Grace.”
The woman had pride in her work; that was not mistaken. Treasure tried to stand up straight and do her teacher credit, but Thaddeus did not regard her as he paced nearer to the window, where Danielle stood.
“Correct me if I’m mistaken, but did I just see you strike her?”
His smile was good-natured, but there was dangerous fire burning in Ellister’s eyes. It was the evidence of a power that was Treasure’s curse. Men were ensnared by a nymph’s presence, whether or not there was a song to sway them. Nathan had seemed to resist it, or at least to turn away from that draw, on occasion. Thaddeus, however, had been smitten. She was not blind to that.
Treasure had been with Danielle long enough to know that the woman was bold and set in her ways. The tutor was not about to be shut down by this man whom she had raised up to manners herself—despite his station. She did not back down from him, tilting her head and grasping her baton.
“With all due respect, Your Grace, you must let me teach her as I know how—as it will work.”
“I must?” he asked, his face clouded.
The woman was unrelenting, and Treasure felt a bit uncomfortable. She wished she could simply shy away, but the aura of tension kept her in place. If she’d had a tongue, she might have spoken up, but there was no time for that.
“I insist.”
With an abrupt motion, Ellister grabbed the back of the matron’s neck and slammed her head against the window. Treasure clenched her teeth, cringing. There were gasps and mutters from other attendants, but no one made a move to stop the display. This seemed out of character—so unlike him as it must have appeared to the rest—but Treasure knew why. He beat the woman’s head against the window twice, there was a spurt of blood across the glass, and the woman arose with streams of red liquid rushing from her nose, which she clenched between her wrinkled hands.
Still grasping her neck, Ellister leaned in. “If I ever hear of you laying a finger on her again, I will not stop, old woman. Do you understand?”
Ellister’s threats were low and menacing. Treasure had never seen this side of him, but as she stood there wide-eyed, she wondered if this was the result of change and stress—or if it was her fault. Had she turned a good man into a monster?
Treasure was unsure of what to think about this, but as Danielle stooped to the floor and blood dripped steadily upon the tile, she knew that she was afraid—afraid of what she
had seen as well as of herself. Unescorted, she fled the room. No one tried to stop her. She dashed through the halls, heading to the only safe place she knew. Nathan. She knew where his room was—she had known for a while—but she had honored his wish by not going there. Now, she didn’t care about any rules. She just needed to be with him.
She needed him to tell her that she wasn’t a monster.
Treasure rushed onward—until a voice startled her, and she stopped, pressing her back against the wall. She did not want to be seen. Anyone she might meet could take her back to Ellister, and she did not want to look at the man for what she had made him do. Silently, she waited. She listened.
“You are to remain unseen, do you understand?”
“Have I ever not?” The next voice was Nathan’s and her heart sped. She stilled herself, however. “And don’t make me fight for entry. Remember, I know things.”
Footsteps resounded, several pairs of feet, at least one of which was coming toward her. Was it Nathan, or the other man? She could not be sure. Treasure quickly crossed the hall and hid herself around another corner, just as a figure emerged into the passage, and her heart swelled.
He’s here! Nathan was moving down the hall. She wanted to call out, at the very least whisper his name, but that was a long lost desire. Soon he had passed her, and she had lost her chance to snare him. She was about to rush after him, but he did not remain alone for long, for soon another attendant joined him—one of his own.
“Ready the ship,” Nathan instructed. “We’re going out.”
“Yes, sir.”
They walked together beyond his room and down longer hallways, and she believed she knew where he was going, deep beneath the palace to the king’s personal dock—the very same place she had followed him to when she had tracked him back from the island.
She needed to get away—needed to be with him on that boat—and she did not need him to tell her no.
Secretly, she followed.
2
Ellister noticed a spot of blood on his sleeve, and frowned. This was not the sort of business he normally associated himself with—hurting people, getting blood on his own hands—but today he had been compelled. He had been forced to do it, and for all his knowledge of nymphs, he did not stop to think that it had been Amelia’s influence that had driven him to act so harshly.
The tutor was still stooped to the ground, her nose bleeding and possibly broken, but no one had even bothered to help her up. All those around him were silent, and he wondered why. Did they have nothing to say toward his behavior? Surely they had their own thoughts, but they must have been cowards in his presence. Ellister wondered if he had to be responsible for everything.
“Get her cleaned up,” he ordered, and the servants dashed to action as simply as that.
For the first time in a while, he truly marveled at his own power. This was absolution, was it not? How amazing what others would tolerate for a king. His father had certainly been an abuser of that power, and Thaddeus had never wanted that for himself, but for her he felt he might do anything. He would do as any man in love with a woman, to stand up for her in times of trial—to let no one else stand in his way.
“Should we go after the young woman?” a shaky-voiced attendant asked him. Faceless, like so many of them, but Ellister was still frowning at his stained sleeve.
“Leave her be for now. She needs some time, but she’ll come to understand.”
She would. He was certain of that. In time, his love would be clear.
3
The boat muttered lazily in the bay, unaware of the important task assigned to it. The men aboard spent the greater part of the daylight hours checking nets that had been placed previously, dropping new ones that could guard from the open water.
As the sun was beginning to fade, Nathan finally decided that it was a job done.
“This is the last one, and then we’ll be finished. As much ale as you can drink when we get back to the docks, from His Majesty’s purse.”
“Aye!” A cheer went up from the men aboard the boat. If that wasn’t motivation for these marked sailors, Nathan didn’t know what would be.
After a long day, they had almost finished running the reinforced nets—invisible to the eyes of onlookers, but necessary if the coronation was going to be on a ship, especially if this ‘Mistress’ was supposed to rise. These nets were reinforced with steel threads, and significant weight on them would trigger mines beneath. They’d die down before they broke the surface, but were perfect weapons against underwater intruders. Another of Ellister’s ideas, not yet proven to work.
Nathan felt they’d done well with the planting, hadn’t disrupted anything, and with a bit of luck, he’d sleep well tonight.
If that’s possible for me anymore.
All this, he did for Treasure. If she was to be on that boat, he wanted her to be safe.
When he was confident that everything was in place, he went below deck for the short trip back. They were still in the harbor and the men had already begun to get rowdy, but Nathan didn’t feel like joining in, not like in his former days when he’d always been up for a drink and a laugh.
He was supposed to get his audience with Ellister this evening, but he was starting to wonder if it could wait until the morning. It couldn’t—of course not. Ellister needed the message before the coronation, but Nathan was not feeling as urgent as he had been earlier. He just wanted to be alone.
Though this vessel was another designed to be slow and certainly not worthy of being stolen, Nathan had thought of keeping it for the night. He could sleep in the cabin below and enjoy the gentle rocking of the ocean to escape the chaos his life had become. Even if he was going nowhere, the water would lull him to sleep. Perhaps for one night, he would be at peace.
He was melancholic deep within, needing just one night so that he could get his head together and bear what was to come. The coronation, the wedding, the war. He would go below and throw himself in bed to forget everything, maybe have a drink if he had to. Tomorrow, he thought, he would be better. He would be able to think about more than—
Opening the cabin door in the modest, wood-lined space, Nathan stopped short when he saw that he wasn’t alone.
The woman in his room was sitting on the bed, and to see her made his heart speed and his muscles tense.
“Treasure?” Her name was a wisp of breath. “What are you doing here?”
He asked her this, but of course she did not answer. Instead, she rushed to him promptly and threw her arms around his neck. He was too shocked to react at first, so many questions taking up in his mind. Finally, he managed to put his arms around her as well. He held her close, disbelieving, stroking her hair. The solidity of her form seemed so foreign to him now, as if forbidden. A sliver of the freedom he’d once felt in her embrace rushed back to him, but the weight of her actions came down on him heavily.
She’s here. She shouldn’t be here. Does Ellister know she’s missing? How many soldiers are looking for her? What will happen if they find her with me?
He pushed her away just a fraction, looking into her face. She was gazing back at him, reaching with her sea-green eyes, trying to pull him toward her. He had seen this look before. In fact, she had always looked at him this way, and he’d always been a slave to it.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” he scolded, but his tone was soft. “This will only make matters worse for both of us.”
She shook her head, but he would not be stopped.
“Do you know what could happen if they find us together? Ellister is the most powerful man in this world, and I’ve already been warned. If he thought that I was associating with the woman he plans to marry—”
Treasure only stared at him. He didn’t want to look back into her eyes for fear of what he would see, but it was too late. He remembered the first day he’d spoken to her—how he’d found her with barbs in her flesh. She had come from a world where her life had always belonged to someone else. She had
come here to find freedom, to be with him, and he had pushed her away for his own cowardice. Nathan was as disappointed in himself as she must have been in him. She hadn’t needed to say a word.
“I’m sorry,” he said finally, sighing out his frustration. “I just want you to be safe, and this is the only way I know how.”
When he felt her fingers against his jaw, he turned back, but he did not see what he’d expected. Her expression was full of patience, as if she knew that his standoffishness was only a guise.
She reached for the conch at his throat, showing it to him in an appeal, but he could only shake his head.
“I don’t know what to do with this,” he admitted. “What does it mean?”
Sadly, Treasure let go of it, letting it hit against his chest. She seemed disappointed. Perhaps she had been confused. Did the conch mean anything at all? If it did, she did not seem to know it herself.
“I’ve tried to find out what I can about how you came to be here,” he said, “but I’m still lost. Can’t you try to speak to me?”
She opened her mouth, hesitated, and closed it again. She shook her head. No. She couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“If I’d known that you could come here, I wouldn’t have turned you away. Now everything is such a mess and I allowed it to happen.”
She looked at him, silent, and even though she couldn’t speak, something about her had always drawn his truth forward.
“I’ve never known what I’m doing. I just do whatever comes before me, hoping my choices will lead me where I want to go, but I don’t even know where that is. I thought I wanted to be free, but now I just want to find what I’m meant to do—to have a purpose. I want to be better, but I don’t know how to fix it. I feel helpless. I—”
He stopped, sighing, unable to go on. He wasn’t doing more than babbling at best. She touched his neck, squeezing affectionately, and his eyes met hers. There were words there for him to see. She didn’t have to say them. I know who you are, Nathan. I’m here for you. I won’t ever leave. She knew what he needed instead, and the next moment, her soft lips had claimed his.
