by Krista McGee
“They aren’t my goals.” Alex releases a heavy sigh. “But I fear Father too. I don’t think he would kill me. He has no other heir. But I am not foolish enough to believe I could oppose him without facing any consequences.”
Why did I ever think that peace between Athens and New Hope would come easily? I am beginning to wonder if it will come at all. And I am convinced it will never come as long as the king lives. But I cannot say that to Alex. As much as he fears his father and realizes his practices are wrong, I doubt Alex could ever bring himself to hurt his father.
So, then, is it up to me? Can I kill this king to save his people? To save New Hope? To save Berk? Can I justify murder? What would John say? What about the Designer? Would he condone this?
I stand up to leave Alex’s room. I cannot tell him what I am thinking. I cannot even allow him to guess. “I will do what you ask.”
But that is not all I will do.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
I’ll take you to see Berk.” Helen snuck into my room just minutes after Alex left. She brought a guard’s uniform and hat.
“No one will ever believe I am a man.” I am thin and short. I do not have much of a chest, but enough is sticking out to make people look twice.
“People believe whatever makes sense. It makes sense for me to be escorted through the palace with a guard. No one will think anything of it.”
“But why are you escorted? Alex isn’t.”
“Alex doesn’t want to escape.” Helen’s voice sounds heavy, as if it is weighted down.
“But you do.”
Helen lets out a loud exhale.
“Because you fear for your life?”
Helen looks at me. “You care for Berk?”
I do not understand this change in the conversation. Perhaps she told me all she wants to tell me about her life and her difficulties. “Very much.”
“I cared for someone too.” A tear rolls down her cheek. “He escaped.”
I do not speak. Although I know what she is about to say, I also know she needs to say it. Freedom is found in speaking the truth.
Helen takes a deep breath. “Please don’t tell anyone I am telling you this. Not even Alex.”
“Alex doesn’t know?” That surprises me. I was sure the siblings told each other everything.
“Alex didn’t approve.” Helen shrugs. “Not of Peter and certainly not of my desire to escape.”
“Peter?” I try to keep my voice even, but she must hear something in my voice that betrays me.
Helen gasps. “You know him?”
“I saw him.”
“You saw him?”
I tell Helen the whole truth—about landing in New Hope, staying there, getting to know the people, coming here to try to find a way to bring peace to the cities. Helen, though, hears only Peter’s name.
“So he is alive . . .” A light enters her eyes—hope.
“He was injured. In a fire. But the last I saw of him, he appeared to be almost fully recovered. His sister was with him.”
“Diana made it?” Helen closes her eyes as a tear slips down her cheek. “My father told me Peter was killed.” Helen puts a hand to her mouth to stifle a sob. “But I knew he was alive. I knew it. Thank you.”
“But how were you able to know him?” This was a question I was never able to ask Peter. Carey and Kristie told me Peter and his family were ostracized from the royal family because of their refusal to do what the king asked.
“I was given more freedom before,” Helen says, a tiny smile on her lips. “Especially after my mother died. Father—the king—didn’t care where I went or what I did. And I wanted nothing more than to be far away from here. Everywhere I went reminded me of my mother. It was so painful.”
I wait as Helen wipes tears from her eyes with the tips of her fingers. She is so well mannered. Even when she’s upset.
“One day I just walked as far as I could go. I ended up at a stable where Peter was caring for his horses. We just started talking. I didn’t tell him who I was. He had lived on the outskirts for so long, he had no idea I was royalty. He was the first friend I ever had who just knew me as Helen. Not ‘the princess.’ Other than Alex and our mother, Peter was the only person who ever treated me with kindness and never wanted anything in return.”
“But Alex didn’t approve?”
“Alex thinks like a king,” Helen says. “Not regarding the treatment of others. My brother would never do to people what Father does. But he does believe in the purity of our line. And he never considered marriage for love. We were taught, from the time we were small, that the lower classes could marry for love. But royals do not. It is beneath us.”
I understand. Until recently, I was not taught about marriage at all. It is still a strange concept. Mysterious.
“But the more time I spent with Peter, the more I knew I could never marry anyone else.”
“What happened?”
“Father discovered us.”
“How?”
“He has spies everywhere.” Helen’s onyx eyes glisten. “And he had Peter’s family watched because of their ‘rebelliousness.’ One of his spies saw us talking together, and he reported that back to Father.”
“But you helped Peter escape.”
“I wanted to go with him.” Helen looks down at the floor, closes her eyes. “I wanted to go with him so badly. Watching him leave was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. But it would have been too much of a risk to go with him. Sometimes, though, I wish I had taken that risk. This life . . . is terrible.”
“Is Alex aware that you helped Peter escape?”
Helen leans her head to the side. “I didn’t tell him—I don’t want him to know. He suspects. But this is something he cannot know with certainty. If he found out, Father would no doubt have me killed. And he will find out eventually. So I am waiting for the right time to escape. I was hoping to do it when you and Alex left after your wedding. But that won’t happen now.”
“Of course it can.” I put my hand on Helen’s knee. “We will not leave you behind with that man. Never.”
“It won’t happen because you are not marrying my brother.” Helen looks me in the eyes. “You care for Berk, not Alex. And Alex deserves to marry someone who loves him, even if he doesn’t see that yet.”
“That’s why you want to help me see Berk.” Helen’s sadness makes sense now. She was mourning Peter, fearing for his life.
“I don’t want to just help you see him.” Helen stands and leads me to the door. “I want to help you escape with him.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Helen is right. No one even notices us. Helen plays the role of the moody daughter, shooting me angry glances as I grasp her elbow. She even winces like I am hurting her. We walk past other guards. They don’t even glance up from what they’re doing. We have walked down the stairs and through the grand hall. I am thankful that neither the king nor Alex has passed us. I am sure they would see through my disguise.
“Turn right before we reach the main door,” Helen whispers into my ear.
I obey and find myself in a narrow corridor. “Where are we?”
“This is a secondary entrance to the cellar. We only use it during parties, to make a quick exit or entrance.”
The hall ends abruptly. “Someone has sealed the exit.”
Helen looks behind us, then pushes on one of the stones. The wall shifts to the side, revealing a hidden exit. “Hurry.”
It is several degrees cooler inside this space than it was in the hallway. And once the door closes, it is very dark. Helen pats the wall beside us until lights flicker on—dull at first, but progressively lighter. The lights are in the ceiling, one every few feet. I cannot see the end of this passageway. “How far does this go?”
“It leads down into the cellar.” Helen moves faster. “From there, we can go back up to our residential chambers or farther down to the holding chamber. My mother told me there is an exit out of the city gates somewhere here to
o. But she didn’t know where it was.”
“Have you tried to find it?”
“A few times.” Helen sighs. “But I have always been caught. Guards are everywhere.”
“Guards!” I stumble on one of the stones at my feet and Helen catches my arm before I fall. “How will we get past them to see Berk?”
“I have this.” Helen pulls a circular object from her dress. “It’s a sleeping drug. Airborne.”
“How did you get it?”
“Peter.” Helen smiles. “The guards won’t know how they fell asleep. We’ll be gone before they wake, and they will be far too afraid of the king to say anything about it. Especially since Berk will still be there. No harm done.”
“Why can’t we take Berk and find the way out?”
“They won’t be asleep that long. And there are still the guards outside. We’d need more drugs.”
I want to get Berk out of Athens now. But Helen is right. We have no way to escape. Not yet. Alex is working on something. Something that requires me to be kind to the king and pretend he isn’t a horrible tyrant. I do not love the plan, but I cannot think of one that would be any better.
“I don’t remember which it is.” Helen is looking at a wall. It looks no different than the other walls we passed. She touches a few stones. Nothing happens. She steps on a stone at the edge of the wall. The wall shifts. The air smells musty. I cover my mouth to keep from coughing. If this is the holding chamber, then guards are here. I need to remain silent.
“Who’s there?” One of the guards heard the wall opening. Helen pulls out her sleeping drug, presses the top, and rolls it toward the sound of the voices.
“Stay back.” Helen pulls me against the wall. “It is powerful.”
“But Berk?” I don’t want to come all this way to watch him sleeping.
“He is behind a wall just like this,” Helen whispers. “The only opening is at the top, and the sleeping drug was made to stay low so those under it will continue to breathe it in for the duration.”
I hear the sound of a body drop. A guard calls out to the man, and then another body drops. Three more and Helen pulls me through the opening. “Hold your breath until we’re in the chamber.”
I do as she says, but my lungs burn as she works the chamber’s lock. She rushes to one of the guards, removes a tiny card that slides into the lock, and pushes me through the door. We both take deep breaths.
“I’m going back into the hallway to keep watch,” Helen says. “You have fifteen minutes.”
The door slams shut and my eyes cannot adjust to the darkness. I can’t see Berk. I can’t see anything. But suddenly I feel him. Arms that can only belong to Berk crush me to his chest.
“I don’t care if you’re a hallucination,” he whispers into my ear. He sways slightly, and I realize he can barely stand.
“What have they done to you?” I pull back and feel Berk’s face. Slight stubble covers his cheeks, but I can feel scrapes there as well. It is dark in here, the only light coming through the tiny slits around the door frame. As my eyes adjust, I see Berk has been beaten. One of his eyes is swollen shut; the other is framed in blood.
“It’s really you?” Berk blinks his good eye and cups my face with his hands.
“Yes.” All thoughts of our fight, my jealousy, are gone. This is Berk—my friend, my playmate and confidant. He is hurt and imprisoned because of me. I want to yell at him and hug him at the same time. “Have you been hallucinating me?”
Berk smiles, but I can see even that is painful. “One time you broke through the wall in one of those cars they pull.”
“I broke through the wall?” I laugh at the image. “That wall?”
“Right through.” Berk motions with his head toward the stones behind him. “Didn’t even get messy.”
“Your first clue that it was a hallucination?”
“No. My first clue was that I was floating when you broke through.”
I step back. “Now that would have been something to see.”
“Why are you here?” Berk’s smile fades. “Is this the final visit before they execute me?”
“No. No, of course not!”
“I didn’t expect to live through this.” Berk takes my hands. “I just wanted to try to save you.”
“And I want to save you.” I squeeze his hands.
“I’m sorry, Thalli.” He lets go of my hands. “I’ve spent every moment since you left wishing I could take back what I said. If something happened to you—I don’t know what I would have done.”
“I’m sorry too, Berk.”
“John and I spent a lot of time talking while you were gone.” Berk steps away and looks at me. “He taught me about the verses he gave you.”
“ ‘The Lord is my shepherd’?”
“I have been praying that the Designer would set a table before you in the presence of our enemies.”
I glance around. “He has.”
Berk leans against the wall. He is weary. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry now?”
“I should have thought through this more.” Berk sighs. “But you had been gone so long. I was worried. The ten days were up, and Carey was talking Gerald into two weeks. I couldn’t stand it. I was sure you were hurt. I was going to come like you did, as a refugee. But when the guard greeted me outside the gate and told me you were marrying the prince, I couldn’t think clearly. I just ran.”
“That was quite an entrance you made.” I shake my head. “Always trying to rescue me.”
“Did he hurt you?” Berk’s voice is quiet. “That prince. Did he . . . do anything to you?”
“No. Alex is a good man. He is going to help us. He’s part of the plan.”
“Are you sure you can trust him?”
“Yes.” I hear feet along the hallway outside.
“We have to go,” Helen whispers through the door.
“That’s his sister.”
“His sister?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later.” I move toward the door. “When I come to save you.”
“I guess I am the one needing rescuing.” Berk laughs. “I’ll stay clear of the wall.”
I don’t want to leave, but I recall what Helen said. If the guards wake and don’t know what happened, they won’t do anything. But if they wake and see us here . . . I don’t even want to think about what could happen.
“I’ll be back for you.” I walk out the door, past the guards, praying that I can do just that.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
I can’t open the door to my room.
I tried pushing against it, banging on it. I screamed for Helen, for Alex, for a guard. Nothing. I cannot climb out the window. It is too high. I have pressed every stone on the walls and the floor like I saw Helen do, hoping there is a secret entrance here. Nothing. I am trapped.
Something very bad is happening. I am no longer a guest, but a prisoner. Like Berk. And if I am a prisoner like Berk, I cannot help him.
I fall onto the bed. My throat is raw from screaming. My muscles ache from pushing against the wall and running around the room. I don’t understand what is happening, and I hate that more than anything.
I must have fallen asleep again because the next time I open my eyes, the room is brighter. Sunlight filters through the red curtains, making the room appear to be bleeding. I jump up, praying that I was dreaming earlier, that I am not locked in. But it was not a dream. The door is immobile. My hands still hurt from banging on it. I lean my back against the door and slide down.
“Thalli?” I barely hear the whisper.
“Alex?”
“Shh.” A sheet of yellowed paper slides under the door, and I open it. “Father knows of your visit last night. The chamber is filled with surveillance equipment. Stay quiet and say nothing else. I will do everything I can to help you and Berk.”
I gasp. I want to throw a chair against the door, race down to the prison chamber. I want to rescue Berk just like he dreamed—brea
king through a wall, floating out of Athens. But I am powerless. And the king is angry. He knows about our visit. He heard what we said. He knows Helen and Alex are part of our plan to rescue Berk. I have placed so many lives in danger. I want to cry and scream, but I will do what Alex asked: stay quiet.
I sit on the bed and try not to think about what the king will do with this information, of what Alex has to protect me from. Instead I think about Berk trapped below. I think of Helen, caring enough for me to help me see Berk. As we walked back last night, she smiled more than I have ever seen her smile. I wanted to ask her more about Peter and her. I could tell she was thinking about him. I pray there will be a future for Peter and Helen. I will do everything I can to bring them back together, to give Helen a life full of happiness, of freedom. She does not deserve to be trapped here, mistreated by this king who would kill her mother and plot to kill her.
But I can do nothing while I am trapped in this room, waiting for whatever punishment the king has planned for me. My only hope is that he still wants to put on the show of a wedding, still wants the people to love me so he can kill me and incite the people against New Hope. At least that will give me more time to find a way to help Berk and Helen escape.
A soft knock sounds on the door. Alex has returned. “Thalli.”
That is not Alex’s voice. I walk to the door. “Yes?”
“It’s Carey.”
My heart drops. Carey is in Athens too? “Why . . . ?”
“We knew something happened when Berk did not return.” Carey is not trying to keep his voice quiet. He didn’t sneak in here. Of course not. What price did he pay to enter the city? I cannot even bear to think of it. “Kristie and I are here to try to negotiate for your release.”
I close my eyes. “I am sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. We sent you here knowing the dangers. We allowed Berk to come too. We should have known better.”
“What about Gerald?” Suddenly I find myself wanting nothing more than to see the old man leading his army into battle against the king.
