The Wrong Prince

by C. K. Brooke

  Geo and Lucie exchanged faltering glances. They hadn’t devised a plan of their own; until then, they’d thought to rely upon Cerise’s expertise.

  The woman seemed to sense this. “Look.” She smoothed her dress. “My best guess is that he’ll be in one of two places: the dungeons, or the tower’s keep.”

  Geo grimaced.

  “I can find a way to get us all onto the premises, but once we’re in, you’re on your own.” Cerise shrugged grimly. “You understand, I must flee as soon as my task is complete. I risk the gallows for no one.”

  Geo looked again to Lucie. Her mouth was set in a tight line. “Then how will you receive your stipend?” she challenged the woman. “If something happens to us while you’re fleeing to safety, then your efforts shall have been in vain. Only Prince Georome and I know of your agreement. Otherwise, the royal family of Tybiria isn’t going to simply take your word for it.”

  Cerise clearly had not considered this. She gave Lucie a long look. “I’ll think on it,” she finally uttered, and Lucie’s eyes shone with a flash of triumph. Cerise went on. “In the meantime, you realize we’ll have to cross the moat for this venture?”

  Lucie’s demeanor shifted to one of nervousness. “Is it deep?”

  Cerise eyed her, as though sizing her up. “I wouldn’t know. But I reckon it’s filthy.”

  Before he realized what he was doing, Geo had placed a hand in Lucie’s lap, and gave her knee a squeeze. “Even if it is deep, you’ll do just fine. You’re an excellent swimmer.” He smiled. “And stone-stepper.”

  Her smooth fingers curled around his wrist.

  Cerise lifted an eyebrow. “Ought I to leave you two in privacy?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Anyway, for a mere opportunity to cross, we have to take care of the drawbridge guardians.”

  Geo indicated his bow and arrows. “Shall I take out the guards? I’m a fierce shot.”

  “While I appreciate the enthusiasm, Highness, such an attack would most certainly raise unwanted attention. We must be a dab subtler.” Cerise rose to her feet and tucked aside the curtain, peeking outdoors for the fading sun’s position. “I’ve got to go, darlings.”

  “Wait.” Geo stood as well, following her to the door. “The guards?”

  Her curls bounced with everything else that was round on her body as she turned to give him a parting glimpse. “With your approval, Highness, methinks I can employ a little help from my friends.”

  With a wink, she was gone.

  ACT NATURAL—THAT HAD BEEN Cerise’s advice. Yet, Lucie found she could behave anything but. Everything from her shuffling steps to the way she kept sucking in her stomach was uncharacteristic. For heaven’s sake, she was about to sneak past a set of guards, cross a moat of sewage when she’d only just learned how to swim, find the brother of the man she loved, break him out of prison, and marry him. How could she relax?

  Geo walked beside her on the trail that led up the hill to Wintersea, paralleling the ocean. Before her, Cerise marched with two accomplices, her “colleagues.” At that point, Lucie was unfazed. She was growing accustomed to consorting with prostitutes.

  They weren’t all bad, she would admit. Although it had incensed Lucie beyond reckoning when Cerise had manipulated Geo into kissing her, the woman hadn’t tried anything else since. About time she recognized her place. And Cerise was helping them, at great risk to herself—albeit, for a decent price.

  The tides were audible as they went forth in the darkness, guided only by the moon. Ahead, the stone fortress towered above them, draping its vast shadow over everything in sight. It was altogether intimidating and dismal. Lucie shivered, feeling tiny in comparison. How could they succeed? And if they failed, would they survive?

  The ground eventually levelled and the trees cleared to reveal a gaping trench in the distance. Lucie’s stomach lurched. That was the moat? It was much wider than she’d anticipated. No wonder passing required a drawbridge. She cringed to think on what sort of waste was concealed beneath the water.

  The procession slowed and Cerise turned, beckoning. “Psst.” Geo and Lucie joined her, and she launched into a whisper. “The girls are going to divert the guards. Meanwhile, we need to keep out of sight.”

  “Got it,” Geo murmured.

  Cerise faced her companions. “Ready, Violet?”

  The one sporting long, straight hair and fishnet hose inclined her chin.

  Cerise addressed the other. “Astrid?”

  “Ready.” Even at nighttime, Lucie could see Astrid’s cheeks coated in powder, with kohl laced around her eyes.

  A row of overgrown hedges lined the trail’s end. Cerise stepped behind them, followed by Geo and Lucie. The three crouched, hiding as Madame Hollie’s ladies strutted in the guards’ direction. Lucie peeked through a gap of brambles to watch, careful to quiet her breathing. Against her, she felt the warm brush of Geo’s arm.

  Astrid’s blonde head bobbed as she approached the trio of sentinels. “Evenin’, gents,” she chirruped. Two of the men stood stonily, facing forward, while the third’s eyes shifted her way.

  The girls made a show of peering down the crags, the vengeful tides of the Ekianic thrashing far below. “Mmm-mm.” Violet shook her head decidedly. “I don’t believe a word ye say.”

  Astrid scowled. “I’m no liar. They’re down there. See if they aren’t.”

  A second guard discreetly turned to look at them, his eyes lingering on their backsides as they bent to inspect the waters below. The girls continued to recite the bickering they’d rehearsed, until the guard nearest them could apparently stand it no longer.

  “Careful, girls, not so close to the edge! D’you want to fall to your deaths?”

  They swiveled around, as if having forgotten their audience. Their features softened into coy, inviting grins. The guard who’d spoken looked unnerved.

  “Why, perhaps these blokes hear ‘em,” whispered Astrid audibly, “when they’re out here, on duty each night.”

  Violet waved a hand. “Don’t waste their time, Astrid. Working men, they are.”

  Another guard cleared his throat. “Excuse me, lasses, but you really oughtn’t to be up here. Especially not at this hour. Wintersea isn’t exactly open to the populace.”

  Violet blinked. “And why ever should it be, Officer? No one wants to go in there.” She shot a wary glance up at the fortress.

  Lucie looked to Cerise uncertainly. Astrid began babbling about seeking a better view of the ocean, but the other two guards weren’t engaged, maintaining their vigilance over the area at large.

  That is, until Violet took a deliberate tumble, earning a long, revealing tear in her netted hose. At the sight of her creamy moonlit thigh, all three men immediately rushed to her aid.

  “Are you all right, Miss?”

  “I warned you it was dangerous up here. The rocks an’ such….”

  The third knelt beside her, resting a hand on her back. “Let me help you up,” he murmured, eyes planted hungrily on her flesh. It occurred to Lucie that these men likely hadn’t seen female companionship in moons.

  “How embarrassing. I’m fine,” Violet insisted, although she hung onto the guard’s shoulder shamelessly. “Oh,” she breathed suddenly, gazing up into his face. “Forgive me, but you have such beautiful eyes.”

  Geo sniggered. Lucie nudged him.

  “You all right, Vi?” Astrid appeared overly concerned. “Was it the sirens that made you fall? Were you bewitched by their song?”

  Violet glared up at her. “Cool it with the sirens already, or else these comely gents shall think us a pair of gullible fools.”

  Cerise tensed impatiently at Lucie’s other side.

  “Goodness me, it’s a muggy night,” mumbled Astrid, removing her shawl. The first guard stared at her chest bulging from her sleeveless top. “Would one of you care to hold this for me?
” She offered the shawl with an elongated arm, doe eyes scanning the three guards. “I’ve got to help my sister up, so we can continue our siren-searching.”

  The men’s attention was finally diverted. The group began to murmur and converse, with frequent giggles by the girls. Cerise nodded to Geo and Lucie, and they silently crept from the brush, bending their backs to keep low.

  They hurried down the perimeter, moving toward the moat. Lucie could already smell its off-putting tang, while Astrid’s bubbly voice rang across the way. “It’s said they only come out at night—ain’t that right, Vi? You boys ever see one?”

  Lucie passed behind a band of birch trees, and Astrid’s voice drifted with the distance. The last bit Lucie caught was, “…gorgeous maidens, with tails like fish!”

  Lucie exhaled, permitting herself a quiet chuckle. “Cerise,” she whispered, catching up with the woman in front of her. “If we make it out of here alive, please thank your friends for me.”

  Cerise hitched an eyebrow. “If?”

  Lucie hadn’t a chance to correct herself as Geo approached, looking grim. “I’ve just thought of something.” He spoke under his breath. “If we swim through that reeking moat, the stench will cling to our skin, our clothing…if we aren’t seen or heard in the building, then we’re sure to be smelled.”

  Cerise huffed. “Splendid. You think of this now.”

  “At least he thought of it at all,” retorted Lucie.

  Geo placed a soothing hand on her upper back, and Lucie fell still. She suddenly wished she could ask him to hold her, to take her into his arms and assure her everything would be all right. The journey behind them felt nowhere near as daunting as crossing the next few acres into the castle before them. Not to mention, when they rescued the Crown Prince, it would mean the end of her time with Geo. Harrowing as it’d been, at least they were together. Once they returned to Tybiria with Dmitri, however….

  Geo issued a curious hum, turning to inspect the trees. “Perhaps,” he mused to himself, “just maybe.”

  “What?”

  He pointed to a long shape on the ground. “A fallen log.” He crouched down. “Might not be too heavy.”

  “It’s not long enough,” Cerise pointed out. “It could never bridge the moat’s banks.”

  “I don’t mean for a bridge,” grunted Geo, attempting to raise the enormous log. He exhaled, wiping his hands on his trousers. “I mean to float across.”

  Lucie’s brow pinched together. “How?”

  Cerise frowned. “Forgive me, Your Highness, but we really need to hurry up. The girls can only buy us so much time.”

  “Help me lift this,” Geo ordered them abruptly, positioning himself on the opposite end of the birch. Lucie and Cerise exchanged glances, then took the other end together. Bracing themselves, they heaved it off the ground. The wood felt damp and smooth against Lucie’s palms.

  “Now, back up a bit,” Geo whispered, “carefully.” The women did as told, and he hitched the log over his shoulder. Lucie stepped beneath it to support the middle. The three carried the birch to the moat.

  With caution, they lowered it back to the ground. Geo gave it a shove, dipping the front end down into the stagnant water. “I still don’t understand how—” Lucie began to say, but he had already disappeared back into the trees. After a moment, he reemerged with an armful of branches.

  “Ores,” he explained, handing two to each of the women. “We’ll straddle the log and row with these. Our legs may get wet, but it’s better than swimming.”

  Cerise examined her ‘ores,’ shrugging. Lucie, too, looked down at hers, and broke a twig off the tip. It now ended in a sort of hook, the better to propel water behind it.

  Geo squatted to roll his trouser legs up to the knees, and Lucie busied herself positioning the other end of the log, angling it so that it would launch into the moat straightly.

  Cerise took a seat at the front, experimenting with the branches in the murky pool. Lucie folded up her dress and sat several spaces behind her, bare calves dipping into the cool, foul wetness. With all of his strength, Geo heaved the log forward and slid onto the tail end at the last moment, gently projecting them into the water.

  “In unison,” he panted, indicating his branches. “Row. Row.”

  Following his rhythm, they swept the branches forward and back, but didn’t get very far. Their weight and that of the log was heavier than the force of a half-dozen sticks. When they began to veer slightly backwards and to the left, Cerise groaned, tossing her branches into the moat.

  “This is ridiculous,” she grumbled, rolling down from the log and into the water. Lucie and Geo warbled with the absence of her weight, and hurried to balance themselves. “You two, stay put. I’ll push.”

  Lucie felt a stab of guilt as the woman positioned herself behind them and began to paddle, shunting them forward. It was admittedly more effective. “Cerise,” Lucie whispered, apologetic. “Your dress.”

  “I’ll take it off when I get inside,” Cerise dismissed her.

  “And wear what instead?”

  “Who cares? D’you think I’m worried about clothes when I’m about to become disgustingly wealthy?” She waded as the moat became shallower, hauling them onward all the while. “I’ll kill the man naked if I have to. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

  Lucie knew better than to laugh. She was certain the woman wasn’t joking.

  They reached the bank, and Cerise glanced up the trench. “A little high,” she remarked. “I’ll need help getting out.”

  Careful not to upset the log, Lucie reached for a mound of rock in the earth, and went to lift herself out. But two warm hands unexpectedly grasped her hips. She startled, her body tingling all over. “Geo,” she hissed, turning.

  His face was innocent. “I was only trying to help you up.”

  “Seizing my backside as though you intend to ravish it is not going to help me,” she snapped.

  His cheeks reddened visibly beneath the moonlight.

  With a huff, Lucie turned back around, and resumed her upward climb. She possessed no patience for tact at the moment; if they were going to accomplish the unimaginable feat before them, carnal distractions wouldn’t do. Unfortunately, there were far too many with Geo around.

  Once on the bank, she knelt to help Cerise out, raising the woman with both hands. At once, Cerise shook out her locks and lifted her sopping dress overhead. Lucie was relieved she still wore a black slip underneath, though the scant garment left little to the imagination.

  Geo was the last to ascend, balancing himself precariously upon the log before leaping up the trench.

  Cerise balled up her dress and pitched it into the brush beyond. “I’ll fetch it later. In the meantime, are you two sure you don’t need to go into those trees and reacquaint yourselves? Because I’m sensing a lot of tension.”

  “W-what do you mean, reacquaint?” Lucie sputtered, as Geo suddenly became fascinated with the bag strapped to his back, examining it as though he’d never noticed it before.

  Cerise shrugged blithely. “N’mind. Only, I’m never wrong when guessing whether two people have gone to bed together.”

  “I see.” Lucie straightened her hem. “And has such invaluable intuition come with industry or age, I wonder?”

  “Careful, dear.” Cerise’s ruby eyes narrowed. “You know better than to speak of a lady’s age.” Her features smoothed again. “I call it experience. At any rate, you don’t carry yourself like some wide-eyed virgin. And judging by the way Mr. Prince here keeps ogling you like a prized ship he captains, and can’t wait to climb aboard again….”

  “Cerise.” Geo’s voice was quiet yet firm. “I am paying you to do your job, not embarrass my sister-in-law and me.”

  Cerise’s crimson mouth hung slightly open. “Sister-in-law?” Lucie did not like the nature of her slow, wicked smirk. “Oh
, this just keeps getting more interesting,” she murmured, turning away.

  Lucie followed her beneath Wintersea’s imposing shadow, and tilted her head back to gauge the fortress’s size. It was unbearably immense, with a single tower on the northern end, overlooking the sea.

  At last, they neared the entry, where a guard stood watch at the main door, sword at his belt. They crouched low, careful to avoid his line of sight. “What now?” Lucie breathed. “How do we pass?”

  “I’ve had enough of this,” Geo decided, and rose to full height, stalking up to the guard. Lucie opened her mouth to protest, but Cerise covered it. She could only watch as Geo’s shadow approached the uniformed man. Before the guard could issue a sound, Geo withdrew his own sword and clocked him over the head with the hilt. Lucie gasped as the guard’s silhouette toppled down, unconscious.

  Cerise grabbed her hand, urging Lucie forward as Geo thrust open the great wooden door. Lucie took one last glimpse of the fortress’s formidable exterior. “Here goes nothing,” she lamented, and hurried inside.

  NO ONE WAS THERE TO greet them in the entry hall. Only an eerie emptiness met the three as they took in their miserable surroundings, barely lit by dim torches.

  They hadn’t a moment to waste. “This is where I leave you,” Cerise told her companions. “It’s your job to find the prince. I’ll take care of the king. If there’s time, we’ll rendezvous after.”

  The Tybirians proceeded down the nearest corridor. Once they’d departed, Cerise looked about, wondering where the king slept when lodging at Wintersea. It wasn’t his permanent home.

  “…another dose to soothe His Majesty’s maladies,” she heard a female voice clucking somewhere above her. Cerise treaded silently to the stairwell and peered up to the landing. A servant stood with her back to the bannister, consulting with a lady wearing a nurse’s cape.

  “The night terrors, you know,” the maid continued. “The last few tonics weren’t strong enough—dear me, not at all. Sheets tossed about, all His Majesty’s quarters in disarray…took my girls nearly half the day to re-stuff the feather pillows.”