by Lea Doué
The first thing Gwen saw when they stepped within view of the courtyard was Hazel, busy crocheting her weaver webs. She rocked back and forth as she worked, something she did only rarely, when she was extremely distressed about something. Eddy chopped branches nearby, and the fire burned and smoked nicely.
He glanced up, did a double take, and then laid down the ax and spoke to Hazel.
Theo jogged over. “We’ve found a way out!”
Hazel stood too quickly, and then without warning, she fell down in a faint.
“Hazel!” Gwen broke into a run.
Eddy reached her first. Thankfully, she’d fallen onto a patch of dirt instead of solid stone. Holic joined them a few moments later and scooped her up. Gwen followed him to the doors.
Before he stepped inside, he turned to her. “I’ve got her, Gwen.” He spoke kindly but firmly, like a friend. Or a brother. “Why don’t you try to get some of this confusion sorted out? We need to work as a team for your plan to succeed.”
She nodded. “Make sure she eats something.”
“Keep that fire going, boys,” he hollered. “There could still be a search party nearby.”
Bay appeared from around the corner of the fortress and followed him inside without a word.
Theo jabbered at Eddy about their escape plan, excited and oblivious to Eddy’s frequent glances over at Gwen. Once he finished with his story, Theo waved in her direction and headed into the trees to gather more wood.
She sat in Hazel’s spot and took up the crochet hook. It was more important than ever to have as much of this web rope as possible.
Eddy threw branches on the fire, sending sparks crackling and spitting into the air. She wanted to do as Holic had advised, get matters sorted out, but she couldn’t imagine what Eddy would have to say that she would want to hear right now. Or that she would even believe. She thought she knew him.
Tears stung her eyes, and she blinked rapidly, forcing herself to concentrate on her work. After fifteen minutes, the ball of web yarn had shrunk to the size of a grape. She sighed and scanned the trees. Bay had picked the lower branches clean, but she’d also dropped a bundle of webs beside a sapling at the edge of the forest. Gwen walked over and tucked it under her arm.
Before she could turn around, fingers wrapped around her wrist, and she dropped the webs. Eddy. His grip was firm, but not rough.
“Would you please remove your hand from my arm?”
He did so immediately and backed up a step. “Sorry.” His mouth opened and closed like he wanted to speak but couldn’t find the words.
She rested her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow.
“Can we talk?”
“There’s no need.” Why was she so scared to talk? “Actions speak louder than words.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, and no one will tell me why they’re upset,” he said. “But since you brought it up, what was I supposed to think last night when I saw you all over my brother?”
“I was not all over him. And I could ask you the same thing.”
“What?”
“That kiss—how do you explain that?” Her voice shook, but she didn’t care.
He flinched as if struck, and confusion clouded his expression. “That’s probably the best thing that’s happened to me in years, that’s how I explain it.” He ran his hand through his hair and down the back of his neck. “What are you even talking about? You were there!”
“Yes, I was there, and I can’t believe you. Have you been lying to me this whole time? Did the potion wear off, is that what happened? Are your true feelings coming out now?” She crossed her arms, and her fingers dug into her sides. “I can’t believe I had feelings for you!”
There. She’d said it, for all the good it would do.
His voice lowered, and he spoke slowly, as if holding back the fire shining in his eyes. “I’ve been stuck here in this nightmare for years. Years, Gwen. But I haven’t forgotten what my parents taught me. I haven’t lied to you. Not once. Whether the potion has worn off or not, I don’t know, but my feelings haven’t changed.”
His words were like a tangled chain squeezing her heart. “Well, that makes it even worse.”
“Makes what worse?” he yelled.
“That kiss! It was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. How can you even stand to touch her?” Her skin turned cold. “Wait a minute. Did she use more potion on you? Is there more—”
“Wait, wait, wait.” He grabbed her shoulders and looked intently into her eyes. “Say that again.”
“Say what? That watching you and Sissi was the most disgusting—”
“That!” He let go of her and walked in a small circle, palms pressed to his temples.
Something wasn’t right. “I’m so confused,” she whispered.
He turned to her and stopped. Stared. “It wasn’t her, Gwen.” He frowned. “I kissed you.”
That sealed it. Sissi had given him the potion, and it had made him a liar, too.
Chapter Twenty
“How dare you?” Gwen said, barely able to get the words out. He couldn’t undo what he’d done by lying. It wasn’t even a good lie.
He stopped pacing. “What do you mean?”
“I know what I saw. I was there, for crying out loud.”
“I know, Gwen, and I’m telling you that you’re the only one I saw. I went to check on you as soon as I could. One minute I was dancing with Sissi, and the next she said the party was over and walked out. Holic had come back, but you hadn’t. So I left.” He paused and took a deep breath. “When I finally found you, you ran to me and threw your arms around me, and you… and you kissed me.”
Was this some kind of joke?
“It all happened so fast, and then you… or she… ran off. What makes you think it was her?”
She closed her eyes, trying to recall the details. The girl had been mostly concealed by his larger frame, but she’d had dark hair… and a grey gown just like Gwen’s. No blonde curls or feathers anywhere in sight. She had assumed it was Sissi. Somehow, the girl had disguised herself as Gwen, except for one thing. “I could see her ring glinting at me while she pawed her fingers through your hair.”
He scowled. “Her ring?”
Maybe he’d never noticed it. “Yes. The silver one with the gold dragon. There were three rubies around the edge. Except, when I first saw it, there were five.”
“I know the ring. I never saw her without it. She had it on during the ball, but there were four rubies. “When I first met her…” he closed his eyes as if concentrating on a memory, “… there were six.” He opened his eyes.
Sissi wasn’t a sorceress—they had no doubts about that. No one knew everything sorcerers were capable of, but Neylan once said that they could transfer certain abilities to objects. Like with curses, except cursed objects had to be taken willingly from a sorcerer’s hand to work. The empowered objects could be used by anyone who knew how, but they were extremely rare. Why would a sorcerer give away the power he’d worked so many years, decades even, to perfect?
If Sissi had such an object, she could be using it to trick them all. What had she done?
Eddy’s eyes widened. “I thought it was you, Gwen.” A note of panic entered his voice. “I thought it was you. It wasn’t you. It was her—”
“I understand,” she said quietly.
“You do?” He took a deep breath, and his shoulders relaxed. “You know I’d rather kiss a razor-tail than that little viper.”
Her lips twitched.
“You think this has something to do with her ring,” he said. “She’s disguising herself.”
“And it’s not the first time. Bay saw Hazel running through the woods, only Hazel doesn’t run through woods.”
Understanding lit his face. “Theo thought he saw Bay the other night, but that was also Sissi.”
“Exactly. And now this.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I should have known. I should have picked up
on it.”
“She’s using the ring to fool us all, and she can do it again. Three more times.”
“The rubies,” he said. “Each time she uses the ring, one of them disappears.”
“We need to tell everyone.” Ideally, before she tried to use it again. “Let’s go.”
He didn’t move.
“What’s wrong?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. You’re brilliant, and I’m an idiot.”
“Yes, well, I hugged your brother and gave him the wrong idea.” She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Don’t get the wrong idea. You just look like you could use a hug.”
He chuckled.
“Get your hands off her!” Theo charged up to Eddy, grabbed him by the arm, and shoved him away.
“Thorns and thistles!” She staggered backward, seething. “For your information, I had my hands on him.” That didn’t sound right. She crossed her arms. “And I can put my hands on whoever I want.” That didn’t sound so good, either.
Theo stared at her, open mouthed.
She lifted her chin. “Whomever.”
Holic joined them, as did Hazel and Bay. Within seconds, everyone was speaking at the same time, arms waving, faces red, but no one listened.
“That’s enough!” Hazel yelled. She put a hand to her head where she’d hit the ground earlier. When everyone fell silent, she continued. “Can we all meet in the courtyard now, please, so we can explain what’s going on here in a civilized manner. We are not animals.”
They all mumbled agreement.
Hazel settled in her usual spot on the boulder, and she asked them all to sit. Bay tossed down the bundle of webs that had been discarded and retrieved twice.
“Holic told me about the escape plan.” Worry clouded Hazel’s voice. “But I’m afraid there’s something not right here, and it has nothing to do with dragons and webs. We can’t do this if we can’t work together. Gwen, can you please tell us what all the shouting was about? In as few words as possible.”
Bay snorted. Hazel turned towards her, head tilted ever so slightly to the side, one eyebrow raised. Bay understood that look. She pressed her lips together and picked up a crochet hook.
“No interruptions from anyone,” Hazel said. “I can’t keep track of things when everyone’s talking at once. Gwen, you start.”
She’d used all her words. With some input from Eddy, she recounted briefly what they had just figured out about Sissi. The others made noises here and there, but no one interrupted, except for Bay, who fake gagged when she learned it was Sissi who Eddy had kissed. Hazel cleared her throat, and the girl stilled.
“We have to get the ring away from her,” Gwen said.
“No.” Theo stood. “We have to get out of here.”
His brothers agreed.
“We need to leave her alone,” Eddy added.
“We can do what we need to get out of here and leave her alone,” Hazel said. “But we should stay in groups of two or three at all times. No more splitting up.”
Bay sat up straight. “Wait a minute. How do we know one of us isn’t her right now?
Theo’s eyes narrowed as he glanced around.
“Hold out your hands,” Hazel said.
Bay did.
“Everyone.” She waited a moment. “See. No one is wearing the ring. Even when she was disguised as Gwen, the ring was still visible on her finger.”
Bay nodded, satisfied, and they all agreed not to go off alone anywhere.
“Let’s get back to work, then,” Gwen said. “We’re going to need lots of rope.”
Holic pulled Theo off to the side.
Eddy followed her to the edge of the woods. “Web duty?”
She nodded, glancing back at the other brothers.
He followed her gaze. “He’s the best of us, you know.”
“Theo?”
He shook his head. “Holic.”
She studied his brothers for a moment, then smiled at Eddy. “Oh, I don’t know about that.”
He returned her grin, but it faded as Theo walked over. “Okay, I guess we’re trading partners already.”
The brothers eyed each other as they passed.
She rolled her eyes and headed towards the trees.
“Gwen, wait.” Theo jogged around in front of her and put his arms around her waist in a quick motion. She leaned back—she’d had enough hugs from him—but he put her belt around her waist and stepped away.
She fastened the buckle and opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.
“It probably wouldn’t have worked out, anyway, you and me.” His gaze darted from her face to the trees and the fortress and back again. “I mean, who knows where I’ll be traveling looking for Mother. That’s no life to drag someone into. You’ll be better off back home with your sisters.”
He said nothing about Eddy.
A quick sigh escaped his lips, and he turned to go.
“Theo?”
He looked over his shoulder.
“You would have made a good king.”
“Maybe I’ll miss those committees more than I let on.” He rejoined Holic.
She helped Eddy gather more webs, thinking about Theo’s words. She liked Eddy tremendously, but could she leave her sisters for him? Her heart ached at the thought, so she pushed it aside in favor of more immediate concerns. The day passed with no more drama, just building the fire high and smoky to attract whatever searchers might be out there. And gathering webs.
She and the girls trudged to the lookout again in the evening. Eddy said they should be safe from Sissi there since she was terrified of heights, but he and his brothers still camped out at the bottom of the stairs.
The circular space reminded Gwen of their tower room back home, except smaller and with fewer girls. And no beds. Hazel was unusually quiet as they settled in.
“Want to talk?” she said, echoing Hazel’s words from the night before.
She sighed, the sound barely audible over the whispering night. “What were you thinking, going off like that on your own? You can’t act so selfishly.”
That was hardly fair considering how much Gwen had done over the years for her sisters. “How can you call me selfish? Why do you think I was out there? I was doing it for all of us, especially you. We need to get out of here so we can find help for Holic. You’ll never make up your mind about him unless we do.”
“Oh, I’ve made up my mind.”
Gwen pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders. “You have?”
“In a way,” Hazel whispered, “I’m glad he took the potion. Sometimes you don’t realize how much something means to you until it’s gone.” She paused. “I want him back, Gwen, and I want him for good.”
“You know I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen.”
Hazel shook her head. “It’s not your job to ensure my happiness, but I understand how you feel. Every one of those orphans I visit deserves a happy ending, but they won’t all get one. They have choices to make. No matter how much I do for them, they decide which path to take. I just try to make sure they have at least one good path to choose from.”
Gwen glanced at Bay, who had retreated to the stairs and pretended not to listen.
“I hesitated to take that step when I had my path right in front of me. I don’t know if the outcome would have been different if I had, but at least Holic would know how I feel. Please don’t make the same mistake I did.”
Gwen nodded—Hazel’s warning was hard won. Tears stung her eyes, and she shuffled to the window. Both Eddy and Holic had looked at her after taking the potion, and while Holic’s behavior towards her had changed dramatically afterwards, Eddy’s had not. That could only mean one thing. Eddy was telling the truth—he’d already been in love with her. The potion had no effect on him.
If she could get past the fact that he was an heir, she might get her happily ever after. Four years ago, she had been eager to embrace a role like Lily’s, despite Mother’s warning t
hat she couldn’t look after her sisters if she married an heir. Mother didn’t want to lose her, understandably, but Gwen could do both. Look how Eddy had cared for his people and his family all these years, exiling himself to keep them safe.
The path was in front of her, and she intended to follow it.
Hazel joined her and slipped an arm around her waist. “No matter where you go, I know you’ll always be there for us.”
*
Morning mist woke Gwen early, tickling her cheek. She dressed, covered Bay’s bare feet where she lay rolled like a sausage in her blanket, and tiptoed down the stairs. All three brothers slumped against the wall at the bottom with their blankets draped around their shoulders.
“I want to scout for an escape route today,” she said. “The place I crossed yesterday was good, but there might be an area with even more trees spaced closely together.”
Theo offered to go, too, and she convinced him it would be wise for Eddy to join them. If either guessed her motive—to give Hazel and Holic time alone—they didn’t show it.
The scouting trip was uneventful, and they failed to find a better route through the trees.
They returned near sunset to a thick, acrid plume of smoke drifting from the courtyard like a battle flag. Sissi stood alone by the fire studying the flames. Her hair hung in loose waves down her back, and she’d tied a grey moth-eaten blanket around her waist with a swath of black lace. Ropes and ropes of shiny white animal teeth in all sizes hung around her neck, almost completely covering the front of her green tunic.
“What’s going on?” Eddy asked forcefully.
She waved a hand absently in the air, gaze fixed on the fire. “I cleaned up a bit. There were webs all over the courtyard.”
But Sissi was never helpful. She had burned their rope, their key to freedom, and she knew it. She wanted a crown, and that meant keeping Theo here until she won him over, regardless of the fact that he was no longer the heir. Thankfully, the lookout still hid a few balls of rope, but it wouldn’t be nearly enough.
Sissi said nothing about the kiss, and no one brought it up.
