William joined me, having tied up the last of the guards.
“Good thing your aunt had plenty of rope,” he said. He glanced towards the trees in the direction of the beach, and I knew his mind kept circling to the same thing mine did.
“I’m sure he had more guards with him,” I said. “They must be searching the jungle for us, but some of them may have heard the commotion and be heading back this way.”
His brow furrowed and he scanned the trees closest to us. “What do you propose? If they come back in pairs we could probably handle them. But if they come as a group. Or start shooting from the trees…”
“We can’t afford to wait anyway. I need to know that the others are unharmed.”
“No arguments from me.” I could tell from the set of his jaw that his thoughts were on his sister. “We can dispose of their weapons somewhere, though.”
He moved amongst the bound men, gathering their weapons into his arms. He could barely carry them all, but he told me to stay with my aunt. He disappeared into the jungle and re-emerged some minutes later with empty arms and a satisfied expression.
“They won’t be finding them in a hurry,” he said, offering no further explanation. I didn’t ask.
“Their comrades will probably release them before we can get back, but with only three of us, there’s not much we can do to prevent that.”
Aunt Melisande emerged from the pool, and disappeared into her house. She emerged with a length of bandage which she attempted to wrap around her arm. After a moment William stepped up to assist her.
When he had finished, they both looked in my direction. My aunt stood in a puddle formed from the water that still streamed off her, but she didn’t seem to notice her sopping state.
“We should go.” She stopped, and her eyes darted between us. “That is…”
William looked at me, and I understood his silent message. This was my decision, and he would support me either way. My body drooped with fatigue, my mind deadened by so many intense emotions in such a short amount of time. I couldn’t rally the smallest spark of resentment towards her.
“You can come,” I said. “ We can’t leave you here with mercenary guards still roaming the jungle. In my father’s absence, my mother can rule on what to do with you now.”
“Viktoria is here?” I couldn’t read my aunt’s expression.
I nodded and started towards the path back to the beach. I desperately hoped I was right, and we would find my mother whole and well, right where we had left her.
We moved much faster on our way back, despite our various injuries. William knew my identity now, and he knew I could keep pace. The daylight helped too.
We stopped only once for a break. William plucked the brightest flower he could find and offered it to me, his eyes full of memory. I let him thread it into my hair, closing my eyes and enjoying the feel of his fingers amongst the strands. Neither of us offered an explanation to my aunt.
The closer we got to the hedge, the more jittery I became. No one said anything, but we all moved faster. When we finally broke out from under the trees, I couldn’t help looking around nervously for bats. I could see none in the bright sunlight.
“My goodness.” My aunt gazed at the wide tunnel William had carved through the hedge. “You don’t do things by halves, do you?”
I didn’t wait for either of them but ran towards the hedge. They both followed as I entered the arching leaves. The light shining through the tightly packed foliage created a green glow around us. A rustling, as if from a great wind, swept through the branches. I looked up to see the thorns and leaves writhing.
I put on an extra spurt of speed and emerged onto the beach. William followed close behind me, and my aunt behind him. As soon as she had stepped clear, a great creaking sounded, and the entire hedge buckled. The branches, leaves and thorns collapsed to the ground and crumbled into dust.
Chapter 33
We stared at the pile of dust in shock. That was more like what I had been expecting when William attacked the hedge with the sword.
My aunt stirred beside me, and a single tear slipped down her cheek. The godmothers had built the hedge for her protection. Apparently now that she had stepped out of its confines, its job was done. I didn’t know if she felt exposed or relieved to be free.
A commotion from the other side of the rocks reached us. I stepped towards it, but William’s hand grasped my arm, pulling me back. “We don’t know what we’re going to find. Best to approach with caution.”
I didn’t know what we would do if we were greeted by my uncle’s mercenaries. I glanced behind us. The hedge was gone, but the protection of the jungle remained. We would run if we had to, despite the deep throbbing that had settled into my leg.
“Celeste! William! Oh, thank goodness!” My sister’s welcome voice reached us the same moment she appeared, slipping and sliding across the rocks. She threw herself into my arms.
“We were so scared when we found you missing, Celeste! Where have you been?”
William raised one eyebrow at me, his expression judgemental, although I could see the laugh lurking in his eyes. “I thought Celine was the one who sent you along with me?”
I giggled and held up both hands, my relief energising me more effectively than a long sleep. “There may have been one or two areas in which I was not entirely truthful with you. But, I blame the curse!”
“The curse?” Celine looked back and forth between us, her brow furrowed. “What is going on?” She stepped back to get a better look at me. “You look different, although I can’t quite place it…” She wrinkled her nose. “And I don’t mean all the blood either. Please tell me none of it is yours.”
“A little, possibly. But most of it is William’s.”
Her eyes flew to him, alarmed.
“Don’t worry, I’m all right now.”
When she didn’t look quite convinced, he laughed. “You have a keen eye, Celine. But I’m surprised you don’t recognise the difference in your sister. Don’t you think she looks sort of…familiar.”
Celine rolled her eyes. “Of course she looks familiar, she’s my sister.”
I snorted, and her eyes flashed to me, startled.
“Yes,” William said, the mischievous grin still tugging at his face. “On one level she is. But aren’t you supposed to be good at seeing what no one else notices? Or is that Cordelia I’m thinking of?”
“Hey! I’m good at noticing things.”
I kicked out at William with my bad leg and then winced. “Behave yourself. I want to hear what happened while we were gone.” My eyes flashed briefly towards my aunt, reminding him we had an audience.
“You’re injured, all of you. Come back to camp. I think the doctor has finally finished tending all of our own casualties so we’ll get you treated straight away.”
I sobered instantly. “Casualties?”
“Don’t worry,” she said, gripping my arm to steady me across the rocks. “Injuries only. Uncle Horace took at least thirty of his guards with him, so the crew easily outnumbered those who remained.” She squeezed my arm. “I’m sorry I didn’t try to stop him, I didn’t realise…”
“Don’t be foolish, none of this was your fault. You followed the plan that I made, and you can’t be blamed for that.”
She almost tripped, and I had to steady her. “The plan that you made?” She looked back at William, visibly processing his earlier words. She gaped at me, her mouth hanging open. “Wait. You’re–”
I cut her off with a shake of my head and another glance at my aunt.
“Bravo, Celine,” said William behind us.
“Does that mean the curse is broken?” She whipped her head back and forth between the two of us. “You’re really going to have to tell me everything.”
“I will, I promise. But I need to know what happened to you first.”
We stepped down off the rocks and could see the camp ahead of us. Several of the tents had collapsed, and bags and crates lay
around haphazardly. Sailors moved slowly amongst the chaos, sorting and straightening. Others stood armed guard over a large group of men seated further down the beach.
“I waited for the hedge to collapse, or something equally visible, but nothing happened. Well, until just then, of course. It gave me such a shock, I can tell you.” She let go of my arm now that we were back on the sand. “I didn’t expect to see Uncle Horace until right before dawn, but he left quite a bit sooner than that. One of his men checked William’s tent, and then they set off towards the hedge. I let them go, but the more I thought about it, the less I liked it.”
She grimaced, and I once again assured her it wasn’t her fault.
“I decided to wake up Tom. I’ll admit I told him everything.” She turned apologetic eyes on me, but I waved it away. I had left her with too great a burden to bear alone. I was glad she had reached out for help.
“As soon as he heard the whole story, he insisted on rousing the sailors. We did it as quietly as possible, and managed to wake most of them before the remaining guard realised what was happening. They attacked anyway, but they didn’t stand a chance and quickly surrendered. One of them has confessed since, and I think they only fought at all because they were scared Uncle would come back and find they hadn’t even tried. We’ve been debating what to do now. Rafe is preparing a party to go after you.”
I noticed another group of sailors milling to the side of the camp, many of them in the process of strapping on weapons. Rafe and Marie stood amongst them, looking grim. “William.” I pointed to them.
“Celine, we need to send them, straight away. And any others who are willing to go. We disabled ten of them and left them tied up with your uncle, but the others were spread through the jungle. They may have already discovered and freed the ones we left behind.”
“I can give them instructions on the fastest path to take,” Aunt Melisande offered. “It will only take me a moment.” She hurried off towards the group.
“Is that…?” Celine watched her go.
“Yes.”
“You’re really going to have to tell me your story.”
“You finish yours first.”
She shrugged. “There isn’t much more to tell. The doctor has been busy patching up anyone who got injured in the fight. Mother’s exclaiming calmly that she’s sure you’ll turn up any minute now. And Rafe’s been prowling around barking at the sailors to hurry up, and alternating between glaring at the hedge as if he intended to tear the whole jungle down and trying to convince Marie to stay behind.”
I snorted again. “How’s that been going?”
She grinned. “Not very well.”
“William!” Marie ran towards us and fell into her brother’s arms.
Rafe, right behind her, swept me up into a hug. “Oh, thank goodness.” He put me down. “That woman says she’s…”
I nodded. “She is. But I’m not going to tell this story five times. Let’s find mother, and I’ll tell you all at once. But you need to send the sailors out after the other guards first.”
Rafe gave me an odd look before nodding. “They’ll be glad to go. They’ve been itching for a fight with those guards since they first showed up on board.” He grinned. “They weren’t overly happy when the guards here surrendered so quickly. I have no doubt they’ll have the rest of them rounded up in no time. I guess that’s the thing with mercenaries, they aren’t too keen to put their lives on the line once they realise which way the wind is blowing. I’ll meet you all in Mother’s tent in five minutes. Don’t you dare start without me!”
In the end it took a lot longer before we could start our explanations since the doctor had to examine my leg first. My mother never took her eyes off me the whole time. When the doctor finally left, under instructions to find my aunt and keep her in the medical tent, she swept William up into a tight hug.
“I was hoping it would be you,” she said.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” The panicked look he sent me over her shoulder made me giggle. “But what exactly were you hoping...?”
She let him go and mopped at her eyes. “That you’d be the one to give me my daughter back. I couldn’t have asked for a more charming son-in-law.” She rounded on me and enveloped me next, carefully avoiding my leg.
Rafe gave a choking cough, and Marie calmly patted him on the back. “So you’ve finally gotten that sorted, have you? It’s about time.”
She didn’t show any surprise, but she didn’t look overly thrilled either. I hoped she would warm to the news once she realised the curse had been broken.
“Enough is enough,” said Celine, plonking herself down on a cushion. “I need the whole story–now.”
It took a long time to get the tale straight. William and I were the only ones who knew everything, and the others all knew different parts. They kept stopping to exclaim and question, and in my mother’s case cry.
“All those years!” She mopped at her eyes. “And you were trapped inside there!”
Between the true nature of the curse, my activities as Aurora, the truth about our aunt, and the betrayal of our uncle, everyone had exhausted their capacity for shock and amazement by the end.
But on one thing we were all agreed. As soon as the sailors returned with the remaining mercenaries, we were setting sail. I could see the concern for Frederic, Cassian and our father lurking in everyone’s eyes.
“You informed them, Lettie, that’s the main thing,” said Rafe as we exited the tent together. “They may not be as smart and strong as you, but they’ll crush this so-called rebellion, don’t worry.”
He hurried off to tell the captain to ready the ship, and I forced my tired limbs towards the doctor’s tent. Celine caught up with me, and we stuck our heads in together. The doctor shooed us back out and told us his patient was sleeping. “I had to sedate the princess to get her to rest at all, I won’t have her disturbed.”
“Oh, good.” Celine tugged me towards the stream that now flowed freely down from the jungle. “In that case there’s time for a bath. You look terrible, Lettie.”
I arched an eyebrow at her, and she quirked a half-smile. “Well, comparatively to your normal self, anyway.”
“Absolutely not.” William blocked our path. “Those guards could still be roaming the jungle.”
Celine rolled her eyes. “You can come along and protect us then.”
William glanced between us, a dull red creeping up his neck.
“Celine! He can’t come with us to bathe!”
“Of course he can.” She started dragging me again. “Look at him. He’s nobility personified. He’ll stand facing the other way the whole time, I’m sure.” She looked him over. “Actually, it’s a good idea. He can bathe after us.”
I shrugged at William, and he reluctantly fell into step beside us. We didn’t have to follow the stream far to find a small pool big enough for bathing. I gasped when the water hit my injured leg, but the prospect of being clean was far too enticing to stop.
When William took his turn, we diligently turned our own backs. Celine leaned in close to whisper in my ear.
“Should we peek?”
“Celine!”
She giggled. “Relax, Lettie, I was only joking.”
I shook my head, but in reality I a weight lifted off me. This rebellion might have forced Celine to grow up in some respects, but in others she remained her old self. The knowledge brought me comfort.
When we returned to the camp, we found half of it had already been packed away. The sailors moved quickly, apparently as anxious to be off the island as we were. William pulled me aside.
“Your mother needs to speak to Princess Melisande and make a decision about what happens to her now. We might not have much time later.”
I nodded. When I checked back with the doctor, he exclaimed at the sight of my wet bandages and insisted I come in to have them redressed. William ducked out without my needing to ask and returned with my mother in tow.
My aunt had w
oken and sat on a small cot, watching us silently. My mother froze in the doorway of the tent, regarding her sister-in-law with wide eyes.
Melisande spoke first. “I’m so sorry, Viktoria. For everything. There is no excuse for me.”
My mother shook her head, tears in her eyes. “And I am sorry too, Mellie. It was so many years ago now, and we all made mistakes.” She looked over at William and me. “And you have acted to rectify them now. Celeste told me what you did.”
A sudden anger flashed in her eyes, and her entire body shook with strong emotion. “When I think of Horace…I could tear him apart with my bare hands.”
I jerked, and the doctor, busy wrapping my leg, grumbled. I had never seen such a passionate response in my mother before.
Melisande sighed. “He never understood our kingdom. Father thought a tour of the other lands would help, but it only made things worse. King Josef would have swallowed the whole of the Four Kingdoms if his own family hadn’t gotten to him first, it’s no surprise he spread his infection to our brother.”
My mother slowly returned to her normal state of calm. “Well, he shall have plenty of opportunity to reflect on his crimes. I don’t care what Leonardo decreed all those years ago, you’re coming back with us. Horace can remain here in your place.”
No one questioned her pronouncement or our new passenger. And there was only the smallest of grumbles at the monkey she brought with her. We sailed out of the bay some hours later, our hold full of prisoners and a lone, angry figure on the beach.
We made straight for Largo, to deliver the mercenaries to the prison there. “There are too many of them for us,” explained the captain. “The navy will send a couple of ships better equipped to transport them back to the capital.”
When we sailed into Largo Bay, a shout went up from the harbour. By the time we had moored and disembarked, the governor of the city had arrived to greet us.
“Your Majesty! We were just preparing ships to set off after you.”
My mother nodded. “You have word from Leonardo.”
The man bobbed his head, wiping at his sweating brow. “It arrived mere hours ago, and we have all been scrambling since. With the greatest haste I assure you.”
The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping Beauty (The Four Kingdoms Book 4) Page 24
