by Simone Pond
A surge of agitation rippled through Evelyn. The prince claimed he was exiling her to her chambers for her protection? She doubted that very much. He wanted to keep her under lock and key. Either he knew something more than he was letting on, or he was incredibly controlling. Or both.
7
The brouhaha caused by the dragon encounter had quieted down a bit the next day. Ciara and Kateline crouched on the second-floor terrace and peered down to the courtyard as the two ladies-in-waiting who had poisoned Evelyn were escorted off the premises.
“Do you know what will happen to them?” Ciara asked.
“Tis not …” Kateline began to repeat the standard line.
Ciara interrupted, finishing it for her “… for us to know the fate of a lady once she’s no longer in waiting. But honestly, Kateline. You must know something. You know everything that happens in this castle.”
Kateline rose and took Ciara’s hand, pulling her back inside. “Come along, we should start preparing our ladies’ dresses.”
“I thought we weren’t having any special events today. Lady Evelyn is staying in her chambers until further notice.”
Kateline shook her head and winked. “We must always prepare our ladies’ dresses, my friend. Even if they never leave their rooms.”
Ciara rolled her sapphire eyes and groaned. “That’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard.” She paused, then stopped walking. “Won’t you please just give me a hint of what will happen to those ladies?”
Kateline peered over her shoulder and nudged Ciara along the hallway until they came to a door. They entered into a secluded guest room. It was quiet and still. Kateline leaned in close to whisper into Ciara’s ear. It was abundantly clear how alone they were. Ciara’s heart beat quickly as Kateline’s warm breath tickled her neck. And her stomach tingled and swam. She wanted to move even closer to Kateline. Her fingers brushed against the skirt of Kateline’s dress.
“It’s been rumored that anyone who breaks the rules is sent to the Vindius Mountains,” whispered Kateline.
Heat rushed up Ciara’s middle and she felt a burning desire to break every rule, but Kateline stepped back and reached for the door knob.
“Wait!” Ciara gasped.
“What is it? You’re flushed. Are you okay?” Kateline placed her hand over Ciara’s forehead. Either she didn’t understand what was happening or didn’t want anything to do with it.
Embarrassment overwhelmed Ciara for her foolish behavior. She knocked Kateline’s hand away. “I’m fine. But you’ve told me nothing. What happens in the mountains?”
Kateline stared deeply into Ciara’s eyes and stroked her cheek gently as if toying with her. “I think after last night’s display, you can guess …”
Ciara smirked at the thought of Evelyn being dragged off to the Vindius Mountains to meet her death. Kateline moved her hand away and turned around to exit the room. This time Ciara didn’t try to stop her. She was already thinking of how to get Lady Evelyn sent to those mountains …
The chambermaids were instructed to skip preparing their ladies for breakfast, but to get them ready for lunch. Ciara sat at the mending table preparing Evelyn’s dress. Her ploy to repel the prince by dressing Evelyn in vulgar and tawdry gowns had severely backfired. It was time to try a new approach. She decided to go with something boring and meek—the opposite of what she’d been doing. Evelyn would become the most drab lady-in-waiting, and eventually the prince would lose interest. By then Ciara would have the crystal stone—her proof against Evelyn. That she wasn’t who she said she was.
“Miss?” A young woman’s voice interrupted Ciara’s ruminations.
She looked up from the tan piece of wool fabric she had been working on. “What is it?”
“A parcel has arrived for Lady Evelyn,” said the mousey servant, holding out a small rectangular package wrapped in brown paper.
“And what does this have to do with me?” Ciara snapped, causing the servant to step back a few inches.
“I’m sorry, miss, but it’s your duty to deliver it to the lady.” The servant girl carefully stretched her arm forward and placed the package on the table, bowed, and scurried out of the room.
“Of course, I have to take the package to her majesty,” Ciara muttered. “She’ll get it when I’m good and ready …”
She finished removing the stitching along the waistline of the tan dress, then added a section of material from the open neckline, creating a high collar. When she finished mending, Ciara held up the bland dress and grinned with satisfaction. The hideous garment looked like a lifeless blanket and its coarse fabric would cover up all the provocative parts of Evelyn’s body the prince seemed to admire so dearly. Prince Kieran would have to be completely out of his gourd if he thought Lady Evelyn was attractive in this appalling monstrosity.
A couple hours prior to lunch time, Ciara folded the dress over her arm, snatched the package from the table, and stalked out of the room toward Evelyn’s chambers.
On her way down the second-floor hallway toward Evelyn’s room, Ciara glared at the package in her hand. She noticed it was the same size as a book and suddenly recalled seeing Evelyn tucking a book into her travel bag that night after they’d been attacked by the thieves on their journey north. Ciara had forgotten about the travel bag because Evelyn didn’t have it when they came upon the castle. Struck with intense curiosity, Ciara had to know if this package could be the same book.
Instead of continuing to Evelyn’s room at the end of the long hall, she made a quick detour and found the room where she and Kateline had spoken earlier in private. She placed the hideous dress on the bed and sat down next to it. The parcel was sealed with wax on both sides and there was no way to open it without breaking the seal. Opening it meant no turning back. But did it matter? Whatever she found inside the parcel would be hers and hers alone. Evelyn would never know of its existence.
Without any more hesitation, Ciara tore open the corner of the package, ripping the brown paper and splitting open the wax seal. She hurriedly unfolded the layers of protective paper until the only thing that remained was a leather-bound journal. The exact same book she had seen Evelyn putting into her travel bag. She opened it up to the first page and began reading about the legendary dragon slayer Lugh of Gorias.
The name Gorias rang familiar. Hadn’t she heard Evelyn spewing that nonsense during their travels? Or had she named her spear that? She continued reading through the pages and the story became quite clear. Lugh was Evelyn’s real father. Deirdre had tricked everyone in Ocelum into thinking she had gotten pregnant during the May Day ceremonies, but she had already been pregnant. Evelyn wasn’t a divine child of the gods. She was a fraud! This scandal alone would be enough to have her banned from Verubri Castle and sent off to the mountains to die. But to top it off, Evelyn was from a long line of dragon slayers. Royalty did not coalesce with dragon slayers.
“I cannot believe my good fortune!” she sang, clutching the journal to her heart.
The discovery was too good to be true. It was fate that the proof had been delivered right into her hands. Her destiny was to be with Prince Kieran—as it always had been. Evelyn was merely a bump in the road.
Excitement bubbled through Ciara like a bottle of freshly corked champagne. She jumped off the bed and bounced around the room, unable to contain her joy. She might not have found the crystal stone, but the journal was all the proof she needed. Before exiting the room, she took a few deep breaths to compose herself. As she entered the hallway a new sense of importance filled her. She lifted her chin and strode toward Prince Kieran’s chambers. It was time to visit with the royal and put an end to this foolish charade once and for all. It was time to take back what was rightfully hers to begin with. And Evelyn would pay for the humiliation Ciara had suffered those past few days.
8
The night after the dragon attack, Evelyn paced around her chambers in the hideous purple gown Ciara had cobbled together for the special occasion. S
he needed to figure out a way to get past the watchmen standing outside her door, but as the prince had mentioned, they were some of his best men. After a few failed attempts at sneaking past them, she realized this to be annoyingly true. They began doing random checks throughout the night, keeping her a prisoner in her own room. As far as prisons, it really wasn’t so awful—she had every comfort at her fingertips—but she didn’t like the idea of being contained. Not when there was a dragon on the loose.
By the time dawn broke, Evelyn’s legs had grown tired from the continuous pacing around in that awful gown she had forgotten to take off. She tore at the tight lacing up the back, struggling to reach the ties. After fifteen minutes of maneuvering to get out of the thing, she finally ripped it right down the middle and left it in a heap on the floor. The only other attire she found in her dresser drawers were sleeping gowns. Since this was better than nothing, she found a conservative option, pulled it over her head, and sighed with relief.
One of the watchmen knocked on the door and entered the room without waiting for a reply.
He stood by the door and observed her nightgown. “I see you’ve finally decided to concede and get some rest.”
That wasn’t at all what she had intended, but she was glad he thought so. “Yes. You and your friend are far too clever for me.” She smiled.
The man licked his lips and stared at her a moment longer, but the door opened again and he moved out of the way. Prince Kieran appeared in the room holding a stack of books. His eyes glinted as he looked at the watchman, then over to Evelyn. She curtsied, keeping her head lowered. Not from embarrassment, but from not wanting the prince to see her disdain for him. The prince forced a smile, then instructed the watchman to place the books on the table by the seating area. He strolled over to the fireplace. The watchman started to walk away, but the prince shook his head.
“I thought you’d find these helpful to pass the time,” he said to Evelyn.
“Thank you, my lord.”
He gestured to the chair. “Come.”
Evelyn made her way over to the seating area, and the prince reached for her hand. He glanced over to the watchman, then back to Evelyn. Grabbing the back of her head, he pulled her in close and kissed her fervently. His mouth pressed on top of Evelyn’s, suffocating her, and his tongue was like flames. She wanted to shove him away, to pry herself out of his firm grip, so she could breathe again. But the prince held his relentless grip and smashed his mouth against hers. When he finished, he pushed her away, the golden flecks in his eyes blazing.
Evelyn stumbled backwards, dropping into the armchair. She wiped the prince’s searing saliva from her face in horror. A burning sensation crept up her throat and her stomach rolled in nauseating waves. If only she had the spear of Gorias she’d show this monster a thing or two …
Prince Kieran turned to the watchman and said, “You’re to remain in the hallway. Let’s not forget that sacrifices must be made.”
Sacrifices must be made … The same words the lady-in-waiting had spoken at breakfast. What did that mean?
“Lady Evelyn,” the prince said, smirking, “I expect you to be properly dressed for my visit this afternoon.” He bent down and kissed her cheek as if leaving a branding mark.
Evelyn nodded and watched in dire urgency for both men to exit the room. The moment the door shut, she jumped out of the chair and scanned the room for another exit. Now that it was daylight, it was time to get the hell out of Verubri Castle any way possible. She’d go to the horse stables and find Aine and together they’d go to the village and gather information on the dragon. Then she’d go after the beast before it caused more damage. If the prince wouldn’t slay the thing, she would. After all, it was her calling.
The balcony was the most dangerous choice, but it was her only option. She grabbed the hideous purple dress from the floor and stuffed it under the blankets on her bed, adjusting it to feign the shape of a body. Good enough to fool the watchmen, she thought. She quickly put her wild coppery red hair into a long braid. The nightgown wasn’t ideal for climbing down a building, but it would have to do. She ripped away about two feet of material from the bottom of the nightgown for better agility. When she felt as prepared as she was going to get under the circumstances, she carefully pried open one of the balcony doors and stepped outside into the chilly dawn.
Evelyn spotted the horse stables in the distance. It wasn’t a far jaunt, but the problem was getting to the ground alive. She looked over the ledge and winced. If she lost her grip scaling the stones or slipped, well, it wouldn’t be pleasant—it was a fifty-foot drop straight into a moat that surrounded the castle. And according to the castellan during her exhausting tour of Verubri Castle, the moat was teeming with poisonous water moccasin snakes. Of course it had to be snakes …
“Now would be the opportune time to come to me, spear of Gorias. To say I’m in need of your assistance would be an understatement.”
Evelyn waited for the spear to make its grand appearance and sweep her off the balcony to solid ground. A few minutes passed by, but the dawn remained silent. The sun rays began stretching over the hills.
“Spear of Gorias?” she said again.
After another minute of no response, Evelyn realized she was on her own. Maybe Aine was no longer in the stables and too far away for the spear to hear the call? Anxiety stirred along with an urgency to hurry and get down—with or without the spear. She needed to get on with it before the grounds servants started their day and peered up to the castle to see her scaling the side of it. This would not go down well with the prince.
Carefully, Evelyn flung one leg over the ledge, and then the other. The brisk air blew a chill up her nightgown. Her hands stiffened from the early morning cold, making the downward climb even more grueling. She lowered herself, wedging one bare foot at a time against any stone that wasn’t flush. Some of them had only a sliver of space for Evelyn to place her toes and balance her entire body. She gripped the edges of the stones with her fingertips, destroying all the hard work Ciara had put into polishing them. Something about this made her chuckle, which in turn made her lose her focus and her right toe slipped. She dug her fingers into the crevices, frantically pressing her feet against the wall for a ledge to step on. But there was nothing. And the place where her fingers had been wedged began to crumble under her weight until a large chunk of stone broke off and Evelyn was tumbling backwards.
She was falling to her death. Or worse, she thought … into a moat of venomous snakes. She cried out, clawing at the wall and using every morsel of strength to regain a grip, but her efforts were futile … gravity was winning the battle. Evelyn closed her eyes and whispered a prayer of farewell. Her final thoughts were of Aine and Doran.
A sudden gust of wind whipped up from under her and whisked her falling body in an upward motion. She opened her eyes to see the blue-white crystal glow of the spear of Gorias piercing through the long material of her nightgown and pulling her skyward as she dangled upside down. She quickly reached up and grabbed hold of the spear and held on with both hands—a far more comfortable position than having all the blood rush to her head.
“Thank you, my friend!”
The spear zipped around the castle and over the rose gardens toward the horse stables, where it began to lower her to the ground. Slowing down, the spear flew directly into the stables and deposited Evelyn into the last stall onto a stack of hay.
“Well, good morning, Miss Evelyn!” Aine stepped out from behind the pile, pulling a few random strands of straw from her blonde hair.
Evelyn was so relieved to see the sweet girl, she dropped the spear and bounced up to hoist Aine into her arms. She spun around in a circle with her.
“Good to see you too, miss.” Aine giggled.
Evelyn set her back onto the ground. “I thought we discussed that you were to call me Evelyn … No more of this fancy miss jargon. Okay?”
Aine nodded.
“So, I assume you know about the dragon?”
Evelyn said.
“A bit hard not to notice, wouldn’t you say? Torched half the village. And though Sinead told me not to step foot out of the stables, I couldn’t help myself. I had to take a peek last night. That thing is gargantuan.”
Evelyn lowered her gaze to the hay-strewn ground, feeling a sense of dread tightening in her gullet. She thought maybe the dragon’s size seemed larger in appearance because of where she stood on the balcony, but Aine confirmed her fear that the beast was enormous. How would she be able to go up against such a behemoth, let alone slay it? The task seemed daunting, if not impossible.
“What is it?” Aine asked.
Evelyn sighed. “I fear that I’m not equipped to take on such a beast. Not for my first dragon.”
Aine grinned. “Were you hoping for a baby dragon for your first kill?”
This made Evelyn chuckle a bit, lightening up her grim mood. And that was enough to give her some encouragement. She picked up the spear of Gorias. “I suppose it’s not really up to me, is it?”
Aine shook her head. “You have the spear of Gorias, which makes you a dragon slayer, but I believe even your legendary father had an army behind him. You don’t have to do this on your own.”
Evelyn took Aine’s hand into hers and brought it to her cheek tenderly. “You’re too wise, my girl. We won’t get any assistance from the prince—I tried to convince him last night—so I suggest we go to the village and gather up those who want to join us in the fight. I’m quite sure they won’t need too much convincing.”
Aine went to the next stall and stepped inside, where a beautiful black stallion stood grazing. She stroked its mane and whispered into its ear as he neighed, gently nestling his nose into her neck. The two seemed to have bonded in the short amount of time Aine had been hiding out in the stables.
