Getting right to the point, were they? It had her blinking sleep from her eyes so she could sit up more and eye him with the most wide eyed expression of innocence she could muster. “Which statement?” The blue of her eyes fair glowed in the soft light of the candle.
There was a pause, and then he cleared his throat and glanced down at his hands. “Did you mean it, when you said you wished that I was the King? That we… could be together?” He sounded far more unsure of himself than he had earlier. It was almost endearing.
“Of course I did? I would not lie to you… “Ironically enough, that was a lie in and of itself.
“Truly?”
A nod followed, the curls of her hair tumbling freely past her shoulders. He noticed this and reached forwards to catch up a lock of hair and play it between his fingers.
There was a moment of silence, thick and full of potential, as he thought… and then finally her breath escaped her chest as he said, “I know of a man, down near the docks that might be willing to do as you wish. If you have not… rescinded… your statement from earlier… I would meet with him tomorrow evening.”
Her delicate mouth dropped open slightly, surprise registering on her face. “Is it even possible, to… to do that? To a king?”
“Of course it’s possible, anything is really… you just have to know the right people, and have enough money. Both of which I am fully capable of finding.” There was a certain matter of fact tone to his voice, even if he still sounded somewhat uncertain about what he was offering. There was a word for what he was offering.
Treason.
It was a word that would have them all swinging from the gallows in the beat of a heart if someone caught wind of the scheme.
“The only thing is…” There it was, the ‘but’ she was waiting for. Maybe she had underestimated his desire for what his brother had. “That I will only go through with such a plan… if you will be my Queen? The power looks so becoming on you…”
She licked her lips, widened up her eyes, and nodded hesitantly. “I would… I would be your Queen.”
A fleeting smile touched against his face before it disappeared. “Then I will go to the tavern tomorrow, to seek him out.”
“I want to come with you.” Her own statement stopped him in his tracks. It was very evident that he could not comprehend why she would want to do such a thing.
“You cannot. It is bad enough that the King’s brother will be seen at such a low place, speaking with such an individual. If the Queen were to appear in such a dirty hovel? I could not tarnish your reputation in such a way.”
“Then I will have nothing to do with this plot…” Her response came, quick as a whip. That shocked him too.
“But why? Why would you want to go someplace like that?”
“If I am to be a part of something like this, it will help me to know what is going on and who it is that is helping us. I do not like going into something blind. Will you please humor me with this request?” There was silence from him as he mulled this thought over, but before he could have a chance to speak against it again her lips parted once more. “I could wear a disguise? Nobody would even recognize me?”
A few more moments of utter quiet ensued… and then he was nodding. “Very well, but you cannot ride your horse there. She is far too many parts palace horse. You will have to walk through the dirt and other questionable substances before we can find more common horses to ride?”
“Certainly.” Once again there was no resistance in her voice, no hesitation. She did not mind getting dirty. He was trying to get her to back down from the request, but she wouldn’t. She simply wouldn’t.
“Then, meet me in the cellar tomorrow afternoon and we will disguise you and make off for the harbor.”
Before he left, he leaned towards her to brush a kiss against her lips. The excitement she felt tingling through them and into every finger and toe, lingering long after he had left her to sleep. When she did finally fall asleep, her dreams were light. There was nothing to weight them down, and she could hardly remember them when she woke.
Chapter 3
It seemed like that morning was the first in many that she rose from bed without complaint, and was dressed and eating her food long before she typically would have been. She swore some of the servants peered at her curiously as she passed them. It made her wonder how any of them had ever thought she was happy where she was.
But then, certainly they would all be delighted to be in her shoes.
Her morning passed by in a quiet blur of activity, from needlepoint to meandering through her garden, but it wasn’t until she stood before the door to the cellar that she felt a knot twist into her stomach. Nerves making her hands shake as she opened the door, cast a look down the hall, and then crept down the steps.
The room was not dark, as it was the only other time she had been in it, so she could fully see the shelves, crates, and bags of varied foods that they kept. She scrutinized them as though they were full of intrigue before her gaze found Jeffrey and she paused mid step to watch him.
“Are you ready?” He asked, most likely hoping that she would back down from her request. If she knew anything about men.
“Absolutely.” The single word was all she needed for her hands to stop trembling and find the cinch of her dress. The laces came undone easily, her skilled fingers making quick work of each clasp and string that held her dress together. It wasn’t but a moment of time before the material pooled around her feet and she stepped past, blinking at him and waiting to be offered the clothing he had brought.
After each scrap of dingy clothing made its way onto her body, she couldn’t help but glance down at herself and notice the bagginess of them. She had no form… barely even recognized herself. When the hood of her brown cloak was pulled up, she could have sworn she did not belong in the castle.
Jeffrey had brought a mirror down, too, so she could look at her face. The dirt he had smudged there completed the disguise. With her hair hidden in the hood and the dirt on her face, it was almost a stranger that looked at her through the mirror.
Neither of them spoke as they climbed the stairs back up to the real world and snuck off of castle grounds. A feeling of adventure swelled up in her chest, getting her to straighten up a bit as she walked. She could focus on no singular thing as they made their way through the dirty streets, towards the stables the commoners used. He told her not to speak, to act less high born, so her eyes dropped, her nose wrinkled, and she suffered silently.
It seemed to take forever for him to procure two horses for them to ride, even if all he had to do was go in and drop a few gold pieces in the stable master’s hands. Reins were pushed into her hands and she smiled slightly as she looked the dirty, warm chestnut colored horse in the eyes.
Horses were so much more tolerable than people.
Giving him a pat on the neck, she moved to catch her foot in a stirrup and pull herself up into the saddle. Her back straightened a bit once again as she nudged her toes firmly into the stirrups and dropped her heels, hips rocking forwards slightly to get him to walk.
When she glanced up from her horse she noticed Jeffrey eying her and her eyes widened just slightly. His stare was so implacable she had to glance over one shoulder just to see if someone was standing behind her, but then she realized that it was her he was focused on. It had her heart pounding out even as her fingers clutched the reins a little tighter. If he didn’t stop that people would notice her more, notice she wasn’t quite a commoner.
“What is it?”
Her voice was pitched low; it came out breathlessly concerned as though maybe he’d had a revelation that would put a kink in their entire plan or had seen something on her person that others would recognize her identity with.
“Nothing, simply looking…” His response was so simplistic it had her eyes narrowing in the slightest, annoyance tinging her expression as she watched him spur his horse forwards.
As she followed him through the city, deepe
r into the poverty ridden depths of it, she tried to keep her head down. The shadow of her cloak hiding her face from view, not that it seemed like many people scrutinized her. She felt rather invisible, even being up on a horse. It was a new feeling for her, considering she was used to eyes following her every move.
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts and observations that when Jeffrey slowed in front of her, she almost had to wonder why. But then her gaze rose and she caught sight of the building they were in front of, scantily clothed ladies fair hanging from the balcony above. “Oh, my…” The murmur escaped her softly and she nearly blushed.
“We’ve arrived.”
That had her eyes widening up all over again. She’d never been in an establishment where the men went to drink, let alone one where they not only paid for drink but for the company of women. It was almost scandalizing just being in the general vicinity of the place. The thought of going inside suddenly loomed dauntingly over her, intimidating her. Jeffrey didn’t hesitate like she did, though. He didn’t really give her time to think about it or procrastinate because before she knew it he was off his horse and securing it to a hitch. His boots splashed carelessly through puddles, squishing into mud as he walked up the wooden stairs and to the door.
It had her rushing to slide from her own horse, even if her feet sank into the mud beneath them in the most unpleasant way. She tied her own horse next to his and then gathered the edge of her cloak up as she made for the stairs as well. He had waited for her in the doorway, watching her struggle through the thick mud and the droplets of rain that had only just started to fall again.
Once she’d made it up to him they both ducked into the building, warmth hitting her in the face the moment she crossed the threshold… along with the smells of alcohol, food, and bodies. Sweaty bodies. It made her nose wrinkle in the slightest as she glanced around, taking in faces and shadows. Since she’d managed to get inside the place, her curiosity had replaced the intimidation she had been feeling prior. The room was loud, more so than she’d expected. Outside the wind had carried the noise away, but now that she was inside the noise was everywhere, far more boisterous than what she was used to hearing in the castle. This wasn’t servants whispering around corners as they went about their daily tasks or gossip passed between ladies and spoken in hushed tones.
It was obnoxious, in the most overwhelming way.
It was the heavy clunk of overfull cups and the slosh of liquid, whether hitting against floorboards near her boots from a man who’d turned to spit or spilling over the edges of the tankards due to careless gesturing. The stomp of boots, the aggressive yells of competition, and the lack of propriety was more choking than the smoke that lingered in the air. It had a slight flush to her cheeks, the heat of the warmer air weighted from it in a way that had her almost skittish.
“Stay close to me,” Jeffrey murmured, tipping his head her direction so that she could hear him. As though she would have simply waltzed off on her own in a place like that.
She didn’t answer him, but she did follow him to a table that was tucked into a darker corner, away from the thicker throng of bodies gathered nearest to the bar. There were several people there that she could imagine would assassinate someone for enough money, but she hadn’t noticed anyone with the wit for it. They all looked like daft men simply there to drink away their lives.
“Is he here? Do you know what he looks like?” The words escaped her lips as she peered over at Jeffrey and tucked herself into the seat in the corner, so she had a wall at her back.
“Of course I know what he looks like.” His response was abrupt. She could tell he was on edge, nervous, and couldn’t help but wonder why he was so nervous. At least he was a man, so it was perfectly acceptable for him to be there.
Her keen eyes tracked everyone that came down the stairs into the bar area and everyone who hustled in looking damp from the rain. There was an eagerness to her eyes that hadn’t been there before.
She was the first to notice the rugged looking man that was headed their way, as nervously vigilant as Jeffrey was. It was as though gravity had drawn her eyes to him. Maybe it had been the slight gleam of his dark red hair, it couldn’t have been the glittering of his eyes… she didn’t see those until he’d gotten much closer. They were a deep, shadowed green that almost looked brown until the light hit just right.
A voice somewhere inside her informed her that she was staring unabashedly, but her social graces weren’t entirely put together at that moment. It didn’t seem like a place where she had much need of those.
He sat at their table rather gracelessly, dropping onto a stool across the table from her and knocking his elbows against the hard wood of it as his arms came to rest there. It was likely he was the least mannered person she had ever come into contact with. Truly, she was astonished.
“You two don’t look much like you belong here…” The stranger’s voice was oddly appealing in its lower, almost gruff tone. He was right, though. The two of them probably didn’t fit in at all with the crowd.
She didn’t speak herself. She wasn’t supposed to, seeing as she definitely did not sound like a man nor any sort of lowborn woman that should be seen in places like that. Jeffrey, once he’d focused on the fact that there was someone sitting at their table, answered almost immediately.
“I wouldn’t want to look like I belonged in a place such as this, all due respect and no judgement on those who visit regularly.”
Amusement danced across the stranger’s face and her own eyebrows drew together slightly as she watched it happen. He had such an expressive face, scruffy as it was with freshly trimmed hair dappling his jaw and chin. There was a scar at his right cheek that she hadn’t noticed as he’d walked towards them, it was somewhat hidden by the beard attempting to grow back in. Her curiosity piqued and her imagination followed, dreaming up all sorts of imaginary fights he could have gotten into to deserve such an angry line on his face.
His eyes locked to hers as though he could sense her staring and she felt a flush creep along her cheeks. Those eyes, it was like he saw through her. Like he saw through her entire disguise. It was enough to have her wondering if he had known that the Queen would be there. A silly notion, of course he didn’t.
“You are Mister…” Jeffrey began, trailing off as though waiting for the stranger to fill in the blank.
“Just Xavier, don’t need you spouting names for people I don’t want knowin’ it.” The response had dragged those deep green eyes from her, allowing her to breathe once again as Xavier spoke.
“You’ll have a letter then?”
That statement had her blinking in an almost dumbfounded way. A letter? What would they need a letter for if he was already there?
She watched the folded parchment hit the table, the red wax seal on it broken.
“Of course, letter is there. But how do you know I’m not another fiend that stole it?” A cunning light flickered through Xavier’s eyes then, amusement glancing across his features once again. Jeffrey seemed taken aback by that, unsure how to respond for a moment or two. She watched him avidly as his mouth opened the slightest bit and then his lips pursed and his jaw tensed up. The silence seemed to stretch, falling thick like fog. Tension palpable between them.
Not that Xavier felt that tension, he seemed wholly at ease with the situation… enjoyed it even. She could tell he was entertained by Jeffrey’s speechlessness; he didn’t try to hide it like those at the King’s table would have. There was no false air of politeness there, just a wild sort of reckless challenge.
It was absolutely captivating. Breathtaking even.
“Because, you were far too confident introducing yourself, as though you had been prepared to meet with someone this evening.” Her own voice slipped out. She almost hadn’t meant to speak, but there it was. If Jeffrey couldn’t… why not? “And you did not open the discussion questioning how much money you would make from this particular job… which is what I would expect from a man so despera
te for money that he had stolen a letter from another man in order to steal his work.”
Jeffrey was eying her by the end of her spiel surprised, alarm lingering in his dull eyes that spoke volumes of ‘hush! Someone will recognize you!’ but of course, the feel of the entire situation had fostered her own sense of reckless abandon, so she could hardly bring herself to care. The stranger, Xavier, however… his mouth quirked at the corner just slightly as he scrutinized her. She could have sworn his gaze was… appreciative? Or was he sizing her up? Whatever it was, it made her heart stutter in her chest.
“Well, by her reckoning I’m who I say I am… I’d trust her opinion if I was you. She’s a keen one.”
Jeffrey had no way to salvage things without following her lead, even if he wasn’t happy about it. It left her with a sense of victory. A small one, but enough to fuel her belief that she was much more cunning than both he and his brother. “She is…” He agreed thoughtfully before eying Xavier once again. “To business then… the faster it is done the sooner we take our leave.”
“Right to it? Not even gonna buy me a drink first? You noblemen, always so demanding, but if you insist. You mentioned in the letter that it wouldn’t be a small target, what’d you mean by that? And this is the point where I ask how much you’ll be paying me for this large target of yours.”
His first comment had made her eyes widen, even if an amused smile struggled to appear at her lips. Jeffrey seemed more scandalized by the statement than she was, but he listened as the assassin went on. She answered before either could speak again, though, being that Jeffrey had gotten quiet again. “The King.” It was the simplest, quietest statement, but the effect on both men was immediate.
Jeffrey froze slightly, as though hearing it said out loud had made it too real for him to bear… and Xavier was eyeing her as though she had lost her mind. “A right shiny crown he has, but what’s he got to do with this?” The assassin’s remark made her want to laugh almost. So he wasn’t prepared for the largeness of his task, then.
Romance: Pummel Me: A Boxing Romance Page 65
