“Whew, now that’s what I call lucky,” said Reya. “Couldn’t have asked for a better spot.”
I nodded. “I just don’t want to get cornered again somewhere less fortunate.”
They all nodded and crossed their arms over their chests, fists tight, in the street urchin sign of solidarity.
“I’d better go with you, then,” said Lookout. “Back to the mansion. No one sneaks past me.”
“I’ll come, too,” said Reya, “you can show me where to meet you when it comes time for you to leave.”
“I’m not missing out on the fun,” said Whitey with a grin. “I ain’t strolled through the streets with a noble girl before.”
I considered reminding him I wasn’t a noble but decided it wouldn’t be worth the effort.
“S’pose I’d better come too,” said Dancer.
They all looked at Mastiff, but he said nothing, staring moodily at the far wall.
“Fine then,” said Lookout. “You keep an eye on the youngsters.”
And so I found myself with an escort of four as I wound my way back through the streets. Not that you would be able to tell it.
“Can’t have a bunch of street urchins trailing a girl dressed like a noble,” Dancer told me cheerfully. “That’ll attract the guard right quick.”
The children blended seamlessly into the street, some ahead of me, some behind. Only Reya, the cleanest of the lot, walked beside me, asking questions about Lanare and the life of a seamstress. I answered her almost at random, my gaze flitting around the street.
“Relax,” she said quietly after we’d crossed half the city. “The others will spot him if he’s here and give us a signal.”
“I’m sorry,” I forced myself to smile. “We have something of a history, and it’s a little hard not to be afraid…”
She shrugged. “Everyone has fear. It’s what keeps us alive. But you got to trust your mates. They keep you alive, too.”
I stared at her and then felt ashamed of myself. I hadn’t expected to hear such hard-hitting truths from a street urchin, but that just showed I’d forgotten. They had always been a canny bunch.
A sudden commotion erupted behind us, as an irate shopkeeper ordered someone away from his stall. Whitey’s cheerful voice swore back at him.
Reya went stiff beside me. “He’s here,” she said, somehow restraining herself from turning to look. I didn’t have the same self-restraint and glanced briefly backward. Dancer caught my eye and flicked her eyes upward. Following her gaze, I found Marcus on the roof of a nearby building, surveying the street. While I watched, he turned in my direction and met my gaze.
His eyes widened and then narrowed, and he vaulted from his roof to the neighboring one, moving in my direction.
“We need to run,” I said, looking around for somewhere safe to go.
“No,” said Reya, “best not to attract the attention.”
With a tug on my arm, she led me weaving through the traffic on the street at what felt like the pace of a snail. I forced myself to look as relaxed as possible as I followed her. Without showing any sign that she meant to do so, she abruptly ducked off the main street into a lane. Material spread between the houses on either side, forming a canopy over our heads and blocking us from view from overhead.
We picked up our pace, moving at a fast walk as children materialized around us. I soon had a visible guard of four.
“Don’t let him see you all,” I panted. “I don’t want him targeting you next.”
Lookout scoffed. “Whitey here got on his bad side less than a week after he arrived. We know how to keep our distance.”
I grimaced and said nothing more, promising myself silently that we would catch him this time and ensure he never had the chance to hurt anyone again.
Reya led us down another lane and then into an alley that smelled so bad, I had to cover my nose. When we reached a main street again, two of the children dashed forward as scouts, signaling when we were safe to emerge. We hurried down the thoroughfare, ducking off into another lane as soon as we could.
When we reached the next major road, all four children halted.
“There’s the mansion.” Lookout pointed. “You leg it as fast as you can in that direction, and there ain’t nothing he can do now, even if he do find you.”
I nodded and was surprised when Reya gave me a quick embrace. “You stay out of his way.” She winked at me. “I want that dress-making job.”
I grinned, thanked them all, and took off running. I hiked up my skirts and ignored the consternation of the people I elbowed past.
Fear for the children kept swirling in my head, but I forced myself to push it away. The streets held all sorts of dangers for a child—only the toughest joined the street urchins. And they knew the city better than anyone. Marcus, a newcomer to Largo, had no hope of tracking them back to their den, even if he could identify them in the first place.
I didn’t slow until I reached the front gate. But as I panted in front of the armed guard there, I looked back down the street and into the city. Marcus stood in the shadows five houses down, watching me with fire in his eyes. I drew myself tall and met his gaze without flinching.
His eyes narrowed and then he turned away. I looked back at the guard.
“Could you open the gate, please? I’m a little out of breath.”
He looked me up and down but must have recognized me because he shrugged and opened the gate without protest.
Chapter 27
The only person in the courtyard of the mansion who paid me any attention was a servant who looked at my ripped gown askance. I hurried inside, trying to remember how to get to Celine and my room. I needed a change of clothes before I sought out the royals.
But when I rounded a corner in one of the corridors, I found Celine just leaving a room.
“Evie!” she screamed as soon as she saw me, running in my direction. “Where have you been? The boys are back…” She slid to a halt in front of me, her eyes widening as she examined my dress. “Wait, what happened to you?” She grabbed my arm. “Never mind, hold on a minute, and you can tell us all.”
She dragged me to the door she had just closed and flung it wide again, pushing me into the room. The luxurious sitting room had been decorated with the same slightly extravagant and not very elegant taste as the rest of the mansion. Frederic stood by one window, looking out across the city, while Cassian sat on a low settee with Tillie beside him, talking softly.
The room looked very similar to the one attached to Celine and my bedchamber, so presumably it belonged to the princes. I had heard some of the nobles grumbling the day before that with the royals in the only two guest suites, the rest of them had been forced to make do with nothing more than a bedchamber. It had made me laugh at the time, considering they had all been reasonably happy living in tents during our recent trek across the desert. Tillie certainly seemed more than pleased with the room provided for her. But obviously Largo reminded the courtiers too much of their usual accommodations in Lanare, and their expectations had been raised.
Frederic turned at our entrance and smiled, but the gesture didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m afraid he got away from us. I’m sorry, Evie.”
“What happened to your dress?” asked Tillie, standing to come toward me.
I gestured for her to return to her seat and collapsed into a puffed armchair myself. My legs still trembled slightly from my mad flight through the city.
“Yes, I worked out you didn’t catch him,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Frederic crossed to sit on the chair beside mine. He leaned forward, bracing his elbows against his knees, all his attention on me. “Did you see him? Are you hurt in some way?” He glanced at his sister. “I was most displeased with the guard for abandoning you like that.”
Celine grinned. “I pleaded mercy on the poor fellow’s behalf. I provoked him most terribly, I’m afraid. I told Frederic not to worry, that you knew the city better than any of us. But perhaps…”
I nodded my head. “I do know the city, you’re right. And thank goodness for that. I’m afraid Marcus must have circled around because he managed to grab me.” I shivered. “He had a dagger, and he made all sorts of threats.”
Frederic leaped to his feet, his hands in fists. “I’m turning out the guard. We’ll find him if we have to tear the city apart.”
I shook my head. “Don’t be ridiculous. I mean, yes, we need to find and arrest him, but that’s not the way to go about it.”
Frederic looked down at me, and I held his gaze, my own steady, until he at last sighed and dropped back into his seat. “I take it you have a plan, then?”
“Not a plan, exactly. But I do have some information.” I bit my cheek. “But first I think I need to give you some background as to how I came by it.”
All four of them watched me silently, and I reminded myself how well they had taken every other revelation about my past. There was no reason this one should be different.
“I was born in Largo. That’s what they think, anyway—I never actually knew either of my parents. No one even knew who they were.” I forced a quick smile onto my face, but I doubted I was fooling any of them. “So that’s who I am. An orphan without home or family, just like Monique said.”
Frederic frowned.
“I could have been much worse off, really,” I continued. “A kind woman, who I called Mama, found me abandoned in the middle of the public gardens near the marketplace. She said I was such a cute little thing and all alone, and she just couldn’t bear to leave me there. So she took me home and raised me.”
I looked down at the ground. “She truly loved me, I believe that. But she worked as a nanny for a wealthy family here in Largo. They let her keep me in her small set of rooms above their stable, but she spent her whole day in their home, and I wasn’t welcome there. As soon as I could walk and talk, the children stopped seeing me as a doll to play with and saw me as another child. One who wasn’t like them. They started demanding she leave me behind each day.”
I pulled at a curl of my hair. “She always said I must have northerner blood in me somewhere. But the family she served were originally northerners themselves, and obviously I didn’t have enough to suit their children. They never saw me as one of them.” I sighed. “Just like my skin was too light for the traders, and my trader eyes and ways too much for the junglers. It’s my curse, I suppose, to never really fit in anywhere.”
I tried to shake off the melancholy mood and get to the real point. “And so every day I went out to explore the city. I had a mother, of sorts, but I was almost as good as a child of the streets, and the street urchins took a liking to me and took me under their wing.”
“Street urchins? How thrilling!” said Celine.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Celine,” said Cassian quietly. He looked at me. “My parents provide all of their nobles and governors with funds to provide for any orphans. If there are street urchins here, then the governor will have to answer for it. My family does not wish to sit in our palace on piles of gold while our people suffer.”
I smiled at him. “I know you do not, and it is the reason the street urchins are loyal enough to the crown. There are orphanages that are never short of food or clothing for those who wish to go to them. Their doors are never closed, and they find homes for the children where they can. But they keep a strict regime.” I shrugged.
“They are training the children for future jobs as servants and the like, and many are happy enough for the opportunity. I often used to play with them in the public gardens on their rest day. But I think the reason they are such a satisfied bunch overall is because those who do not want that life leave.”
I shook my head. “Some children don’t like the strict order they keep, and they don’t want such jobs. What they want is to be free. And so they choose a life on the streets.”
“Thieves, you mean,” said Frederic, his voice heavy.
I frowned at him, but he didn’t meet my eyes, his expression distracted.
“They’re not thieves.” I paused. “Well, I’m sure there are thieves among them, as there are thieves among the adult citizens of Lanover. But the ones I knew were not like that. They scavenged what they could and made up any lack by running errands and messages in the marketplace and the like. They banded together and formed their own family, as unusual as it might be. I suppose that’s why they accepted me. They were already misfits, just like I was.”
I ran a hand down my skirt, straightening its folds. “When Marcus grabbed me, he dragged me into an alley that I recognized.” A quick intake of breath from Frederic made me look at him, but he still didn’t meet my eyes.
“I managed to escape because the urchins have a bolt hole in the back wall of the alley. And then I ran, by instinct, I suppose, to their hideout. And it turns out it’s still an urchins’ den.” I smiled at the memory of the children I had met. “And the children themselves were much like the ones I used to know. I asked them what was happening in the city, and they had a lot to say.”
I related the story the street urchins had told me, telling them what I now knew of the Shadow Man and his actions and motivations. Frederic stood and walked back to the window, Cassian following him with his eyes.
When I finished the tale, Cassian frowned at me. “We need more information on this Shadow Man. We need to know who he really is. Do you think they could lead someone to this warehouse where he supposedly lives?”
“I suppose so.” I considered. “But I wouldn’t want to get any of them into strife. They’re only children. Perhaps they could draw a map.”
“Perhaps…” said Cassian, his eyes straying back to Frederic who still said nothing.
For a moment silence fell.
“So you’re an orphan,” said Frederic at last, in a strange, strangled tone. “But not just an orphan. You don’t even know the names of your own parents?”
“That’s right,” I said, struggling to keep my own voice level. “When I was nine my adopted mother took ill and died. The family she worked for threw me from her rooms, and a passing caravan picked me up. I wanted to escape the place that reminded me of her, and so I went with them, hoping to shape myself into a trader and forget the past.”
He spun around abruptly, and his eyes caught on mine. They held so much fire that I instinctively shrank back. Without a word, he strode from the room.
“Well,” said Celine into the silence. “That was unexpected.”
Over and over again during the next two days I replayed the scene in my mind. Because in spite of our expectations, Frederic did not return for the evening meal. He had left the mansion, and he did not return to sleep that night, or for any meals the next day.
Cassian told Celine and me that Frederic was occupied, and we would have to wait to hear an explanation from his own lips. And with that we had to be content, although it didn’t stop Celine from grumbling about being excluded from whatever action was going on. She seemed convinced Frederic had gone off to retrieve vital information on the Shadow Man.
We downplayed the crown prince’s absence to the governor and the nobles, and Cassian held off ordering any action be taken to track down the rebels until Frederic returned to give us some direction. Celine and Tillie seemed to sense my distress since they clung to me like limpets, asking for help with their gowns and hair and generally attempting to distract me. I put on a cheerful face for them—I had plenty of practice at it, after all—but alone in my bed at night, I cried.
I tried to cling to my new self. The one who had learned to trust the royals. But in the dark of the night, my old fears attempted to resurface. I had told them the final piece of my past, and Frederic had turned and run. I couldn’t hide from my own heart: no one else’s reactions mattered compared to his. I just couldn’t understand what was behind his behavior. Why had he run? I went over and over it all again in my mind, looking for signs I had missed, and told myself Celine was right, and it had nothing to do with me at all.
But I was all too afraid it did have something to do with me. Some internal struggle had always seemed to grip him whenever we got too close. Perhaps one side of that unknown war had been tipped into victory by the truth of my past. I just couldn’t understand what could possibly have made him run.
I chose to believe he would not abandon me now. But the truth was that I wanted something more from him than acceptance as the royal seamstress. Or even as a friend. And I wanted it even as I knew it was wrong for someone like me to desire anything more from the crown prince.
In the morning, I posed my worst fear to Celine and Tillie.
“Are we sure…” I cleared my throat and started again. “Are we sure he’s all right? That he hasn’t fallen afoul of Marcus, or something?”
They exchanged glances before looking at me. Neither asked who he was.
“Cassian seems unconcerned,” said Tillie. She bit her lip. “He hasn’t said anything specific to me, but he clearly knows where he is.”
I swallowed and nodded. That was a relief at least.
He had been gone two nights when Cassian sent for the three of us girls. My legs trembled as I walked back to the princes’ sitting room. Had Frederic returned? What would his attitude toward me be?
He will not abandon you, said an internal voice. He would never do such a thing. Certainly not with Marcus looking for you. And that will have to be enough.
Perhaps he had been injured himself? My footsteps quickened. If he had returned I would tell him that he need not go to any lengths to avoid me. I had no desire to push myself in where I wasn’t wanted. I would stay out of his way, and as soon as we returned to Lanare, he need never see me again. I held back tears at the thought.
But when we entered the room, I could see no sign of Frederic. Cassian looked grim.
“We set questions in motion as soon as we arrived,” he said, “trying to flush out these rebels. And I have just had word from the governor. They have discovered the traitors.”
The Princess Search: A Retelling of The Ugly Duckling (The Four Kingdoms Book 5) Page 21
