Any of the happiness that’d filled Micah’s soul only moments before, evaporated in an instant, the space it left being flooded with guilt. The King was going to kill the Conductor. There was no doubt. He was begging for mercy that the King didn’t possess. This man was going to be murdered in front of them all for the crime of weakness. Or kindness perhaps. He was going to be killed, because he himself had refused to kill. This wasn’t right. And every one of them who’d called out for freedom, was responsible for his death.
No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t! They weren’t responsible for his death. They weren’t responsible for any of this. The King was the only one with blood on his hands here.
The former courage of the Whisperers had vanished, alongside their happiness. Nobody dared to defy the King himself. Micah considered speaking up, but what if nobody followed? Then her death would follow this Conductor’s. And she had no doubt Jeremiah would follow suit after that. She couldn’t risk it. She had to keep him safe, so they could put a stop to this.
“Please, my Lord!” the Conductor said, as the King raised his sword high above his head.
Seeing he had no chance of survival, the Conductor turned his eyes to the Whisperers.
“Freedom is coming!” he called out, letting them know he was still one of them.
Micah looked away as the sword swung down. She didn’t need to see this. She’d already seen far too many things that she was unable to erase from her memory. She didn’t need to add to her collection.
As the guards came closer to clean up the mess, Micah curled herself into a small ball, ashamed of how her actions had contributed to this man’s death.
The silence that’d fallen over the arena was haunting. She wasn’t sure if the King had even left yet. Until she heard his voice.
“This must never happen again, you ungrateful beetles,” he said, the high pitch to his voice revealing his anger. “We clothe you, we feed you, we give you somewhere to sleep and a place to wash and this is how you repay us?”
Micah wondered if the King was speaking of the palace or himself. It was so hard to tell coming from a man who spoke about himself in the third person.
“It wasn’t our fault that we had to remove the Conductor’s head.”
Himself. He was talking about himself.
“It was your fault. And you’ll be punished for it. If you don’t live by the rules, then you won’t be provided for with the kindness currently bestowed upon you. Do you understand?” His voice rose to an impossibly higher pitch as he waved the sword in the air, blood dripping from it, droplets flying across the arena.
“Do you understand?” he said again. Did he actually expect them to reply?
They responded by their actions, keeping their heads down and their voices quiet.
“Excellent,” he said. “We are pleased. Go and do your chores now, and don’t bother going to the dining hall tonight. You must think on this with empty stomachs.”
Then he pointed his sword at the first Whisperer in the first row.
“Come with us now,” he said.
The Whisperer got to his feet. Another man. This one had a determined look plastered to his face. Micah wondered how long that expression would last and what it would mean for them.
Jeremiah would move up yet another place.
Seven down. Three to go.
ROSE
TWO
After leaving the Conductor’s lifeless body on the floor of his study, Rose had taken Tash back to find Eliza and Cara, who were huddled together under one of the beds. Clever thinking on Eliza’s behalf. At first Rose hadn’t thought they were there and her heart had skipped a beat, until her sisters had shuffled out of their hiding place and wrapped their arms around her.
She’d tried to take them immediately to the dungeon to get them on their way to safety, but Tash had started shaking violently, clearly traumatized by what’d just happened to her. Every time Rose tried to put her down, she’d strengthen the grip she had around her neck. She just didn’t have the heart to send her away, deciding she was going to have to somehow just keep them alive for another day.
They’d left the room they’d been sleeping in and gone to a cupboard under a staircase that Rose had discovered once as a child. It was empty, apart from a thick coating of dust, and the four girls had crouched in there for the night, holding each other close as Rose whispered to them, preparing them for the journey they had ahead and promising they wouldn’t be apart for long.
Eventually, Tash’s shaking stopped and she fell asleep in Rose’s arms. Eliza was holding Cara, who despite being the youngest, seemed so much less vulnerable right now, not having suffered the same ordeal as Tash.
When Rose’s sisters woke and complained of hungry tummies and needing to use the bathroom, she left them to fetch a bucket and a tray of food she found sitting on a table in one of the servant’s bedchambers. She paced out the route to the dungeon, figuring the safest time to walk her sisters there would be when the Whisperers were moving about the palace, performing their afternoon chores. The more people around as witnesses, the safer they surely were.
She’d returned to the cupboard and together they waited. Rose told her sisters stories of Aunt Lily, who she’d met as a young child, telling them how she was beautiful and kind. Her own memories of Aunt Lily were vague, given she hadn’t visited the palace for many years, so she made up the details she couldn’t remember, reassuring the girls that she’d take great care of them.
She talked non-stop as a way to prevent herself from wondering if the Conductor’s body had yet been found. Surely it had. His absence wouldn’t go unnoticed for so long, especially if her father had a Whispering planned.
The day passed slowly, but instead of being resentful, she tried to be grateful of her sisters’ company, hoping these weren’t the last moments they’d spend together.
When Rose was certain it must be afternoon, she opened the cupboard door a crack and glued her eyes to the passageway until she saw a Whisperer walking past.
“It’s time,” she said to her sisters.
“Please come with us,” said Tash, giving it one last try.
“Now, now,” said Rose, wishing she could see her sweet little face in the dark. “You’re a big girl. You proved that to me last night. Aunt Lily will love seeing what a big girl you are.”
“Want Mother!” said Cara, not understanding what was happening. She was still very much a baby herself. How was she to understand that their Mother had a new baby to care for now?
They stepped out of the cupboard, just as a Whisperer turned into the hallway. Rose noticed his eyebrows shoot up, before he composed himself and kept walking with his eyes cast down, as if nothing unusual had happened.
Rose took her sisters directly to the dungeon, telling them to act as normal as they possibly could, which of course meant that they walked on exaggerated tip-toes with their index fingers across their lips. It was pretty cute and Rose didn’t have the heart to tell them to stop.
When they got to the dungeon steps, her sisters’ mood changed. The guard looked at them strangely but let them pass. A princess outranked a guard in the palace, even if she was a princess with a death warrant pinned to her back.
Rose had never been down these steps before and was glad of it. With each step she took, the air grew thicker with the smell of human waste and decay. The stone walls dripped with condensation and it was dark. Her sisters clutched at her skirts, clinging to her legs as they walked. She wished she had a pair of legs to cling to. She was just as scared as they were. The dungeon was no place for little girls. It was no place for anyone, really.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and approached the nearest guard, who was standing in the light of a lantern, staring at them like four ghosts had just appeared before him. In their white nightgowns, with their long blonde hair, they must’ve looked exactly like some kind of strange vision. They were such a contrast to anything else down here.
“Are you
Tyron?” asked Rose, getting straight to the point.
He licked his lips. “I can be anyone you want me to be, baby.”
She took a step closer to him and looked him square in the eye. “I am Princess Rose, heir to the throne of Forte Cadence, and I demand to be spoken to with respect.”
A look of horror spread across his face and he dipped to a bow. “Forgive me, your Highness.”
“Take us to Tyron, immediately.” She had no time to waste, and no time for lowlifes like this guard. If ever she became Queen, he’d be the first person she’d have banished from the palace.
“This way,” said the guard, taking the lantern from the wall and leading them down several corridors.
“You were scary,” whispered Eliza.
Rose squeezed her sister’s arm. “You’d do well to learn to be scary sometimes, too.”
They passed several cells and Rose tried not to look at the people trapped behind their bars. None of them called out to her, which worried Rose even more. What poor treatment had they endured to take all the fight out of them like that?
“Wait here,” the guard said, coming to a halt.
They stopped and Rose caught the eye of a prisoner, the whites of his eyes looking like the winter snow in comparison to the filth covering his skin.
The guard scurried away, hopefully to fetch Tyron.
A few minutes later, a tall, well-built guard appeared. He was squinting, with his hair sticking up in all directions. Clearly, he’d been woken. Yet his eyes opened widely when he saw Rose and her sisters standing before him. Rose was relieved to see kindness in his startled eyes.
“Princesses,” he said, dipping to a bow. “At your service.”
Better. Much better. Her mother had done well to place her trust in this guard.
“The Queen said you’ve been waiting for us.” She kept her voice authoritative, not wanting a repeat of earlier.
Tyron nodded, running a hand through his hair, trying to flatten it down. “Very well. Let’s be on our way. I have my instructions. The Queen was very clear.”
“I won’t be coming,” said Rose. “You have just three passengers. Eliza will care for the younger two.”
She pushed Eliza forward, only for her to take a step back toward Rose.
“We can’t go without you,” Eliza pleaded, grabbing for her hand.
“You must. I’ll come and find you as soon as I can. I promise.” She bit her tongue at these words. Why must she continue to make impossible promises?
“Very well,” Tyron said, motioning for them to follow him.
“No, Rose! No!” Tash wrapped her arms around Rose’s legs. “I told you no!”
She may have stopped shaking, although the poor girl was still traumatized.
“Hush, Tash.” Rose kissed her sister on the top of her head, before opening her arms to draw all three of her sisters close. “Aunt Lily is waiting for you. She’ll take excellent care of you until I get there.”
“Want Mother,” said Cara, tears streaking their way down her face.
“I told you, Aunt Lily is Mother’s sister,” said Rose. “And her name is a flower, just like mine so you know she’s going to be nice.”
Even though that made no sense whatsoever, it seemed to soothe Cara and she nodded her head bravely.
“You take good care of them, you hear me,” Rose said to Tyron. “If anything happens to them…”
“They’re in safe hands,” said Tyron. “No harm will come to them. I’ll see to their safe delivery.”
Rose nodded her thanks and the three girls took a tentative step toward him.
Eliza turned back and looked at Rose. “You make things better here, okay?”
Rose nodded, relieved that Eliza understood, and blew her sisters kisses.
“Be safe,” she called, begging the universe to please let her see them again one day. They disappeared down the passageway.
As Rose turned to make her way back up to the palace, she reminded herself that her mother loved them. She trusted her mother. And just like Jeremiah had put his trust in Rose, she also had to put her trust in someone. Their mother would never hurt them. No doubt she’d paid Tyron handsomely to take care of them. And Aunt Lily was their flesh and blood. She’d take care of her sisters even better than she could.
Besides, what choice did she have? At least now they had a chance. The further away they were from their father, the better.
She slowed her footsteps, realizing she’d made a wrong turn. This wasn’t the way to the stairs that would take her back up to the palace. The cells here were unfamiliar, filled with the desperate faces of people she hadn’t seen earlier.
“Princess!” one of them called. “Save us!”
“I’m trying,” she said, pleased that at least one of them still had the courage to speak. She avoided the prisoner’s eye. Her heart was already broken enough. “Freedom is coming.”
She hurried on, reaching the end of the corridor, only to find it was closed off by a door. Thinking it might be another way back up to the palace, she tried the handle, jumping back in surprise when a hatch in the door opened and a face peered out at her through a set of bars.
It was an old woman, her eyes a cloudy blue, luring Rose back to her to take a closer look. So much for not directly looking at anybody. Did it count if they were unable to look back at her?
“Princess Rose,” the woman said, her fingers reaching through the bars. “Is it you?”
“How do you know me?” Rose asked, standing far enough away so as not to be reached, now certain that this woman must be blind.
“I’ve seen you in my dreams,” the woman said.
“Can you see me now?” Rose asked.
“I can see you inside my head. And you look like your mother. You’re kind like her, too.”
“How do you know my mother?” Rose was certain this woman hadn’t been a Whisperer. She’d recognize her face from around the palace. Besides, they’d never had anybody this old whisper for her father. Her voice was croaky and hollow. Rose doubted she’d even know how to whisper.
“Your mother visits me,” said the woman. “She calls me her angel. My name is Gabrielle.”
Rose gasped. She’d heard her mother talk of an angel before and had always assumed it was some kind of made-up person, like a spirit.
“I knew you were coming to see me.” Gabrielle took hold of the bars as she spoke and held on.
“How could you know?” asked Rose, keeping her voice low. “I didn’t even know.”
Gabrielle smiled, revealing her shriveled gums.
“I must tell you something,” Gabrielle said, crooking her finger for Rose to come closer.
Rose stepped forward, unsure if it was a trick. Although, there was something about Gabrielle that made her trust her. Goodness seeped from her soul.
“You must find the Whisperer you met last night,” said Gabrielle, quietening her voice. Rose had been wrong about her inability to whisper. “The one who saved your sister.”
Rose nodded, not asking her how she knew about this. Was that why her mother visited her? Did she know things she couldn’t possibly know?
“Find him and convince him to get himself sent down here. It’s the only way.”
“Why would he do that?” Rose glanced around, doubting that anybody was here by choice.
“Because he owes you. You stopped him from doing a horrible thing. Something he couldn’t have lived with. And you gave him hope. Hope that he’s spreading around the palace as we speak.”
“Why should he go to the dungeon? What help is that?” Rose asked.
“Because he sits to Jeremiah’s left.”
Rose’s hand flew to her mouth. This woman not only knew about Jeremiah, but it seemed she knew about their plan for him to move into the Conductor’s position.
“He must make way. He must!” Gabrielle shook the bars, making the door rattle.
“Princess!” a guard called from behind her. “Is this prisoner bo
thering you?”
“No,” said Rose. “I’m lost and was asking if she knew the way back to the palace.”
The guard shook his head. “She doesn’t know the way anywhere.”
Rose looked into Gabrielle’s sightless eyes one last time. How little this guard knew. It seemed that Gabrielle knew the way everywhere.
“Thank you, Gabrielle,” she said, reaching out to touch her fingers on the bars.
“Follow me,” said the guard.
She followed him back up to the palace, feeling guilty for the relief she felt to leave the dungeon. How awful it must be to be trapped down there. Poor Gabrielle. How had she come to be down there in the first place?
With her stomach growling, Rose decided to go to the royal dining room. Often her father didn’t turn up for dinner. Hopefully, today would be one of those days. Although maybe if he did turn up and saw her there, he’d be less suspicious of her sisters having left the palace.
She sat at the dining table and waited to see if she’d be dining alone, wondering if maybe being in the dungeon was preferable to sharing a meal with a man who was trying to kill her.
Her father entered the room, glanced at her and took his seat at the head of the table.
“Your sisters are still taking their meals from their beds?” he asked.
Rose nodded. “They were quite badly injured in the fire. It’s been very painful for them. They’re suffering a lot.”
She’d added that last bit to see if it caused any reaction. Any remorse or guilt? Her father didn’t so much as flinch.
Two Whisperers crept into the room, each carrying a plate of food. She glanced up at the Whisperer who’d killed the Conductor, but he refused to catch her eye. Wise of him, especially in front of the King. She wondered how he was feeling? If he was still serving her food, then clearly, he hadn’t been caught.
The Whisperers placed one plate in front of her father and another in front of her. Two plates piled with enough food to feed at least a dozen people. Rose’s mouth flooded with moisture. She was so hungry. Hopefully, Tyron had food for her sisters for their journey. They must be hungry too.
The Kingdoms of Evernow Box Set Page 16
