Prince of Secrets and Shadows

by C. S. Johnson

  “Let’s start down and work our way back up,” he said, grounding my attention in the moment.

  “Good idea.” I rubbed the last remnants of tears from my eyes, using his words to focus. “I’ll lead the way.”

  *25*

  ◊

  Together, Ferdy and I ran back through the galley, heading down into the lower decks of the clipper ship.

  “How are you feeling, Ella?” Ferdy asked, as we made our way down a stairwell.

  “As well as can be expected.” I did not sound vague intentionally, but as I thought about it, I wondered if I was still trying to figure out how broken I was. “How about you? How is your wound?”

  "The bleeding seems to have stopped," Ferdy replied. He plucked at the makeshift bandage, trying not to wince at the resulting twinge of pain. “It still hurts to move it at all though.”

  “I hope you haven’t made it worse by all the fighting up there.”

  Ferdy gave me a rueful smile. “It would be considerably worse if we were dead. I can handle fighting with my left hand for now.”

  “Please just be careful. I know Amir can take care of it, once we get back to the manor.”

  “Amir is the Turk who was fighting Lumi out there, I presume?”

  Quickly, as we methodically made our way through the ship, I told Ferdy about Amir. When I finished, Ferdy nodded. “I see. What a tangle, fate is.”

  “I’m surprised you recognized him,” I said. “I did not think you would remember him after all this time.”

  “There are not many Ottomans in Prague. My Arabic instructor was from the Arabian Peninsula, where there are plenty of smaller coups rising up against the sultan. He taught me a lot about their culture. When I saw you that day in the city, I was worried for you, since I saw he had been branded. They brand thieves and other villains.”

  “Amir told me what you said to him.” I stopped for a moment, glancing into a small room, similar to the one we had been held in earlier, looking for any sign of Lumiere’s remaining crew. “He said you told him you would trade your life for mine.”

  “Of course I would, chérie. I told you before, I do not deserve you.”

  “I still say you have it wrong.” I cupped his cheek. “I am the one who does not deserve you.”

  It was hard to believe I deserved anything. I had forgotten Lady POW in search of Ferdy, I had caused Ben more agony, and I had dismissed Amir and Harshad over various causes, some of them imagined and others misunderstood. And I had even thought I could abandon Ferdy if my duty called for it. It was only after I thought he was dead that my heart revealed the truth.

  “It is possible, you know, that we do not deserve each other. In that case, we are perfect for each other,” Ferdy said.

  I smiled as he kissed my palm and took my hand in his. Maybe that was the true miracle of God in a fallen world. There were things in this world that were able to be so true that they were more than real, and when I lost my footing, I could still find my way back.

  “Come on,” I said. “Only one more level to check, and then we can get off of this ship, too.”

  We quickly resumed our task. It was only a matter of moments later when we came to the next floor, and I heard a small, familiar squeak. I turned and saw the same figure I had seen earlier, when I was walking on the top deck.

  “Betsy!”

  She was curled up behind the stairs, sitting with her knees up to her chin. She looked so small and childlike in her uniform, even though her face was gaunt and fearful. When she saw me, she stood up and hurried to embrace me.

  “Nora!” she cheered. “Oh, I never thought I would see you again. And when I did, I was certain that you were going to be killed.”

  “What’s happened to you?” I asked, watching as she pulled her hood down. “You look like a nun.”

  Betsy giggled, some of her girlishness coming back to her fraught face. “You look like an Amazon.”

  “I’m sure that’s some of the inspiration.” I glanced over my shoulder. “Ferdy, this is my friend, Betsy. It’s a long story, but she was taken here with the rest of my stepmother’s household.”

  I made quick introductions. Betsy was clearly tickled as he bowed and kissed her hand, just like the gentleman I knew he was.

  “Can you tell us what happened? How did you get here?” I asked.

  “Yes.” Betsy nodded. “That man, the tall, blond one with the demon-green eyes, he came and took us the night after the Advent Ball. He had several dark, scary guards with him, so we followed him without much hassle.”

  “Is Cecilia here, too?”

  “Yes. But Lumiere got tired of her, and Miss Priscilla, too.”

  “I can imagine that.”

  Betsy smiled at my wry tone. “The day we got here, he gave them over to your old friend Tulia. I haven’t seen them since she stuffed them in the cargo hold.” She blushed, her heart-shaped face burning over red.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I’ve heard their cries from that room,” she admitted. “But I did not bother to see if there was a way to help them. I figured it was them, and I rather liked that they were out of my way. It has made my chores much more bearable.”

  I could understand her decision in that matter, recalling my own hours working in the manor while Cecilia was busy with paperwork or while she was asleep from the late nights before.

  For now, though, I did not have time to reminisce. I took Betsy by the shoulders. “I need you to go and get into the boat at the stern. Ferdy and I will see to Cecilia and Prissy.”

  Betsy nodded. “Please be careful, Nora.” She smiled and bobbed a quick curtsy to Ferdy, and then hurried upstairs.

  “I hope Lady POW is finished taking care of the others,” I said. “I wouldn’t want her to run into more trouble.”

  “From the sound of it, your stepmother and stepsister are all that are left to get,” Ferdy said.

  I was about to agree, before a hunched shadow filled the hallway before us. “Tulia.”

  Tulia signaled her hello, and I drew out my dagger. She rolled her eyes before tapping her finger to her head.

  She did not seem hostile, but I was still hesitant to trust her. “I’m doing much better, from when you knocked me out before.”

  She frowned at my tone and shook her head at my reaction. She signed out a repentant response.

  I said I was sorry. You were able to come onto the ship and keep your dagger.

  The blade at my side did seem to confirm she had only been acting in my best interest. “We don’t have time for apologies,” I said. “We need to get Cecilia and Prissy out of here before the ship explodes.”

  This time, Tulia frowned. Her hands twisted fast as she clearly objected.

  “What did she say?” Ferdy whispered.

  “She said that Cecilia and Prissy should be punished for how they treated me and Ben all those years ago. She’s not going to help us get them out, and if we don’t leave, we could end up dying.”

  “So ...what do we do now?”

  Tulia pointed to the door, flicking her wrist and then shaking her head.

  “It’s locked, and Tulia won’t give me the key.”

  In some ways, I appreciated Tulia’s efforts to avenge me. She was trying to help by forcing me into making the only choice that seemed rational, all so the burden of their deaths would not rest on my soul.

  But my eyes fell to my dagger, and I knew if I left them to die now, I would not be worthy of the Order. It was not, as Ferdy had repeatedly told me, an assassination group. We protected people, and even though I hated Cecilia’s actions toward me, I did not want her to die with my stepsister, trapped inside a ship full of explosives.

  I put my dagger in my sheath. “If she’s not going to help us, we need to find a new way to open this door.” I faltered as I stepped forward, wishing desperately that Ben was able to be at my side. He had always been the one who tinkered with machines and mechanical ideas. The thought of him lying unconscious on th
e top deck stymied me, and I had to push through my sudden guilt and sadness to focus on the mission again.

  Just get the mission done, and then you can tend to Ben.

  Ferdy turned around and headed back down the hall. “There might be a spare key in the captain’s room. I’ll search around for one.”

  “Hurry!” I called after him, before narrowing my eyes at Tulia again. I studied the door, trying to see if I could fit the tip of my dagger in and break the lock. “Don’t you do anything else.”

  Tulia only crossed her arms and began her silent tirade. Her hands flashed and fluttered, but I paid no mind to her. It was already tempting enough to leave Cecilia and Prissy, and if I could get away with it and not feel responsible for another person’s death, I would have done so.

  I knocked on the door, hard enough to bruise my knuckles. “Hello? Lady Cecilia? Priscilla?”

  I waited a moment, before I heard some scurried movements on the other side. “Hello?” I called.

  “What do you want?” Cecilia’s voice crackled, and even from the other side of the door I felt her voice scrap at my patience and goodwill. “We’re trapped in here, if you failed to notice.”

  “I’m trying to get you free,” I called back. “Can you unlock the door?”

  “What an egregiously unintelligible question. If we had been able to unlock the door, don’t you think we would have left already?”

  “Mother, be quiet,” Prissy said. Her voice was weak and whiny, but I felt more compassion for her at once. After all, I would not want to be stuck in the cargo hold of a ship with my stepmother, either.

  I examined the lock again. It was a metal one, so it would be hard to use my dagger to pick the lock. I did not have any pins in my hair, since it was tied it back with only a band.

  I glared at Tulia again. “Why can’t you just let me get them out?”

  Why can’t you just let them die?

  Trying to reason with her was impossible. We went through several rounds—the Order was supposed to protect the innocent (They are not innocent), it was morally wrong (It is morally wrong to let injustice remain), they might be useful for information (I can provide better information)—before I was ready to give up and wait for Ferdy, hoping he would be able to find another key.

  Tulia raised an eyebrow at me, her ancient face folding into wrinkled layers, and at her triumphant haughtiness, I tried again.

  “It is not what my mother would want,” I insisted.

  You don’t know have any idea of what your mother would have wanted. Tulia gestured to my outfit. She would not have wanted you to join the Order.

  At that, it was just like before, when Ben had attacked me in Harshad’s lessons. I froze, my heart aching at the stunning realization that she was right.

  I had nothing to offer Tulia anymore. I shook my head. “You should go. I know Didier has the rescue boat near the stern. I have nothing more to say to you right now.”

  She shook her head sadly, but she left. As she walked past, I studied her features carefully. Tulia was my grandfather’s half-sister, and I wondered if he had been just as unmerciful to Lady Penelope.

  The moments passed, and I was stuck listening to Cecilia and Prissy’s moans, repeatedly assuring them help was coming. I did not know if they believed me, but I honestly did not know if I believed me, either.

  It was only when Ferdy came down the stairs carrying a bag and waving a key in his hand that I felt any gleam of hope return to my soul.

  “Oh, thank you, Lord,” I whispered, hurrying to unlock the door.

  “And me, too, right?” Ferdy joked. “There were a lot of interesting things in the captain’s room. I brought a few things to see if you wanted to look at them—”

  “Not now,” I said. I barely heard him protest as the door creaked open, and I ran inside to see to my stepfamily.

  Inside, the room was framed in crates marked with warnings. Cecilia and Prissy were both chained to the far wall. The smell of the room was awful, flooded with the singed smell of ashes and gunpowder. I did not want to look too closely at what Lumiere kept in the hold of his ship.

  Cecilia sniffed, sticking her large nose up in the air as she saw me. “Well, I would say it’s about time you came for us.”

  “Apologies, Madame,” I muttered. I knew Tulia had good reasons for wanting them to die. It was fortunate that she had plenty of bad reasons, too, or I would have left Cecilia there at her sniveling.

  Prissy was much kinder. She was tired from the lack of exercise, her skin was pale, and she seemed much thinner than before. I almost wondered if she was happy with the results of her imprisonment, even if she did not like the imprisonment itself.

  “Thank you, Eleanora,” she whispered to me, and I pulled her arm around my neck to help her as her legs buckled under the rocking ship.

  I only nodded, but I was grateful Ferdy was willing to help Cecilia. She did not recognize him as a Prince of Bohemia, and even I had to smile as she called him “urchin garbage” as we made our way to the top deck.

  Lady Penelope was waiting for us. Her gun and dagger were tucked away, and she was clearly in command of the ship. Lord Maximillian’s guards, Karl’s attendants, and even some of Lumiere’s crew were scattered around the deck. I tried not to notice some of the blood dripping along the wooden planks of the ship’s floor, but in the moonlight the crimson wash glimmered eerily.

  “Excellent work, Eleanora,” Lady Penelope said as we approached her. “You and your companion have done well.”

  Cecilia huffed. “I would beg to differ.”

  “I would love to see you beg to do anything,” Lady Penelope snapped. “If I were you, I would keep from saying anything else until you are back at the manor, and even then, a vow of silence would be more than appropriate for you. After all, you would not want me to drag you to the castle to beg for forgiveness for treason, would you?”

  Cecilia’s lips opened and shut, and then she glared at Lady Penelope.

  “Yes, Lord Maximillian confessed, along with the secret heir to the throne,” Lady Penelope told her. “You can guarantee your name will be brought up, too. Especially since your son is dead.”

  “Alex?” Cecilia’s voice cracked before she began to sob.

  For the first time in my life, I felt truly sorry for her. I felt even more sympathetic as Lady POW waved her aside and told her to take Prissy and get off the ship before she was killed, too. There was nothing remorseful in my grandmother’s gaze as she issued her commands.

  Cecilia, without another word, did as she was told.

  Lady Penelope turned her attention to Ferdy. “Well, Your Highness, it looks like I owe you my thanks.”

  Ferdy bowed his head. “Please, Madame, call me Ferdy. I would have us be friends.”

  “And here I thought you were more concerned with being family.” Lady Penelope’s tone was cool, but she seemed pleased by Ferdy’s response. “Well, then, we will talk business later. Right now we have to leave.”

  “Is everyone else off the ship?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Including Lumiere. I have him bound and just for the fun of it, gagged. He told me he would enjoy it more that way, likely thinking I would not agree with him. But I can tell you for certain, I enjoy it more.”

  I did not want to ask her about Ben. Lady POW was not the most compassionate of people. I worried she would tell me that he would be useless and cut out of the Order’s future missions.

  Ferdy took my hand as we boarded Didier’s small boat. I could barely see it, tucked away in the shadows of the Salacia, with no lights on to show its presence. There were several others on the small riverboat, including Amir and Harshad, but no one—not even Cecilia—made any noise as we pushed away from Lumiere’s sinking, demolished clipper.

  It was only as we began to disembark back onto the docks that I heard a series of loud noises, all rippling out from the bottom of the boat. We all seemed to turn back at the same time, watching as an explosion ripped through the
Salacia, setting it on fire.

  A large spray of water washed over us, soaking us with the icy waters of the Vltava. Beside me, Ferdy laughed, while I heard Lumiere, already free of his gag, complain that his residence was gone—it was his own fault!—and Ben let out another groan. Harshad began to call for assistance, and Lady Penelope began rehearsing threats under her breath.

  “Time to go home,” Ferdy whispered behind me.

  I reached up and hugged him, careful to watch his injured arm. I was surprised to find he had the bag from the captain’s room on his back, but I said nothing as I held onto him.

  I held onto him, and he held me back. It was enough.

  I was with him, and it was enough.

  *26*

  ◊

  I do not remember much of the trip back to my father’s manor. Harshad and Lady POW, as always, seemed to have the situation under control. We were able to hire several coaches to carry us back, though some of the servants, having nowhere else to go, decided to walk. Harshad issued instructions for a few of the men who were willing to give us information. With the members of the household, Lumiere, Cecilia, Prissy, and the rest of us, I imagine we could have been something out of the Wild West in America, like a kind of traveling caravan.

  Ferdy tried to stay awake for as long as possible, looking to find ways to make me smile. He kept asking about dinner, wondering aloud if Clavan would be willing to send some of Helen’s stew to the manor. Before I knew it, and likely before he did, too, he was leaning on my shoulder, silent at last.

  I watched Ferdy sleep for several moments, thinking how serene he looked. With his jaw relaxed, the lines of his face eased into slumber, he seemed much younger. I missed the sparkle of his eyes, but as the moonlight clung to his skin, I could not stop my smile.

  Even in his dirty rags and covered in blood, he was a prince.

  Because we were all drenched, I curled up against him and tried to fall asleep, too. I managed to doze off and on, unable to stop replaying the scene in my mind where Ben had gotten hurt, and all because of my mistake.