Whatever happened next, I wasn't going to let her keep it.
"It's important that we keep doing what we are," I told the people gathered around me. "Keep training to fight, keep making sure the stockpiles of food grow. We can only end the Evil Queen's rule if we all work together." My voice quivered as I spoke, but I doubted any of them noticed. It was a lesson my father had taught me when I was a little girl. People heard what they wanted to hear. Right now, they wanted someone who offered them a chance. And that was me.
"Princess, Princess!" one woman shouted. "Please bless my baby," she begged.
I swallowed hard. People often brought their children to be blessed by royals, I shouldn't be surprised by this one.
"Of course."
She pushed towards me and held out the child. I placed my hand on the baby's head. "My blessings go with you," I whispered, at a loss for what else to say.
"Thank you, Your Highness. Long live the True Queen."
I gulped. I hated it when people called me that, even if it technically wasn't wrong. I didn't have a crown on my head, I was nothing more than an outlawed princess.
"I have to get to a meeting," I told her.
She nodded and let me passed. It seemed that word spread I had somewhere to be, as others moved away from my path. I made sure to smile at them like I should.
The cabin approached, but not as quickly as I wanted it to. There were far too many people around for my liking. They hadn't been here yesterday, and I had no idea where they'd come from.
"What's going on out there?" I asked the moment I slipped into the cabin.
I scowled the moment my gaze landed on Prince Jonathan. What was he doing here? He hadn't been invited to this meeting.
"Word has got out that the taxes are being raised," Brutus said. He was by far one of the greatest assets the rebellion had. Smart, resourceful, and most importantly experienced at leading troops.
"Again?" I sighed loudly. "Didn't she raise them last month?"
"The month before, I think," Brutus replied.
"Even so, they should be plenty high. What can she possibly be spending her money on?" I demanded, though I knew none of them had an answer for me. Despite how much we'd tried, we hadn't gotten a spy into the palace at all.
"We might be able to shed some light on that, finally," Rita said, handing me a stiff piece of card.
I stared at the golden writing on it. "She's having a ball?" There was no covering the surprise in my voice.
"I suppose it makes sense," Rita pointed out. "Things are settled, we haven't been making life difficult for her. I'm surprised she didn't do it sooner."
I wasn't. It was just like Katya, never rushing into anything.
"Then we need to change things," I said softly. "Perhaps it's time we started giving her some more hassle. Start with small things that are easy to ignore and then start building up."
"To what?" Brutus asked.
"How easy is it to creep into the palace?" Jonathan asked.
Brutus, Rita, and I turned to look at him, none of us having expected him to say anything. I still wasn't too sure what he was doing here, but as he was from another kingdom. I needed to remember that I might need the alliance in the future.
"It shouldn't be too difficult," I said eventually. "It's not built to withhold an attack and there'll be guards who are still loyal to me. But why? We're not ready to take the throne by force."
"Not the throne," he said. "The crown. She'll have to appear without it at the ball, and you'll be able to wear it so people know that you've got it."
"Hmm. Not the worst idea," I mused. "But we'll have to think about whether we can spare the resources. And it would be volunteer only. I won't risk lives for a bit of metal that can be easily replaced." But even as I said it, I could see the merit in his plan. If we were going to do it, then we needed to plan.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Brutus warned. "We have a long way to go. We're not getting enough food to the people we have at the moment, and training needs to be improved."
I wavered for a moment, feeling a little insecure about anything I had to suggest. I swallowed my nerves and prepared to be shut down.
"Send messengers to some of the farms further out and see if there's some kind of deal we can make for food with them. As for the training, bring several men in from each unit, train them with what we want them to know, and send them off to teach the rest. We might not get quite the same quality, but there'll be more people able to perform each skill that we need, and we can't dismiss that."
Brutus nodded. "That has a lot of potential," he admitted. "We can also take anyone with a decent skillset and have them teach in addition to us."
I nodded. That should at least sort some of the issue we'd been having out.
"I'll organise the messengers," Rita added.
"Thank you. I expect we'll get a lot of rejections, but there's a chance some of them might come through."
"Even putting the ideas in their heads might be enough," I said. "Perhaps not for now, but in another couple of months when that woman increases the taxes again, or starts drafting their children into her army. It could really pay off to have those kinds of ideas already in people's heads." I wished I'd paid more attention when my father had been trying to teach me about ruling a country. I'd always assumed it was going to be Killian who'd inherit the throne and he was a natural.
Which was probably how Katya learned to do all the things she needed in order to keep it. But there was no use dwelling on all of that, it would only make me feel bitter about the situation.
"That's an excellent plan." I nodded to each of them and they took it as their cue to leave.
Jonathan cleared his throat. "What would you like me to do?" he asked.
I blinked a couple of times. "You mean now that you believe I'm telling the truth about being a princess?" I snapped. I didn't believe in myself enough as it was, I didn't need some prince doubting me too.
"You can stay out of the way." I turned, not wanting to give him a chance to say anything more. It wasn't easy to lead a rebellion, and this was making it all the harder.
I'd take my chances with the masses outside the door rather than staying inside with this man.
Chapter 3
I smiled blithely as everyone went through all of their reports. This wasn't like when I had my meetings with Brutus and Rita. They could tell what was important and what could be left out. Plus, I could trust them to carry out whatever needed to be done.
But the people liked to know that I was listening to them, potentially because Katya wasn't.
"Just another thing I can thank her for," I muttered to myself.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness, what did you say?" someone asked.
"I was just thinking about how beautiful your gown is," I said, flashing her a wide smile. It was pretty, if a little worn and dirty, which at least made my cover-up believable.
"Oh, thank you, Your Highness. I can send you the information of the dressmaker, if you'd like?" Her eyes lit up as she spoke, and I could tell from the expression in them that I'd just given her the biggest compliment she'd ever received. Personally, I didn't feel like my opinions should be worth more because I was a princess, but no one seemed to agree with me.
"I would appreciate that," I said instead of voicing my thoughts. "What can I do for you?" I hurried her on to the next part of the conversation. I had a lot more people waiting to see me, and I had other things that needed my attention after that. The last thing I wanted was to be doing this all day.
"My father has been crippled by a horse and is now unable to work. He was the breadwinner in our family, leaving me and my five-year-old brother to pick up the slack. I was hoping you'd know of some work I could do so I can feed us?"
The look on her face broke my heart. I racked my brains for something I could suggest to her, but came up blank. Without knowing the village she lived in or what skills she had, there was very little I could do about it.
&
nbsp; "What's your name?" I asked, realising I should have started with that and used her name throughout the conversation to make her feel as if we had a connection. My father would have done that. So would Killian. Even Katya would likely have thought about it. But not me.
"Hannah," she said.
I nodded, finally seeing a solution that might work. "How would your father and brother feel about moving to the encampment?" I asked. "There are lots of children here, your brother would have playmates and your father could teach them skills that could be useful to the rebellion. There's more to it than swinging a sword."
Her eyes widened. "I wouldn't want to be a drain on resources, Your Highness..."
"You wouldn't be." I smiled kindly. Or at least, I tried to, I had no idea how it actually came across. That was a part of my problem. "I'd be employing you as my lady's maid."
She gasped loudly, as did several of the other people assembled around. Perhaps I should have given that title to someone who'd been here from the beginning, or even the daughter of a noble who had come over to our cause. But this girl needed it the most, so that was what I was going to do with the position.
"You should see Rita, and she'll see to your positioning."
The woman nodded frantically. "Thank you, Your Highness. You've saved our family." The emotion on her face wasn't anything I could put a name to, but it filled me with guilt. How could they pin all their hopes on someone like me? I wasn't even doing anything good for them unless it was by accident.
Hannah dipped into a curtsy and rushed away, probably to find Rita and the details of her new placement. I gestured to one of the servants to go warn her.
The next man stepped up and bowed. "Your Highness, your beauty is understated when people talk about it."
I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. I hated it when people started their conversations with me like this. "What is your name and how may I help you?" I asked instead of allowing my true feelings out.
"My name is unimportant, Your Highness. I'm a manservant to Duke Travers, and have been instructed to deliver a message to you."
Travers? My eyebrows raised at that. He was an influential man at court, and not one who could be ignored. What could he want with me and the rebellion? I thought back through the people who'd defected to us, trying to work out if any of them had come from the Travers household. I couldn't think of anyone, but that didn't mean anything. We were gaining too many people for me to have even met all of them.
"Thank you for delivering it," I said. "Please proceed with it."
"The Duke wishes to make a statement. He is currently on his way to the palace to attend the ball Queen Katya is throwing. Once there, he intends to make her rule unstable," the man said.
I gulped. That didn't sound like it would end well. "How does he intend to do that?"
"There's a visiting prince, Your Highness. I'm not sure if you're aware of him. A Prince Jonathan. The Duke intends to assassinate him and start a war with his kingdom."
Gasps of shock came from the people within earshot, and they quickly began to talk amongst themselves. I searched the assembled people for Jonathan's face, and found it after a few minutes, confusion written all over it. They had no idea he was here, which meant that Gideon must have been continuing the charade that he was the prince for people to still believe he was there.
"Please tell the Duke that while his intentions are appreciated, we do not condone the taking of innocent life in order to further our cause." I spoke loudly enough that even the people assembled at the back could hear me.
"I'm not sure the Duke will take that reaction well," the man said, shuffling from side to side.
"My interests aren't in whether or not the Duke is happy. I want to keep all of my people safe. A war doesn't do that for anyone. Far from it."
The man pursed his lips. I wasn't sure he was going to tell his Duke what I'd said, which made writing a letter for him to deliver pointless too. Perhaps we should find a way to tip Gideon off that a threat was coming to him, though that would risk the information slipping into Katya's hands. If she found out that someone who supported me wanted to start a war, then she could feasibly turn people against me, something she hadn't managed too well so far.
"Please, inform your Duke of my decision. I'm afraid I must now consult with my advisors on this matter and all audiences are now suspended."
The people complained about that to one another, but there was nothing I could do. I needed advice on this, and it wasn't something I could gain while in front of lots of people.
I gestured for one of the guards. "Please have Prince Jonathan meet me in the cabin as soon as possible."
"Of course, Your Highness." He dipped his head and disappeared into the crowd in the direction in which I'd last seen the prince.
Hopefully, I hadn't pushed him too far away with my frosty attitude and he'd be willing to help now. Though I supposed it should say something that he was still here and hadn't disappeared back to his kingdom at the first sign of trouble.
I should give him more credit.
I whistled, and Sapphire swooped down from the sky, landing on my outstretched arm. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed my hawk until Jonathan had returned her to me.
I stroked two fingers over the soft feathers of her head. She cooed and closed her eyes. "Who is the most beautiful hawk around?" I asked her, putting on a voice I only ever used for Sapphire.
She cawed and flapped up to sit on my shoulder, where she'd stay until she had the urge to fly once more. There was no use controlling her when there was so much space around, she'd want to hunt and stretch her wings. I could never deny her that.
Chapter 4
The door swung open and Prince Jonathan walked in. He'd lost the arrogant air he'd had originally, he even had a small hunting axe strapped to his waist. Perhaps there was hope for him yet.
With a slightly scruffier appearance, and stubble on his jaw, he suited life in the camp.
"I hadn't realised hawks could act like that, Your Highness," he said, nodding to Sapphire on my shoulder.
I smiled but didn't answer the unspoken question in his voice. I had no explanation for why I'd forged the bond I had with Sapphire. Perhaps it was because I also had an affinity with archery and that was almost like flying. Or maybe it was just because my brother had given her to me.
"May I make a suggestion, Prince Jonathan?" I set the kettle on the fire. If we were going to use the cabin for this conversation, then I was going to take advantage of the warm fire to make myself some tea.
"Of course, Your Highness."
"This Your Highness, prince and princess stuff is getting kind of old. Can we drop it?"
He chuckled. "I thought you'd never ask."
"Don't think this means I've started liking you." The kettle whistled and I pulled it off. "Tea?"
"Yes, please." He paused as if collecting his thoughts. "Does this mean I can call you Lucia?"
"Only if I can call you Jonathan."
"Nothing would make me happier," he responded.
I sighed. This wasn't quite how I'd intended all of this to go. I set the two mugs of tea on the table and took a seat. The one next to Jonathan this time instead of the one opposite him.
"Once, you'd have been just my type," I admitted.
"That's because you haven't gotten to know me yet," he pointed out. "A prince is any princesses type in theory."
"And you don't think I would have once I got to know you?" This was a surprise, though I didn't want to tell him that, it would sound unnecessarily rude.
Jonathan chuckled. "Do you want the honest answer, or one that would make me look better in your eyes?"
Despite myself, I was smiling. "Let's try to the truth. I always find that's less likely to come around and bite you."
"In which case, I used to think that all that would make me right for someone was that they were a princess. But recently, I've been starting to think that isn't the case," he admitted.
"Is that why you haven't gone back to your kingdom yet?" I asked. It had been plaguing my mind for a while and I was pleased to think I was going to finally get an answer.
"Partly," he admitted. "Though the other part is that my father sent me to your palace in order to secure a marriage alliance, he'd be less than pleased to find out I failed so miserably at that."
I laughed loudly, causing Sapphire to lurch from my shoulder and fly up into the rafters of the cabin. "Sorry," I said to her.
She cawed down at me, but didn't return to my shoulders.
"Oops." The smirk on Jonathan's face made something flip inside me.
I shook my head. "Not what I intended to do."
"I doubt this is where you intended our conversation to go too," he pointed out.
"It isn't." I rubbed a hand over my face. "Do you know anything about what's going on in the palace?"
He shook his head, picking up his tea but not taking a sip. "The last I knew was before I left when that huntsman took my place."
"I thought as much," I admitted, trying not to let my disappointment show.
"Is this about the assassination attempt? I don't think he realised I was here, if so."
I nodded. "That was my assumption too." I took a drink of my tea, feeling its warmth spread through me. At least, I was going to pretend it was the tea and not getting to spend time with Jonathan that was doing it.
"Is there anything we can do? Perhaps to warn the man in my place? I wouldn't want him to die because he helped me."
"We don't even know that Gideon is still pretending to be you," I said, lost in thought.
"Gideon? You know his name?"
I nodded. "From your description, it has to be him. Though I don't understand how he's managing to keep the pretence a secret. He's known Katya for longer than I have, she'll know who he is." Which made me wonder what was going on there. "We need a spy in the palace."
Kingdom of Crowns and Glory Page 2
