My heart beat a fast rhythm as I tried to contain my strides as I marched away. I didn’t want to look panicked, no matter how much adrenaline I had racing around my system.
I strode to the perimeter wall, checking on guards stationed outside the main doors as I passed through. Frost covered the lawns outside as they fell away to the walls, but the heavy wooden doors and thick stone of the castle kept out most of the chill. Above me, stars twinkled and blinked in a black velvet sky, and I blew out a visible breath that spiraled lazily upward on the frigid air.
“Simeon.” I called the name of one of my most trusted officers in a low voice. Simeon was a sharp contrast to Caspar, with his thick black beard and tanned, lined skin.
He nodded as I approached. “Yes, Captain?”
“Anything unusual out here tonight?” I looked around as I spoke, and unusual anticipation crawled up my spine as awareness of hidden dangers prickled over me. The atmosphere seemed charged with electricity, but I didn’t run my guards on instinct or gut feeling, so I tried to shove the feelings away. I had to use facts and tactics, the same things I’d use to defeat any threat, in the way my father had taught me. In short, I needed a clear head, and emotion wouldn’t help me.
“No, Captain,” Simeon said.
“Are the extra men at their posts?” I’d arranged additional guards to stand around the walls to limit an intruder sneaking into the grounds, but even with those precautions, unease niggled at me.
“Yes, Captain.”
“Good. Extra patrols around the perimeter too,” I reminded him before we saluted each other and I left to check the guard posts at the castle itself.
The unease still dogged me as I walked over the gravel paths, the small stones crunching under my feet, and I glanced to the sky again calling on the Moon and her children to protect Lily as she slept.
As if in answer to my hurried prayer, the moonlight seemed to flare, and I caught sight of a dark figure as it flew over the castle wall. It was too far away to discern what it was, and too high to reach with my sword.
“Intruder!” I yelled, but I didn’t spare more words than that before I broke into a run to toward the main doors. “Secure the perimeter!”
Simeon and the other guards burst into action, but we were all moving too slowly. I watched the shape the entire time, and it landed on a window ledge I recognized.
Lily’s window.
“No!” The shout wrenched from my throat.
The figure perched on the castle turned to look at me for a moment, although I couldn’t see any features. I quickened my pace, terrified I would be too late. Damn it all, I should have trusted my gut instinct that something wasn’t right, even after the measures I’d taken. If I lost Lily because of my failure…I couldn’t even consider such a thing.
As the figure disappeared through Lily’s window, my heart plummeted through my chest and I dragged a breath into my lungs, the harsh air stinging my throat. I avoided the main staircase, opting for a long corridor that led to an older spiral staircase that emerged close to Lily’s room. I sprinted up the winding steps, my sword held at the ready the entire time. An attacker would likely escape this way as there was less chance of being seen.
My heart thumped in my ears and I heard every breath I took, as I tried to listen for sounds of an alarm being raised, but there was nothing. Only the familiar noises of the castle and its inhabitants going to bed for the night.
I caught my breath and held it as fear wrapped an iron band around me. Maybe the worst had come to pass. Perhaps I was too late.
I only had one word, one face, in my mind.
Lily, please be alive.
Five
Lily
I closed the bedroom door behind me without any of the usual relief I felt at the seclusion and peace at the end of the day. Instead, a strange restlessness charged through me, something frenetic as if the very air was alive with danger. I stoked the fire already burning in my fireplace, though I rarely felt cold. I didn’t know where my lady’s maid was, but I wasn’t really in the mood for the company of another anyway.
She’d clearly been in here already because my bed was turned down, ready for me to get into, my drapes were drawn, and she’d lit torches and the fire. I stroked my hand over the soft, thick patchwork quilt that lay on my bed. It had been made for me by one of the ladies working in the castle. She’d used my mother’s old gowns and must have stayed up many nights to stitch this alongside her usual duties. It meant a lot to me that someone would do this simply for my comfort and not just because I was the oldest daughter of the King.
Too anxious to sleep, I poked at the logs on the fire again, stirring up the heat. I almost wanted to open the door and step out into the corridor just to see Keane’s familiar face and know I wasn’t alone as I felt, except it was Caspar out there, and looking at him wouldn’t be the same. They wore the same colors in my honor, and I didn’t doubt Caspar would do a good job of defending me, but…
I didn’t think any further than that word.
Instead, I whirled away from the fire and walked to my wardrobe to find my nightgown. With the door open as I changed, I couldn’t see the rest of my room, but I heard the smallest of creaking sounds, like a log shifting in the grate, and a breeze stole around my ankles. Fear crept down my spine, along with the feeling I was not alone.
I stiffened before turning sharply. A man stood in front of the open window of my bedroom. He was dressed all in black, his face covered, and a hood falling forward that obscured even his eyes with shadow.
I caught my breath and took a step away from him. I nearly screamed, but it would be of no use. I wished the door wasn’t quite so sturdy, the walls not so thick. My room was essentially soundproof. However, the man didn’t attack me, which made me think he wished to speak.
“Show yourself,” I demanded.
He laughed, and the tone was languid and sinister all at once. His movements as he pulled down his hood and unwound a log black scarf from about his face were equally so.
“Lord…Malren?” It took me a second to recognize the cousin of King Raith. I’d met him once at a ball at King Raith’s castle, but I was so shocked to see Malren in my room late at night, dressed like a thief, I could hardly believe it. He was the kind of man you didn’t forget though, with a confident smile, arrogant blue eyes, and chiseled features.
I drew myself up, trying to look regal. “This is a most unusual way to visit our palace. Even in Talador.”
Malren didn’t seem to have a weapon, but I couldn’t be sure of that. Somehow I knew I needed to buy myself some time. I hoped he’d spent enough time as a nobleman, even if his heart had long since blackened, that he wouldn’t be able to resist a little civil conversation. Especially with someone who would soon be queen.
“To what do I owe this…” I pressed the pad of my forefinger to my lips, hoping someone had seen him enter my room. “Request for an audience?”
He rolled forward from the waist in an elaborate bow. “In a manner of speaking, Your Majesty, I suppose I would call it a request for an audience.”
Before I could speak again, he darted forward and spun me around so the back of my head rested against his shoulder. He pressed his palm to my forehead and the pinch of a sharp blade rested at my throat.
I sucked in a harsh breath and felt an answering trickle of warmth toward my collar bone at the small movement taking a breath had cost me. “What are you doing?”
“Scream, and you die,” his hot breath said at my ear.
“What do you want?”
“Make me your king,” he demanded.
“Marriage?” I couldn’t help but let out a short laugh. Everyone suddenly wanted me to be wed. The blade poked my neck again. “Surely you could come up with a more romantic proposal.”
“If you won’t marry me, then you will die,” he said, his grip on my arm tightening.
“An assassination?” I spoke the words through gritted teeth as I tried not to move again
. The guard was just on the other side of my door. If only I could get to him somehow, or alert him that I was in danger. “You would truly kill the future queen of Talador in her own room in the dead of night? Why would you do such a thing?”
“I have my reasons.” But suddenly the blade seemed to lift away a little, and my breathing became freer. My words had made him hesitate. My frantic thoughts latched onto that one idea. He’d come here to kill me, and he’d hesitated.
I knew the negative power of hesitation, and I needed to capitalize on his. With a shaking hand, I drew out a rune he couldn’t see—one of the very few I’d let Rose show me. It was only a frost rune, and I couldn’t even be certain I’d cast it right, but I forced all of my will into it.
Suddenly Lord Malren could only mumble through lips I’d frozen shut. His arm stiffened against me, and I raised my hand and gently slid the knife from his grip before I maneuvered myself away from him. Only then could I let out the breath I’d been holding.
At that moment, Keane burst through the door, Caspar fast on his heels. They both stopped, their mouths open as they looked from me to the frozen man at my side.
“Lily!” Keane blurted out.
“Your Majesty, are you all right?” Caspar asked at the same time.
I couldn’t tear my gaze from the expression on Keane’s face. He seemed to be warring between horror and anger as his mouth tightened and his jaw tensed. He reached out as if to touch me, and then I realized his eyes were on the blood.
“Your neck,” he said, his voice hard.
I touched the shallow slice and winced. “It’s nothing to worry about right now. Not when we have a noble guest from Ilidan.” My voice barely shook as I indicated Malren, who could only move his eyes.
“Is he… Is he frozen?” Caspar widened his eyes and stepped forward, and my heart thudded.
I shouldn’t have used my power. Not while it was still forbidden. But if I hadn’t, would Malren had killed me? Or kidnapped me and forced me into marriage? I couldn’t decide which fate was worse.
“He’s just in a state of shock.” Keane ushered Caspar from the room. “I have the situation in hand. Go and prepare our least comfortable prison cell for our guest.”
“Yes, Captain.” Caspar’s youthful face filled with eagerness. He sheathed his sword before running down the corridor.
“I think if you try to handcuff him now, you might snap his arms off,” I said to Keane as he walked around Malren, who still stood statue-like in my bedroom.
“I see that,” Kean said, his voice gruff. Then he looked at me, seeming to notice for the first time that I was wearing my nightgown. His eyes lingered on my form for just a second longer than was appropriate, and a rush of heat filled me. He averted his gaze, and I returned to my wardrobe to pull out an old woolen shawl to drape over my shoulders.
“When you can speak again, you will tell me who sent you.” Keane looked Malren up and down as he walked around him once more.
“You don’t think he came on his own?” I hoped he had. If anyone else was behind this, it meant I still wasn’t safe. Lord Malren was an enemy of Rose’s and King Raith’s, but he’d been an ally to my father. It didn’t make much sense that he would try to assassinate me, but who else would it be? “He did suggest marriage instead of death. A most unusual courtship.”
“He intended to marry you?” Keane asked, sounding even more angry. “I suppose he does have a reputation for wanting to be a king. And time is running short, with your aunt…” He stopped as Malren’s eyes began to look interested.
I could hardly even consider marriage right now anyway. Twice today I’d been attacked, and twice today I’d nearly been killed. I pulled the shawl a little tighter still, craving the touch of another person, though there was no one here who could offer me that kind of comfort.
Malren directed his gaze my way and parted his lips. Then he croaked out a noise.
“What was that?” I stepped forward. “Repeat what you just said.”
“Hide,” he croaked. “You must hide.”
“Hide?” Horror washed through me and I glanced at my window, with their drapes parted from where Malren had stolen in. “Hide where? And from whom?”
“Queen Riala.” He became easier to understand as my spell wore off. “She’s after your crown.”
I stepped back, shocked once again, and my hand flew to my throat, where I touched the blood there. “Queen Riala?”
“That’s enough,” Keane snapped. “You can tell your stories after I get you settled in a cell. Plenty of my men like to listen to prisoners.” He tugged Malren’s arm down, making the nobleman cry out at the movement.
“Shall I send Princess Jasmine to tend to you?” Keane looked at me with concern in his eyes.
I waved my hand, dismissing his suggestion. “No, I don’t want to worry my sisters unnecessarily. I’ll leave them to sleep and talk to them tomorrow.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.” Keane nodded before hauling Malren from my room.
I closed the door quietly behind them and returned to perch on the edge of my bed. Even with my shawl wrapped tight and my fire blazing, shivers overtook me, though not from the cold. I trembled in delayed shock at the night’s events.
It was worse than simply Malren’s attack, though. It was the news he’d brought.
Could Riala really be back after so long?
Six
Keane
The next morning, I took my position outside Lily’s room earlier than usual. I wanted to talk with her before she saw her sisters. I needed to get ahead of this and ensure her safety, and right now the castle wasn’t safe. Not if Malren had breached our defenses so easily, even with the help of magic. I cursed as I thought of it.
As it was, he’d done us a favor by highlighting our security issues, but it could have all turned out so differently. I curled my fingers around the hilt of my sword, forcing my anger at the situation through my fingers and into the solid metal.
When I’d replaced Caspar, he’d looked at me with eager eyes, like he was bursting to talk about the previous night. But I’d pressed my finger to my lips. Lily wouldn’t hear us from inside her room, but Caspar didn’t need to know that, and I didn’t need to hear his misplaced excitement over what could have been a national crisis if Lily hadn’t handled everything the way she had.
Regret coursed through me. I’d almost failed to protect her because I hadn’t been by her side. I glanced left and right down the empty corridor then pressed my ear to the wooden door. It hadn’t mattered that Caspar had been right outside yesterday. He’d heard nothing.
I clenched my fist in frustration. These doors were too thick.
As I’d waited many mornings for her before, I stood outside her bedroom door, alternately checking the corridor either side of me and staring at the wall in front. I knew every vein of color and hairline crack in that stone.
Eventually, her door handle squeaked in that familiar way, and the door opened. It didn’t swing open like it usually did first thing. The movement was hesitant, and I looked around before she came into view.
She stopped when she saw me. “Is everything calm this morning? None of my sisters know anything?”
I longed to brush away the purple smudges under her eyes. She must have barely slept. “No, none of the princesses have been informed yet,” I reassured her. “All of the guards know you want to be the first to talk to them. I could not hide it from Princess Dahlia though.”
She nodded. “No, of course not.”
“I need to talk to you about something else.”
She answered me with a lift of her chin, the movement oddly imperious. Tension played at the corners of her eyes, and she held herself stiffly. “Yes?”
“I heard Princess Dahlia’s plans yesterday.” I hated admitting to listening. Of course I heard, but I really wasn’t supposed to. I wasn’t supposed to truly know anything unless one of the family addressed me with it directly.
Lily nodded. �
�What about it?”
“As it’s clear now that you’re the target, I think it best you seek refuge at the summer palace immediately.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Is that so?”
“Gilbrook Castle is smaller and easier to defend both inside and out. We’ll leave discreetly, so only a select group of people will know you’re there. Everyone else will still believe you’re here.”
“I see.” She looked troubled by my words.
“While you’re there,” I continued, “my guards will be scouring the country for Queen Riala. We believe she must be nearby, but we won’t leave anywhere unsearched.”
Lily took a step forward. “Walk with me. I’m expected at breakfast, and I’m never late.” I fell into step behind her and she shook her head. “No, Keane. At my side. I don’t intend to shout this conversation over my shoulder for the whole castle to hear.”
I quickened my pace and fell into step alongside her, keeping my head bowed, one hand on the hilt of my sword as we moved forward. Walking beside her always felt like a mixture of wrong and right.
“I’m not sure I like this plan,” she said. “Won’t leaving my sisters here put them in danger?”
“We’re altering the guard patterns and tightening each princess’s individual guard procedures to prevent that danger. Now we know who’s involved—”
“Now we know who’s involved,” she interrupted, “we have an idea of just how difficult this will be, but no more than that. We can’t beat a foe we can’t predict or see.”
I wanted to take her hand, but I didn’t. “Princess Lily, we must preserve the monarchy at all costs. That is my biggest duty. As your personal guard, and as the Captain of the Guards, I must preserve your life.” I wanted to add also as her friend and the man who loved her, but it wasn’t my place, and my heart ached that she could never know.
She sighed. “It appears I have responsibilities now I’d never considered.”
Kiss Of Snow: Royal Hearts Book Two Page 3
