Always: A Prequel Novella (The Lost Princesses) Page 14

  The only way to ensure I would be able to pass on the united kingdom to my heirs was to eradicate any loyalty to the old ruler whose name I would no longer allow to be uttered in any corner of the realm.

  And of course, I needed to eradicate the princesses. All three of them. Which was proving more difficult than I’d anticipated.

  The nobleman at the front of the line stepped forward and bowed to the ground at the base of the dais. Before he could rise, the captain of my guard, Theobald, entered from a side door and approached the throne. Several guards followed behind him dragging a prisoner between them.

  “Your Majesty.” The captain bowed, his black chain mail clinking. His shoulder-length hair was braided into three strands beneath his hood. When he lifted his head, he didn’t meet my gaze but instead stared straight ahead, his face impassive. With the scar running the length of his cheek and disappearing into his sharply pointed black beard, the captain had the bearings of a fierce, brutal man. Just the kind of leader I needed in charge of my army.

  “What news, captain?” I peered beyond him to the soldiers. “I hope you finally have word of the whereabouts of the usurper’s heirs.” My best guards had tracked the princesses to a hidden mountain abbey, but by the time they’d arrived, the princesses were gone. Apparently, without a trace. The special tracking hounds and even the Highland wolves hadn’t been able to pick up a new trail.

  I’d punished the guards for failing to find the princesses. I’d needed to make an example of what would happen to those who disappointed me. Now without a trail to pursue, we’d been left to speculate, which had proved futile as well.

  “Your Majesty,” the captain responded. “We believe we’ve found someone who can provide information as to the location of the princesses.”

  “Hopefully not another fool attempting to ingratiate themselves to me.” My soldiers had brought in everyone who claimed to have seen a king’s guard and a noblewoman. So far, every testimony had been useless, contradictory, and even far-fetched.

  Theobald allowed himself a tight but mirthless smile. “I think you will be happy with this witness, Your Majesty.”

  He motioned to the guards to bring forward their prisoner. They prodded the captive with the tips of their swords until the prisoner collapsed to the floor near the dais. Wearing a gray robe with a hood, I couldn’t see his face. Still, I could tell this was no ordinary citizen but rather a monk or priest belonging to one of the holy orders.

  “A nun, Your Majesty,” the captain explained. “I’ve been interviewing all the nuns left in Mercia.”

  I smiled at the cleverness of his plan. If any nuns knew what had happened at St. Cuthbert’s, the captain’s interviewing techniques would surely wrest that information from them. “Are they cooperating?”

  “Quite well,” Theobald said. “So much so that I have finally been led to this nun who was at St. Cuthbert’s and has seen the princesses.” The captain gave the woman a push with the tip of his boot.

  The nun didn’t react.

  The captain’s face tightened with barely restrained anger. He yanked off the nun’s hood, heedless of the hair he tore from her head. She’d apparently lost her veil and wimple. Her shorn hair was matted to her head by blood and dirt. Her face was bruised and her body broken.

  Clearly, the captain had already attempted to gain information from this woman.

  I stepped down toward her. “Tell me, captain. What secrets has this nun exposed?”

  “She’s a stubborn one,” Theobald said almost bitterly. “And she has insisted in speaking only to you.”

  I peered down at the bloody mass of what was left of the nun. I didn’t condone violence against women, particularly women of the cloth who’d devoted their lives to serving God. However, I could not rebuke the captain for his use of torture in such a case as this. Not when the stakes were so high.

  “What have you to say, Sister?” I asked.

  She lifted her face then. Though the skin around her eyes was purple and swollen, her gaze was frank and piercing. “The royal princesses are lost to you.” She spoke with an authority that took me by surprise. “They will remain lost, and you will not find them until the time is right for their return.”

  Theobald kicked the nun in the ribs, which caused her to cry out and double over. “You must address the king as ‘Your Majesty.’”

  I held up my hand to the captain, trying to quell the anxious premonition creeping up my spine. “Let her finish.”

  The captain nodded, stepped back, and crossed his hands behind his back.

  After a moment, the nun pushed herself up. Though she seemed to struggle for consciousness, her voice was still strong. “The princesses will have Solomon’s treasure to aid them, and there will be nothing you can do to stop them.” She held me captive in a stare that stirred the foreboding deep inside me.

  “Then you know the location of the keys to the ancient treasure?”

  “The keys are lost to you as well.” As she spoke the last word, she crumpled back to the floor, unconscious.

  The captain grabbed a fistful of her hair and jerked her head up. “Tell the king all you know or you will die.”

  The nun’s head slumped to the side. For this woman of the cloth, death would be a gift—a gift I would not grant her. “Do not kill her.” I spun and retraced the steps to my throne. “I suspect she will prove more useful to us alive than dead.”

  The captain ordered his soldiers to lift the woman and carry her away.

  “To the tower,” I called.

  Theobald nodded. “She will talk eventually and tell us everything we wish to know.” He leaned in to the woman. “You can be sure of it, Sister Katherine. You can be sure.”

  Jody Hedlund is the best-selling author of over twenty historicals for both adults and teens and is the winner of numerous awards including the Christy, Carol, and Christian Book Award. She lives in central Michigan with her husband, five busy teens, and five spoiled cats. Learn more at JodyHedlund.com

  Young Adult Fiction from Jody Hedlund

  The Lost Princesses

  Always: Prequel Novella

  On the verge of dying after giving birth to twins, the queen of Mercia pleads with Lady Felicia to save her infant daughters. With the castle overrun by King Ethelwulf’s invading army, Lady Felicia vows to do whatever she can to take the newborn princesses and their three-year old sister to safety, even though it means sacrificing everything she holds dear, possibly her own life.

  Evermore

  Raised by a noble family, Lady Adelaide has always known she’s an orphan. Little does she realize she’s one of the lost princesses and the true heir to Mercia’s throne . . . until a visitor arrives at her family estate, reveals her birthright as queen, and thrusts her into a quest for the throne whether she’s ready or not.

  Foremost and Hereafter coming soon . . .

  The Noble Knights

  The Vow

  Young Rosemarie finds herself drawn to Thomas, the son of the nearby baron. But just as her feelings begin to grow, a man carrying the Plague interrupts their hunting party. While in forced isolation, Rosemarie begins to contemplate her future—could it include Thomas? Could he be the perfect man to one day rule beside her and oversee her parents’ lands?

  An Uncertain Choice

  Due to her parents’ promise at her birth, Lady Rosemarie has been prepared to become a nun on the day she turns eighteen. Then, shortly before her birthday, a friend of her father’s enters the kingdom and proclaims her parents’ will left a second choice—if Rosemarie can marry before the eve of her eighteenth year, she will be exempt from the ancient vow.

  A Daring Sacrifice

  In a reverse twist on the Robin Hood story, a young medieval maiden stands up for the rights of the mistreated, stealing from the rich to give to the poor. All the while, she fights against her cruel uncle who has taken over the land that is rightfully hers.

  For Love & Honor

  Lady Sabine is harboring a
skin blemish, one, that if revealed, could cause her to be branded as a witch, put her life in danger, and damage her chances of making a good marriage. After all, what nobleman would want to marry a woman so flawed?

  A Loyal Heart

  When Lady Olivia’s castle is besieged, she and her sister are taken captive and held for ransom by her father’s enemy, Lord Pitt. Loyalty to family means everything to Olivia. She’ll save her sister at any cost and do whatever her father asks—even if that means obeying his order to steal a sacred relic from her captor.

  A Worthy Rebel

  While fleeing an arranged betrothal to a heartless lord, Lady Isabelle becomes injured and lost. Rescued by a young peasant man, she hides her identity as a noblewoman for fear of reprisal from the peasants who are bitter and angry toward the nobility.

  A complete list of my novels can be found at jodyhedlund.com.

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