Hereafter (The Lost Princesses Book 3) Read online

  Emmeline

  I awoke to silence and thoughts of Rex—of his body next to mine, of his warm breath against my brow, of his strong arms enfolding me. Yet as I stirred, the space around me felt strangely empty.

  “Rex.” I reached for him but found a deserted pallet, lacking not only his warmth, but him.

  My eyes flew open, and I pushed myself up. A sweeping glance around the cave told me he was gone, and the coldness of the pallet confirmed he’d been away for a while.

  I listened for his voice outside barking orders to his men and for the general sounds of camp, but only the lonely whistle of wind greeted me.

  My heart sped, and I scrambled to my feet. From the waning sunlight, I guessed I’d slept for an hour or more. As I stepped out of the cave, I berated myself for being so careless. At the emptiness of the camp, I stopped abruptly.

  The horses were tied and resting in the shadows of the caves, and only a lone sentinel on watch stood a distance away. There were no campfires, and nothing had been unpacked, almost as if Rex had never had any intention of allowing his men to rest before going down into the labyrinth. He’d only expected me to rest . . .

  So he could leave me behind.

  I released a huff of frustration.

  Perhaps he’d been planning all along to keep me out of the labyrinth and had only brought me to appease his father.

  With a burst of determination, I started toward the mouth of the larger cave. Even if he had a lead, I could easily find his trail and track him. Maybe if I hurried, I’d yet have time to intercept him before he and his men left the outer rim and headed into the deadly marked tunnels.

  Upon entering, I halted at the sight of two knights standing in front of a gravel pit. I should have known he’d leave guards behind to stop me from following him.

  They straightened to their fullest attention.

  “How long has the prince been gone?” I asked.

  One of the soldiers gave a slight bow. “Your Highness, the prince instructed us not to give you any information.”

  It didn’t really matter. Whether he’d left sooner or later, I’d have to hurry to catch up.

  The flat ceiling, the chiseled walls, the loose debris—even if I hadn’t known this was one of the labyrinth entrances, I could have guessed it in no time. I swallowed my trepidation and crossed to the pit.

  At my approach, both men raised their swords to form a barrier. “The prince instructed us to keep you out of the labyrinth by any means necessary.”

  While he had my best interest at heart and was noble to the last, he was being foolhardy. Hadn’t I warned him he’d need more than his brawn and elite guard skills to make it to the treasure? Even with my carefully drawn map, he wouldn’t know how to navigate through all the traps.

  I eyed the soldiers and slid my hand to the small of my back, looking for my knife, the one Rex had given to me the day I’d gone to visit my sisters. Since that time, he hadn’t demanded its return. I hadn’t been able to figure out why, other than that he trusted me not to run away. Or maybe he’d felt I’d need it for protection from the king? Or Magnus?

  Feeling the emptiness there now, I silently railed against Rex. He’d likely anticipated my tactics and had divested me of any way to threaten these guards. Without a weapon, I’d be no match for them. They’d easily overpower me.

  “Please,” I said. “You have to understand the danger the prince and his men are heading into. I’m the only one who can lead them safely to the center. If you don’t allow me inside, they’ll all surely die.”

  “I’m sorry, Your Highness.” The guard’s expression remained unreadable. “But the prince said not to listen to any of the arguments you might offer.”

  I bit back my frustration at Rex, unwilling to take it out on these two poor souls who were only obeying him, as they should.

  Just then distant echoes of shouts rose from the pit, followed by tortured screaming that made my blood run cold.

  I wished I could gauge how far away the men were, but the hollowness of the tunnels made the estimation difficult. From the fear flaring to life in the eyes of the two soldiers, I guessed this wasn’t the first time since standing guard that they’d had to listen to their comrades dying.

  One thing was clear, if I didn’t get down there soon, I’d lose Rex . . . if I hadn’t already.

  An hour later, I was no closer to entering the labyrinth. All my pleading and attacking hadn’t moved the guards. Nor had the intermittent screams that rose from the pit.

  With darkness descending, my only hope was to wait until sunset, steal a horse, and attempt to find one of the other labyrinth entrances—the eastern entrance that Maribel had spoken of in her tale of the time she’d spent in the labyrinth with Edmund. Though traversing the Highlands and locating another entrance would be difficult and dangerous in the dark, I’d have to rely on my father’s training and pray for a cloudless night so I could use the stars to navigate.

  I lowered myself down to a rock outside the cave when the whinny of a horse and the clatter of hooves brought me back to my feet. Had Adelaide’s men finally caught up to us?

  As several knights in black chain mail ascended the trail into the rocky clearing, I rose from my resting spot. The emblem upon their horses and cloaks matched those of Rex’s men and not Adelaide’s.

  Had more of the king’s soldiers been sent out? And if so, why?

  As the incoming knights climbed the rise, one stood out among the others. With his dark hair, pointed beard, and penetrating eyes, he was none other than the king himself. At the sight of me near the cave, the king urged his horse faster toward me, even though the beast was clearly weary.

  At his approach, I bowed my head to hide not only my surprise at his appearance but also my anticipation. Rex might not have wanted me to go inside the labyrinth, but his father would have no such qualms.

  “Just as I suspected.” The king halted his mare alongside me. “My son is too weak to accomplish the task.”

  Rex? Weak? If he believed his son was weak, then he didn’t know him the way I did. “After the journey, I was exhausted, Your Majesty. And in the prince’s haste to do your bidding, he chose not to wait for me to awaken from my slumber.”

  “Do my bidding?” The king’s lips curled into a sneer as he dismounted. “I was quite clear what my bidding was, and he had not the heart nor the will to do it.”

  “I am to blame, Your Majesty.” I wasn’t sure why I felt such a deep need to protect Rex, but from the contempt lining the king’s face, my defense was making no difference.

  He cast a cursory glance around the camp before homing in on the arched entrance of the main cave. Then, without further stalling, he stalked inside. I followed behind, praying he would send me down immediately and put an end to my miserable waiting.

  At the sight of the king, the guards Rex had left on duty bowed. The king eyed them with disgust before motioning to his bodyguard. “Take them out and kill them both. And tell the rest of the men this is what happens to those who obey the prince rather than me.”

  Revulsion swelled swiftly, and I feared I would be sick. I covered my mouth and turned away, but not before the king saw my reaction.

  “I am still the king,” he said in a low voice, “and will not have you or anyone else forget it.”

  I nodded, too nauseous to speak.

  More soldiers congregated inside the cave until the king glared at me. “You will lead me down to the treasure.”

  “You, Your Majesty? The labyrinth is no place for a king.”

  “Do you really think I shall allow my son to get the glory for finding the ancient treasure?” In the darkness of the cavern, his eyes glowed with excitement. “I have been waiting my whole life for this moment and plan to be the one to discover it.”

  “Then why send Rex—”

  “Besides testing his loyalty, I also gave him a head start so that he and his men could secure the correct way there and eliminate the dangers.”

&nb
sp; Suddenly I understood. Adelaide hadn’t been following closely behind as Rex had supposed. Rather, the king had trailed us, and he’d planned to come all this time. In spite of the enemy camped outside Delsworth, he was more interested in the treasure than anything else, including his son. In fact, he regarded his son’s life so little, that he’d sent him into the labyrinth to face all the dangers on his behalf.

  Within minutes, I found myself descending a steep slope with the king and his men behind me. The farther down I went, the more my limbs shook until finally I slid the last dozen feet.

  When I landed at the bottom with darkness and the tight confines of rock walls surrounding me, I bent over and retched.

  Chapter

  19

  Rex

  I crept forward, holding out my torch and scrutinizing the smooth gray walls for any indication of danger. I tested the pathway with my toes and ducked low to avoid brushing the ceiling with its sharp outcroppings.

  Behind me, one of my men released a pained cry that sent fresh dread up my spine. With four out of my ten men dead, I couldn’t lose anyone else—didn’t want to lose anyone else.

  Crouched low, I glanced over my shoulder. Alaric, one of my faithful soldiers, grimaced. “A knife, Your Highness. It came up from the ground and sliced through my sole.”

  A look at Alaric’s boot confirmed his predicament. The point of a blade protruded out the top of his foot.

  Did we dare attempt to pull it loose now? One wrong step and anyone of us might face the same fate.

  In a split second, I made my decision. “Hold out your foot.”

  Alaric obeyed, and the two men near him lent their aid.

  I grabbed the pearl handle wedged deeply through the boot and his foot. When I jerked it hard, it gave only a little. Alaric bit back a groan.

  “Clasp his leg more securely,” I ordered the other two.

  As their grasps tightened, I yanked with both hands and felt the weapon give. With a final pull, it slid out. Blood coated it, while more now dribbled from the slice in Alaric’s foot. I tossed the weapon to the floor. At the impact, another knife sprang up and protruded into the empty air.

  I had to be more careful, had to focus every bit of my attention so I could find the traps before they found us.

  After traversing the outer rim of the labyrinth the first hour and avoiding the obvious obstacles, I’d grown too confident and comfortable. I realized now that the designer had intended to lure intruders into a false security so they’d become unguarded and lazy, therefore more susceptible to the deadly traps in the tunnels marked with letters.

  Emmeline’s warning was never far from my mind: The labyrinth is a death trap. You and your men will never make it to the treasure alive.

  Maybe I should have had her school me in everything she knew about the labyrinth before coming down. In doing so, she would have suspected I was going without her and would have found a way to stay with me—although I could have tied her up and forced her to remain, regardless of how angry she might have been.

  It didn’t matter anymore. What was done, was done. As I skimmed my fingers along the cold stone, I attempted to calm my racing pulse. My nervousness would only make me more jittery and more unaware.

  At several points, I thought I heard distant voices. Another time, I paused at the far-off roar of a beast to the north. I suspected for now we were safe from any of the creatures roaming the labyrinth, that they avoided the middle area because of the poisons that came from out of nowhere, the pits that swallowed men up whole and then disappeared, and the pikes that slid out from the walls in random places, impaling whoever was in the path.

  By now, Emmeline would have awoken and realized I’d left without her. I could only pray she hadn’t managed to outsmart my guards and enter the labyrinth. Hopefully, they were following my instructions and holding her at bay. I’d told them that if I didn’t return within twenty-four hours, they were to take Emmeline to the queen and ask her for sanctuary.

  In all likelihood, the queen’s small army would arrive while we were down in the labyrinth. I had no doubt she had spies all around Delsworth, all the way to the Cress River. They’d likely seen us rowing upriver and gone back to her with news of our leaving. Perhaps she planned to let us do the deadly work of locating the treasure only to fight us for it once we exited the labyrinth.

  I was counting on the men I’d left behind to defend our position until we returned to the surface. However, even if we survived the labyrinth and won the skirmish against the queen’s forces, I couldn’t keep from wondering if Emmeline should go to her sisters anyway. She’d be safer with them, out of the reaches of the king, who’d made it all too clear he didn’t care if Emmeline was dead or alive.

  During the long journey into the Highlands, I’d had too much time to think about all the king had said and what he was asking me to do. And with each passing day, my bitterness had eaten away until acid churned in my gut.

  How could he expect me to give up Emmeline?

  He’d been the one to set the example of how to love a wife. He’d treated Mother with such devotion that I’d vowed I would do the same with my wife. Now that I was married and attempting to cherish my wife in a similar fashion, how could he undermine me? How could he value Emmeline’s life so little and ask me to do things he’d never consider?

  I didn’t understand his double standard. Mostly, I didn’t understand why he was unwilling to show compassion toward me after my complete devotion to him.

  Emmeline’s words from earlier came back unbidden: Why should you care so much about pleasing him when he cares so little for you in return?

  I didn’t want to believe her. But what if she was right?

  “Rex?” Her voice cut faintly through the chilled air, causing me to hold up a hand and motion everyone not to make a sound.

  I didn’t move and fervently prayed her voice was only a figment of my imagination.

  “You’re on the wrong path.” This time her voice echoed through the hollow tunnels much more clearly.

  Anger, close to rage, burst through my insides and ravaged what was left. I would kill my guards for falling prey to her whims. I’d warned them severely to resist her every effort to come down, and they’d disobeyed.

  “Emmeline, leave the labyrinth at once!”

  “I can’t.” Her words wobbled with fear.

  My gut clenched with the knowledge that something was wrong. But I wasn’t in a position to discover what it was.

  “If you’ve reached section double R,” she continued urgently, “then you must retreat, keeping to the right side of the path and using only your right hand to guide you.”

  Already my men had moved to do as she’d instructed, retreating slowly and staying to the right side.

  “When you leave double R, you must enter section C and immediately begin crawling as low to the ground as you can go until you intersect with W. Once there, you have to move always to the west.”

  I motioned for my rear guard to show me the map and quickly found the spot, assessing where she was leading us. So far, her directions seemed sound enough.

  For long minutes, she guided us through several sections safely, her voice growing louder until we rounded a bend and she waited at the other end of a passageway that was narrower than any we’d yet traversed. In the small alcove behind her stood a dozen more soldiers.

  And the king.

  As my eyes connected with hers across the distance, I finally understood why she was here. It had nothing to do with my guards. The king had come after the treasure for himself. I should have known that with his obsession, he wouldn’t be able to stay away, not when it was within his grasp. Had he been on my trail the whole ride, rather than the rebel’s contingent?

  The king stepped next to Emmeline. “Son, I am disappointed you disregarded my instructions.” Although his tone was pleasant enough, the hardness of his features spoke louder. I’d offended him and would pay for it.

  I knew I ought t
o bend my knee and beg his forgiveness. But I couldn’t make myself bow. Another look at Emmeline’s pale face and the fear radiating from her eyes only made my fury blaze hotter.

  Even if Emmeline was an expert on the traps within the tunnels, the king had no right forcing her down here.

  “You have always had a propensity to be too soft,” he said. “And a soft king is a weak king.”

  Maybe I was softer at heart than he was. And maybe that made me weaker. But at this moment, I didn’t care.

  “Perhaps I was wrong in thinking you should inherit my throne,” he said, as though reading my defiant thoughts. “Maybe Magnus is the one I should have been grooming. He can do the hard things without failing me.”

  Magnus? I stiffened in protest. The king wouldn’t truly consider raising my brother above me? Not after how diligently I’d worked all these years to train my body and mind in readiness for leading a nation. Not after the past year of fortifying his army and city in preparation for war. Not after the difficult things I’d forced myself to do to prove my loyalty—like carrying out his arrests, torturing people for information, and even capturing and marrying Emmeline.

  How could the king so easily disregard all I’d done for him—all that I was even now doing by seeking the treasure he wanted, a treasure I’d never desired the same way he had. I’d jeopardized my own life and the lives of my men on this mission in order to prove again that I was worthy of the kingship. And now he would so easily hand the throne over to Magnus, who’d never done anything worthwhile?

  An angry retort pushed for release, but I bit it back.

  “I should have left you and your men to die down here,” the king continued, “as a fitting punishment for your disobedience. But I shall allow you to atone for your mistake by leading us to the treasure and showing your allegiance.”

  “Showing my allegiance?” My voice came out harder than I intended. “Have I not already demonstrated it in my willingness to sacrifice my life?”

  “You must prove it by your willingness to give up what was never truly yours to begin with.”