Always: A Prequel Novella (The Lost Princesses) Read online

  As a major waterway on the Great Isle, the Cress River was always busy with barges from the coast transporting goods up to the Iron Cities as well as boats bringing iron bars created in smelters downriver to the port, where they were shipped to other nations.

  Today the tributary was busy, the waterfronts hectic and crowded, boats loaded down with people and belongings. I guessed word had already spread about the royal couple’s death and the capital city falling to King Ethelwulf, and now anyone who could leave and go into hiding was doing so.

  Another cry like that of a kitten’s mew drew me to my knees. I unbuckled the flap on the first bag to find that Princess Emmeline was awake. She peered up at me, her eyes wide and curious. One of her hands had come loose from her swaddling, and she reached it out as if to greet me.

  I couldn’t help but give the wee one a smile. Even though her face was ruddy and wrinkled, her features were delicate and adorable and her hair a fuzzy dark brown. I touched the soft baby flesh of her hand and was surprised when her fingers closed around my thumb in a tight grip.

  Adjusting my hold, I lifted her out as gently as I could and situated her in my arms, all the while letting the babe hold my finger. Her serious eyes seemed to search my face as though to wonder who I was and why I’d taken the place of her mother.

  At the thought of the queen’s beautiful but lifeless body, hot tears pricked my eyes, and I placed a kiss on the poor motherless babe’s cheek. When I glanced up, I caught Lance watching me. He looked quickly away, but not before I saw approval in his expression that warmed me. After trying hard not to be a burden to him last night, I’d felt like a failure at every move. Was it possible he didn’t resent my presence so much after all?

  I dug out one of the bottles from the bottom of the satchel and began feeding Emmeline. As I did so, I took the opportunity to study Lance more carefully. We’d been so rushed and the night so dark that I hadn’t really taken him in.

  He’d discarded his mantle of chain mail and now wore a peasant-like cloak and hood that he’d acquired at some point—likely to conceal himself from recognition as one of the king’s elite guards. Even with his head covered, I glimpsed his blond hair with hints of brown. As was customary for trained soldiers, his locks were braided back on his scalp in three plaits that were tied together at the base of his neck. The style lent him a fierceness that was accentuated by the thick muscles of his shoulders and arms and chest.

  The time in the river after jumping from the waterfall had washed away the battle blood that had covered him. While his countenance was grimy from the miles we’d traversed through the forest and now the hours he’d spent rowing, his features were clear in the daylight—a prominent brow above dark-brown eyes that seemed to see everyone and everything, a wide square jaw, a defined dimple in the cleft of his chin, a determined mouth, and a surprisingly straight nose. As before when I’d first met him, I was struck by his rugged handsomeness.

  He was also certainly impressive with his strength and his endurance. Surely, he was as tired as I by now and could use a respite from rowing.

  “Would you like me to relieve you for a while?” I asked, breaking the silence between us.

  “Nay.” He slid me another sideways look, darting a glance at my legs.

  Only then did I realize I hadn’t yet untucked my skirt from under his belt. Mortified that my ankles were exposed so brazenly, even if my stockings covered them, I loosened my skirt and pulled it down. “Do you believe we are safe now?” I asked, smoothing the layers and trying to sound more composed than I felt.

  “Once Ethelwulf realizes the royal princesses have escaped the castle, he won’t rest until he captures them.” Lance studied one passing skiff after another as though assessing each one for danger.

  I swallowed my fear and watched Emmeline suckle the bottle for a moment, her lids growing heavy. “I—we must find a safe place for the princesses.”

  “I’m planning to take them to St. Cuthbert’s, an abbey hidden in the far eastern part of the Iron Hills.”

  I noticed how he didn’t include me in his plans. “If it is hidden, how then shall we find it?”

  “Have no doubt. I’ll find it.”

  I bristled at his arrogance. “We must retrieve the Princess Constance in Everly first. I promised the queen I would protect the child.”

  He pursed his lips and started to shake his head.

  “We shall pass near the city on our way to the Iron Hills,” I continued. “We must take Princess Constance away to safety before King Ethelwulf sends his mercenaries to kill her.”

  “If I delay any further, I’ll risk the lives of the newborn babes.”

  “She is the heir to the throne,” I insisted.

  Lance rowed steadily, meeting my gaze hesitantly. I could sense his desire to uphold the formality between us due to our stations. He clearly lived by a high code of honor and wanted to maintain his integrity. But because of the unusual circumstances, he was overstepping the usual boundaries and he knew it. “If I go into Everly, I could very well be walking into a trap.”

  “I shall go in by myself. No one will suspect that a young woman like me would attempt to steal the princess away. I shall find her and then meet you outside the city.” The idea of venturing off by myself terrified me, especially after seeing Saracens. But I couldn’t allow Lance to sense my fear or he’d never agree to get Princess Constance.

  When he seemed to consider my option seriously, I let my body loosen with relief. But a moment later, he shook his head. “Nay. ’Tis too dangerous.”

  “I shall take great care.”

  “You’ll stand out.” His eyes flickered down the length of my once elegant gown, now snagged and damp and dirty.

  “I shall find a clean gown—”

  “You’ll stand out for who you are, not for what you wear.”

  “Then I shall disguise myself.”

  “And how will you disguise your beauty?” The moment he said the words, he looked away and clamped his jaw, embarrassment rippling across his features.

  My beauty. Usually, I gained no pleasure from references to my appearance. Flattery at court was too commonplace and the focus on outward features too important. But I suspected Lance was not one to notice or remark on a woman’s comeliness often, if at all. Somehow the rarity of his praise made it more valuable.

  I took in his poor cloak. “We shall dress as peasants.”

  “If you’re dressed as a peasant, how will you gain access to the castle and the princess?”

  “My brother Charles and his betrothed live in Everly. I shall ask to see him.”

  Lance didn’t immediately reject my proposal, and I took hope from that.

  “We could trade the boat for a farmer’s wagon and garments,” I continued. “And we could also pretend we are married, that the princesses are our babes.”

  “The news of the royal twins’ birth will soon travel through the land.”

  “Then we shall only have one babe out at a time.”

  “And the Princess Constance? How will we explain her presence?”

  “We shall tell her as much of the truth as she can understand.” The bright young princess had been a joy and a delight to the queen and all the ladies-in-waiting. “She will cooperate and pretend we are her parents.” At least I prayed she would.

  Lance was silent for a moment, lifting the oars and then dipping them back into the water as effortlessly as if he’d been born for the task. His arms strained underneath the cloak, and the muscles in his neck rippled once again showing his strength and reminding me how much I needed him if I hoped to succeed in keeping my vow to the queen.

  “Very well,” he finally said, although somewhat testily. “We’ll go to Everly first.”

  The sourness of sweat permeated the tunic Lance had purchased for me when we’d docked along the busy quay of Everly. I attempted to ignore the stench as I made my way along the city’s main thoroughfare. The coarse brown wool chafed my legs, and the simple leat
her boots I’d also acquired clomped against the cobbled street, especially since they were too big for my petite feet. I’d covered my hair with a rectangular veil tied in place with a cord that wound around my forehead. The veil didn’t obscure my face, and so I ducked my head as I plodded along, attempting to keep my features as concealed as possible.

  Like all the other towns we’d passed, word had already reached Everly of the king and queen’s deaths. The usual smoke rising from the chimneys of the city’s many iron smelters was noticeably absent even if the scent of the burning metal still hung heavy in the haze of eventide. Around me was bedlam, a mass exodus of people from the city so frenzied I could hardly push my way through the crowded streets.

  Most were nobility fleeing to estates in the countryside, likely fearing to remain visible if King Ethelwulf should send his army farther inland. Others were peasant farmers selling their wares, concluding that they too would vacate to the country where perhaps they could avoid any confrontation with the new king of Mercia.

  Surely by now King Ethelwulf had entered the castle at Delsworth and laid claim to the throne. If the rumors regarding his rule of Warwick were true, then nobleman and peasant alike had every right to be concerned.

  The peaceful existence we’d known for more than a century, beginning long ago with the reign of King Alfred the Peacemaker, had come to an end. All the more reason to whisk Princess Constance to safety. King Ethelwulf wouldn’t want to leave any rivals to the throne.

  I hurried along in the direction of the castle gate, keeping my face averted so no one would see my fair, unblemished skin and beauty and realize I wasn’t a peasant. I tried not to think about the difficulty of the task ahead, the fact that I needed to get inside the royal residence, locate the princess, change her into the plain child’s garments we’d bought, and then attempt to walk back out of town to the eastern gate where Lance had said he’d wait. I had to do it without anyone suspecting who we were or what we were doing.

  In addition, I had only two hours to accomplish it all. Before the sun descended and the city gate closed for the night. Even then, I couldn’t keep from wondering if Lance would wait for me, that perhaps he was relieved to be rid of me so he could proceed without me slowing him down.

  As I wound my way up the busy street that led to the castle gatehouse, I rehearsed my plan for getting inside. I would reveal myself to the guards, pray they would believe I was nobility, and then pay them each a silver coin from our few that remained.

  Then I would request an audience with my brother Charles and hope he hadn’t yet left the city. Among those fleeing, I’d already glimpsed many of the men and women from court, those who had evacuated Delsworth a few weeks ago. Yet I hadn’t seen Charles or his betrothed among them. Nor had I seen the Princess Constance.

  I glanced up toward the imposing fortress ahead. Built with a dozen stone towers and spires of varying shapes and sizes, the Everly royal residence was one of the most beautiful works of architecture in Mercia. Set on the high ground overlooking the Upper Cress River, it was more imposing than any other castle I’d seen.

  I’d visited the palace last year when the court had traveled with the king and queen to Everly for the summer months. Since the city was within the shadows of the Iron Hills, it was cooler and less humid than the seaport capital of Delsworth.

  I was vaguely familiar with the layout of the castle. Even so, it was enormous, and I couldn’t waste precious time racing up and down its many spiraling staircases. Perhaps Charles would be able to lead me to the nursery and the princess more directly.

  My foot snagged on a crack in the cobblestone and jolted me with the realization that if I consulted with Charles, I might put my entire family into jeopardy. If King Ethelwulf ever discovered I had anything to do with the escape of the princesses, he’d punish my relatives, likely torturing and killing them in an effort to locate me.

  Already I’d endangered them. Most of the ladies, including the wet nurse, knew I was running away with the princesses. King Ethelwulf even now might be hunting me down. What if he’d already infiltrated the Everly royal residence with his spies? Or maybe Saracens were there waiting for me?

  I stifled a shudder and forced my feet to keep moving. The simple truth was that if I wanted to help Princess Constance and fulfill my vow to the queen, I’d have to do it through my own ingenuity, without help from Charles or any other nobility who remained.

  By the time I came upon the gatehouse, I’d decided my only course was to try the lower servants’ entrance and pay off the guards there. But Providence intervened with the timely arrival of a mule-drawn cart that bounced through the gatehouse followed by a large group of servants and nobility on foot. I broke away from the wall and used their activity as cover. Garnering only a few glances, I slid past them until I was inside the gatehouse. My legs and stomach quivered, and I expected a guard would bolt after me and demand to know my business.

  But when no one approached, I dashed into the bailey, attempting to move as though I belonged and was on some urgent errand for a lord or lady. With each step, I waited for a soldier’s shout to impede me. Strangely, no one opposed me.

  Even so, I dared not enter through the castle’s main entrance. Instead, I found a side doorway that water carriers used when lugging buckets inside the castle from the well. As the door closed behind me, eerie darkness and stillness greeted me.

  Was I too late? Had someone already taken the Princess Constance away?

  I raced through the corridors, praying I wouldn’t get lost in the maze of passageways. Everywhere I went, the hallways were silent and rooms deserted. My heart sank lower with the realization the courtiers were gone, likely taking the guards with them.

  When I reached the nursery chambers, I burst through the doors and stopped short at the sight of a stout old woman standing in front of the hearth, a long knife in her hands.

  “Don’t take one step closer,” she said, pointing the weapon at me. I recognized the aged plump face framed with a curly mop of gray hair. This was Dot, the princess’s nursemaid. Although I hadn’t interacted with her often as she kept mainly to the nursery, I’d seen her on occasion, always pleasant and kind. Now angry almost vicious lines creased her forehead and turned down her eyebrows and mouth.

  I held up my hands in a motion of surrender. “I seek Princess Constance.”

  Dot thrust the knife forward menacingly. “If you try to take her, I’ll slice you up, that I will.”

  Only then did I see the tiny figure behind the old woman, plastered to her skirt, her fingers clutching the linen, a pale face peeking out.

  At the sight of the familiar delicate features with silky blond curls falling in ringlets to dainty shoulders, I knelt and bowed my head. “Your Royal Highness.” My relief at finding the princess was so overwhelming I blinked back tears.

  At rapid footsteps behind me, I rose, but not in time. The sharp point of a blade pricked through my garments into my spine. “You’d best be on your way, missy,” came a younger woman’s voice, followed by another painful jab into my skin.

  My mind raced even as I kept my body motionless. What had I expected? To be able to walk into the nursery and carry Princess Constance off without anyone questioning me? Even if I explained to Dot who I was and even if she happened to remember me from among the many noblewomen who surrounded the queen, why would she give me the princess?

  Lance had cautioned me, had told me I needed a better plan for getting through the castle, and I hadn’t listened to him.

  “Please.” I attempted to keep the anxiety out of my voice. “The queen sent me to take Princess Constance to safety. I must be on my way before the city gates close.”

  The older woman scrutinized me, taking in my peasant attire. I wanted to remove my veil and fully identify myself, but I dared not budge with the knife biting my flesh. Instead, I tried to think of a new solution, a way to convince them both to hand the princess over.

  “You are Dot, the princess’s nurs
emaid,” I said. “Why are you still here? Why are you not making efforts to leave like everyone else?”

  At my knowledge of her name, surprise flickered through her eyes. “Who are you?”

  “It is best for you not to know,” I replied. “But I can tell you that I gave the queen my solemn word to come for Connie.” I purposefully used the queen’s nickname for the little girl.

  Upon hearing her mother’s pet name, the princess circled around the front of her nursemaid, her big blue eyes wide and full of questions. “Go to Mommy?” the little girl asked, stepping toward me.

  Dot reached for Constance to stop her, but the princess slipped easily from her grasp. The nursemaid took a wobbling step after the girl, then halted and grimaced at the pain the movement caused her.

  Her foot was wrapped in bandages, but from the oozing and swelling, I could see she was ailing from gout or perhaps an injury that wasn’t healing. Though she might be able to take a step or two, she certainly couldn’t manage the long passageways and numerous staircases. In her condition, she couldn’t leave the castle, even if she wanted to flee with Princess Constance.

  “Why have you not made arrangements for someone else to take the princess?” I asked. “With so many others departing, surely you could have found guards to protect her?”

  Dot pulled herself up and glared at me. “I hid the princess while the others left, letting everyone believe she was gone.”

  “Why would you do such a thing?”

  “Who can I trust? No telling which nobles might want to take the princess directly to King Ethelwulf in order to save themselves.” Dot looked at me pointedly as if that’s exactly why I was there.

  “I have no intention of turning the princess over to King Ethelwulf.”

  “I tried to convince my daughter to take the princess and go on without me, that I did.” Dot waved to the woman behind me who still pressed the blade into my back. “But she refuses to leave me here alone after we heard the news.”