Desperate Forest Page 13
I hadn’t realized how much weight I’d lost since being on the run. I hoped I would start to look more like my old self again soon.
After I bathed and combed out my knotted hair, Nelly helped me into the large purple gown. As she laced the tight bodice, my fingers felt the smooth silk skirt and admired the sheer, flowing sleeves. I had been in my riding dress so long, it felt odd to be wearing such a beautiful piece of clothing.
As my hair dried, Nelly pulled my curls away from my face and secured them with pins. The rest she left free to flow about my shoulders.
When she was done, I asked Nelly to take me to see Darius. She led me down the hall past the room we had been in the day before and turned the corner.
She knocked upon the ornate oak door at the end of the hall until we heard a faint reply.
“Come in.”
I walked inside to see Darius leaning over a large desk filled with stacks of paper and several books. By his side was a young woman in a red gown, who was also examining the documents. When she lifted her face, her cool stare met mine. I gasped and stopped dead.
“Laurel! What are you doing here?”
Chapter 21
Laurel glided over and gave a small curtsy, an emotionless smile upon her face.
Darius followed closely behind her. “Laurel is who we have to thank for your safe return. She met my knights in the forest and gave them an idea of your whereabouts.” He smiled. “You can’t imagine how grateful I was. I’d practically given up hope you were alive. She told them exactly where you were headed.”
I stared at Laurel in amazement. As thankful as I was to have reached Marcsnovia, the fact that she’d led the guards to me meant she’d also led them to Jay. She must have known he would be captured or worse. I couldn’t understand why she’d come here instead of Galesmore like we’d all expected.
I took a deep breath, trying to control my anger. “I’m so glad you’re safe. We were all very worried about you.” The last part I meant as more of an accusation than anything.
Darius looked between the two of us, slightly confused, then said to Laurel, “If you’ll excuse us for a moment, please.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.” She gave a demure smile and curtsy before leaving.
I turned to Darius. “I don’t understand. Why is she here?”
Darius smiled and returned to his desk. “It’s simple, really, she was worried about you. After she told the knights what she knew, she came here to make sure you arrived safely.”
I almost laughed at the ridiculousness of his statement. I shook my head. “I don’t trust her.”
“Why ever not? She’s remarkable! The things she knows about the herbs of the forest and their powers are amazing. Besides, she told me everything, and she’s really the one who saved your life when you were bitten by that snake. If it weren’t for the medicine she gave you, you’d have died for sure. She’s the one you should be grateful to.”
Although I knew there was some truth to that, I still didn’t understand why Laurel would want to help me, and more importantly, why she would risk betraying Jay.
“I need to see Jay.” I crossed my arms. “Something’s not right about this.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.” Darius frowned. “I don’t want you to see him again. You need to forget about him.” He snapped a book shut. “Tomorrow, we’ll be rid of him forever.”
“What do you mean? I thought the ship set sail in a few days.”
Darius sighed. “There’s no need for the ship. I spoke with him this morning, and he confessed everything. He’ll be executed tomorrow.”
“No,” I gasped, feeling blood rush to my head. “You promised me you wouldn’t kill him!”
“I promised you I wouldn’t kill him if there was doubt of his guilt.” He picked up a piece of paper from the table and held it out to me. “I have his signed confession right here.”
I grabbed it from him. It was, indeed, a confession statement. My hand shook slightly as I examined the signature at the bottom. The handwriting was one I recognized. I had seen it on Jay’s maps where he’d made notes about the land. There was no doubt Jay had signed the confession.
Stunned, I let the paper fall from my hand. Jay had never been fully convinced of his own innocence, but I couldn’t believe he would willingly sign his life away.
Darius laid a steady hand upon my shoulder. “I know this is hard for you, but you need to realize what he really is.” He led me to a chair and pushed me to sit. “You need to focus on the kingdoms now. Today, we’ll announce our engagement, and by the end of the week, we’ll have the wedding. We’ll unite our lands, and there will be peace in Tover and Marcsnovia again.”
He squeezed my hand. “You don’t look well, darling. You should go back to your room and rest.”
Dumbly, I got up from the chair. Before I reached the door, Darius grabbed my elbow, turning me to him. “Rosie?”
I looked up at him.
“I love you—I always have,” he said. “I’m sorry this brings you pain. But soon . . . everything will be as it should.”
I gazed into his blue eyes, hoping I could find answers there.
As if sensing my hesitation, Darius pulled me close to him and laid a soft kiss on my lips, much like he had the day he asked me to marry him.
I waited for the same intoxicating feeling to overwhelm me like it had that day, but instead, I felt more confused.
I pulled back and smiled weakly at him. “I just need some time to process everything.”
“I understand.” Darius smiled and released me.
✽✽✽
I sat in a velvet armchair in my room, looking out the window as my thoughts swirled in my head.
A knock on the door interrupted my reverie.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Nelly stepped in. “Princess Roselynn, I’ve brought Miss Laurel to see you as you requested.”
“Thank you.”
Nelly bobbed her head and moved away to allow Laurel to enter. She surveyed the room and me with calculating eyes.
After Nelly shut the door, I motioned for Laurel to sit in the chair across from me.
“What can I do for you, Your Highness?” Laurel asked stiffly as she sat down.
“I think we can forgo the formalities, Laurel.” I glared at her.
“As you wish.”
My anger rose at her detached attitude. I was tired of it and I wanted answers. “I want to know why you’re here. How could you betray Jay like that?”
She inclined her head, narrowing her eyes at me. “I didn’t realize the two of you had grown so close.”
“Well, we have. And you were close to him too. I don’t understand why you would betray him!”
“I didn’t betray him!” She practically spat the words at me. “I left the camp to go to Galesmore on my own. The rest of them were fools, waiting there for you to get better, like sitting ducks. I didn’t come as far as I had to be caught by Abrax’s knights because of you!”
She smoothed her skirt. “I took one of your maps and a compass and charted a route to Galesmore. It wasn’t hard, I’d seen Jay do it often enough.” She seemed sure of her own cleverness. “But a day later, I was stopped by Marcsnovian knights. They searched me and found my map—your map—and recognized the Tover crest on it. They interrogated and threatened me, demanding to know where you were. I tried to lie and say I’d found the map in the woods, but it didn’t matter. They took the map from me and headed in the direction I’d come from—I had marked my route on there. I’m assuming that’s how they found you.”
She shook her head. “I headed for Marcsnovia immediately, knowing there was a good chance Jay would be captured when they found you. I requested a meeting with King Darius, saying I had knowledge of your location. I was hoping I could gain his trust so if Jay was brought here, I could do something to help him.”
I nodded slowly, taking in her words as she continued.
“Darius sent
a different group of knights to search for you where I told him to—in the opposite direction. That way, if the first group didn’t find you, everyone would be safe. Obviously, since you’re here, they did find you.” She narrowed her eyes. “Where’s Jay? Did they take him? What about Gavin, is he safe?”
“Jay’s here.” I sighed. “Darius’s knights found me and Jay, but they never got to the camp. I’m assuming everyone else made it to Galesmore—Gavin was going to look for you there. He was so worried. You never should have left! You put everyone in danger.”
“Like you did when you left?” She sneered at me and my face flushed. I knew she had a point.
I folded my hands and nodded. “I think it’s safe to say we both acted rashly.”
She sniffed in disdain.
“Why do you hate me so much?”
Laurel glared at me. “I hated you because you were a reminder . . . of him . . . of her. Of what they did.”
Her words offered no clarity. “What are you talking about?”
“Your uncle murdered my sister!” Laurel’s usual mask of indifference was replaced by pure rage. “I knew he couldn’t be trusted, but would she listen to me? No! She was blinded by his lies.”
“I don’t understand . . . why did he kill her?”
“Everything I know about healing, my sister, Avi, taught me.” Laurel turned her face from me, peering out the window as if losing herself in her memories. “She practically raised me . . . Our parents died when I was very young. We lived at the edge of the forest together for years. We didn’t have much, but we had each other. Avi knew everything about the forest. More than I ever possibly could. She was known for her healing powers.”
She smiled proudly before replacing the expression with her familiar frown. “Abrax found out about her. He came to our cottage and promised her many things. Said he would be king soon, and he would make her his queen if she would help him.”
“Help him with what?” My stomach clenched in dread. I knew anything my uncle requested couldn’t be good.
“Killing your father,” Laurel replied without emotion. “Avi created the poison to kill him . . . slowly, so there’d be no suspicion.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Anger burned in my heart and I wanted to lash out at Laurel, even though I knew she wasn’t the one responsible.
She shook her head. “I told Avi not to trust him, that Abrax was evil and he was turning her evil too, but she wouldn’t listen. She said this was the opportunity we had waited for all our lives—that we didn’t need to live barely surviving anymore. She said she was doing it for me.”
She turned to look at me. “But Abrax betrayed her. Once your father died, Abrax sent knights to our cottage to kill us. To hide all the evidence so your father’s death couldn’t be traced back to him. I was out gathering herbs when they arrived. They killed Avi and burned our cottage. I rushed back when I saw the smoke . . . but it was too late.”
She looked at her hands. “I tried to run inside to save Avi, but it was hopeless. A knight caught me and said she was already dead. He held a knife to my throat, and I know he’d been ordered to kill me. But he didn’t. Instead, he told me to leave and not come back.”
Gavin, I thought but didn’t say anything, respecting his wish that Laurel not learn his secret.
“I fled, not knowing if they would search the area for me. I lived in the forest for a while, struggling to survive on my own. Eventually, I decided I would go to Galesmore, and once I had the means, I would return to Tover to kill Abrax myself.” She returned to staring out the window, her expression hard again.
I contemplated her story. If Gavin hadn’t already told me part of it, I might not have believed her. But I knew she was being completely honest.
“Laurel . . .” I felt so many emotions upon hearing about her past. Fresh rage over my father’s murder. Sorrow for her for loss. A desire to tell her what Gavin had done for her. But mainly, I was struck by the similarity between us. How we both had lost our only family as pawns in my uncle’s evil plan and been driven by revenge—sometimes blindly.
Before I could find words, Laurel spoke again. “That’s why I hated you when you came to camp. Partially, because I wanted to blame you for what Abrax did.” Her voice softened. “But also, because you were a constant reminder of what my sister had done. I loved Avi . . . but she made a terrible mistake. You didn’t deserve to lose your father like that.”
Her statement surprised me. I knew it was an apology, even though she hadn’t said the words.
I stared at her for a moment. Part of me wanted to hate her for what her sister had taken from me. I wanted to blame Laurel for not stopping her somehow. But I knew it was pointless. Laurel did not choose to take my father’s life. It sounded like she’d even tried to prevent it.
“Believe me,” I said, “I want to stop my uncle as much as you do. But first . . . I need your help. Jay is to be executed tomorrow if we don’t find a way to stop it.”
“What?!”
“He signed a confession, apparently. Stating that he killed King Charles. Darius showed it to me—he’s sure of his guilt, but I’m not. I need to find a way to see Jay.”
Laurel covered her face with her hands, shocking me by showing real emotion. “This is all my fault . . .”
“We can help him,” I said, pulling her arm down. “But I can’t do it alone.”
✽✽✽
Laurel and I spent the rest of the day devising a plan to help Jay and setting it into action.
“I’m sure Darius has Jay guarded,” I said. “He won’t take any chances, and he told me he doesn’t want me to see him again.”
I couldn’t help but feel resentful toward Darius for deciding that for me. I knew he was trying to protect me, but I was angry he didn’t trust me. Although considering what I was plotting now, perhaps he was right not to.
“How many guards?” Laurel asked.
I shook my head. “I have no idea. But I can find out.”
Laurel worked on creating a powerful sleeping draught while I made my way to the dungeon. As expected, I was stopped by two guards at the door before I could reach Jay.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” one of them said. “But we have strict orders not to allow anyone to see the prisoner. He’s too dangerous.”
“Of course.” I nodded demurely, playing the role of the prim princess, knowing I would find a way to see him anyway.
“How’s it coming?” I asked Laurel when I returned to my room where she was working on the sleeping draughts.
Laurel nodded. “Almost ready.”
When the sleeping draughts were complete, Laurel changed into the simple maid uniform I’d stolen from the laundry room. Complete with a modest head covering, she would blend in with the other servants.
Sleeping draughts in hand, Laurel left my room and headed to the kitchens. She would work there with the staff, slipping sleeping draughts into all the food for the knights.
We had no way of knowing what plates were going to which knights, or if the guards were taking shifts in the dungeon. In the end, we’d decided drugging all of the knights was the simplest option. Since knights were considered their own class, they had a separate meal schedule than the servants.
Alone in my room, I paced anxiously. I’d feigned exhaustion to avoid having dinner with Darius that evening. I was too afraid my nervousness would give my plan away.
Nelly knocked on my door and brought me my plate. I did my best to eat, even though my stomach felt like it was in knots.
Worrying about whether our plan would succeed was not the only reason I was so uneasy. What would Jay tell me when I did speak to him? I didn’t understand why he had signed that confession statement.
My biggest fear was that he remembered what happened the evening King Charles died, and he would tell me he had killed him.
I gazed out my window at the setting sun.
Please don’t let it be true.
✽✽✽
Laurel had created a slow-acting sleeping tonic so the effects would not be immediate. Dinner was served to the knights at seven every night. She felt confident the guards would be in a deep sleep within an hour, so we decided that was when I would leave my room.
My heart fluttered apprehensively as I made my way toward the dungeon. What if the guards there hadn’t been drugged? What if they’d already woken up? I tried to calm my racing thoughts, reminding myself that Laurel had assured me they would not awake for several hours.
I descended the dark dungeon stairs with a single lantern to guide my way. With every step, the temperature dropped as I descended lower into the depths of the cold stone castle. I shivered, pulling my cloak tighter around me. Beneath it, I concealed a sword I’d stolen from the armory earlier that day.
When I reached the bottom, I peered cautiously around the corner. Sure enough, both guards were slumped against the wall, sleeping heavily. I released a shaky, relieved breath.
Well done, Laurel. I only hoped she’d been as successful in getting the sleeping draughts into the food of the guards stationed outside too. If everything went well, our deception tonight would not end in the dungeon.
I carefully made my way toward one of the slumbering knights and removed the large iron keys from his belt, fearful my movements would cause him to wake.
But he didn’t. I turned the key in the lock of the large door and opened it.
“Jay?” I whispered as I stepped inside. There were only two dim torches in sconces on the wall, and I had to raise my lantern to see my surroundings.
At the far end of the room was a cell-like chamber. I could make out a shape hunched in the corner behind the metal bars
“Roselynn?” The shape moved.
I hurried to the cell, holding my lantern high.
Jay was by my side in an instant, his cold hands reaching through the iron bars.
“Jay,” I said, “what happened? Why did you sign that confession?"