The Firethorn Crown (12 page)

She hesitated. Would the prince be able to tell she was hiding something?

His jaw clenched, as did his hands. His gaze would set her on fire soon.

She shivered and stepped through the arch. Blue cotton disappeared, replaced by sleeveless charcoal silk so light she had an odd impulse to twirl.

Prince Tharius grabbed her hand, his grip almost painful, and sped her down the path. No greeting, just as before. She tripped once, and he steadied her without slowing down.

“So eager to dance?” She tried to laugh, but the darkness stole the sound.

He pulled her onto the dance floor, his arm firm on her back. “Do not try my patience. I have waited all my life for a chance at freedom. I never thought I might have a chance at happiness, too.”

She looked away. “I’m sorry.” He wasn’t making this easier. She had no intention of ensuring his happiness, not in the way he meant. Especially not if Mother made her follow through with a betrothal in a few days.

He made no effort at conversation, content to study her face and weave through the dancers as the music pierced the night.

“I want to know more about you,” she said at last. “But I don’t know what to ask.” Not much chance that he would offer information she could use, but she had to start somewhere. She just hoped he didn’t get the wrong idea.

He looked both suspicious and pleased. “I don’t know what to tell.”

“Maybe you could start by telling me the name of the sorcerer who imprisoned you here.”

His face hardened. “I thought you wanted to know more about
me
.”

“I do. I just—”

“I don’t know his name. Why do you think I call him
the sorcerer
?”

Oh. That didn’t help.

“He pursued my mother from the north. Grandfather kept everyone safe until the sorcerer caught up with them here. After my mother refused to leave, I assume he returned to his home.”

“He must have cared for her a little, to create such a place as this.”

He clenched his jaw.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“Grandfather helped shape this, as I told you before.”

Had he?

This was created by the sorcerer who imprisoned your parents,
she’d said.

And my grandfather. Yes.

He hadn’t been clarifying his grandfather’s imprisonment, he’d been crediting him with helping to make the undergarden what it was. Tharius had learned from a master.

“Grandfather saw how Mother wilted in the dark, how it saddened my father. He added the trees and candlelight, the dance floor, the gowns, and music. But it wasn’t enough.”

Spinning under the trees in the golden light, knowing the darkness waited just beyond, Lily understood. “It makes you sad to remember your mother.”

“It makes me angry.” His voice grated, low and dangerous.

She shuddered. She couldn’t forget that this man was a sorcerer, too.

“You should rest for a moment.” Abruptly, he deposited her at the edge of the clearing and took Coral from the arms of one of his courtiers.

Lily squeezed Ivy’s shoulder, and then linked her arm with Neylan’s. “Let’s walk.” She would take advantage of her reprieve tonight.

They wandered aimlessly through the garden, and Neylan pointed out some of the strange plants, including the black mushrooms with the glowing orange cracks. “Half of these are poisonous, I think.”

They turned down a path that ran parallel with the clearing. Something moved in Neylan’s hair. A butterwing. It couldn’t be the same one as the other day, as this one wasn’t fat.

Neylan sniffed a rose bush and crinkled her nose. “He seems quite smitten with you.”

“I suppose.”

“Maybe even obsessed.”

“Neylan.”

“Well, he hasn’t seen many girls, has he? It’s not that surprising.”

Everything about this place surprised her. She chose another path that led farther from the dancing. The music grew faint, the silver light dim and unwelcoming.

“I don’t have much time before he’ll claim another dance. I need to know if you’ve heard anything . . . unusual.”

Neylan gave her a pointed look.

“I mean anything that might help us. He told me the sorcerer was from the north. He could still be out there somewhere. If we could find him, maybe he could undo all of this.”

“Okay, first, I haven’t heard anything helpful. Second, I don’t think a sorcerer who designed a prison this elaborate is going to just poof it all away. And, third, I don’t have a good feeling about your prince. If he even is a prince.”

“He’s not my prince.”

“He certainly thinks he is.”

“That’s part of the problem. A bigger part than you know.” She told Neylan about Mother’s command to choose a fiancé by the end of the week.

“What! She can’t do that. That’s outrageous, even now. We have to tell her . . . but we can’t tell her.” She groaned.

“That’s not all. Runson says he has Father’s blessing, and he’s expecting me to say
yes
any day now.”

“They can’t change the rules like this; not after Father said you could make your own decision in your own time.”

Lily agreed. “You’ll tell the others for me?”

“Of course.”

A hissing sound stopped them. They’d gone down a dead end. Ahead, thick bushes and a small evergreen grew behind a stone bench identical to the one near the bridge.

“Did you hear that?” Neylan whispered.

“Psst. Princess! Psst.”

Lily jumped when a small brown hand emerged from the bushes and waved, followed by a round face with grey eyes.

Bay!

Chapter Twelve

“
W
hat are you doing here!” Lily lunged forward.

Neylan held her back. “She’s hiding.”

Of course. Lily relaxed, and Neylan let go. They strolled to the end of the pathway and sat on the bench as if they’d seen nothing.

Bay pulled her hand back into the shadows. “How’s my princess?”

Lily kept her voice down and her back to the bushes. “Hazel’s fine, all things considered. She’s worried about you. We all are.”

“I got lost.” Bay sounded disgusted with herself, the girl who knew every alley and rooftop path in Eltekon. “Thought I found a shortcut, but I met a creepy sorcerer instead. He wanted me to marry him!”

“What?”

“I know—I’m only fourteen!”

The same age as Azure.

“He said he’d wait until I was old enough, but I told him no way would I let him into our kingdom. Not if I could help it.”

Lily reached into the bushes and squeezed Bay’s shoulder.

“I’ve been so creeped out. I’m glad to see you, but why’d you have to go and get yourselves into this mess?”

“Are you entangled, too?”

“Uh . . . he said not to try to get out, or I’d regret it.”

“You tried, anyway, didn’t you?” Neylan asked.

“‘Course I did. But I can’t find no exit past that weird forest. It’s all bushes and weeds.”

“Are you okay?” Lily asked.

“I’m fine. He won’t let no one bother me, ‘cause he wants me to say ‘yes,’ if you get out of your curse. Those old men keep saying their prince is gonna marry a princess, and they’re gonna be free and mighty again.”

Wait. “What did you just say?” Lily asked. “About me getting out of
my
curse?”

“It’s all they talk about, whether you’ll break your curse before the prince can get you to marry him.”

Her curse. Not Prince Tharius’s curse? Neylan’s face mirrored her own confusion.

“But I’m not under a curse. It’s his curse we’re tangled in. He tried to help us . . .” Her head spun, and she would have fallen, if she hadn’t already been sitting. She’d allowed Tharius to put the pendant around her neck. She’d cursed her sisters, along with herself.

Neylan tugged at her own pendant, eyes wide and unblinking. “He lied.”

What else had he lied about? Lily clenched her teeth, her hands. Every muscle in her body tensed. She would get the truth out of him.

“Wait for us in the forest. We’ll take you with us when we go.”

“That won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“I got thirsty.”

What? Oh, no. She’d taken water from Tharius. Even children knew you never took anything from a sorcerer’s hand. Nothing. Lily couldn’t blame her, though. She’d done the same thing. And worse.

“We’ll get you out of this, Bay.”

“I know.” Her face peeked out from the bushes again. So much trust in her eyes. If only she had someone better to count on. “But hurry. These fake ballgowns are scratchy.”

Lily hated to leave her, so young and helpless. Actually,
helpless
might not be the best word. Looks could be deceiving. She was brave, but she needed their help.

“Stay safe.” Lily gentled the butterwing from Neylan’s hair and tucked it into Bay’s curls. Now, she wasn’t alone.

Tharius partnered Hazel on the dance floor, and Lily wanted to walk right out and deck him. Instead, she lurked in the shadows with Neylan and Ivy and watched. He noticed, and his gaze turned to her during the dance, a smug smile playing over his face. He was obviously pleased that she couldn’t take her eyes off him. He wouldn’t be so pleased when he learned the reason.

The song ended. He bowed to Hazel and then sauntered over.

Hazel breezed past him without a glance and reached Lily’s side first. “What’s wrong?”

“Talk to Neylan.”

Tharius held out his hand to Lily, an unspoken invitation. She accepted, and he swept her into the throng of dancers, a blur of charcoal among shades of night. Hazel covered her mouth as Neylan whispered close, but she remained composed. Lily was grateful to have such sisters. She didn’t deserve them. This mess was all her fault, and she was going to get them out of it, to make things right.

Tharius noted where her attention had strayed. “Your sisters are nothing compared to you.”

“Oh, but you have it backwards.” She met his gaze steadily. “My sisters are everything. You knew I would do anything for them, and you took advantage of that the first time I met you.”

His smile grew strained. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You cursed me, and through me, my sisters.”

Now the smile disappeared. His grip tightened. “Why would you think such a thing?”

“Why would you do such a thing?” She couldn’t endanger Bay by telling him where she’d learned the truth. “Other than because you’re a sorcerer. A deceiver.”

That might have been the wrong thing to say.

His face hardened. The music sped up, and his movements became stormy. She clung to him to keep from being thrown to the floor.

“You owe me and my sisters an explanation.”

“I don’t owe you
anything
.” He stopped abruptly and dragged her in the direction of the castle. “But because of my regard for you, I will do my best to explain what I can.”

The shadow-people disappeared as soon as his feet cleared the dance floor. He dismissed his courtiers, and they obeyed without hesitation.

Lily issued an order of her own. Or, rather, a request—a hand signal she’d developed with her sisters when the older girls needed to discuss matters without having little ears around. Mara stayed behind with the younger girls, restraining Coral when she made a move to follow.

Tharius led her to the gazebo. She tripped on the step up, and he steadied her before depositing her on the bench. He glared as Gwen, Hazel, Melantha, and Neylan joined them. They settled around her, a living shield, leaving no place for him at her side. Lily raised her chin defiantly. If he’d wanted privacy, he should have said so. She’d told him that they
all
deserved an explanation.

“Let me tell you a story, then.” He studied each of them in turn. “Once upon a time, there was a princess. Her beauty and generosity were known across the lands, and many sought her hand, but she had eyes only for the son of a sorcerer. Makar, son of Rasmus, was not a sorcerer himself, but a lowly blacksmith, with no hope of winning the maid for his own.”

He twisted the ring on his finger as he paced, staring ahead blankly, as if seeing both the garden and his memories.

“A more powerful sorcerer coveted the princess, determined to have her. Seeing her distress, Makar petitioned his father. Rasmus came to their aid, for as much as he loved his son, he hated the sorcerer even more.” He stopped pacing and said no more.

“That’s it?” Melantha asked.

He did not turn his face from the garden. “That’s it. They fled with a small group of men loyal to the princess. He pursued. They tried to take refuge in your city, but the sorcerer caught up with them. And here we are.”

“But
we
don’t have to be here!” Melantha said.

“But you do.” He turned to Lily. “You will be the one to break my curse. I had hoped . . .” Sadness and longing filled his eyes.

He had hoped what? That she would fall in love with him? Not likely ever, especially now.

“I learned my grandfather’s sorcery. I practiced year after year after year until, finally, I broke through the barrier just enough to place the mirror and reveal the entrance to my dungeon.” His voice shook. “It’s not my fault that I’m here.
That’s
the truth! Do you think I
want
to do these things? I just want my freedom! I just want . . . ” He choked on the last word, stumbled to the edge of the gazebo, and placed both hands on the rail, breathing hard.

She didn’t know what to say. He’d always maintained his innocence, but it didn’t excuse his actions. His behavior was just as reprehensible as the sorcerer’s.

“Why did you bind us here with you?” Lily spoke softly, not wanting to set him off again.

“Would you have returned if I hadn’t?”

She didn’t know what to say to that, either. As it stood now, knowing what she did and remembering the warning signs she had ignored at the beginning, she wouldn’t have returned. She wasn’t sure what that said about herself.

“I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. I’m sorry for your loss and for your half-life in this place. But, please, release us from this curse you’ve put us under. We’ll help you however we can.”

“I can’t,” he whispered. “I won’t. I’ve waited too long, and I’ve never been so close. I can’t lose my one chance at freedom.”

And she couldn’t marry him. But, if she refused, if she held out long enough, would he lose patience and marry Bay, after all? He’d told Lily that she was his one chance, that she was meant to break his curse, but apparently, anyone would do. What were the words of his curse? So much had happened, she wasn’t sure of the exact wording. Something about love and a union of equals.

Willingly given.
That was the key. He couldn’t force anyone to marry him. He had to have their cooperation. That might keep Bay safe, at least, or as safe as she could be down here.

“Every curse has a weakness, a way out,” Neylan reminded her, loud enough for Tharius to hear. “Ask him what yours is.”

Tharius had a dangerous glint in his eye when he turned around. “You’re a smart little thing, aren’t you.”

Neylan’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t cringe.

Lily wanted to crawl under a rock, but the girls were counting on her. She stood and approached him, closer than she wanted to. “How do I break my curse, Tharius?”

Surprise flitted across his face, followed by too many emotions to tell them apart. He took a step towards her. Another. She let him wrap his fingers around hers, hoping he would answer. Hoping the answer wouldn’t be impossible.

“I told you the truth about my regard for you. And I will tell you how to break your curse.” His look said he didn’t think she would be able to break it.

“Well?”

“Yes, well.” He paused, as if hoping she might reconsider. “It will be tied to your unique situation, won’t it? You will have to brave the consequences, and declare your love. If the words and sentiment are not returned, you’re mine. All of you.”

What? She jerked her hands back.

Melantha jumped up, and the others followed. “That’s ridiculous!”

“Surely your sister has a true love,” he said in a mocking tone.

“We’re leaving.” Lily took Gwen’s hand and walked out of the gazebo. They had stayed at least as long as they had the other nights. She didn’t doubt that part of her curse. The pendants would ensure their silence and their return night after night to this hole.

At least she didn’t have to worry about breaking
his
curse anymore. Now she just had to break her own. It was so simple, and yet so impossible. Her thoughts muddled, she gathered the girls and marched through the garden. Maybe Tharius’s mysterious sorcerer had a name—a real name—that someone remembered. He’d come through here during Grandfather’s reign, but she couldn’t ask anyone outright. There might be something in the palace records, though.

They reached the archway, and Coral gasped.

Lily startled—Tharius waited for them. Of course, he would know the shortcuts. She waved the girls through, shooing Gwen along when she hesitated.

Tharius bowed low, as he’d done the night they’d first met.

“Goodnight,” she said.

“Goodnight.” The word rolled off his tongue slowly. “Endless night. Empty night. I never knew real loneliness until I saw you leave me the first time.
That
is true, Lily. That is my reality.” He closed the distance between them. “I look forward to the day when you can be with me always. We belong together in the light.”

Oh, dear. She’d forgotten to use his title earlier. She couldn’t let herself become too familiar with him, even if she pitied his situation. He already had the wrong ideas about how this was going to work out. It couldn’t work out that way. She couldn’t think about it, or her legs wouldn’t hold her long enough to get home.

“Goodbye,” she whispered and walked through the arch into the swirling mist. She stopped where the path curved into the forest. He looked so alone. Like Bay, and yet unlike.

As much as she had still to learn, Bay would never manipulate anyone to get what she wanted.

The walls blurred on the ascent to the maze.

“I’m hungry.”

Azure’s complaint brought the stars into focus. Lily breathed deeply, letting the air clear her mind. She hadn’t realized they were out of the tunnel.

“You ate half the almonds,” Melantha said.

“That was ages ago, and we’ve been dancing for hours.”

Some of the others added their complaints, so Lily blew out Melantha’s candle and led them to the kitchens. After stuffing their pockets and faces with fruit and cheese, they linked hands again and returned to their tower.

*

Lily woke early. Azure had gone for her run, and most of the other girls still slept. Down to the bathing room for a quick wash, back up to don the blue dress. She sat at a dressing table to braid her damp hair.

“Where is Azure?” Gwen bustled about the bedroom.

“Not back, yet,” Coral said with a yawn.

“She’s standing in for Lily at the final dress fitting.”

“Maybe she forgot. Can I do it?”

“You’re too curvy and too tall.”

Coral sighed loudly, and the bed creaked as she rolled over. She wouldn’t be out of it soon.

Lily belted Melantha’s dagger around her waist and grabbed her full satchel off the floor. Someone had shoved all the worn slippers under a bed. They didn’t need maids reporting to Mother about their midnight dancing.

Eben looked surprised to see her so early. She smiled, not waiting to see if he returned it, and he fell into step behind her.

“Are . . . we not going to The Tree today?” His curiosity got the better of him, but he remembered to ask a “yes or no” question.

She mimed opening a book.

“You need a book?”

Close enough. She wanted to get in and out of the library before too many people were about.