Page 22 of To Steal the Sun

Charlotte frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“Offer it to her in exchange for seeing Henry,” Gwen said simply.

Charlotte stared at her blankly. “Why would she agree to that? Surely she’d just arrest me and steal it?”

“That’s the beauty of using this.” Gwen smiled triumphantly. “All you have to do is tell her it’s one of the objects that stops working completely if it’s taken by force. It will only work if given willingly.”

Charlotte’s mouth dropped open. “That’s actually brilliant!” she exclaimed. “Lots of godmother objects do work like that, so she’ll likely believe it.”

“As long as you make a deal that includes you being free to leave after seeing Henry, she’ll have to keep to the terms of the bargain, or she’ll lose the power of the object,” Gwen added.

Charlotte reached eagerly for the apple, only for her face to darken and her hand to drop. “But I can’t take this. It’s yours. Your godmother gave it to you. I should use mine.” She pulled out a smooth golden ball. “I was given something on the way here as well. If we have to give her a godmother object in exchange for my seeing Henry, it should be mine.”

Gwen looked at the ball curiously, but their time was running out. She didn’t have the luxury of idle curiosity. She wasn’t her mother—she didn’t need to own every powerful object she encountered.

“No, it has to be the apple.” She pressed it on Charlotte. “I want the queen to have it, and this is a way to get it to her without her suspecting an ulterior motive.”

Charlotte put away her ball and slowly accepted Gwen’s apple. “Why would you want her to have it?” she asked. “What does it do?”

“It tells the person holding it about the power of other objects,” Gwen said, watching Charlotte’s face.

Her friend gasped, her eyes flying to Gwen. “I can sense my ball! It’s like I can see it in my pocket. Well, not see it. More like I can taste it.” She laughed. “No, that’s not right. I don’t know what sense I’m using, but it’s there. And I can feel the golden halter you entrusted to me too.” She frowned. “But I can’t tell anything about either one’s purpose, just their presence.”

Gwen nodded, glad to have her experience confirmed. “That’s why we need to get it into the queen’s hands. She’ll put it in her display room with all her other objects and that’s what we need. It seems to need time around another object before it will reveal that object’s purpose. We have to give it a chance to warm up to all the objects in that room, so that when we break in there, it’s ready to tell us what they each do.”

Charlotte shook her head. “Two birds with one stone,” she murmured.

Gwen grinned slowly. “Exactly. I’m ready to start solving problems instead of amassing new ones.”

Charlotte grimaced. “I know I’m one of those problems. But I can’t just walk away from Henry knowing he’s right there.”

Gwen nodded. For all her initial frustration, she understood. If there had been a way for her to get to Easton anytime in the last ten years, she would have done anything to reach him.

“Don’t worry,” Charlotte said, determined. “I’ll explain everything to Henry and make sure he goes along with the plan.”

“Unless you can find a way to get him out immediately?” Gwen challenged, a brow raised.

Charlotte hesitated, her bottom lip gripped between her teeth. “No,” she finally said on a sigh. “I won’t try that. I know you need the queen to continue planning this wedding.” She looked sharply at Gwen. “That is what’s happening? She hasn’t hurt you?”

Gwen nodded. “She’s fully focused on the wedding. Henry will be safe until then. As long as he doesn’t do anything foolish himself.”

She didn’t say aloud the rest of her thought. Helping Charlotte to make direct contact with Henry was as much about ensuring his compliance as anything else. From his level of agitation earlier, now that he knew Charlotte was in the mountain kingdom—and under open threat from its queen—Gwen didn’t put it past him to make some foolhardy attempt at escape before the wedding. But even if he wouldn’t listen to Gwen, surely he would listen to Charlotte.

Gwen froze, her ears pricking. Footsteps on gravel sounded from more than one direction, and from the measured cadence, it wasn’t courtiers out for a casual stroll.

“Hide!” she hissed, giving Charlotte a light push. “Get out of sight somewhere while I distract them. And then get somewhere close to the palace walls, on the south side. Get the apple out and just throw it around a bit, like you’re playing. I guarantee my mother will see you.”

Charlotte hesitated for only a moment before nodding decisively and diving into a nearby clump of bushes. Gwen smiled for a fraction of a second at her friend’s enthusiastic and literal interpretation of her instructions before she hurried back through the arch.

No guards were in sight yet, but from the sound of the footsteps, she would see them soon. She considered hurrying in the other direction, but after only a moment of indecision, she sank onto the closest bench. As far as the queen knew, Gwen had been overcome with embarrassment and rushed out to cool down. The last thing she wanted was to create the impression she had been attempting to run away.

Slumping down, she leaned her forehead against one hand, breathing slowly.

The footsteps drew closer.

“Your Highness!” The gruff voice made her look up, disappointment rising when she didn’t recognize the speaker or his companion. She shouldn’t have been surprised, though. Of course her mother would send her most loyal guards to retrieve her recalcitrant daughter.

Gwen stood up slowly, trying to look unaffected.

---