Page 33 of To Steal the Sun

“Natalie!” Patti rushed to her daughter’s side, throwing her arms around her neck.

“Really, Mother!” Natalie sounded disgusted, but Charlotte caught the pleased light in her eyes. She was at that age where she still wanted her mother’s affection but wasn’t willing to admit it.

“Charlotte! What a relief.” Easton crossed more calmly to Charlotte’s side, his parents trailing behind him.

“Well, this is good timing,” the count said, not sounding altogether pleased. “I was about to head to the palace to see if I could get any word of you.”

“How could you leave without telling us?” Patti scolded Natalie. Dane stood at her side, giving his daughter equally disappointed looks.

“We were going to be back by sundown,” Natalie replied, seeming unaffected by their disapproval. “But then Charlotte got herself into trouble. Since she came with Princess Gwen and is supposedly married to that lowlander prince at the palace, I figured you wouldn’t want me to abandon her to be captured by the queen.” She shrugged.

“It’s true,” Charlotte rushed to say. “Natalie appeared in the nick of time and saved me. I owe her a debt of gratitude.”

A soft snort in the background drew her eyes to Natalie’s brother.

“Always has to be the hero,” Baden muttered, earning himself a fiery look from Natalie.

“I suppose in that case…” Patti seemed torn between indignation at her daughter’s behavior and pride at her success.

“Were your meetings with the rebels a success?” Charlotte asked Easton softly while Patti and Dane continued to affectionately chide their daughter.

“I’m afraid the reality of me and my last ten years doesn’t quite live up to their imaginings,” he said with a self-deprecating grin.

“Nonsense!” Lydia said firmly, her gaze bright as she watched her son. “They loved you.”

Jett cleared his throat. “Perhaps not quite that. But they were more than pleased that the time has finally come to move against the queen. And some of them were quite enthusiastic at the prospect of Easton as king. After ten years, they see our family as belonging to the city more than the court, so they’re pleased to think of one of their own on the throne.”

Easton ran a hand through his hair, and Charlotte could easily recognize the concern on his face because it was the same concern she felt whenever she thought about Henry’s true role. Most of the time it was easy to focus on the crisis in front of them, but every now and then she remembered what would happen if they succeeded, and she wanted to run and hide. She had no qualifications to become Crown Princess Charlotte.

Easton lowered his voice, angling himself toward Charlotte. “Did you see Gwen?”

Her lips twitched as she looked at him. “You are aware that everyone here already knows the two of you are in love, right? Our entire plan is literally built around it. You don’t have to whisper.”

Easton flushed, and she regretted teasing him. The poor man’s entire life had been overturned without warning. It was no wonder it took a bit of getting used to.

“I did see her,” she said softly. “And she looked well. Unharmed, anyway. And plotting how to work against her mother. She had an object from her godmother.” She proceeded to explain about the apple and what she had exchanged it for.

At some point in the story, the rest of the group drifted over, listening as she outlined her failed night with Henry and their escape across the rooftops.

The count shook his head. “That was a very foolish risk.”

“I know,” Charlotte said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“There’s no use trying to tamp down the fervor of youth, Oswin.” Jett clapped him on the back. “We’ll never succeed at that, so we’ll have to content ourselves with channeling it in useful directions.”

“I had a chance to speak to him briefly, at least,” Charlotte said. “And he promised he’d play along and assist Gwen. So hopefully that was enough…” She trailed off, wishing she’d had time to tell him more of their plans. It would take strong nerves for him to play along all the way to the middle of the wedding ceremony.

“We’re relying on the princess, then,” Oswin said. “Hopefully she’s managing to hold firm against her stepmother.”

Charlotte’s thoughts snagged on his final word. “Her what?”

The count gave her an odd look. “Queen Celandine, of course.”

“No, I know who you mean,” Charlotte said. “I just thought…are you saying she isn’t Gwen’s birth mother? She isn’t any blood relation at all?”

Easton also gave her an odd look. “No, she isn’t. But she doesn’t let anyone talk about it at court and especially not anywhere around Gwen. I didn’t even know myself until I was thirteen and overheard my parents mention it. They hadn’t told me because they were worried I would tell the princess.” His mouth twisted. “I was so incensed that everyone was lying to her that I flew straight off to confront the queen, setting off this whole situation.”

“None of it is your fault,” his mother murmured, but Easton ignored her, still focused on Charlotte.

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