Page 44 of To Steal the Sun

She turned back at the soft smile in his voice.

“The sleeping draft will be in the drink,” she said. “You have to pretend to drink it and then pretend to fall asleep. The servants won’t say anything about taking away a full glass, but if you can find a way to drain it somehow that would be even better.”

He was nodding as she spoke, his face creased in concentration.

“If you can avoid being drugged, you’ll have the whole night together,” Gwen continued. “And Charlotte will know more about the rebel plans than I do. She can tell you everything that’s going to happen and what they need you to do.”

The more she thought about it, the more she thought that must be the reason Charlotte had made a second bargain. There must be important information the rebels needed to pass to Henry. She just wished there was a way for her to talk to her friend and get more information herself.

“So all I have to do—” Henry started only to break off as the door was thrust violently open.

Gwen flinched, but there was no time to attempt to hide. By the time she’d even processed what was happening, Celandine was standing in the doorway, looking between them.

“Well, well, well,” she said. “I’d like to say I’m surprised, but that wouldn’t be true.”

Gwen’s mind raced, trying to think of an excuse for her presence, but her thoughts kept tripping over each other as she wondered how long the queen had been out there. How much had she overheard?

“So you came to warn the prince not to drink his drugged drink tonight,” Celandine said coolly. Her eyes narrowed. “I’m disappointed in you, Gwendolyn. I gave you a second chance, despite my better judgment, and this is how you repay me?”

“How—” Gwen gaped at the queen, despair filling her as she realized she had no way to fix the situation.

Henry stepped forward, his attitude menacing now he knew Charlotte wasn’t in the palace. But the queen glanced at him with such dismissal Gwen felt sick.

“Oh, stand down, brave boy,” she drawled. “Your precious Charlotte may have slipped through my hands last time, but I’ll have her soon enough.”

Henry froze, his muscles stiffening.

Celandine’s eyes went back to Gwen. “That’s right. I know all about the rebels’ plans. There are still some people left in this city who know where their best interests lie.”

Gwen’s heart sank. A traitor among the rebels? She forgot all about Charlotte for a moment, her mind full of Easton. If only she had some way to warn him!

“What I didn’t know,” the queen continued, “was whether my servants were part of the conspiracy. And so I set up this little test.”

Gwen gaped at her. It had all been a test? The servants had warned her about the queen’s command because Gwen had asked them to. She had kept them a secret from the count and his rebels only to betray them directly to the queen.

Tears burned her eyes, her breath catching. Whatever happened to them now was her fault.

“Your mistake, Gwendolyn,” the queen said with venom in her voice, “was looking to anyone other than me. You will only let others down and betray them. It’s in your nature.”

Gwen sunk in on herself, her mind shrinking inward as the queen’s words reverberated in her head. But deep inside, she found something different.

There were other voices inside now. Easton’s words of love and confidence. Charlotte’s words of friendship and trust. Even the count’s as he declared he had been waiting for her because she was the queen they needed. When there had been no voice but Celandine’s, Gwen had been unable to push her words out, no matter how hard she tried. But now there were other words filling those spaces instead. The hollow inside Gwen was no longer empty, and it had no room for Celandine’s lies.

She raised her eyes, her shoulders straightening.

“No,” she said firmly, the word complete and final in itself.

The queen’s eyes widened, and a flash of fury crossed her face, the emotion seeming to catch Celandine off guard as much as it did Gwen.

She stepped forward and grabbed Gwen’s ear, twisting it until Gwen cried out. When she pulled, Gwen had to follow, the pain forcing her limbs to comply.

Henry tried to intervene, but Celandine had Gwen out of the door too fast, shutting it in the prince’s face and turning the key in the lock.

Tears leaked from Gwen’s eyes as Celandine dragged her down the corridor.

“I will deal with the servants soon enough,” she hissed. “But first I’m going to deal with you.”

CHARLOTTE

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