Page 58 of To Steal the Sun

“We can raid the last storage cupboard and look for something to use to gag and secure them,” Charlotte suggested, and Gwen reluctantly nodded.

Henry and Easton exchanged another look and another nod before striding forward together.

“Come on, hurry.” Charlotte pulled Gwen toward the cupboard, but Gwen resisted.

“Let me get the supplies,” she said. “You stay here in case they need backup.”

Charlotte grimaced, unsure what backup she could possibly provide, but Gwen was already darting away. And since Gwen knew her own palace better, it did make sense to let her go.

“You there!” Henry called in an imperious voice, pointing toward the guards.

They straightened instinctively, recognizing the casual note of command in his voice and bearing that marked him as someone with authority.

“What is going on?” Henry continued. “There are guards everywhere, and my wife couldn’t sleep for half the night from all the commotion. We’re supposed to be attending a wedding today, but—”

One of the guards interrupted. “This area is off limits. We’re going to have to ask you to leave.”

Henry and Easton kept advancing, and the guards looked warily at each other before the first one drew his sword and the other followed suit. But they’d left it too late and let Henry and Easton draw too close.

Breaking into a sprint, the two men rushed the guards, lashing out with fists and feet. Charlotte gasped, her heart in her throat, but before she could even think about moving forward, it was all over. The two guards lay on the ground groaning, and the swords were in the hands of their attackers.

Henry looked back and motioned her forward, and she rushed over.

“Gwen went on her own to get something to use as rope,” she said, and Easton looked up, alarmed.

But before he could go off in search of her, Gwen appeared, having managed to procure actual rope and several long stretches of torn material for gags. Henry and Easton made quick work of securing their defeated opponents, dumping the two men in a nearby room.

“Let’s hope we don’t have to do that too many times,” Charlotte said, eyeing the closed door uneasily. Easton had tied the ropes with a seaman’s knots, but there was still no telling how long it would take the defeated guards to get free.

Thankfully, they met no more guards on the basement level. Apparently, only the doors had been left guarded in order to free the others up to patrol the grounds and castle corridors.

Gwen led the way to the relevant set of rooms, having explained that while she’d never been inside, she had been to the door before. Since Gwen was no longer in her bear form, it was a good thing she’d remembered that she still had her stolen master key in her pocket. Celandine hadn’t remembered to confiscate it when she’d dragged Gwen away.

“I could have just unlocked the door and walked out.” Gwen looked down when she said it, apparently embarrassed.

Easton put a hand on her arm. “Didn’t you say what you went through in there was important? And you don’t know if this key would have worked anyway. The queen changed the lock on your room, so she might have changed that one too.”

“That’s true.” Gwen brightened. “Both of those things are true.”

“But let’s hope it works on this door,” Charlotte added nervously. Without a bear among them, it would take a long time to beat down such a sturdy door. She took the key out of Gwen’s hand since her fingers were trembling slightly after the reminder of her recent imprisonment.

The key slid in and turned. She threw a relieved look back at the rest of them, pushing the door open and stepping forward.

“No!” Gwen and Henry called at the same time.

Henry lunged forward and caught hold of the back of her dress, yanking her backward. A length of wood, being wielded as a baton, flashed down hard on where her head had just been.

Henry gave a sigh of relief and pulled her into a quick hug.

“How did you know that was going to happen?” Charlotte blinked up at him.

He gave a guilty look in Gwen’s direction. “I nearly did the same thing to Gwen when I thought she was the queen.”

Someone peered out the door and then turned to shout back into the room. Charlotte tried to pull away now that the prisoners had seen the identity of the arrivals, but Henry held on.

“I think we should let them come out here,” he said. “I don’t fancy all of us getting trapped in such a secure location.”

Easton and Gwen nodded fervent agreement, so Charlotte stayed in place, watching as people began to file out of the door. Most of them she didn’t recognize, but when Lydia and Jett emerged and rushed to their son’s side, she smiled, watching the reunion with pleasure. And when Emmett’s crutches appeared, the boy following a swing later, she almost cried to see him unharmed. His father hovered at his shoulder, his eyes meeting Charlotte’s.

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