Page 53 of Beguiled
She kicked off her coverlet and scooted off the bed. A second later she knelt beside me, folding her hands on the edge of the bed and bowing her head.
I waited several heartbeats. If I startled her with my identity, she’d react too enthusiastically and draw undue attention from the guards. “Our Father,” I whispered, leaning closer so my words would carry to her ears and to no one else in the room. I placed my hand over hers and prayed she wouldn’t react.
When she remained motionless, I continued. “We thank you for your bountiful protection and that you find ways to reunite sisters.”
She stiffened at my strange prayer, but I squeezed her hand, hoping she would understand my urge for caution.
“We beseech you to aid Ruby in being calm so the guards do not discover the true identity of the one kneeling beside her.”
Ruby grasped me in return so tightly I was left with no doubt she understood who I was. “Father,” she whispered almost inaudibly. “Thank you for preserving my dear sister’s life. And now I pray she will leave before it is too late.” Ruby squeezed my hand again and then pushed it away, as if sending me the message to go.
Apparently at some point during the past year, Ruby had figured out I wasn’t dead. Did she know the queen had tried to murder me? Even if she didn’t, she was well aware the queen had evil intentions for me now.
I kept my head low and my tone reverent, but I had to speak directly lest the guards interrupt. “I shall not leave this time unless I have you by my side.”
“You must go before she realizes you are here.” Ruby’s voice turned urgent... and too loud.
I brushed my shoulder into hers and reached for her hand again. “We shall go together. I have found a place where we shall be safe—”
“You cannot be here.” She lowered her whisper and cast a glance toward the door. “She is using me to draw you here.”
I wanted to stand up and drag her from the room, but I forced myself to remain in a prayerful posture. “I saw her edict, and I knew her threat against you was intended to bring me back.”
“Then you know you are in grave danger.”
“So are you.”
She started to shake her head, but I cut off the motion by pressing her hand.
Ruby paused, bowed her head again, and pretended to pray. “I am too young yet to provide a heart for her alchemy. But you are not.”
Too young to provide a heart for her alchemy? What was Ruby talking about?
Though I’d never seen the alchemy ingredient list for transforming the white stone, I’d heard of its existence, an ancient sheet tucked away in a compartment in the golden box containing the precious white stone. The language on the sheet was cryptic, and no one had ever been able to decipher it.
Of course, the priests had been trying for years to understand the meaning, and the queen had attempted many experiments. As far as I knew, they’d failed, including the trials using various hearts, mostly of strange, exotic, and dangerous animals.
“Last summer after the Choosing Ball,” Ruby continued, her voice barely a whisper, “I overheard Lord Haleigh speaking with the queen about her alchemy.”
I pictured the nobleman who had been one of my mother’s closest advisors over the years. Father had liked the nobleman and considered him one of the best and wisest of counselors. Lord Haleigh had been a very wealthy man, and he’d had a daughter, a young maiden by the name of Lady Gabriella. At the time I ran away, I’d heard rumors of her unrivaled beauty. Had Lord Haleigh been worried that when Gabriella came of age she might be chosen for the yearly sacrifice to Grendel?
“Lord Haleigh confronted the queen about the death of the fairest maiden.” Ruby pressed closer, whispering in my ear. “I heard him say he stumbled upon the priests in the chapel who were removing the heart from the fairest maiden. He accused the queen of using the hearts of the sacrificed maidens every year in her alchemy and said ’tis why the gems in the mountains grow year after year.”
If the white stone needed a heart, then it stood to reason that making beautiful gems would require the most beautiful person’s heart. Was that why the Choosing Ball singled out the fairest women between eighteen and twenty years? So the queen could gain such a heart for her alchemy?
A sinking weight pressed against my chest. After living on the Great Isle for only a few months, Mikkel had correctly assumed the queen had need of Grendel for her alchemy. How had I not known after all these years? How could I have remained so ignorant?
I wanted to bury my head in frustration and fury.
“Lord Haleigh pleaded with Mother to cease the practice, and if she refused, he threatened to tell the people the truth.”
“So she killed him?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
I’d guessed, and it saddened me that my suspicion was right, that I knew our mother well enough to accuse her of murder. Of course she’d want to eliminate anyone who might be a threat to her. “Does Mother know you heard her conversation?”
Ruby hesitated.
