Page 65 of Besotted
“Perhaps she mixes the elixir in the chest itself?”
“Perhaps. Either way, no man who touches the stone lives.”
“Then there is no way to destroy it?”
“At least no way to destroy it and live.”
“Then I shall take it to the East Sea and drop it into the deepest part where no one will be able to recover it.”
Chester barked a humorless laugh. “If it were that easy to get rid of, someone would have tried such a method already. But, no, the stone will not sink, stay buried, or burn.”
I shifted my sore backside in my saddle, my mind racing to find another solution, to uncover some other method. “Then the only thing to do is to lock it away where no one can have it.”
“And that is exactly what the kings have done through time. They’ve attempted to conceal it where no one would be lured by its promise of riches.”
“Clearly that wasn’t enough.”
“And as I said, King Alfred, God rest his soul, shouldn’t have given it to his daughter, or at the very least should have given it to Leandra instead of Margery.”
“So, you believe Aurora’s mother would have safeguarded it rather than use it for her own gain?”
“From the way my father spoke of Queen Leandra, she was content to be a keeper of the keys to the ancient treasure and had no plans to seek it out. She would have done the same with the white stone.”
“Then we shall not only rescue Aurora, but we shall take the chest with the stone and make her the keeper of it.”
“And give Queen Margery all the more reason to seek Aurora’s death and throne?”
Vilmar’s admonition from the night he’d followed me to the cottage came back to me:“You don’t know Queen Margery the way I do. She’s a wicked woman and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.”
“There!” Ahead of us, Jorg called out and nodded to the south. “I see the smoke of campfires.”
Anticipation charged through me, chasing away the weariness that had been my companion of late. I joined Jorg and Chester in galloping the last of the distance. We broke through the woodland into a clearing to find a small army on the level plain in front of the hunting lodge. Most sat or stood around several fires, warming themselves and breaking their fasts.
I scanned the camp, searching desperately for a sight of Aurora’s golden hair and beautiful face. But there was no woman amongst the camp save Pearl, who was deep in conversation with several men, including Mikkel and Vilmar.
Disappointment fell upon me as heavily as a tree toppling the wrong direction. Although I’d known catching the queen’s men who had Aurora would be nigh to impossible, I’d hoped my brothers would accomplish it anyway.
At the sight of us, calls arose. Mikkel and Vilmar broke away from the others and strode toward us, their expressions grim. They didn’t need to say anything for me to know the situation was serious.
I reined in abruptly and slid down, praying we weren’t too late.
Jorg was at my side in an instant, handing me my cane and relieving me of the box with the weasels.
“Tell me,” I demanded. “Does she yet live?”
“We believe so.” Vilmar spoke first, his eyes radiating compassion.
I sagged against my cane.
Mikkel nodded in the direction of a stone complex at the center of the clearing. “The queen’s ambassador, Lord Anise, was here this morn and has already returned.”
Not as majestic or large as a castle, Boarshead Lodge was still an imposing fortress on higher ground with a series of connected buildings surrounding a center bailey.
A deep, dark ditch filled with blackened, gnarled limbs circled the lodge. The pit was wider than I’d expected, too long to span with a log, ladder, or some other method that would allow us to cross over. I didn’t have to see inside to know it was home to a host of basilisks. The barren, scorched land on either side of the pit showed the telltale signs of the deadly creatures.
A gatehouse stood at the center of the lodge, containing a strange-looking drawbridge with high wooden sides, likely to protect those crossing it from the basilisks. The bridge was securely retracted, giving us no way to enter except through the basilisk pit.
“What news did the ambassador deliver?” I asked. “Is the queen willing to accept the keys to the treasure in exchange for Aurora?”
