Page 74 of Charmless
“Don’t bother. I will never want to see you again.”
Mal sighed. “You don’t mean that, Ella.”
“I have never meant anything more,” I said. “If you walk out that door, I am done with you forever. Our friendship is at an end.”
Mal hesitated in the doorway. When he finally looked at me, his eyes watered with fierce tears. “I love you, Ella. I would do anything in the world you asked of me, but I can’t do this. I am sorry, but saving that orb is our only hope.”
He ducked through the doorway, vanishing into rain. I emitted a cry and started to go after him, only to halt, overcome by the sheer futility of overtaking Mal and forcing him to be reasonable.
My shoulders slumped in despair. Never in my life had I felt so helpless, abandoned and alone. As I stepped back from the rain blowing in through the doorway, I trod upon something soft. Stooping down, I retrieved a dirty cloth doll that must have been forgotten by Tom’s little sister when the Piper family had been dragged from their home.
The ragged doll stared forlornly up at me with her remaining button eye. I hugged her to my heart and started to cry.
Fourteen
The skies were clearing, the rain tapering to a fine mist when I left the Piper cottage. I had stopped crying, but my eyes were raw and swollen. I felt as battered as the reeds and river grasses that had been flattened by the storm.
The Conger River was still a bleak shade of gray, but the waters had calmed. Mal would have no difficulty launching theElla Marieand escaping with the orb. I wanted to hate him for the way he had betrayed and abandoned me, but my anger had burned itself out, leaving an aching hollow inside me.
Stepping out onto the pier, I saw some fishermen downriver, working their way along the muddy banks to inspect their boats for storm damage. My stomach knotted when I spied activity on the bridge as well. The brief reprieve the storm had afforded my neighbors was over. The Border Scutcheons were herding the Hanson and Bafton families through the final barrier that led to the fen lands.
I caught a glimpse of Horatio still moving among them, likely trying to ensure Bluntvale did not treat his captives too roughly. As soon as he accepted there was no more that he could do, I knew Horatio would hurry to the Hawk’s Nest looking for me and Mal.
I needed to intercept Horatio and tell him what had happened, but I dreaded facing him. He would probably think I had deceived him again and warned Mal. My heart was so heavy, it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other. The path leading away from the river had become a morass of mud. I slogged my way through it, heedless of the way it caked my shoes and stained the hem of Horatio’s cloak.
I arrived back on Rock Gunnell Street to find it nearly deserted. The rain must have helped to disperse the last of the angry mob and cool tempers. The few Bottoms folk who had emerged from their homes wore their usual downtrodden expressions. An exhausted looking young woman brushed past me, leading a little girl by the hand. With her matted curls and pale pinched features, the child reminded me painfully of the ragged doll I had found in the Piper cottage.
After the storm in Midtown, many mothers would be scolding their offspring to keep them from splashing joyously through puddles. This little waif trotted listlessly by her mother’s side. It occurred to me that I had never actually seen children in the Bottoms playing.
Raising my head, I looked around me. I had not been oblivious to the poverty of this region of the kingdom, but never had I been so aware of the number of abandoned cottages. What few shops remained were so dilapidated they appeared in danger of tumbling down. Something Mal had said echoed through my mind.
“I wanted to tell you the truth so many times, but I knew you would not have been willing to listen.”
Those words stung me more than I wanted to admit. Maybe I was not as bad as the rest of the Midtown folk, hiding behind their shutters, completely ignoring the terrible things happening in our kingdom. But I had always been too overwhelmed caring for my own family to do more than try to survive.
The exile of my neighbors had forced a harsh truth upon me. The tyranny and injustice in our kingdomweregrowing worse, but I was helpless to do anything about it. Our signs falsely proclaimed Arcady to be the kingdom of happily ever after. If I could have conjured up the magic to make it so, I would have done it in a heartbeat. But no matter what Mal believed, such magic did not exist.
“Ella!” The sound of Horatio calling my name drew me out of my tormented thoughts. I turned to find him approaching from the end of Rock Gunnell Street that led from the Border Guard garrison.
He appeared to have been soaked during the rainstorm, his dark wet hair curling across his brow. As he closed the distance between us, he scowled. “What are you doing out here? I told you to take shelter at The Hawk’s Nest. You agreed to follow my orders.”
He broke off, his anger fading as he took in the sight of my tear-ravaged face.
“What’s happened? What’s wrong?” he demanded.
“Mal!” I choked out his name and nearly burst into tears. But I feared if I started crying again, I would dissolve into a puddle deeper than the ones gathered in the rutted lane. I hitched a deep breath and managed to tell Horatio how I spotted Mal in the crowd and followed him down to the river.
“Mal wouldn’t listen to a word I said. He has run completely mad. He won’t give back the orb. He thinks it has the power to find the lost prince and he and that stupid league of his are going to start a war. He’s gone back to his shop to fetch the orb and disappear. It’s too late to stop him and— and you were right. I never should have trusted him. He lied to me about everything.”
I hung my head, bracing myself for Horatio’s reproach. But when he crooked his fingers beneath by chin and obliged me to look up at him, his eyes were soft with tender regret.
“Oh, Ella, I am so sorry he has hurt you this way.”
Horatio’s sympathy nearly undid me. I had to swallow hard before I could speak.
“You feel sorry for me after all the trouble I have brought you? My blind faith in Mal is going to cost you everything.”
“Hush, my dear. Don’t worry about me. I will come through this somehow and I will make sure that you do, too.” He drew me into his arms, and I rested my head wearily against his damp shoulder. “Now do you have any idea where Hawkridge might be going?”
