Page 44 of If The Crown Fits
“I won’t help you hurt him.” This was getting out of hand. I had not agreed to be party to a murder.
“Calm down, would you? Once we have the sword, we’ll remove the jewel and place the weapon back where we found it. If Cai notices, he’ll think he lost it somewhere.”
“It won’t be easy to steal. He is always carrying it and he’s always surrounded by his guards.”
“Well.” Lance finished the last drops in his cup. “That would be your problem.”
I stood up and made to leave the room, but Lance caught up to me and grabbed my arm.
He pulled a small knife out of his pocket. “And if you even think of betraying me, I will cut you... here.” He dragged the knife lightly over my arm. “Here.” Across my stomach. “And here.” A fine line across my neck.
“And then I will feed you to the wolves so that they can eat you alive. You have three days, dearest sister.”
Chapter 12
Woodsbrook Manor
Cai
The servant showed me my chambers and I thanked him before he closed the door behind him. The room was glamorous, with large windows presenting a view of the estate gardens. I made my way over to a basin and filled it with cold water from the jug that had been placed next to it.
The water cooled my face, but did nothing to soothe the gnawing feeling in my stomach. I was filled with unease, though I had no idea why, and perhaps that was what bothered me most of all. Lance was definitely up to something, but Eloisa’s involvement was unclear.
Jack appeared to be right about the two of them not getting along, as they acted very coldly towards each other. But I needed to spend more time with Eloisa if I really wanted to know her. I had a feeling that with time, all would reveal itself.
Deciding that waiting around until dinner wasn’t going to make me feel better, I started to explore the manor. The entire place possessed large windows and from some of the hallways you could see the ocean in the distance. I didn’t see Lance or Eloisa and I contemplated what exactly they could be discussing. It didn’t appear to be a very joyous reunion, after all.
I pushed open a white wooden door and found myself standing in a small parlour. Surrounded by books, I paced along the bookshelves, hands behind my back.
The books were all quite old and well-worn. Nothing appeared to be of any interest. I turned to face the fireplace on the other side of the room. But it was the painting above that caught my eye. I stepped closer to observe it more intently. It was clearly an old painting, as the royal children were stillyoung. I glanced over the colours that composed a picture of the young princess. Something caught my attention and I wondered if the artist had purposely forgotten to add Eloisa’s small birthmark. I reached out, gently dragging my fingers over the small black lines that formed the names of the royal children on the bottom corner of the painting. And then it hit me. It was like the air had been sucked out of my lungs for a moment, but only a moment. It was shock first, but confusion settled in quickly. It simply didn’t make sense.
I burst through the white doors and marched down the hallway to find out if what I thought to be true was, in fact, true. Rounding one of the hallway corners, I ran into Jack.
“Your Highness, is everything all right?” I don’t know if it was my shocked expression or ragged breathing that gave me away.
“All is fine, never you mind about me, Jack.” I was about to go round him when Jack spoke again.
“I couldn’t find out much more about Eloisa, but Alastor has been on Rhen’s trail and it turns out he’s only been working for the royal family for a few months — and somehow became the prince’s most trusted confidant. Something doesn’t quite add up there.”
“It’s all right. You can forget it. Forget all of it.”
“But, Your Highness . . .”
“Forget it!” I spat out, and I walked away abruptly, without giving Jack a chance to reply. It was only a moment later that I felt guilty. I couldn’t remember the last time I had spoken to him like that. The poor man was only following orders. I would apologise later. Right now, there was a more important matter at hand.
I asked one of the servants to lead me to Eloisa’s chambers. Not bothering to knock, I swung open the door, but it wasn’tEloisa inside. Her lady-in-waiting, who appeared to be in the middle of unpacking her trunk, looked at me with wide eyes.
“Cordelia, is it?” I closed the door behind me.
“Yes, Your Highness?”
I glanced around the room again for some unknown reason, as if my senses couldn’t be trusted any longer, but she definitely wasn’t there.
“She’s not here.” Cordelia didn’t move, garments still in her hand.
“I must speak to her. It’s very important.” I didn’t know Cordelia at all. Didn’t know if I could put any trust in her yet, though my instincts were telling me she wasn’t much trouble. But my instincts had been wrong before... clearly.
“If she comes back, would you please tell her that I’m looking for her?”
