All The King's-Men (The Yellow Hoods, #3) (22 page)

Later, Hans took a bite out of an apple he’d stolen and leaned back against a tree. As the Ginger Lady’s house burned, he slid between laughing, sobbing, and screaming at it. Every now and then he rushed forward, wanting to put it out and apologize to someone, anyone, for what he had done. But in the end, he sat there, watching it until the rain came and finally put it out.

When he awoke in the morning, soaked to the bone, he absorbed the delicious sight of the smoldering ruins of his past. His future was his, and he knew exactly how it would start.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Cracked

When Tee, Elly, and Franklin discovered the smashed King’s-Horses, Franklin immediately accused Christina of sabotaging them and also of stealing something from Nikolas’ lab. A screaming match broke out between Franklin and Elly. Tee’s silence only fueled Elly’s frustration more and more. 

Ignoring them, Tee covered the remains of the King’s-Horses with the camouflage blanket. After telling the two of them that they needed to get to the next inn before nightfall, she started walking. Franklin and Elly calmed down and followed. A long day of traveling by foot started.

Tee decided it was best for them to stick to the forest rather than main roads, away from prying eyes. Both Tee and Elly wore their yellow-hooded cloaks.

“Shall we stop for a bit?” asked Franklin, breaking more than two hours of silence.

Elly nodded. “Tee, what do you think?”

Tee looked up at the sun. “I think we’ve got two or three hours of sunlight left.” She pulled out the map and tried to find where they were. 

Elly came and peered over Tee’s shoulder. “I think we’re there,” said Elly, pointing right in front of Tee.

Tee grimaced. “Thanks, but we’re here,” she replied flatly. “I think we should be at the inn in about an hour. It’s best if we keep going.”

“Are you going to get us lost again?” asked Franklin, unable to help himself. 

Elly glared at Franklin, but bit her lip. She’d hated being lost just as much as he had, but there was only one person allowed to yell at Tee for it, and that was her.

Tee thanked the innkeeper’s wife once again for giving them two nice rooms and such a wonderful meal. She handed her a quickly-written note, and the old woman nodded knowingly. She could read the burdens on Tee’s face, and scooped her up into a big hug of encouragement.

Tee looked at her and gave a meek smile. Slowly, she climbed the stairs and knocked on Franklin’s door.

“Come in,” he said. 

Tee opened the door and leaned in, holding on to the handle. “Do you really know where we need to look tomorrow in Herve? I’m thinking we might be better off heading straight for Costello.”

Franklin was sitting on his bed, thinking. He was happy to have a room to himself for the first time since he’d left home. He smiled at Tee. She still had the black eye and was clearly exhausted, but there was something about the way the light bounced off her long, dark hair and brown eyes. She was unlike any young woman he’d met. She was smart, courageous, driven, and quite capable in a fight. He wondered how she’d do in Ingleash society, whether she’d thrive or not.

He could feel the clouds of confusion creeping into his mind as part of him started to think about how pretty she was, and forced them out. He was not going to lose his ability to speak and think clearly all because part of him had temporarily remembered that she was, after all, a pretty girl. 

“I know exactly where I left those plans,” said Franklin confidently. “If we don’t find them in two minutes, then we’ll continue on to Costello...and see that buffoon, the Abbott.”

Tee nodded and started to leave.

“Tee?”

“Yeah?” she said, hanging on the door.

“I’m sure tomorrow will be the day you deserve,” he said, smiling.

“I hope so,” she replied, closing the door.

She turned and stared at the door a couple of yards down the corridor. She could just feel the tension emanating from the room she was sharing with Elly. Part of her wanted to walk out the front door and head home. She slid her feet along the floor until she came to the door and slowly opened it. 

Tee was relieved to see that the oil lamp on the nightstand between her and Elly’s beds was turned way down, and Elly was rolled over, facing the wall. She listened intently for moment, and heard Elly’s breathing rise and fall rhythmically.

She closed the door and changed into one of the long nightshirts the innkeeper’s wife had provided them. Hoping that tonight would be free of dreams, Tee climbed into bed. 

As she tried to drift off in the comforting glow of the light, Tee kept jolting awake as she did every night, with images of the arrow going through Pierre’s chest and him lying on the ground, his life slipping away. She wished she had her mother and father to hold her, to have their parental warmth wash away all the wrongs of the world. 

She thought of all the recent lessons with her father and mother about the history of the Tub, the Fare, and the purpose of Minette, along with a million other secrets and responsibilities that had made her feel like she was drowning as they poured on her shoulders. She’d argued intensely to be allowed to share some of it with Elly, until her parents finally told her why she couldn’t. That night, she’d cried herself to sleep.

With a big sigh, Tee rolled over to turn off the light and found Elly glaring at her, her blankets pulled up to her chin.

“I can’t take it anymore,” said Elly, her voice trembling. “I don’t know who you are, I don’t know where my parents are, and I have no real idea where we are going.”

Tee felt cornered, and lowered her gaze. She started to roll back towards the wall when Elly yelled, “I can’t take this! Don’t turn away from me!”

Tee took in a big breath. Her face was drained, as if her soul had been leaking out since the beginning of the journey. She forced her gaze up to meet Elly’s. It pained Tee to see her best friend’s chin trembling.

“You’re supposed to be my best friend,” said Elly, a few tears escaping.

“I am,” said Tee flatly, mentally applying all of her strength to keeping the cork on her bottled emotions. “I—”

“I nothing,” said Elly, sitting up and bringing her legs in so she could hug them. “You’ve been lying to me—”

Tee’s eyes flared and she sat up as well. “Lying? You have no idea what’s been going on. I have
not
been lying to you.”

“Then tell me!” yelled Elly.

Tee’s jaw inched forward while she thought of how to answer. “I can’t!” she said, gesturing wildly as she stood. “I can’t! I’m not allowed!”

“What are you talking about?” asked Elly, standing to look at Tee eye to eye. “Where do you go in the early morning when you think I’m asleep?”

Tee felt betrayed by the remark. Not by Elly, but by her own sloppiness. “Everything. Everything has to be a secret, and I have to protect everyone! You just have to accept that!”

Elly threw her hands up. “Why? Why do I have to accept that?”

“Because that’s all I’m allowed to do,” said Tee, tears streaming down her flushed face. “And if you’re my best friend, then you need to accept that, too! I don’t have a choice.”

Elly backed off for a second, returning to sit on her bed. Tee copied her. “I miss Pierre too, you know,” said Elly, fishing for what was at the root of everything.

“That’s not what this is even about,” said Tee, deflated, hanging her head. “It just makes everything ten times worse.”

There was a knock at the door. “Is everything okay in there?” asked the innkeeper’s wife.

“Yes,” replied the girls in unison.

“Okay, well…” said the woman, wondering what to say. “Try to keep it down.”

“We will,” replied Elly, glancing at the door.

Tee stared at the oil lamp’s flame, trapped in its clear, curved glass cage. For all of the size and grandeur of the glass, it was unable to protect the flame from being tossed about by the wind of the outside world.

Elly felt lost seeing the distant, brooding expression on Tee’s face as Tee watched the flame. After several minutes, Elly started to cry again. 

At first, she thought it was out of a sense of betrayal, and then out of a sense of loss of their friendship, but finally Elly realized it was because she felt helpless to ease the burden that was crushing Tee.

Elly thought of one of her mother’s favorite phrases: I will protect you however I must, even if that means protecting you from you, when I need to. A soft, sad smile emerged.

Lost in thought for a long time, Tee came to a thought she couldn’t escape. When she finally looked away from the flame, she noticed Elly was sleeping sitting up in her bed, leaning against the wall. 

“Elly,” whispered Tee. Elly didn’t stir. Tee furrowed her brow and returned her gaze to the lamp, questioning her decision. Was she just fooling herself into thinking that what she was going to do was okay? 

Tee let go of her cradled legs and stretched them out. She stared at the flame a little longer, gathering some confidence. Planting her hands on the edge of the bed, she said, “Elly.”

Elly’s eyes fluttered open. “Yeah?”

Tee lowered her gaze to the ground and took a deep breath, steeling herself. “Your last name is DeBoeuf.”

Elly’s face wrinkled as she pushed the sleep away. “No, it’s not,” she replied groggily.

Tee turned to the flame. “Your last name is DeBoeuf.”

Elly thought for a moment. There was a weight to how Tee was saying it that Elly couldn’t dismiss. She was awake enough now to know that it was impossible for Tee to be making a mistake. “What are you talking about?”

Tee chewed on her lip before meeting Elly’s gaze. Elly was surprised to see none of the defenses that had been there earlier. Despite the black eye and emotional wreckage she could see in Tee’s face, there was a drive and determination in Tee’s eyes that filled Elly with hope.

“Your mother’s real name is DeBoeuf, not Oeuf,” said Tee, knowing that her parents wouldn’t approve, but thinking that somehow, her Grandpapa would.

Elly shook her head incessantly. “No, no, that doesn’t make any sense. We both know when a couple marries, the stronger of the family names becomes the couple’s new last name. My dad’s last name is Plante. Plante versus DeBoeuf would have been a no-brainer.”

Tee stood up and sat beside Elly. She took Elly’s hand and stared into her eyes. “Elly, your last name really is DeBoeuf.”

Elly studied Tee’s conviction, then how Tee was holding her hand. It reminded her of when Tee had learned of the death of Elly’s dog, Chichi, and had sat Elly down to tell her before anyone else could.

She bounced her gaze around the room, her brow furrowed in a mix of emotion. “Why would my parents lie like that?” she asked slowly.

Tee let go of Elly’s hand and leaned against the wall alongside her. She stared at the flame. She knew she had to be careful with what she shared, but felt there was another piece that Elly deserved to know. That Tee needed her to know. “Your mother’s mother is alive.”

Elly stared at the flame, too, soaking it all in. “So… Madame DeBoeuf of the Tub is my grandmother?”

Tee nodded gently. “You’re more connected to the Tub than I am.”

They sat there, staring at the flame in silence, each wondering about similar things.

“Did you have to betray someone to tell me that?” asked Elly.

Tee stared at the ground and shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it right now. Okay?”

Elly wasn’t sure what to make of everything. She watched Tee as she crawled back into her bed. She kept wondering why she hadn’t given her best friend a hug for sharing, why things still felt somewhat weird.

As Elly drifted off to sleep, she dreamt of her mother telling her, as she had many times, that noble deeds always came at a price.

As the door opened and Tee stepped through with the early morning light behind her, Franklin had a smug grin on his face. He was sitting on a chair, enjoying a cup of tea at the large oak table, with two fresh pieces of jam-covered toast on his plate.

“Planning on sneaking upstairs so you can pretend to wake up when Elly–” Franklin stopped as he saw Elly come up behind Tee. “Hmm.”