Midnight's Song (38 page)

“Hush!” Emily quickly shushed me. “We
don’t want to tell the whole world what we’re doing! Now, there’s
not much I can do – but, I do know a few people who might be able
to help you if you ever need to arrange a meeting. I also know of
some people who could help smuggle you to the Desert Country if
need be.”

The excitement of the
moment rushed through my veins, and I looked to see if Aurelian had
any input. I think that at that moment we both realized that
neither of us still had a plan. Maybe finding a place to meet each
other again would be a good idea.

“I don’t know, Aurelian. What do you
think? Would you like to meet with each other to discuss our
plan?”

I looked into his eyes, suddenly
taking note of the fact that none of this had seemed to take him by
surprise. While I had my heart suddenly set on this fantastic new
hope, it seemed that Aurelian’s was elsewhere. There was a look in
his eyes that was lacking in all hope; it was grave, perhaps even
dismal. I got up from my quiet place on the foot of the bed and
stood by Aurelian.

“What is it?” I softly asked
him.

“I appreciate your
willingness to help me…but, you see…although this all must seem so
hopeful and bright to you, I am still the cause of your
predicament. You need not worry about me.The ones I worry about are
those whom I have endangered by simply being here,” he gently took
my hand into his. “You, and now Emily.”

“Your Majesty,”
Emily spoke up. “Your presence might bring danger, but has it not
also brought good? You appear to come from a land of greater power
than ours. Our Magistrate has power, but if he has reason to spite
you, it is because he
fears
yours.”

“Do you imply that my
danger to you all is caused by jealousy?” Aurelian politely
questioned her in response. The question didn’t seem like an
authentic inquiry, but more like a test. Perhaps the prince already
knew the truth and was only seeking a consolation in
response.

“In a way. I might
not know much, but I do know that if someone is secure with
themselves, they will have no reason to fear anyone else. The
Magistrate may very well fear your power, but only because it is
greater than his. It is…
good.”

“She’s right,
Aurelian. You may think you’ve caused this, but I would be in more
danger without you. Think of the times that you’ve saved me,
comforted me! We’re in this together now. We must work with what we
have. Otherwise, all hope
will
be lost.”

“I know. I’m sorry.
You’re right – truly. But that doesn’t change that my first
priority is protecting you. I can see dangers nearer to you now
than I would like to believe. So, I give you my solemn oath.
I
will
do
everything in my power to protect you.” He looked toward Emily.
“And I shall ensure your safety as well, Mrs.
Nielsen.”

“But, why must this
all be on you?” I interjected. “I know you feel a burden. Let us
bear this burden
together.”
After that, there was a long pause. When Aurelian
spoke up again, it was as softly and surely as could
be.

“Is that truly what you want?” He
asked me in a near-whisper.

“Yes. It is.”

The prince closed his eyes
for a moment before letting out a hushed murmur:

“Very well.”

After a few moments, Emily
stood up. A new boldness became evident in her.

“My
prince
,”
she
curtsied. “I know that you are good. Therefore, as of today – I vow
to do everything in my humble power to ensure that you and the Lady
are kept safe. Whatever needs to be done, I will do
it.”

“Thank you, Mrs.
Nielsen. Though, I caution you. Lady Elissa has already put herself
in danger, and this is a far more treacherous game than you know.
Are you truly willing to do this? You know…I
do
have the power to make you forget
this. It would be difficult, but I can. For your
safety.”

“I wouldn’t ask for you to
do that. For such a long time, I’ve held on to the hope that
something good would come and begin to set us free. I do not
believe in coincidences. If I am endangered for standing with good,
then so be it.”

It was evident that, like
me, Emily had made her choice. The thought was empowering, yet it
was terrifying all the same. Aurelian unexpectedly knelt before
her.

“Miss Nielsen, I have seen
your willingness to stand for what is good. Your act of courage
will not be forgotten.”

Emily’s face flickered, and she let
out a slight smile.

“Now, as for our
escape route,” Aurelian began again, turned toward our new ally.
For some reason, he had lost his dismal and cowardly tone. As he
spoke, he began to sound more and princely with each word. It was
as if he was assuming the role of an army commander, tasking Emily
with her new assignment. “I like your plan. If you know smugglers
who can help escape to the Desert Country, have them ready for
Elissa in case I’m not with her.” Aurelian met Emily’s eyes with a
piercing stare, then quickly did the same to mine. “If I am unable
to assist you, you are to take caution and leave this place at the
first
hint of danger. Don’t
wait.”

“Why just me? And, what
about her offer to arrange the meetings?” I spoke up, taking note
of the fact that his name wasn’t present in the last sentence. He
gazed into my eyes and spoke softly.

“As long as I’m near, you
needn’t worry. I will protect you from your enemies to my last
breath…” he continued, wary of the fact I might protest. “As you
have promised to stand by me, I will stand by you. That is why you
must heed my warning.”

“Alright,” I finally
sighed. “But what about arranging our next meeting? Or, would you
protest?”

“Oh no, I could never protest that,”
he told me lightly. “I do appreciate the offer…but I can very well
give you my word about this: when I want to see you, there will be
no human intervention needed. I promise, no matter what is
happening or where you are…I will never be far behind.”

After he finished
speaking, he gave me a light kiss on the hand. Emily quickly got up
and picked her towels back up from the floor. Aurelian used his
powers to move the furniture away from the door and clean up what
had been left of his mess. She turned from us and quietly inched
toward the door to leave, but was stopped.

“EMILY!” A voice rocked the hallway
outside. “Where are you? My word! You said you’d deliver the towels
to all of the rooms upstairs nearly a half hour ago! Now I have no
clean towels for the baths!”

It sounded like Beeti, but it might
have been her gruff maid. Right now her screams were so shrill that
neither of us could be sure. She turned around and panicked, just
nearly holding onto the stack of linens this time. Her eyes bugged
out of her head and she quickly ran away from the door.

“She’s coming! Quickly, we
have to hide him!” Emily exclaimed.

In lieu of having just
found out that Aurelian actually couldn’t disappear at the spur of
the moment, we panicked. We struggled to find some place to hide
him. I caught sight of the closet. Without a single word of
discussion about it we both awkwardly struggled to thrust Aurelian
inside. As we did, it turned out that he was so tall that he
smacked his head on one of the racks holding up my dresses. At
first he looked slightly pained, but he didn’t say a word to
dispute us. There was no time!

We slammed the doors shut and fell
against them as the woman thundered into my room. Somehow, Emily
was able to do everything while still balancing the stack of linens
in her arms. When the woman came into the room, we both
straightened up as if we were soldiers. It was Beeti. We tried to
straighten up so greatly that it caused the woman to suspect that
there was something else going on.

“What on Earth are you
girls up to?” She barked.

“Nothing, Aunt Beeti,” I sweetly piped
up. “Emily was just showing me the new linens. They smell of
lavender, isn’t it wonderful?”

Beeti didn’t seem to be
won over by my explanation in the least. She examined us
suspiciously, attempting to decipher the nature of our
disobedience. We remained positioned tactfully in front of the
closet. Beeti quickly became impatient with our shenanigans and
ordered us to step aside.

“What are you hiding in
there?” She attempted yanking me away from the closet door. “My
word, girl! Let me through!”

I soon realized that
fighting was no use. Aurelian was going to be discovered, or he
wasn’t. This might have been enough time for him to plan an escape.
To be honest, one of his vanishings would be extremely convenient
right now.

Beeti shoved me aside and
gasped the handle on one of the double doors. I closed my eyes and
bit my lower lip as she opened them up and scanned the
inside.

“There must be something
in here,” Beeti angrily rattled through my things. “Why would they
have been blocking it if there was nothing in here?”

I opened my eyes and
eased back when I realized that she hadn’t seen Aurelian standing
inside. She continued tearing through my belongings and sift her
way through the racks, but she still couldn’t find anything there.
I looked over at Emily in relief and I felt myself let out a
distinct grin. The prince was
gone.

Three days later, Grandmamma began to
slip in and out of consciousness. Her words were a messed up
jumble, her heart weakening with every weary beat. I had thought of
Aurelian constantly in that time, never forgetting the tension
around me. Though, Grandmamma’s ill health caused my focuses to
shift temporarily. Everyone knew that she was approaching the end.
With that I also became consumed with a dark feeling that her
passing would bring dire consequences for our household. Everyone
was on edge now, making the supremely superficial Winston
exceptionally uncomfortable. As we dug ourselves even deeper into
familial trouble, Winston decided it was best to leave.

In these days I often sat at
Grandmamma’s bedside, feeding her while she was awake and watching
her breathe while she slept. No matter what I said or did her
health kept on failing. By the fourth day of this tumultuousness, I
had neglected so many of the other parts of my life apart from this
that I was completely exhausted. Beeti came into the room that
night, wet rag in tote.

“You should give yourself some rest,
dear.” Although it would seem otherwise, her tone was actually cold
and snide. Though, right now I was much too tired to notice. Emily
waddled in right behind her with a crate full of food and medicines
that had just been shipped to the manor. Seeing how prepared the
two of them were, I obliged to allow myself a night off.

“Goodnight,” I meekly told
them both as I slipped out of the door and headed toward my
quarters.

As soon as I as gone, Beeti knelt down
at Grandmamma’s side with her rag. She dabbed it over her forehead
as she slept, apparently botching an attitude of care so that Emily
wouldn’t sense any ill intentions. After a few minutes, Emily knelt
down at Grandmamma’s side and gently woke her for her medications.
As servants are naturally expected to do, Emily looked at Beeti and
insisted that she not exert herself doing maid’s work.

“Please Miss, allow me to do that,”
she insisted. Though, Beeti refused. At the same time, Grandmamma
silently opened her eyes and motioned for a glass of water. Eyeing
Emily’s tray of potent elixirs, Beeti spoke up.

“Oh no, dearie. It’s no work at all –
just wishing to spend a few moments with my mother is all. I won’t
take much longer.” Beeti’s mode now seemed quite strange. As Emily
reached to get Grandmamma her water, Aunt Beeti made a jerkish
motion that caused the glass of water in Emily’s grasp to spill and
some of the open pill bottles on the top tray to topple
over.

“Oh no!” The maid
exclaimed, the puddle of water thoroughly soaking the sheets of the
bed. Although it was clearly Beeti’s fault, Emily would of course
have been the one to assume responsibility for the mishap. “I’m so
sorry milady!”

“Oh, you’ve done it this time!
Incompetence! Incompetence!” Beeti snarled at that maid, causing
her to blush and nearly begin to cry. Frozen in place, Beeti raised
her voice toward the girl to the point of near-shouting. “Well,
what are you waiting for? Go down to the linen closet and grab a
fresh towel! I’ll keep my mother company while you go and fix this
mistake of yours!”

“Of course, milady…” Emily
curtsied before scurrying out of the room. Grandmamma was wide
awake, but she was so raspy that she was considerably mute. Like a
prisoner trapped in a glass chamber, the woman had seen all that
had gone on but couldn’t say a single word.

As soon as Emily was gone,
Beeti hurried to the medicine bottles and read their labels. There
had to be at least a hundred different ones sitting on the tray,
all of various potencies. Grandmamma watched Beeti with great
concern, but couldn’t move. The poor soul couldn’t do anything but
watch.