Shades of Doon (28 page)
Looking fairly pleased with herself, she offered me a sly smile. “I reviewed all the interviews that my brother and sister conducted and cross referenced them with the queen’s research notes.” Before I could inquire how she got Vee’s notes, she supplied, “Fiona got them for me. She wasna simply being kind when she said I had much to contribute.”
To have this girl echo my suspicions about Analisa seem a bit convenient. Either Sofia had more information than she was sharing or she was fishing for confirmation . . . or worse, she was working for the big bad. “So the freaky change in weather makes you think the witch is actually in Doon? Even though she never breached the border before.”
“Aye.” She shoved a tangle of curls back from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “And if ye ask me what proof I have, I’ve none. Just the same as ye’ll find no mention of weather in
any of the Lucius Jobe reports. But I feel the truth, deep inside o’ me. The witch is here. I know it as surely as I know my name is Sofia Maria Rosetti.”
I didn’t want to offend her, but she also had been sure she’d had a Calling with a boy on the outside world, and he’d failed to materialize when the portal on the bridge opened. As carefully as I could, I said, “Didn’t your instincts also lead you to believe that you had a Calling?”
Pain flashed across her face. For a moment I could read all the hope, longing, pain, and confusion that she’d experienced with her supposed Calling. “I wasna wrong about that,” she answered fiercely. “I can’t explain why he didna cross the bridge at the Centennial except to say that the Protector’s ways are no’ my own. We will meet at the appointed time — I have faith it will be so.”
Analisa’s class shifted from heavy bags to sparring as partners. I watched as Fiona claimed Vee before Gabby could swoop in. The younger Rosetti sister, while usually harmless, didn’t know her own strength.
“Another thing.” Sofia gestured toward Ana on the other side of the glass. “She was lying about where she was.”
“How could you know that?”
She huddled closer to me, but we both kept our focus on what was happening in the gym. “Because I have a keen sense of right and wrong. I kin usually tell when someone is lying. She came from the opposite direction of Castle MacCrae, most likely from the road that leads inta the forest. That excuse about losing track of time in the gardens wasna true.”
I angled my body to look squarely at Sofia. “So you’re a human lie detector?”
“Nay.” Sofia shook her head. “Nothing so grand. I canna discern the supernatural realms, or see shades of evil magic. I
dinna have prophetic dreams like some — but my intuition is hardly ever wrong. Fiona’s mum once told me where facts are the knowledge o’ the mind, intuition is the knowledge o’ the soul. I’ve learned ta trust my instincts, even when I lack the evidence ta prove them.”
I guess on some level that made sense. Acting was about going with your gut, but I’d never thought about instincts being equally weighted with facts. “And your instincts are telling you that Addie is in Doon?”
She met my challenge with unwavering eye contact. “Aye.”
“How do I know you’re not one of the witch’s minions?”
“I canna prove it, other than to say listen to your own instincts. My destiny — perhaps even my Calling — is intertwined with what’s happening. I am supposed to stand with you.” She pressed a clutched fist to her chest, her wide eyes meeting mine unwaveringly. “I know it in the core of my being; it’s soul knowledge.”
Fiona trusted her, as demonstrated by their sharing information about Vee’s notes and their collaboration on the spell book. As I dug deep down, I felt I might be able to trust her as well. “We know the witch crossed into Doon with the Destined, but we’re not sure who she’s pretending to be. Your instincts are telling you it’s Analisa?”
Sofia’s confidence didn’t waiver as she said, “I canna say for certain. All I can claim is that Analisa lied about where she’d been. From that I can conclude tha’ she also lied about what she was up to. It’s suspicious, but not a certainty that she’s the witch. I’ve been trying to narrow down the Destined.”
“That’s what we’ve been trying to do.” Her brow lifted in question, so I supplied, “Fergus and Fiona, the princes, Vee and me. Just the six of us.”
Placing her hand on my arm, Sofia replied, “Now seven.
Not only is it my kingdom, my family and friends, who’re in peril — it’s my destiny to stand with you.” Then more shyly she asked, “Will ye come with me ta speak ta Veronica when class is over?”
“Sure.”
As I contemplated the best way to get Sofia into our inner circle, a castle page hurried up to Eòran with a written message. Mutton Chops scanned the note and then dismissed the page without the slightest change in expression. After a moment, he crossed to the gym door, cracked it open, and calmly asked to speak to the queen.
Draping a plaid around her sweaty body, Vee slipped from the gym into the frigid outdoors with Fiona in tow. Mutton Chops handed her the note. The wind whipped her ponytail into a frenzy as she read the contents. Unlike her guard, her face revealed plenty — and none of it good.
After a long pause, she looked at us, her eyes filled with shock. “Gregory Forrester is dead.”
Fiona let out a soft gasp. “What happened?”
“He fell onto the saw that cuts logs in half.” She shook her head as if trying to contradict the contents of the letter. “Is that a common mill accident?”
“Nay, Yer Highness.” Eòran answered. His hairy face was still passive but I thought I detected worry in his beady eyes.
Biting her lip, proving that she had more on her mind than she was vocalizing, Vee said, “Please excuse us, Sofia.”
“Wait.” I placed my hand on the girl’s arm to keep her from leaving. “Sofia knows the witch is in Doon.”
“Kenna!” Vee’s brow furrowed as she cast a quick glance at Eòran.
For the first time since the day I met him, Mutton Chop’s careful composure cracked. But just as quickly as he’d lost it,
he reined himself in, his face once again a stoic mask. “’Tis all right, yer majesty. I’ve had my suspicions.”
Vee searched his face for several seconds. Then, apparently satisfied with what she found, she turned back to me and Sofia. “How?”
Fiona, who’d been hanging back to watch for eavesdroppers, stepped forward. “Sofia’s gifted wi’ a strong intuition.”
“Dinna worry, Your Highness,” Sofia whispered, trailing off as a group of men, both Doonians and Destined, walked past. “I havna spoken my suspicions to a living soul, except to Kenna. I only shared my theory because I believe that I might be of service to ye.”
Vee’s sharp gaze moved from Sofia’s earnest face, to mine, and then to Fiona before settling back on the girl in question. “Okay. Please stay, Sofie. Jamie and I were supposed to go to the mill later today to meet with Gregory.” She paused and glanced up at the sky, blinking away tears. “I can’t believe he’s really gone.”
Before I could reach out to comfort her, Eòran stepped into our circle and scowled, his badger-like face puckering with deep, craggy lines. “Tha’s not on your agenda for this afternoon. In fact, Prince Jamie said the two of ye were in want of some alone time and had me dismiss the guards.”
Grimacing apologetically, Vee answered, “I know — and I’m sorry. Gregory had something urgent to discuss, so he asked us to meet him at the mill in secret.”
“Your Highness,” he scolded. “I canna protect ye if I am no’ privy ta your plans.”
“You’re right.” Vee nodded. “I’ll keep you in the loop from now on. Who else knows about Gregory’s accident?”
“I expect the whole village will know shortly.” Eòran cleared his throat. “But I’m afeared, Your Highness, this wasna an accident.”
Vee shivered hard and pulled her wrap tighter. “I was thinking the same thing. We need to be very careful. Gregory knew something, something about his brother that he wasn’t comfortable putting in writing. Now we may never know what that was.”
Her voice caught, and I moved over to take her hand. “We need to call a meeting as soon as possible. Tell the princes what we’ve learned. Compare notes.”
“But no’ at the castle.” Eòran crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Secret passages and spy holes make it near impossible to guarantee privacy.”
“My mum’s cottage in the village is empty,” Fiona suggested. “She’s staying in the castle wi’ me and Fergus for the time being. Safer that way.”
But was the castle safer? Gregory didn’t think so, and neither did Eòran. Not to mention the tree that nearly squashed my bestie like a bug. As long as the witch lurked through the streets of Doon, safety was an illusion.
“We should wear peasant disguises,” I said as my brain started whirling with costuming possibilities. “Like Cinderella when she goes back into the woods in act two.”
“That’s perfect,” Vee said, her voice strong again now that we had a course of action. She met each one of our gazes. “Tonight. Under the cover of darkness. Mrs. Fairshaw’s cottage. Make sure you aren’t followed.”
T
he deep-hooded cloak concealed my face and blocked the worst of the icy wind as I made my way through the deserted streets of the village. A steady fall of snow sifted the light of the oil lanterns, creating deep shadows around every corner. I’d left Blaz behind and given Eòran the task of guarding my suite, both of them much too telling. Tonight I wasn’t a queen surrounded by a bevy of guards, but a girl delivering a basket of cakes to an ill relative. If my borrowed cloak were red, instead of dingy brown, I’d fit neatly into a fairy tale.
As I neared the center of town, all the shops were closed and dark, everyone huddled inside by their toasty hearths. I envisioned myself curled up by the fire in Jamie’s strong arms, the heat of his body keeping me warm. The thought alone spiked my internal temperature by several degrees.
But instead of cuddling with my fiancé on this frigid night, we’d rode to the village in a cart laden with barrels full of grain. After stowing the cart in the stables behind the Rosetti Tavern, we’d split up and continued on foot.
A loud screech gave me a start as a crow landed on a nearby awning, its jet-black eyes tracking me as I passed. Visions of the demonic zombie crow Kenna and I had encountered in the limbus pushed my feet faster. With a great flap of wings, a second crow landed on a nearby lamppost, a third cawing as it swooped over my head. I pulled my cloak tighter and resisted the powerful urge to glance behind me where Jamie trailed at a distance.
Practically running, I rushed off the main road and headed down a side street, the rapid fall of snow blinding me. A piercing wind moaned, followed by a shuffle and drag that had my heart catapulting into my throat. I stumbled on an uneven stone, righted myself, and sprinted forward. What if it hadn’t been the limbus that created zombie creatures, but Addie? She’d been here all along . . . there could be more.
Something grabbed me, a low voice rumbling through the stillness. “Whoa, there.”
I spun with my fist raised, then exhaled a frustrated breath. “Jamie! You scared the daylights out of me!”
White teeth flashed, the rest of his face shadowed by his hood. “Sorry, love. You’re goin’ the wrong way. Fairshaw Cottage is the next street down.” He took my arm and steered me back the way I’d just come.
Working to regulate my breathing, I panted, “I thought we were arriving separately?”
“No need. The streets are empty.” He tucked me closer and pushed his cloak back a bit so I could see the still sun-darkened planes of his face. “Why were ye frightened?”
He didn’t know the gory details of my run-in with the crow from hell, and I didn’t feel like sharing. “I don’t like crows.”
Jamie’s deep laughter rolled through the night. “Mayhaps they donna like you either.”
“You have no idea.”
The tiny stone cottage sat dark, surrounded by a frozen garden suspended in mid-autumn bloom — almost as if it had been trapped in time. As we walked up the path, a shiver shook through me, and Jamie pulled me closer to his side, mistaking my apprehension for cold.
Noticing the pristine snow beneath our feet, my steps slowed. I hated how my voice quivered when I asked, “I thought the others were arriving before us?”
Jamie stopped under the shelter of a tree and turned me to face him, his brows hunched over his eyes. “What’s going on wi’ you? Yesterday you were practically ready to throw yerself at Addie to draw her out. Now you’re as jumpy as a feral cat. I’ve never seen ye this way.” He reached inside the shelter of my hood and cupped my jaw, his tone softening. “Is it Gregory’s death tha’s got ye so shaken?”
“That’s part of it. But there’s something else . . .” I searched his dark gaze as light snow fell between us and a perfect star-shaped flake landed on his nose before melting into his skin. Tears flooded my eyes, the beauty of the night clouded by what I now knew — something big was coming. “I had another vi — ”
“Are the two of ye gonna stand there and make lovey faces all night?”
We turned to find Fergus in the open doorway.
“We’re all waitin’ on ye.” He ducked back inside, bending to fit through the doorframe.
At my surprised look, Jamie explained, “I instructed them to enter through the back door, so if anyone recognizes us they’ll think we’re seekin’ a bit of privacy. You were about to tell me somethin’ . . .”
“I think it’s best if I tell you inside.” We walked toward the
house, and I linked our gloved fingers, his powerful heat seeping through two layers of leather. “I’d rather say it once.”
After we were all settled around the large farmhouse table in the dining room, our only light a single candelabra, Jamie turned to Duncan. “Are the premises secure?”
Duncan gave a single nod. “We searched the house and grounds. It’s all clear.”
I sat straighter in my chair. “All right, then let’s begin with our interviews of the Destined.” Fiona pulled out paper and quill to take notes, and I turned to my left. “Mackenna, what did you discover?”
My BFF turned toward the newest addition to our core team. “Sofia thinks that Analisa is lying about where she was this morning.”
