The Decoy Princess (9 page)

“Olen, tell the cook we’re ready,” Garrett prompted irately, as if his sentry should know the niceties of polite dining as well as how to split an opponent with three strokes. My pulse hammered as the old guard went into the kitchen passage behind me. Two men; four darts. Olen would be back. I had to get Garrett alone. My foot under my dress jiggled nervously.

“Silent?” Garrett said, and my eyes flicked to his. “Good,” he said as he poured a glass of wine for himself. “Stay that way.”

I stilled my foot. “You are a cur,” I said softly, knowing my words would carry in the small room.

“I’m going to send you home in a box. There will be holes for flies. By the time you get to your father, he will see as clearly as I the maggots that infest you.”

Garrett sipped his drink, his amused gaze going from mine to Jeck’s. The captain shifted himself closer to me. His leather-gloved hand rested upon his sword hilt.

“I like you better silent,” Garrett said.

“Your father will thank me,” I predicted. “He sent you to marry into my family’s blood, not destroy it.

He won’t like you altering his plans.” Garrett’s pale face colored, and I guessed I had found a sore spot.

“Second sons are always a problem,” I added, and he clenched his jaw. There was a scuff behind me, and I stiffened as Olen returned.

“It will be a few moments, Prince Garrett,” the guard said as he took up his spot again.

“Good.” Garrett’s once-beautiful green eyes were ugly, and his smooth cheeks were red with anger.

“I’ve something for you.” He rose from his chair and set his napkin aside. My stomach tightened as he approached, and my fingers trembled at the chance to dart him. My eyes flicked to leek. He was watching closely, and I forced my breathing to slow.

Garrett took a handful of green, purple, and silver from his pocket. I recognized the familiar sound of sliding stones and metal as jewelry. I held deathly still as Garrett went behind me. I stifled a shudder as my scarf slid from me like water to make a black puddle upon the floor. He draped a necklace in its place. Green and purple stones so dark as to be almost black decorated it, making an obscene show of privilege. It was extravagant and heavy with wealth. My proposal gift. “That’s for you,” he said as he stepped away. “Now we can wed.”

“Why a wedding?” I said, refusing to look at it. “You have what you want.”

“By force,” he admitted as he resettled himself in his chair. His elbows went on the table, and he leaned forward, looking entirely reasonable and pleasant. “I want it legally, as well. I won’t leave an opening for my father to take my kingdom to add to his own. I will prove to him that I’m more worthy than my brother. Once the rest of my men get here, I will secure your ships and harbors. You will be coronated shortly after that, followed by our marriage.”

“Then my death?” I said caustically, though I was shaking inside.

His face was sickeningly indifferent. “That’s up to you.”

“My parents are dead,” I said, making my words harsh so I would feel nothing. “Do you think no one will notice?”

“Oh, I expect them to.” He picked up his table knife and idly balanced it upon the tip of a finger. “I have their crowns, and that is what makes a sovereign.” He smiled. “That and one’s birth. But you know all about that, don’t you? The survivors are the ones who write the history books. What does it matter to the common man who sits on the throne?” He set the knife down. “No one will care, Princess, as long as the goods keep moving.”

Disgusted, I undid the necklace’s clasp and threw the jewelry across the room. It hit the floor in a pile of glittering stone and metal. The old sentry behind Garrett shifted. Jeck never moved, quietly watching.

Thin lips tight, Garrett rose to retrieve it. “How long you live after we consummate our marriage is up to you. There will be no children. You won’t be allowed to carry them to term.”

He paced the length of the table to me, his anger hidden but for the sharpness of his steps. Jeck was poised as Garrett replaced the necklace. I kept my hands in my lap with a white-knuckled strength. I’d never dart all of them. I had to get Garrett to make them leave.

“If you are troublesome I’ll feed you to your dogs,” Garrett whispered in my ear from over my shoulder. “Be agreeable, and I’ll simply treat you like one.”

My breath came and went.
Anger
, I thought, my hands beginning to sweat in their tight grip. Garrett was reckless when he was angry. If I could make him angry, he would want to remind me I was a guttersnipe. He couldn’t do that properly unless the sentries left, especially his more valuable captain.

The beginnings of an idea set my heart to hammer. I waited until he sat down and took up his wine before I yanked the necklace off, snapping through the clasp. It reached the wall this time. There was a crack of a jewel breaking.

Garrett’s face reddened. “Gutter trull,” he snarled, standing so quickly his chair scraped against the stone floor. “You broke it!”

“Princess,” I insisted, making the word as imperialistic as I could. “Put that on me again, and I’ll toss it into the harbor’s chu pits the first chance I get.”

“It would suit you better then, wouldn’t it,” he said, his perfect hair shifting out of place.

“Look at you,” I mocked. “Coming to the table smelling of horse and with dust on your boots.

You’re nothing but an unwanted extra son to be sold for your father’s gain.”

“Shut your mouth!” he cried, his refined voice harsh.

“Don’t speak to me in that tone,” I demanded. “I am Your Highness or Princess.”

Garrett crossed the room in tight strides. “You two, get out,” he said to the guards, but his eyes were on me. His fingers were trembling, and his freckles were lost behind his red face.

My pulse raced, and I worked to keep victory from my eyes. “Second son,” I goaded. “Worthless but for what a
woman
can give him.”

“Leave us,” Garrett said through gritted teeth. “I have a few words of love I wish to speak to my bride, and I am—shy.”

Olen edged to the door, but Jeck stood firm. Garrett took his murderous eyes from mine. “I said leave!” he demanded.

“Prince Garrett, I’m against this. She is—”

“A woman!” Garrett said, spitting the words. “Get out.”

“This is a mistake—”

Garrett stiffened. “Get—out,” he repeated. “Don’t contradict me again.”

A muscle near Jeck’s eye twitched. I stiffened as he moved, not to the door, but to me.

“What are you doing?” Garrett exclaimed as Jeck took a cord from his pocket and began binding my unresisting hands in my lap.

“Securing her before I go, Prince Garrett.” His words were clipped and seethed with frustration. I could smell his sweat of repressed anger as his one hand gripped both my wrists.

“
Get out
!” Garrett shouted, cuffing the larger man. His raised voice brought a Misdev guard from the kitchen, looking awkward wearing an apron in his new role of cook. “I don’t need a woman tied up before me. Get out before you’re whipped!”

I shivered, though the anger in Jeck’s eyes wasn’t directed at me. The cord slipped from my wrists and disappeared into Jeck’s pocket. The guard from the kitchen eased back into hiding, and the old sentry stood uncomfortably by the archway to the banquet hall.

“Prince Garrett,” Jeck said flatly, “my apologies.” He turned on his heel and left with Olen going first.

I didn’t watch him leave. I couldn’t. If Jeck recognized the victory in my eyes, I knew he would risk a whipping and stay. The sound of Jeck’s thick boots was loud in the banquet hall, and I swore I heard the painful thump of something, or someone, hitting the wall.

“His father was a farmer,” Garrett said scornfully. “The breeding always shows.”

“Oh,” I said lightly. “Your mother ran on all fours, did she?”

Garrett lunged, grabbing my arm and pinching it painfully. “You may want to shift your grip higher,” I taunted, ignoring the hurt. “Most of my dresses show my arm there. It would be a shame to leave a bruise for everyone to see.”

“Beggar’s get!” he said, yanking me out of my chair, and forcing my back onto the table. “You’re my play-pretty,” the prince said, his beautiful face ugly. “Nothing more. Irritate me, and I’ll hurt you. Even a queen is alone from time to time, and you will be alone more than most, stupid woman.”

My eyes narrowed, my arm a flaming agony where he was gripping it. “Are you through?” I said, and his green eyes became choleric. He yanked me up. I reached for a needle. I jammed it into his chest.

Garrett stumbled back, releasing me. “Slattern!” he cried, plucking out the dart and throwing it to the floor. “I’ll beat you myself for that!”

I scrambled sideways along the table as he grabbed for me. But his stance wavered. Face ashen, his hesitated. He met my expectant expression in horror, realizing the needle was more than decoration. His mouth opened, and he clutched at his chest. He made a strangled moan. I watched, shocked and horrified at how fast he crumpled to the floor.

Heart pounding, my gaze darted from one empty archway to the other.
How much time
? I thought as I knelt by the convulsing prince. “You’re a Misdev dog,” I whispered, knowing from experience he would remember everything until he passed out. “You’re foolish and ambitious, and your father will thank me for ridding him of such a dangerous combination.”

“N-n-n-n-n,” Garrett stammered, his eyes rolling back and his limbs jerking. Foam caught at the corners of his mouth. He was terrified, and rightly so. Not knowing if you would be able to stop jerking long enough to take a clean breath was enough to make one insane. I wiped the sweat of remembered fear from my hands, glad when he passed out, his limbs going slack and still.

“Cur,” I muttered, feeling ill as I rolled him over so I could see his shoulder. Pulling another needle from my topknot, I lifted his collar. I’d take his life as easily as a rabbit’s.

“Prince Garrett,” came Jeck’s voice from the banquet hall. There was the sound of boots.

I took a panicked breath. Jeck crashed into me, knocking me from Garrett. The scent of horse filled my senses. I jammed the dart into Jeck where his jerkin parted to show skin.

“Damn,” I heard him pant, but his grip tightened instead of falling from me as expected. He pinned me to the floor. My arm was still free, and I scrambled for another dart. Why wasn’t he going down!?

Panicking, I scratched his neck with the new dart to leave a trail of blood. His fingers went slack. My breath whooshed out as his deadweight fell upon me. His breath came in a quick heave. I could feel the beginnings of tremors in him.

I frantically shoved him off me, already gripping my last dart. Crouched, I waited a breathless moment, then gathered my skirts and crept to the archway. I peeked around the corner to find the dining hall empty and dark. Satisfied no one had heard, I turned.

Garrett was unconscious, but Jeck wasn’t. Not only was he still awake, but he had pulled himself into a sitting position against the wall. He watched me through eyes weaving in and out of focus. His large body mass wasn’t enough to explain how he could ward off the effects of two darts. He must have a shade of immunity, and I wondered where he had gotten it. The look in his eyes made it clear he knew I was going to kill his prince.

Shaking inside, I went over to where Garrett lay. I crouched and brushed aside a fold of cloth to show skin not yet toughened by age, still freckled and smooth. He was no older than I was. My fingers trembled. I had never taken anyone’s life.

I was suddenly sickened. My eyes closed as revenge bitterly cried for justice. “He killed my parents,”

I whispered, trying to become angry. Garrett shuddered, unconscious. I cursed my indecision, my weakness. He deserved death for what he had done.

“No,” I said with a frantic exhalation and pulled away. Killing him now was a mistake. Garrett’s men had the palace and outer garrisons. Unless I had control of the palace, King Edmund would descend upon me in retaliation, finishing what his son started. I couldn’t retake the palace alone. I needed help.

My eyes rose, and my stomach churned. I needed the chancellor. I needed Kavenlow.

Tucking my last dart back into my topknot, I went to Jeck. He was shivering from the venom. I was impressed; he ought to be dead. He watched me, his eyes showing pain but no fear, waiting to see which way the wind would blow. “I won’t make my people go to war over a stupid man’s death,” I whispered.

“I’m leaving to get help, not fleeing—and I’m giving Garrett the chance to escape. Tell your king I spared his son’s life once. I’ll kill him if he is still in my palace when I return.” I glanced to the kitchen at the sound of the cook coming up the passage.

“But you—aren’t—the Red Moon Princess,” Jeck grunted, his mustache twitching as he forced the words past his lips.

He was right, and I blinked. I’d forgotten. I leaned close, knowing I only had a moment. “I am now,”

I said, shoving him over and making sure he had a good view of the wall.

A sound of outrage slipped from me as I saw the hilt of my bone knife showing from behind the hem of his jerkin. “That’s mine!” I said, taking it in a flash of self-righteous anger.

It was light in my grip, but I felt safer for having it, paltry as it would be against a sword. Garrett’s necklace I left where it was. I didn’t want anything he had touched, and selling it would only start a trail to me.

The glow of approaching lights in the large hall brought my head up. “Chu pits!” I swore under my breath. This was not what I needed. I looked frantically at the kitchen passage. The cook was coming. I had nowhere to go. My eyes lit upon the covered fireplace.

I dove for it, settling the tapestry behind me with a silent prayer that no one would see the soft movement. I had hidden here a score of times while playing hide-and-seek as a child. I crouched, trying to slow my breathing.
Hide-and-seek
, I thought as the cook entered and shouted for help. Only this time, my life hung on the outcome.

Six

I heard the cook’s boots falter. Stooping, I found the thin spot in the tapestry I’d made as a child.