The Flower Crown Princess

Part 21

A knock at my door as my braids are pinned into place and covered with a sheer veil (I am trying to transition from my old standards of modesty to my new ones). Jennis goes to open it, and according to plan is my betrothed, with impeccable timing and a sharply pressed grey coat.

I walk to the doorway, dropping a slight curtsy as he bows, extending a hand. "My lady, I believe you have a visit to make, and I'm to escort you." He looks up at me and smiles a rather handsome smile, his eyes twinkling and dark curls wild. I take his hand with a smile of my own.

"If you will excuse me, my ladies, I'll be back soon." I turn away from them and step into the corridor. My chamber door shuts behind me.

I slip my arm into his and we walk down the flight of stairs in silence. Finally I turn to Asdagh.

"You know of the plan?" I dare not speak in more than a whisper, even in the empty hall.

 "My father told me of my part." Asdagh replies equally quietly, turning his eyes to meet mine. I feel a sort of thrill when his meet mine. I've got my whole life to see them, though- the thought makes me feel a little bit warm and fuzzy inside.

"Are you ready?" I'm almost more asking myself, rather than him.

"Yes," he replies shortly. "We'd better be careful," he adds. "If you are correct in your assumption of these rebels- and I very much believe you are- then they are everywhere. And they are watching."

His eyes break off from mine and roam the vaulted ceiling. Asdagh's first words to me were not a true representation of his character- it is only in matters of his ascendance to the throne that he is sensitive. He's really a very thoughtful man- very kind and considerate of me. And I'm to marry him...!

We come into a bare hallway, through a thick, barred door. He stops.

"I won't take you farther than this," he breathes. "I'll be able to hear every word you say, though, but they won't- can't- know I'm here. Just go to the right, then the left. The accused are in the cells right there." He looks at me once more and his blue eyes soften with his smile. "Good luck."

I manage a smile back and go forward, turning right. My footsteps echo down the stone corridor, my breath ragged as I turn the corner I wipe my clammy hands on the stormy fabric. Asdagh has released me, and so I walk alone.

The guards are gone, absent from their posts. I knew that it would be so, but still their absence makes me feel bare and unprotected. This is all part of the plan, I remind myself. It's supposed to be like this.

I draw a deep breath. Shake my shoulders out before I speak to those I see in the cells. They all have their heads down. I hope my grey dress has made me less noticeable, but they don't see me yet. Can they hear my heart pounding? It seems louder than a hundred drums.

I go over the plan one more time in my head, though I've spent the night reviewing it more thoroughly than I've ever thought of anything.

"Asdagh will take you to the dungeons on the ruse of identifying the prisoners. The guards will be gone, but those accused will be safely chained and secretly watched." I hear the king's calm, steady voice repeat the words. "You will go down to their cells completely alone, then you will say-"

"What a pleasure, Princess," comes a voice. "You honor us with your presence." The sarcastic voice is without a doubt Nolan's- or Cadvan, or whatever else he has been called.

"I've come to speak with all of you." You know the plan, Nivh. Follow it.

"Are you going to have us executed?" The servant girl from Tuanc speaks up. She does not sound afraid, only defiant.

I laugh a bit. "Quite on the contrary." Do I sound like I'm acting? Sincerity -forced or otherwise- is key.

Silence from the guilty.

I draw a breath, feigning seriousness. "We are alone. I made sure no guards were here." I feel the prince listening from behind the corner.

"How did you manage to do that?" Nolan speaks with a genuine interest.

I smile. "When you're to marry the crown prince in six months, you have power to do whatever you want. I promised I'd be alright. You won't hurt me- for one thing, you're chained to the wall. And after you hear me out, I'll be of utmost importance to you."

"You know that you're everything we fight against?"

I raise an eyebrow. "If you would please listen."

He falls silent.

"I haven't come to condemn you. Quite the opposite. I'm here to join in your cause."

Kell looks up and speaks for the first time that I've heard today.

"How do we know you won't betray us? You could be trying to learn our secrets. Why are you toying with us?"

I move closer and look gravely into his face before dropping my eyes to the stone -strewn ground.

"Look," I begin in a hushed voice. I put emotion into my tone and look up at him again. "How would you not meet the person you were to spend your life with?" I glance at the servant girl. "To be naught but a pawn in the game of your parents?" A muscle twitches in Nolan's jaw. "I was formally betrothed last night, after knowing Prince Asdagh for but a couple of days. It was what I'd been bred for. I thought I was ready." I turn my voice bitter. "Instead, I am to become queen by the time I'm sixteen. I was such a sheltered child; I know little in the way of ruling. Everything I know is in theory, and here? I see a people who need help. I can't help them. All that the prince will do is make things worse! And there's no way in heaven or otherwise he'll ever listen to me- a woman, and one that belongs to him at that." I look up at Kell, staring deep into his eyes. He does not break the gaze, and as I speak I keep my eyes locked on him. "You understand me. In the eyes of the Dawning, I am more important than someone to bear a son. I can change things." Faux passion fills my lying words. "And nobody else will know of my decision to join you. I'll be queen and get state secrets- and no one will ever suggest little Nivh of any kind of treason. I always was the demure little girl."

Kell's eyes have become to intense for me to stand. I look down at my ring and wrench it from my finger. "Look," I say when they don't respond to my speech. "I don't want this ring. It's worth a lot of money- and no merchant here has seen it. Go to the jeweler's by the north port of the city- he won't ask questions. I can't do any more but ask you to sell my ring. Tonight. Don't escape before nightfall."

"Won't someone notice the missing gem?" asks the girl. 

"I get another one in a few month's time, when I get married. I'll claim that this one didn't fit and slipped off my finger." I shrug, then move to the next stage.

I unlock Kell first with the key pulled from my pocket, letting my fingers brush along his skin for longer than necessary and smiling at him, catching his gaze with my own. Leaving the lock in place, but unlocked, I move on to freeing Nolan and the servant girl.

"Good luck," I say as I walk away. "No earlier than dark, no later than midnight."

*****

Asdagh walks me back to my room, both of us satisfied. They seemed to eat my act right up- I'm perfectly confident that they'll escape tonight. 

And so I watch from my window from dark. At ten- thirty I see three tiny black specks get into a minuscule boat and paddle onto the lake.

So far, so good.