she took the sheet away from me and scanned it again. “My mother knows I am alive.”
“You guessed that might be a possibility, did you not?”
“Yes, but why is she charging me with treason?”
The queen was clearly searching hard if she had notices posted all the way in Norland.
“Why now? After all this time?” Pearl’s whisper was threaded with both fear and frustration. “And why is she involving Ruby?”
“Perhaps this notice is old.”
Pearl pointed to a small set of numerals at the end. “’Twas penned right after Midsummer’s Eve and likely sent out by couriers to the far corners of the Great Isle.”
Midsummer’s Eve was over a month ago. “Maybe she recently discovered you didn’t die in the hunting accident.”
“’Tis possible. But why threaten Ruby? She is too young and too innocent to be of use to the queen.”
I could come up with only one reason why. “The logical explanation is that the queen intends to use your sister to lure you back to Warwick.”
Pearl dropped the sheet and then bent over and buried her face in her hands. She released a soft groan that ended on a sob.
I placed a hand on her back, wanting to comfort her but unsure how. Ruby meant everything to her, was important enough that Pearl had agreed to marry me in order to save her sister and give her a new home.
Before I could figure out what to say, Pearl rose to her feet, her eyes flashing with determination. “I need to leave now and go after her.”
She started to stalk away, but I lunged for her. Pearl couldn’t just leave for Warwick. Such notices were likely posted in every town and hamlet from here to Warwick. People would be eager to find the princess and turn her over to the queen so they could claim the reward.
Anyone could piece together the truth and betray her. Pearl wouldn’t be safe anywhere. Not even on the Isle of Outcasts.
Even as she struggled against me, I pinned her arms to her side. After experiencing her fighting skills firsthand and watching her train, I anticipated her elbow jab and the ensuing flip. I blocked her and twisted her arm behind her back to subdue her. Of course, I didn’t twist hard, just enough to keep her from moving.
“Release me at once,” she hissed.
“You cannot run off by yourself,” I whispered from behind her. “You will rush right into the queen’s hands, which is exactly what she wants. And if she captures you, how will you rescue Ruby then?”
Pearl held herself rigid for another moment before she sagged into me. She pressed her hands against her veil and mouth but couldn’t muffle her cry of despair. I cupped my hand over hers to aid in stifling the sound. I wrapped my other arm around her and leaned in so my mouth brushed against her ear. “Shh . . . we’ll figure out what to do. I promise.”
Even as I spoke, my mind scrambled to come up with a viable plan, one that would keep Pearl out of the queen’s clutches. If the woman had attempted to kill her daughter once before, what was to keep her from trying again?
My gut churned at the prospect. I didn’t want Pearl to get anywhere near Queen Margery. And yet, I couldn’t stop her from helping Ruby. She’d go whether or not I wanted her to.
Ultimately, we needed to gain access to Ruby without putting either of us in jeopardy. Perhaps wielding my royalty as a weapon was the only way. I would have to go with Pearl and lend her my protection as her husband and as a prince of Scania.
But doing so would mean having to leave the Isle of Outcasts and my Testing. Could I really withdraw from the challenge and forfeit my chance at becoming king? After all, the reason I’d married Pearl was so I wouldn’t have to stop and go home in disgrace.
Shaking my head with mounting frustration, I glanced around the ash pit as if I could somehow find the answers there. But the desolate place contained nothing but the rotting mounds of garbage along with the incinerating ovens and the ash heaps next to them.
Would my hopes and dreams turn to ashes? Or could I continue my Testing somehow? Was it possible that, if I left with Pearl and helped recover Ruby, I could return to the island afterward? The rules stated that if we princes needed to leave our locations for any