Beguiled (The Fairest Maidens #2) - Jody Hedlund Page 0,56

was Pearl creeping closer to the trap the queen had laid out for her. For surely that’s what this was. The queen was taking advantage of the sisterly bond, a bond that would drive Pearl to go to any lengths to save Ruby.

Though Pearl might have the advantage of stealth and was proficient with her weapons, the queen would keep Ruby under heavy guard. Every entrance and exit would be carefully monitored. If Pearl managed to make it all the way to Ruby, it would be only because the queen allowed it.

Once the queen had Pearl, would she try to kill her?

Every muscle in my body protested the prospect of losing her. The thought should have surprised me. After all, breaking with tradition and returning to Scania with a wife would cause a disturbance amongst the Lagting.

Yet, even with the heavy censure awaiting me, my heart ached at the prospect of not being together with Pearl. I couldn’t deny the powerful connection I had with her or the attraction that had grown with each passing day. Aside from how much I desired her, I’d also never had so deep a friendship with anyone, man or woman. And I couldn’t abide the thought of losing so close a friend. In fact, the possibility of life without Pearl filled me with such melancholy I wanted to weep.

I pushed aside my mug, lowered my head, and prayed. At the moment, prayer was the only weapon I had.

Chapter

18

Pearl

The passageway was steeper than I remembered. And longer.

I’d been but a wee child the last time I used the tunnel with my father, and my memories were tempered by time. Moreover, unlike the tension of the present, our exploring had been carefree as we pretended we were escaping from the castle far above while it was under attack from a dangerous enemy. I’d raced up and down the winding trails while my father chased after, the low ceilings and narrow walls impeding his movement as they were now doing to mine.

In hindsight, I couldn’t help but wonder if my father’s motivation for taking me to the passageway had been much deeper than mere child’s play. Had he been preparing me for a real siege? Or had he worried I’d have a need to escape the queen one day?

Regardless, I was grateful I could get into the castle without having to go through the main gatehouse. While I might have been able to use my veil to disguise myself for a short time, eventually someone would have recognized me and alerted the queen to my presence.

Now I hoped I could enter and exit undetected during the dark of night with fewer servants and soldiers to evade.

I’d expected a guard at the entrance in the underground burial chambers of the cathedral, but no one had been there, not even the nuns who lived in the abbey above the vault. It hadn’t taken overlong to pick the locks securing the hidden door. But I accomplished the feat with one of my hairpins, grateful for the many ways Irontooth had prepared me for this return.

I paused and held out my torch, straining to see ahead. My neck and shoulders ached from stooping for so long. But after an hour of climbing, I could finally see the end.

Releasing a taut breath, I allowed myself the first respite since I’d snuck out the upstairs window of the tavern after darkness had fallen. No doubt Mikkel was furious with me for leaving. And no doubt he’d guessed I was setting off on a rescue of Ruby without him. I hated the prospect that he was angry and perhaps disappointed in me.

Nevertheless, I preferred to keep him alive and experience his wrath rather than to risk him falling into the queen’s hands. That meant I had to return to the tavern with Ruby by first light before he and Gregor left for the castle once more.

I braced a hand against the cold stone wall and glanced back down the winding tunnel, now dark and silent. My torchlight illuminated spiderwebs, rat droppings, and crumbling stone. The passageway hadn’t been used in years, perhaps not since my father’s and my escapades. Did the queen even remember it was here? If she did, I hoped she didn’t know Father had revealed it to me and consequently have guards posted at the top.

With my back hunched, I scrambled up the last incline. As I rounded a final bend, I ducked under more dusty spiderwebs. The passageway widened and