Besotted (The Fairest Maidens #3) - Jody Hedlund Page 0,52

her father there from time to time over the years. Such knowledge confirms that Aurora lives in the forest.”

“It confirms she lived here at one time,” Vilmar interjected. “But we don’t know if she still does.”

I pushed my trencher away as it was now completely empty. In my months of deprivation, I’d learned to appreciate every morsel and to waste nothing. “Even if your Princess Pearl can find Queen Aurora when all others have failed, would she be so cruel as to trade one life in order to save another?”

Mikkel twisted his mug, the muscles in his jaw flexing. “We do not intend to actually hand over Aurora. Only to use her to lure the queen out so we may put an end to her tyranny.”

With each passing moment, I was growing more suspicious of their undertaking. Something wasn’t adding up. “Attack the lodge. Surround it and lay a siege.”

Vilmar shook his head. “Though Boarshead Hunting Lodge has no perimeter wall, it is surrounded by a gully where she has trapped numerous basilisks. No one can get past the creatures without dying.”

At the revelation, I paused a moment. “How, then, do she and her people come and go from the lodge without fearing for their lives?”

“She is cunning.” Vilmar’s smile was wry, as though he knew just how cunning. “She has developed a protective bridge connected to the lodge that can be raised and lowered.”

“So her lodge is impenetrable.”

“Yes,” Mikkel spoke tersely. “That is why we must draw the queen out. And the best way to do so is to stage an exchange of prisoners. Only then will we have access to Ruby and the queen in one occasion.”

Somehow I guessed he wanted to involve me in this mission, but what exactly did he want?

As if sensing my unasked question, Mikkel leaned in further. “Vilmar and the other freed slaves have agreed to join in the effort to rescue Princess Ruby and capture Queen Margery. I would like to know I can count on you and any of your companions to do the same.”

“I am always at your service. Though with my leg wound, I doubt I will be of much aid.”

“Then perhaps you would be of service in another way.”

“How so?” I stiffened, having the feeling this was the true reason he’d sought me out and that I wouldn’t like his request.

“Since you and Jorg know the forest better than any of us, will you help us track Aurora?”

“Track Aurora and put her into grave danger not of her own making and possibly risk her life and throne?”

Mikkel didn’t look away. “We will all put our lives at risk to destroy Queen Margery. However, doing so will put an end to her threat to Mercia, which will bring peace and security during Aurora’s reign.”

The conversation had grown increasingly tense. But that was always the way it was with Mikkel. I grabbed my mug and took a sip of ale, needing to bide my time and figure out how to refuse him without offense. All I wanted to do was finish my Testing, get Rory, and return to Scania. Mikkel and Vilmar’s trouble with Warwick’s queen wasn’t my problem, and they needed to figure out how to solve their issues without involving me.

I took another swig, set down my mug, and started to push away. Vilmar reached across the table and snagged my arm. “Wait. You need to hear the full story about just how wicked Queen Margery is before you make up your mind.”

I stared at his fingers grasping my sleeve and wanted to shrug him off. My brothers had never paid me much heed while in Scania. Why should I give them heed now?

“Please?” Vilmar’s forehead furrowed. “Though our father and the Lagting couldn’t have known Queen Margery’s deep, evil secrets, ’tis entirely possible God ordained our Testing here on the Great Isle to rid the land of her darkness.”

I extricated my arm from his grasp. “Queen Margery’s darkness has nothing to do with me in Mercia.”

“The effects of her greed and evil have spread everywhere, and her threat will only grow,” Vilmar insisted. “Even the presence of the basilisks here in the forest is because of her.”

I’d heard variations of such a rumor from the people who lived in the forest, but I didn’t stop Vilmar as he relayed what he knew.

“Many years ago, she had the deadly reptiles brought to Warwick for use in her alchemy. She experimented with many recipes, including one that called for