The Kingdom's Crown (Inheritance of Hunger #3) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,60

trying to bully my mother."

"Queen Peony has just vividly expressed her disapproval of the shifters being forced into labor work, and their disproportionate taxation," Daniel said, proud and bright.

Cresswell looked as though I could've knocked him over with a little touch. "Only to us," I said, looking between them. "But I am relieved to know that she seemed unaware of the state of things."

"Bryony this is…this could change things," Cresswell said, a slow smile growing.

"We are still relying on her," I whispered, looping an arm into each of theirs and pulling them along with me before anyone in the castle might find an opportunity to eavesdrop on us. "There's a great deal between what my mother just said and her actually doing something about it. Let's just see where her head is at when the funeral comes."

Cresswell was about to say more, when Head Guard Amos appeared ahead of us in the hall.

"Your Highness," he said with a quick bow. "I was wondering if you had a moment."

"Of course."

"It's Miss Johns. Lily," he added at my blank stare.

Cresswell and Daniel both stiffened on either side of me. "Oh!"

"Did she escape?" Cresswell barked.

I wanted to laugh at the obvious offense Amos took at the question, but I didn't think it would make him any less annoyed if I started giggling.

"Of course not," the older man said. "It's just…I wonder if Your Highness has considered the matter of what to do with the girl. She is with child, and there's been no mention of a trial or…"

Or execution. My heart sank at the very idea.

"Your mother was made aware of her questioning and imprisonment, but I haven't had any questions from Her Majesty, and as it stands, you are… Well, at the moment, we are the ones who know where she is held. It's not how things are generally done, but I thought I ought to inquire if you had any opinions regarding her fate."

"I have several, as a matter of fact," I said, mind racing. Cresswell was going to kill me for quite a few of them, I suspected. "Could you take me to see her?"

"Us," Cresswell corrected, not relaxing as I soothed a hand over his arm.

"Of course, Your Highness," Amos said, bowing and then gesturing for us to follow.

"You don't have to come, if you don’t want to,” I said to Daniel. He'd checked on Lily a couple of times for me already, and I knew he held a kind of sympathy for the girl. He'd been manipulated by nobility himself, and I suspected Lily's plight reminded him of his mother as well.

"No, I want to," Daniel said, gravity and worry softening his tone again.

I nodded, and together we followed Head Guard Amos through the castle.

Lily Johns was kept in an entirely different part of the dungeons now. The light in the halls was brighter, there were no echoes of men's voices moaning from within dank cells, and the guard in the hall was seated until we reached him, a book open on a small table with a small plate of food. Still, her door was locked and the window of her small but comfortable room was high and narrow. She startled as the key turned, and I watched her through the small slitted window on the door, her hands trembling as she smoothed her skirt and stood.

"Oh! Your—Your Highness!" Lily sank into a low curtsey, her face paling at my arrival. "I was not—I did not expect…"

She wobbled in place, head shaking a little. They had found her a new dress, taking away the maid's uniform, and the waist was tight around her middle, the start of her swelling belly now apparent. Her hair was braided down her back, a pretty shade of auburn.

"I'm sorry to surprise you, Lily. Please, sit."

She stood straight, arms covering her stomach, and looked between the four of us, eyes wide and terrified. "Have you… Is my fate decided then?" she whispered, looking to Head Guard Amos.

"Not quite," I answered. "And some of it depends on you."

Lily swallowed hard, eyes welling with tears and blinking quickly. "Please, Your Highness. Please, just let the babe be born—Please, don't—"

"You're not going to be executed," I said quickly, my own voice catching as I hurried for the young woman.

She flinched at my approach, but she didn't pull away as I reached for her arms. I let her go immediately, realizing that the last time I'd touched her, I had forced her to confess truths she almost