Rescuing Rapunzel (29 page)

His mother and father stood to his left and Tressey to his right. They waited for the execution of the former Duke von Gruenewald and Madame Gothel. The hanging platform had been erected, starting yesterday afternoon, when the grand duke’s ruling had been read. Nick had been released of all charges against him, as he had acted in self defense, as well as in the defense of his betrothed. Even the grand duke understood the need to defend one’s love.

Penn, however, was not pleased with the grand duke’s decision. Penn, who usually had a smile and a charming word on his lips at any given moment, looked stricken. He had been given von Gruenewald’s holdings–all of them–and would officially become Duke von Gruenewald when the execution was over. Nick had hoped Penn would be happy, for the holdings would be back where they belonged. Instead, Penn looked ready to murder someone.

Bryan had received a commendation and another title, bringing him to the higher rank of Marquis von Auerbach, which he adapted to instantly.

Yet even with all this swirling around Nick, only one thing mattered. Tressey was leaving. He knew she needed to go, but still did not understand why she wished to cancel the betrothal. He had only just found her. He did not want to lose her.

Not now. Not ever.

The deep rhythm of a drum began to beat and the prisoners were escorted to the platform, pulling Nick’s attention from Tressey. The entire crowd shifted, their attention riveted to the prisoners coming to the platform.

There was a flavor of death in the air, an expectation of justice. Slowly Orbert took the platform, his true tendencies revealed as he sniveled and sobbed with every step. His cries echoed through the courtyard as he pleaded obligation to his lands, to his people. As he begged for mercy. The crowd–which included almost every person inhabiting the castle and the grounds, as well as a few travelers from Gruenewald–whispered at the man’s blubbering and, from the tone, not out of pity. And many watched not only the proceedings, but Penn.
 

Nick wondered if he found the sniveling of his uncle amusing, but instead, Penn wore a face of utter sobriety, his expression grim, his brows furrowed in anger.

Gothel walked behind Gruenewald and, unlike him, held her head high. Next to Nick, Tressey took a sharp breath. Gothel looked even older than she had in the dungeons. She was gaunt–her skin pulled tight over her bones–her hair white as though struck by lightning and her eyes wild and pale against the shadows around her eyes.

For a moment, Nick wondered at the necessity of hanging a woman so old and decrepit. Surely she would die soon enough? She seemed most of the way there already. The only part of her to show any life at all was her eyes. She frantically scanned the crowd, though her face never changed expression.

Gruenewald was placed at the noose on the left, Gothel on the right. The drumming continued, increasing in tempo as the headsman placed a hood over Gruenewald’s head and guided him into place. The charges were read against him, and he jerked and twitched with every word.

Nick turned to Tressey, intending to ask her if the sight discomfited her, but she had her eyes on Gothel, who seemed to have found the object of her search at last. Gothel had a faint smile on her lips and her gaze was firmly fixed on someone–or something–though it was not Tressey.

Who was she looking at? He tried to see, but it could have been a number of people, most of whom he did not recognize. He looked back as the headsman approached Gothel, hood at the ready. As they read the charges, her lips moved and Tressey went rigid beside him. She grabbed his hand and pulled him down to her.

“What, what is it?” Nick whispered in her ear.

“She is casting a spell.”

“No, she could not be. It would do no good,” Nick said, trying to reassure her, though he wondered if she was not casting some kind of curse on the castle or the lands. Tressey had told him she was capable of poisoning water supplies, and it was possibly how the von Stroebels’ plague had started.

Panic washed through him and he headed for one of the soldiers near the platform. “Send some men to check all the castle water supplies.”

“My lord?” the soldier asked, looking at him as if he were crazy.

“Go, do it. I want to be sure the water has not been poisoned.”

The guard nodded, eyes wide. After all, most of the residents–including the merchants who kept their tents in the far corner of the courtyard–used the castle’s supply. It was fed by several underground springs into a large reservoir beneath. If, somehow, Gothel had managed to escape her cell and poison the water… He did not want to think of the repercussions.

The drumming reached its crescendo, and Nick turned just in time to see the bodies fall.

That should have been the end of it.

Instead, a massive puff of smoke burst from Gothel’s body, clouding the platform and the first few rows of people. Everyone choked, coughing and crying out as they tried to move away from the smoke, only to run into those behind them.

“Tressey.”

Nick turned to look for her. He caught glimpses of her through the panicking crowd. She stood utterly motionless in the chaos, staring at Gothel’s body and the smoke swirling around her. Her eyes were wide and her mouth moved as she waved her hands in the air. He was only moments away from her, when he almost tripped over someone on their hands and knees on the ground.

“Enrika!”

Kiki scooped something up and shoved it in her dress.

Nick spat a curse, picking his sister off the ground. “What are you doing? You are going to get yourself killed!”

She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, for once, and she let him drag her to Tressey. Nick, being taller than almost everyone, was able to see around the crowd, and began herding both women toward the castle. His mother and father had already made it back to the main entrance.

The smoke had begun to dissipate by the time the trio joined them, but the coughing only seemed to be worsening. Men and women had tears in their eyes as they coughed to fight the bitter smell. Nick’s eyes were starting to burn, and he reached to rub them.

“Do not!” Tressey said, grabbing his arm. “That will only irritate it. Water. You need water.”

Nick nodded, and started directing them toward the nearest wellhead. Evidently, he was not alone in his thinking, and many people swarmed near one, fighting over access to the water.

He worked his way toward the water supply but when he reached it, paused. The guard had not returned to report on the water. This could very well have been part of Gothel’s plan for revenge. Anxiety gnawed at his stomach. He had to do something. He could not let everyone become sick.

“Please, wait!” he called.

Tressey surged through the crowd. “One line, everyone, please…” She reached for the water and Nick stopped her.

People screamed and cried for relief, but several guards had arrived and were keeping them under control. For the moment.

“Wait,” he said. “We do not know if it is tainted…”

“And we will not know until we try it.” Tressey pulled the ladle out of the bucket and sniffed the water.

“Tressey, no.”

“I would know quicker than anyone if it is poisoned and needed an antidote.”

Before he could stop her, she splashed some in her eyes, then took a great sip off the ladle.

She began to cough and Nick slapped the ladle out of her hand. “Tressey!” He turned to one of the guards. “Get a healer here now!”

Tressey waved her hands in the air. “No, no, wait, please…” She coughed again. When she looked at him, she smiled. “It went down wrong.”

Nick let out a breath, and glanced at the growing crowd. Their eyes were all beginning to swell.

“It is safe?”

Tressey nodded and started dishing out water to the people in line, helping them wash their eyes out and take a few sips to soothe their throats. The guards assisted, and Nick found a few extra ladles to serve people faster, but it still took almost an hour to attend to everyone.

After the last people were taken care of, Nick turned to look at the two bodies swinging from the platform.

Tressey stepped to his side, rubbing his arm. “It is over. She is gone.”

Nick nodded. “Yes, it is over.”

Chapter 43

“What are you doing?” I asked Nick as he put his hand on the back of my chair at the dining table.

“Yes, Nicolas, what are you doing?” his mother asked, an eyebrow raised.

I had been breaking my fast with the Duchesses von Hohburg and von Stroebel. Though to be honest, I was quite glad to have an excuse to leave the table, for they were not happy with my declaration of breaking the betrothal.

“Tressey has not seen the river bank. I mean to take her down there.” He pulled the chair out more and I hopped up, my napkin falling to the floor.

I had forgotten about the napkin. Would I ever learn the ways of a lady? I let out a sigh as I bent to pick it up. “That sounds wonderful,” I said as I stood and put the napkin on the table.

The Duchess von Stroebel’s gaze moved from Nick to me, then back to Nick. “Who is your chaperone? My daughter needs an escort.”

“My sister is coming,” he said, smiling.

“Good, she can show me her favorite spots to sink my toes into.” The river, with Nick and Kiki? Oh, that would be great fun. I could hardly wait.

“Shall we?”

I nodded and Nick practically dragged me from the dining hall to the front doors. I could not help glancing at him, for he seemed so enthusiastic. Much happier than he was when I told him I wanted to cancel the betrothal. Did my releasing him make him feel so giddy? Or was he merely glad the entire mess with Gothel had been concluded?

He practically skipped across the hall like a carefree child, which made me laugh. Pausing at the door, he picked up a basket.

“You find me funny?” he asked.

“You seem quite enthusiastic.” I gestured to the basket. “What is that?”

“Provisions,” he said with a grin. “I cannot have you hungry when we get to the river.”

I truly wanted to see what a river was like. If only to paint a new memory that was not Gothel’s hanging. It had haunted my dreams all last night and I barely got any rest.

“This sounds wonderful,” I said as we stepped outside, the bright morning sun shining down on us.

“Oh, it will be,” Nick replied, and took me to an open carriage. He put the basket in the seat, then helped me in.

“What made you think of it?” I asked as I peeked at the basket. He had bread and fruit inside.

He climbed in on the other side. “After yesterday, it seemed a good idea to get away.”

“Yes, I agree.”

Nick situated himself, and picked up the reins as one of the horses snorted its impatience at us.

Nick made a clicking noise with his mouth, and off we went.

“Wait,” I said as we started to head toward the main gate. “Where is Kiki?”

He made a show of looking around. “Oh, I must have forgotten her.”

“But Her Grace said I should have an escort…” Concern warred with the excitement of going to the river. I did not want to make another mistake of propriety, yet I wanted to see the river for the first time.

“I think you will be fine. I am strong man. I can protect you from any wild animals.” A glimmer shone in his blue eyes, and it made me pause.

“But…what about…”

“Shh,” he said with a grin. “There is nothing improper about a friend taking another friend to the river.” He urged the horses on, and we passed through the front gate of the castle. Though from the way he had said that, I had to wonder about his definition of
friend
.

“Is that what we are, my lord? Friends?”

“I should certainly hope so,” he replied as he steered the horses down a road. “We have been through a good deal together.”

“Yes, that we have.” Feeling a bit nervous, I reached for my braids, but, of course, they were not there. I let out a sigh, and dropped my hands in my lap. I could not help feeling Nick had another motive.

He must have sensed my hesitation. “Is there something wrong, Tressey?”

“I just… I wonder why you are taking me to the river today.”

“Because you wanted to see it.”

“Besides that.”

“Why else would I take you?”

Looking at his profile, then down at the basket between us, I wondered what had brought on this little adventure. I was not sure I fully trusted his motives. “You are up to something.”

“I am.”

“And what is that?”

“I am attempting to take you to a river bed so you can feel the moss between your toes.”

“But why?”

This time he did turn his head to look at me. “Because it is what you want.”

We rode on, and I tried not to think about what he said, though it was quite hard. The more I thought it through, the more I realized he was doing a great deal because I wanted it so.

This was a small thing.