Royal Outlaw: (Royal Outlaw, Book 1) (28 page)

“Hallie? Hmmm, that will be interesting.”

Then Mariel paused and thought about everything Cara had said. Suspicion grew when she remembered the second name her young friend had mentioned.

“Who else is my lady’s maid?”

Cara’s eyes grew big and she bit her lip as she ducked her head.

Seeing Cara’s reaction, Mariel knew the answer to her question. She wanted to hear the name spoken aloud though. Remembering she needed to be careful with Cara, Mariel crouched in front of her friend. She lifted Cara’s chin and set her unique, dark green eyes on her, hoping that only curiosity shone through, and not the anger that blazed.

“Who else?”

“A few other girls you’ll meet when you arrive at the capital. I don’t know them. But I think one of them is Janette’s sister.” 

“Who else?”

“There’s me—although I don’t know why. And there is Hallie. I think you might like her. I haven’t told her about learning to fight, but . . .”

“Cara, who else from the finishing school?”

Taking a deep breath, Cara forced out the name: “Isabel.”

Mariel rocked back and swore violently. She stood and walked to the armoire. Her first temptation was to take out her throwing knives, but she had nothing to throw them at except the affluence of the suite. That idea was appealing, but it seemed childish.

Instead, she yanked out Aracklin and settled into a pattern exercise. Tristan was smart enough to move to the far wall of the room, out of reach of the weapon. While Cara remained sitting, watching.

Fatigue began to drag on Mariel, but her anger was too strong to give in to the weakness. Luckily, High Priestess returned with a steaming bowl of soup and warm bread before Mariel could begin a second exercise. Mariel devoured the soup, but the bread reminded her of the betrayal of Lizzie, so she avoided it.

* * *

Mariel woke before dawn, just as she had the previous days. She quietly performed her morning routine of exercises and ran laps around the massive suite.

Today was the day her three new lady’s maids were to move in. The prospect of having Cara’s company was appealing. Hallie would not be as welcome, but Mariel thought she might learn to consider her as a friend. And then there was Isabel. Mariel wanted to throw her out before she even stepped through the door.

When Dreyfuss had visited her suite the previous night, Mariel had launched into an argument with him about the news Cara broke to her earlier. She could not stand having the insufferable, arrogant noblewoman near her at any time, let alone all the time. Mariel had taken the tactic of pointing out that Isabel hated her and would be happy to see her dead. Dreyfuss had not been amused. He spoke about politics and nobles needing to be pleased—things that Mariel did not want to think about.

She would have to deal with Isabel later. Right now, she planned to find more of her contacts and interrogate them on a more pressing issue. It was important to find out who was trying to kill her. A nagging voice in the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like the black fox kept telling her that it did not matter what other people said, she had to remember what had happened in the two gaps in her memory. The information was vital to her survival. But Mariel refused to face those memories, or admit that she feared them.

Her peasant attire had been confiscated by Dreyfuss, but she could always steal more. Securing her knives beneath her chemise, she threw a cloak about her shoulders and headed toward the study.

She skillfully picked the lock, but when she opened the door a surprise waited for her.

“Going somewhere?” Tristan asked, his muscular arms crossed in front of his broad chest.

Mariel gave him her best pleading look, angry with herself for revealing the secret of her escape to him.

“Would you please let me out? I’ll only be gone for a little while and I’ll be safe.”

“I don’t want to spend the rest of my days hauling putrid buckets of slop and chipping other people’s crap off wooden seats.”

“Not even if I promise to bring back a pie for you? I know that isn’t part of rations for soldiers.”

“No.”

She scowled. “You can’t guard me every moment of every day, you have to sleep sometime.”

“I’ll sleep during the day, when hundreds of people wander the Citadel corridors and a young woman in a silk chemise would be easily spotted.”

Mariel slammed the door on his face and marched back to her room.

“Men prefer women who are beautiful and delicate and can easily charm others. They don’t want noisy girls with callused hands who can fight. Your fathers will disown you when they learn what you are doing.”

Mariel released Hallie’s wrist and turned to face Isabel who stood outside on the balcony, her silky black hair reflecting the October sunlight.

“At least they won’t be dependent on men for survival.”

Isabel scoffed. “Of course not. No man would deign to marry such
virile
women.”

“Virile? Where did you learn such a fancy word like that? Surely, your mother didn’t teach it to you from all her romps with men.”

“How dare you!” Isabel took any angry step toward the princess.

“Are you going to attack me? That’s not very ladylike.”

Isabel growled and stomped off angrily. Her dark hair, which had grown long again, swished as she slammed the door behind her.

Cara seemed horrified by the scene, but Hallie sighed and looked at the grinning princess. “Why do you always try to get a rise out of her?”

“She’s manipulative and cruel, she doesn’t deserve kindness.”

“And it’s up to you to decide who is worthy of rewards and punishments?”

Mariel felt like she was being scolded for acting like a corrupt monarch. The comment disturbed her.

“Cara, attack Hallie.”

Mariel watched the fight. She was proud as she watched the meek girl bravely fight the larger girl. Cara, who had been training for months, easily won the match against Hallie. Hallie did not work as hard as Cara, although Mariel suspected this was because learning to defend herself was less personal for the earl’s daughter than it was for the abused girl. Yet, despite this, Hallie had willingly joined their exercise sessions when the lady’s maids had moved into the royal suite and she had improved over the previous two weeks.

Hallie was not the only one getting in better shape, Mariel’s strength and stamina had increased too. Her left arm still hurt her occasionally, but that pain was not as bad as it had been before and the muscles were growing stronger.

She wished she could say the same about her mental state. The three lady’s maids could leave the royal suite as often as they liked, but Mariel was not so lucky. Since sneaking out two weeks before to seek information from Lizzie and Tristan, Mariel had not left the suite.

The amount of men guarding her at all times had been doubled to twelve. Both the main entrance and the entrance to the office were guarded. She might be able to sneak passed the other guards if she was clever enough, but Tristan was the trick and he waited for her every night.

The contact Mariel had with people was severely limited to her guards, her lady’s maids, High Priestess, and Dreyfuss. No one else was allowed in and she was never permitted to leave. She had never felt more like a prisoner.

“Good,” Mariel told the two girls. “Now attack me.”

Both girls launched toward her. Hallie was on her rear in a heartbeat. Cara lasted longer.

“It helps if you bend your knees,” Cara told the larger girl and lifted her skirts to demonstrate.

Mariel could not resist a smile. Cara had come a long way since Mariel had first met her roommate. Learning to fight made Cara more confident.

Giving Cara space to teach, Mariel stepped out onto the balcony that Isabel had abandoned. Someone powerful was trying to kill her. Someone who had magic and who had torn her apart. An assassin who terrified her so much Mariel could not remember him or his attempts on her life.

The smell of reeking carcasses. The feel of brown recluse spiders on her skin. The image of grey robes. Fear seized Mariel and she was momentarily paralyzed by it. She shook her head to bring her senses back to the present.

Breathing heavily, she grasped the balcony railing. She could not bear to face her memories. But who, or what, could have that sort of effect on the fearless outlaw? She glanced over her shoulder to make sure neither Hallie nor Cara had seen her panic attack.

She was conflicted. She did not want to face her past, but she needed to know who wanted her dead. Mariel thought she had solved that problem by finding her contacts, but the only people she had been able to question were Lizzie and Tristan before she had been locked up in this suite. She needed answers, but she could not leave.

Cara and Hallie could come and go from the suite as they pleased and they could easily find her spies and contacts and ask them what information they had. The solution was so simple, but it was impossible. Impossible because Mariel did not completely trust her two friends even though she wanted to.

James was the person Mariel really needed to speak to, but he had been gone for nearly seven weeks. Ever since he had left after the assassination attack, she had hoped he would return even though she doubted it. The last strand of that hope was fading.

Looking out over the city, Mariel hoped to distract her mind. But she was interrupted by a powerful voice.

“The information you seek cannot be found through contacts or friends.”

Mariel did not even bother to look at the coal-black vixen that lay on the balcony railing with her front paws crossed.

“The next thing you’re going to tell me is that I can only find what I want by looking into my memory.” Mariel had given up trying to ignore this figment of her imagination.

“Of course.”

“That’s not helpful.” 

The fox hopped down off the railing with the grace of a cat. “I could unlock your memories for you.”

Mariel stepped away from the fox, unconsciously tensing as though prepared for a fight. “I don’t need your help.”

“You need my protection. You have only survived this long because of my interference.”

“You haven’t done anything except prove that I have lost my mind.”

The vixen ignored the comment and struck Mariel with the full force of her amethyst eyes. “You must face your memories. Your life depends on it.” The fox vanished in a cloud of light.

“I need a drink,” Mariel muttered to herself. If only she could go into the city. She paused at that thought and spun around.

Cara and Hallie traded off attacking each other. Mariel could not fully trust them, but was there a way she might be able to test them? She wanted to take them into the city, introduce them to a world they had been sheltered from their whole lives. How would they react?

That was the wrong question to be asking. First she needed to find a way to get out of the room. The doors were heavily guarded. Mariel laughed at her own narrow-mindedness, she had been away from her spy work for too long.

Checking to make sure that the two girls were occupied, she scrambled up onto the balcony rail. Her bare feet kept her balanced as she observed the craggy wall of the building. She had scaled the walls of the Citadel many times, although she had never worn such heavy clothes before. But she did not need to climb far. All she needed to do was reach the balcony connected to the rooms above hers.

Grinning, she leapt off the railing and re-entered the suite. She leaned against the wall until her two friends had finished their round. Both panted and sweated, but Hallie was easily worse for wear.

“Have either of you ever gone into the city before?”

Hallie struggled to catch her breath. “Shopping with Mother.”

Cara was more perceptive. “No, Mariel! It’s too dangerous, especially with that assassin on the loose.”

Mariel shrugged. “He won’t expect me to be wandering about the city at night.”

“Wait just a moment,” Hallie said. “What are you talking about?”

“She wants to take us into the city.”

“You aren’t even allowed to leave this suite, how do you expect to get out of the Citadel?”

Mariel smiled mysteriously. “Leave that bit up to me. All I need you to do is be at the west gate at eight tonight, and don’t tell anyone what you are doing.”

“What about Isabel?”

“If I anger her enough at supper, she will spend the rest of the night pouting in her room.” Mariel looked at her two wary lady’s maids. “Are you interested? If not, I’ll go alone.”

Cara’s pale face and wide-eyes revealed her terror, but she straightened up. “I’ll go.”

Both girls looked at Hallie. The stocky girl shrugged. “I always said I wanted to go on an adventure.”

* * *

Mariel dropped over the windowsill and into the dark room as quietly as possible. She knew that the room was empty since it was so close to her own, but that did not mean people passing along the corridor outside would not hear her and raise the alarm.

She rubbed her left arm and stretched it out. The short climb from the balcony of her suite to the window above had caused her injury to painfully protest the exertion. After pulling out the lock picks she had strapped to her thigh beneath the heavy blue dress, she crossed to the door and continued with her escape plan. The corridor was deserted, but as she descended to lower levels, more people scurried about and she was glad only a handful of people knew what she looked like.

She spotted a few of her spies and contacts and considered stopping to ask them for information regarding the Assassin, but she decided now was not the best time. Cara and Hallie would soon arrive at the rendezvous point and she could not keep them waiting. Besides, she wanted to escape the Citadel tonight and stopping to speak with anyone raised the risk of getting caught by someone who knew her.

The air was cold and Mariel pulled her cloak tighter around her. She pulled up the hood and skulked through the shadows, knowing that a noblewoman out at this late of an hour would arouse suspicion. She hoped Cara and Hallie would avoid detection. They had less to lose if they were caught, but Mariel had not given them any lies to tell if someone stopped and questioned them. She needed to see how they could handle themselves without her.

She arrived at the meeting point early and stayed in the shadows as she observed the guards at the gate while she waited for the arrival of her friends. The guards were soldiers she did not know, but that did not matter, she knew how to get passed them.

“Where is she?” Cara whispered to Hallie.

“Maybe she couldn’t get out.”

Cara shook her head. “No, she found a way. I’m sure of it.”

Mariel was touched by her friend’s confidence in her. Stepping out of the shadows, she revealed herself. A startled shriek escaped Hallie, but Cara, who was used to Mariel’s slippery ways, clamped a hand over her friend’s mouth before she attracted unwanted attention.      

“Ready?” Mariel asked. “It’s not too late to turn back.”

“No, we’re going!” Hallie whispered excitedly.

Mariel smiled in the dark. These girls had been born to nobility and had always been bound by the rules. Tonight was their chance for escape.

“Follow my lead. And put your hoods up.”

The princess walked toward the soldiers guarding the gate. The two men snapped to attention at the sight of the three noblewomen.

“How can we be of service?” one of the guards asked. He squinted and tried to see the faces of the young women beneath their hoods with only dim torchlight to help him.

Mariel laughed coquettishly. She stepped up to the man and stood on her toes to reach as close to his ear as possible. Breathing into it, she whispered, “We were hoping you would let us out for a few hours to explore the city and visit the temples.”

“Unprotected?” the guard asked.

“I never said that. And of course,” Mariel pulled coins from her reticule and placed it in the man’s hand. “There is payment involved. For your silence and for letting us back in.”

Mariel backed up and waited.

“The shifts change at two.”

“Thank you.” Mariel walked passed the guards and through the gate with Cara and Hallie behind her.

“That was incredible!” Hallie exclaimed. “I can’t believe we got out of the Citadel at night!”

Mariel caught Cara looking at her strangely. “What?”

The girl blushed and ducked her head. “It’s just that, well, I was expecting something more . . . sneaky. Like scaling walls.”

The princess threw back her head and laughed into the night. “Scaling walls is the hard way to do things, bribing guards is the easy way.” She glanced sideways at Cara and remembered her tree-climbing skills. Sometime she needed to bring Cara out to the walls and let her scale them, but that adventure was for another day. She looped her arms through her friends’. “Come on, let’s go have some fun.”

Mariel could feel Cara’s tense muscles and knew that her friend was frightened, but anticipation and curiosity also lingered in the younger girl’s demeanor. Hallie was nervous, but she looked around the city streets with excitement.

The Upper District was where the nobles and magicians lived in extravagant houses set deep into gardens that were beginning to die as cooler temperatures set in. Behaving as any proper tour guide of the city, she named the families and magicians that lived in specific houses, not bothering to mention that she knew where they lived because she had stolen money or information from them or been a spy in their household.