Shadows on Snow: A Flipped Fairy Tale (Flipped Fairy Tales) (19 page)

“Yes, well regardless of Prince Ormond’s feelings on it, he’s following orders, although I believe he’s a reasonable man.” General Turgis moved around the table as best he could, pointing out a cluster of figurines on a map near me. “He’s positioned here, about twenty leagues from the border now.”

Looking at the map, an idea formed in my head, but one I needed to discuss with my sisters before I made mention of it in the open.

“So you see the position we’re in,” the general said. “If the Moran army moves, Sericea can’t be caught unprepared.”

I stared at the opposing army, the wheels of strategy turning in my brain. “And if their army retreated? Would you consider it then?”

“Possibly. Circumstances change very quickly in these tumultuous times.”

I yawned, suddenly aware I still wore my glamour. I slipped into the memory once more, shedding the façade. Instantly, my legs gave out, my energy completely spent. So fast I was unaware he moved at all, Prince Leopold appeared at my side, an arm around my waist as he helped me to stand.

“Are you all right, M’lady?” General Turgis asked, looking only a little pale at my use of magic.

Exhausted, I managed a nod. “It’s been a very long few days, but I’ll be fine once I’ve had a good night’s sleep.”

Stepping outside, he summoned another soldier. “Have they set up the visitor tents yet?”

“Yes, sir.”

General Turgis ducked back inside. “Highness, there are only two tents we can spare to split the party. If you’ll allow it, I’d share my quarters with you to give the ladies more space between them.”

“That’s very kind of you, General,” the prince replied, slinging my arm over his shoulders. “I’ll see them there safely and join you soon.”

Mortified that he all but carried me to the tents in question, I didn’t have the strength left to fight him. My sisters set to work immediately, undoing fastenings and rearranging the two tents into one as I watched on. Without even speaking of it, we all knew it was better to be together than apart.

“They’re quite creative about these things, aren’t they?” he said as I shifted in his grasp. “I admire the bond you share with them.”

I nodded. “It’s only been the seven of us for so long, and they aren’t as accustomed to being amongst people as I am. I’m glad for this, though. I think we’ve much to discuss.”

“You should rest.” He looked down at me. “I can’t have my most fierce protector falling asleep on the job.”

“If you continue to poke fun at me over it, I may actually give it up. Tread lightly, Highness.”

“I wasn’t being flip, Rae.” When I glanced up at him, sincerity burned in his gaze. “You must take care of yourself. I cannot replace you.”

Staring into his eyes made it difficult to breathe. I swallowed. “I… I’ll do my best to keep you from needing to, then.”

“Not to interrupt,” Delphine said, “but we need to get this one to bed if you can spare her for a few hours.”

The prince chuckled, gently releasing me to my sister’s care. “I think she’s about at her tolerance of me for the day, so I leave her in your hands.”

As we parted, he held on until the very last, his fingertips grazing the palm of my hand when I pulled away. I cast him one last look before Delphine took me inside. Had I the strength, I would’ve begun pacing. Knowing he was without our watchful eyes on him made me so nervous I wondered if I would sleep.

“The spirits will watch over him in your stead,” Clarice said as Delphine lowered me onto a pallet of warm furs. “I’ll know if anything happens.”

Adelaide closed the tent opening and gathered everyone around me. “You can rest in a bit, Raelynn, but there’s something I think you’d like to discuss with us first, isn’t there?”

I stared up at her, trying to determine what in particular she was referring to. “I don’t know what you’re—”

“We were all thinking it back there, so you might as well give it a voice,” she said. “Although I don’t think you were ever aware of the situation in full. You were too young at the time.”

Relieved she wasn’t talking about my current dilemma with Prince Leopold, I nodded. “I knew I was missing something the way Clarice and Belinda were acting. Care to enlighten me?”

Adelaide looked to Clarice, whose face was a lovely shade of red. “Do you want to tell her, or should I?”

Clarice shook her head, silent. I didn’t think I’d ever seen her so flustered.

Adelaide sighed. “Very well.” She motioned to everyone to sit. “Around the time mother remarried, there was talk of a betrothal between one of us and the second son of Moran’s King, Prince Ormond. At first, I was the assumed intended, but when Ormond came to visit, it was obvious to everyone which sister caught his eye. That one there,” she pointed at Clarice, “was as smitten as he was, so I wasn’t about to agree to such a marriage when he clearly loved someone else. They would’ve been a perfect match, but King Dornan was after a crown, and it was called off after a year of trying to talk sense into him.”

“So there is history there,” I said. “I thought as much.”

“Then your thoughts are the same as mine, I assume.”

The conversation quieted, all of us hesitant to speak the only logical conclusion.

Erata made an exasperated noise. “Really sisters, if you’ll not say it, then I will. If Clarice marries Ormond, and both Adelaide and Belinda abdicate to her, we get the Moran army behind us to take back Bern, and the Sericean army is free to restore Leo to the throne.”

Clarice looked horrified. “I would never ask for so much. Adelaide has always been the better leader amongst us. By rights, she should be queen.”

Adelaide laughed. “If I do not do this, I would be queen of nothing. I won’t marry the man you love, and without the marriage to an heir to the throne, Dornan will never agree, not if he thinks he could take Sericea for Ormond by force and guarantee his position.” She crossed her arms, fixing Clarice with a look. “Besides, if I’m a better leader, it’s only because I’ve had more practice. You’ve always had more patience and understanding than I have. Plus, you’re far more likely to produce children. I’ll be thirty this spring, and my childbearing years are four less than yours now. My prospects for marriage are slim to none at my age. You have a golden opportunity. Worry not for my ambitions. I’d sooner see us all safe and you happy in love, than sit on a throne with a miserable marriage.”

“And it’s no secret I’m ill-suited to ruling.” Belinda twittered a giggle. “Humans are nonsensical animals. I can’t make heads or tails of them. Give me a forest of creatures and I’ll be completely content in life.”

“But…” Clarice said, still unconvinced. “So much time’s gone by, surely he’s taken a wife by now.”

Delphine chuckled. “You know very well he hasn’t. I’ve seen you reading everything from ashes to petals on the wind for years, keeping track of him. He holds out hope you still live.” She reached out to take Clarice’s hand. “It’s time to reward his loyalty, sister.”

“There’s a problem in this yet,” Farah said. “For the two to abdicate, the Seal of Bern is required, as well as recognition by another kingdom’s crowned ruler. While King Dornan would likely recognize the abdication, the Seal of Bern is in Bern.”

Adelaide chuckled. “Is it now?” She fished around in her skirt pocket and pulled an object from it. When she opened her hand, the golden, bejeweled seal glimmered in her palm. “It contains an ancient enchantment, binding itself to the rightful ruler of Bern. I could not have left it behind had I wanted to. The moment mother passed, it appeared on my nightstand, and has not left me since.”

I held my breath, staring at the seal: the last piece of the puzzle. Everything we needed to depose King Alder was within our reach.

Adelaide pocketed the item and leaned forward. “Are we all in agreement then?” She held her hand out to the center of our little circle. One by one, we set our hands atop hers, then looked to Clarice.

She scanned our faces, her expression pinched. “You’re all certain this is what you want? I love you all too much to risk losing you over this matter.”

“And we, you,” Delphine said softly. “All together, or none at all.”

With a shaky breath, Clarice reached out, joining all our hands. “Then I’ll do my best to make you all proud.”

Three days later, shivering even under the heavy fur cloak I’d been given, I fidgeted with the bow and arrow I held in front of me. The forest was coated in snow two inches deep in all directions, some deeper where it drifted against rocks or a fallen tree.

“They’re late,” I muttered to myself. “Are you sure he’ll be here? What if he decides Delphine’s messages were only dreams? What then?” When no reply came, I looked around my hood to peek at Clarice. “Can you tell where he is?”

She jumped, startled. “What?”

I frowned. “If this worries you so much, why are we still here? Have the spirits warned you of something?”

“Oh,” she said, ducking deeper into her cloak. “No. They say he’s close. A few minutes more.”

Sinking back into silence, I scanned the area outside the copse of trees, listening intently for any approaching footsteps. I wasn’t overly fond of the plan we’d decided on. Attempting to lure Prince Ormond out by himself would put anyone on the defensive and make them suspicious of our intentions, not to mention how close my sisters and I were to an army that was not our ally as yet. I looked up through the trees where Farah hunkered down, silently weaving a ward around our hiding place. With her spell, any eyes would pass right over us, their minds tricked into believing there was nothing here at all.

A tug on my cloak alerted me to movement on Clarice’s side of the copse, and I swiftly switched places with her, nocking an arrow and searching for my target. From the space between two trees, I watched as three figures came into view, all in matching soldiers’ uniforms, the dark gray-blue of Moran. I blinked, then squinted as they came closer.

“Very smart, Your Highness,” I whispered with a little chuckle, “but you can’t fool me.”

I fired my arrow into a tree directly beside the three versions of Prince Ormond, identical down to his dark olive complexion and curly brown hair. All three stopped and immediately drew their swords.

“That was not a miss, Highness,” I called out to them. “Drop your weapons or my next shot will be through the eye of one of your guards. We’ve no desire to kill them, but we’ve no desire to die, either.”

The Prince Ormond on the left smirked. “You think you know which of us is the true one?”

“Undoubtedly.”

The one in the center looked thoughtful. “You sound very confident in yourself, but I wonder how it is you know?”

“A master of glamour cannot be fooled by spells of a lesser finesse than her own.”

“Raelynn?” The Prince Ormond on the right dropped his sword. “Is she with you? Is she all right?”

I paused, taken aback. “Who told him about my ability?” I whispered at Clarice, not taking my eyes from the men.

“I told him about all of you years ago,” she said. “I didn’t know he’d remember, but may I go now? You can see he means us no harm.”

I bit back a giggle at how eager he seemed. The man was five years my senior and looked as giddy as those princesses that crowded Prince Leopold at the masked ball. “You’ll not see her until the other two disarm themselves. She might trust you, but I do not.”

“Raelynn, those men need reason to trust us as well,” Clarice said quietly. “Were the situation reversed, what would you do?”

“Not until I see she is who I was told,” he called back. “Keep your arrow on me if you must, but my men keep their swords.”

“Raelynn, that’s a fair enough compromise,” she said, practically pleading. “And Farah isn’t shabby with a bow either. I’ll be fine. Let me go.”

As there was little I could do other than have an endless standoff with the man, I relented, calling out to him. “Stay where you are. If I’m given any cause to, I will fire.”

The moment the words left me, Clarice was gone. She pulled up short immediately past our hiding place, both she and Ormond staring at each other.

“Clarice?” he said, inching towards her.

Slowly, she drew back the hood of her cloak, her cheeks pink both from the cold and her uncertainty. His expression filled with awe, he rushed forward, halting a few feet from her as a hint of doubt crept onto his face.

“I need to be certain it’s really you,” he said. “They’ve told me for years you were dead, but I wouldn’t believe them. I’ll ask one question and be satisfied you’re real.”

She nodded. “Ask anything.”

“What do you remember about the library?”

Instantly, her face turned scarlet and she looked away. “I…” She glanced up at him and took a hesitant step forward, then another, closing the distance between them. Grinning shyly, she cupped a hand around her mouth, and he bent to hear her whispered answer. As her words registered with him, his smile broadened until his face beamed with happiness. Surprising my sister as much as myself, Prince Ormond scooped her into his arms and kissed her without care for who saw. Clarice recovered long before I did, returning the embrace with equal enthusiasm.

I shook myself and cleared my throat loudly. “If you two are about done, you should probably save some of that until our business is concluded.” Cringing, I couldn’t help but think how much I sounded like Adelaide in that moment.

Still smiling, Ormond motioned to his guards to drop their weapons, their glamour vanishing as their prince tossed a stone from his pocket. Farah hit the ground beside me with a thud. “What’s that with the rock?” she asked.

I lowered my bow but kept it still ready as we emerged from the trees. “Casting stones,” I said. “The false princes had two chips from the larger piece, which projected his image to them. I used them when I was still learning my craft, though I’ve no need for such crutches now.”

Prince Ormond’s gaze did not stray from Clarice’s face as he held it between his hands. “I knew you were still living. Why didn’t you send word? I could have—”

“Whatever you think you could have done,” I interrupted, “I assure you that you couldn’t have. Any who tried to help us died doing so.”