He waited in the courtyard, trying to determine what had just happened. If it was the ghost, why hadn’t she jumped to her death again? Wasn’t that what ghosts did—repeat the past by reliving the moment of their death in eternal torment or something? If she wasn’t the ghost, who was she? And why would anyone climb out of the high tower window if they weren’t intent on suicide?
I don’t want to die.
It didn’t make any sense.
One of the double doors to the keep opened. All he saw was a pale hand at first; then the face of a young woman peeked out.
He had never seen her before. She was about his age, but her face was painted and she wore a dress the likes of which he had never seen. With a tight bodice and a plunging, shoulder-baring neckline, it might not be a dress at all but rather what women wore underneath them. She was still crying. He could see the tears on her face as they glistened and left dark streaks in her makeup.
She shrank from him when he approached. “Please don’t kill me. Please … please…”
“You’re all right. You’re safe. I won’t hurt you.”
She stared at him with frightened eyes, her hands shaking. “I didn’t do anything wrong, I swear.”
“It’s okay. Just tell me what happened. Why did you climb out the window?”
“They would’ve … they would’ve killed me if they discovered I was there. If they knew I heard what they said.”
“Who? What are you talking about?”
The girl’s eyes were locked on the light in the high tower.
“Please,” she pleaded. “You have to hide me. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The castle was alive with activity. Every window was alight, and guards, roused from their beds, strode across the courtyard to the keep. Reuben ducked back into the woodshed where he had hidden the girl. The shed was his sanctuary, the place he always went to be alone. Although tonight he was uncertain how long his little refuge would be safe. Outside, Reuben heard shouts for the gate to be sealed.
What is going on? They say deaths always come in threes, and the light was in the tower…
Since bringing her there, the girl had sat balled up on the cord of maple he had split the month before. All he could see clearly was a slice of her face illuminated by the moonlight that slipped through the crack of the door. Her cheeks were puffed and wet, her eyes red and glassy.
“Do you hear that? The alarm has been sounded. If you want my help, you have to talk to me. Now tell me what’s going on,” Reuben said.
She nodded and managed to swallow and take a breath. “I came for a party—a surprise party for someone.”
“For who?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”
“You were invited to a party, but you don’t know who it was for?”
“I wasn’t invited. I came to work.”
Reuben was confused. That didn’t make sense. The castle had more than enough waitstaff. “What kind of—”
“I was hired to pleasure the guest of honor.”
“Huh?”
The girl gave him a smirk. “How old are you?”
“Almost sixteen, but I don’t see—Oh!” Reuben took a half step back as if the girl were a dangerous animal. “You’re a—”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. Reuben had spoken to only a few girls. Occasionally he talked about the weather with Alice, the washwoman. She was a little older and never seemed interested in his conversations. And he was certain Grace, who polished the candlesticks and carried water from the well, made a habit of avoiding him. Girls made Reuben uncomfortable, and this one wasn’t just a girl. This was a … He had trouble even thinking it.
“The party was in the tower, but like I said, it was supposed to be a surprise. So I was put in the wardrobe and when they told the guest of honor to look in the closet for his present, I was supposed to jump out. While I was there, two men came in and started talking. I figured any minute the door would be flung open, but they just kept talking. At first I didn’t really listen. I didn’t understand most of what was said anyway, a bunch of stuff about Imperialists and Monarchists and how Melengar would be one of the first.”
“First what?”
“I have no idea. But then I heard one say, ‘After we kill the king, we’ll begin making the changes.’ ”
“Someone said what?” Reuben asked, even though he had heard her just fine.
“He said they were going to kill the royal family. And I couldn’t figure out why they would say something like that with me in the room. Then I realized these two weren’t the ones who had put me in the wardrobe and neither of them knew I was there. When I heard them leave, I knew I had to get away. If either of them came to the party, they’d know I’d overheard what they’d said. I had to get out. I had to disappear.”
“Why didn’t you just come down the stairs?”
“I heard voices outside the door. It might have been them. The only other way out was the window. I thought I could climb down. I thought … but I slipped…” She started to cry again.
“Do you have any idea who they were? Did they use any names?”
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t hear anything like that. Please, I just want to go home.”
“You can’t leave—the gate has been sealed.”
The question was why? Maybe it had already happened. Maybe there had been an assassination. The girl might have been part of it. Looking at her, it seemed impossible, but he never would have thought she’d have climbed out of that window either.
“Something bad has happened,” Reuben told her. “That’s why they’ve rung the alarm. If what you say is true, someone might have just tried to kill the king.”
The girl closed her eyes and shook her head. “They’ll think I was part of it now—because I ran, because I climbed out the window. I wasn’t. I didn’t do anything. You have to believe me.”
“Listen, just try and relax, okay?” Reuben wasn’t sure which of them he was talking to. His heart was still racing from seeing what he had thought was a ghost but what turned out to be a girl—a girl in trouble, one he’d found like a stray dog. He was thankful they had made it to the shed before the alarm was called. The smell of maple wood, like the smells of the stable, were familiar to him. He could think there. “I’ll just go and tell them what happened.”
“No!” She grabbed him. “Don’t, please.”
“But if you’re innocent, you’ll be fine.”
“What if you tell the wrong person?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if you tell one of the men who planned to kill the king? Even if you don’t, if the king is dead and they think I did it … they won’t listen to me. They won’t believe me. I just want to go home.”
He couldn’t let her leave.
Reuben ran a hand through his hair. He needed a better place to keep her, somewhere safe, hidden, and where she couldn’t get away—just in case she was lying.
“Okay, this is what I’ll do. I know another place I can hide you. You’ll stay there and I’ll go see what’s happening. Then I’ll go to my father. He’s a sergeant at arms with the royal guard and it’s his job to protect the royal family. He’ll know what to do. Don’t worry—I won’t let anything happen to you. You just have to trust me.”
“I trust you, I do. You didn’t have to hide me or help me when I was climbing down. But I don’t even know your name.”
“Oh, yeah … sorry. I’m Reuben, Reuben Hilfred. What’s yours?”
“Rose.”
Reuben just stared for a moment. “Really?”
She nodded. “Why?”
“Ah … nothing. It’s just…” He reached out and took her hand. She may have thought it was to comfort her, but Reuben just wanted to make sure she was real. “Rose was my mother’s name.”
CHAPTER 5
AFTER THE PARTY
Sergeant Richard Hilfred climbed the high tower’s steps two at a time, and in between wishing he was in better shape and concentrating on breathing, he imagined ways to kill Lieutenant Wylin.