Fine. But the door remains open.
I nodded, turning to face the cell door and ordering the invisible guards to open it for me. When I stepped inside, I was pleased to see that Cole had been left untied, and that someone had even managed to strew fresh straw across the ground.
He looked up warily at my entrance, but his face relaxed at the sight of me standing there alone, and I knew I had made the right decision. He glanced past me to the open door and Dominic standing out in the corridor, but I didn’t even attempt to close it behind me. I had no desire to be shut in a small cell with Cole.
I placed the tray down on the ground and retreated several steps away from both it and him. He looked as if he meant to approach me but stopped at the expression on my face.
“I’m sorry, Princess Sophie.” He kept his voice low. “I didn’t intend to harm you. I came to rescue you, and merely wished to get you away from that monster as quickly and silently as possible.”
I frowned at his reference to Dominic and had to remind myself that I had once thought of him the same way. It seemed an increasingly distant memory.
“Why should I believe a word you say after what you did in Marin?”
“You mean what my father did.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “No, you’re right. I bear some responsibility, too. I didn’t know the full extent of his plans, but I knew enough, and I shouldn’t have gone along with them.”
He shook his head. “At the time, I thought it was the best hope of saving Marin.” He paused uncomfortably. “And I’ll admit, I didn’t mind the idea of seeing my family elevated in such a way.”
He met my eyes, his look open and honest. “But I’ve had plenty of time for reflection since then, both on my conduct and on my heart. I’ve racked my brains for a way to atone for my behavior. I knew no one else had dared to come after you due to the dangers, but I had no right to value my life so highly. If I died in the attempt, then perhaps it was only what I deserved.”
I regarded him with furrowed brow, trying to read the truth in his eyes. “Why should I believe anything you say?”
He shrugged, holding his arms out wide. “I would understand if you did not. But please consider. I made no attempt to free my father or sister when I made my escape. And then I risked my life by coming here, which I did not have to do once I was free.”
I stared at him, my mind troubled. Could he be speaking the truth?
Chapter 22
I was almost silent during the evening meal, turning Cole’s words over and over in my head and trying to glean his true purpose from them. He had answered all of my questions openly, but somehow had provided no real answers. He didn’t know how he had made it through the wilderness. He had heard wolves in the distance, but he had carried firewood with him and lit a fire each night which he believed had kept them away.
His horse had managed to escape its ties on his final night, however, and had fled. He had expressed remorse and sorrow that looked genuine, fearing that the animal must have since fallen afoul of one of the wolf packs or of a bear.
You cannot believe such a ludicrous tale! Dominic at least seemed to share none of my feelings of confusion.
I shrugged. “We can no more prove it to be false than he can prove it to be true. It is not entirely implausible. And he seems genuinely repentant, as much as such a thing can be judged from protestations alone.”
I don’t trust him.
I sighed. “No, neither do I. I wish I could talk to Lily.”
It isn’t safe, Dominic was quick to squash the suggestion I hadn’t made. Whatever he has claimed, you cannot risk leaving the castle grounds.
I chewed on a ringlet, afraid he was right. After what had happened last time, it was too risky. Especially when Lily was unlikely to have any more insight than we did.
I glanced up at Dominic. “He claims to regret allowing himself to be carried along by his father’s evil schemes.” My voice dropped to a whisper, amazed at my own boldness. “Do you have no sympathy for such a situation?”
Dominic froze, such a stricken look on his face that I instantly regretted my words. Memories of his father could cause him nothing but pain, and he had shown he didn’t deserve to be compared to Cole. I held my breath, hoping he might finally tell me something of his curse, but he remained silent. In fact, neither of us spoke for the rest of the meal.
When he asked me at the door if I would marry him in the morning, his voice seemed to hold a greater urgency than ever before. I refused him with a heavy heart. Cole might well be hiding the truth from me—but, if he was, he wasn’t the only one in the castle doing so.
I spoke to Cole again the next day and the next, always with Dominic lurking just outside in the corridor. His story did not change, and he remained surprisingly accepting of his imprisonment in the dungeon cell, his manner humble and open.
On the third night after his arrival, I tossed and turned in my bed, too perturbed by the unanswerable dilemma to sleep. Finally, I threw off the covers and got up, wrapping my thickest robe around me.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that Cole was hiding something from me. But each time I had visited, his uncomfortable glances in Dominic’s direction had increased. I would never convince Dominic to let me see Cole alone, but I might never get the truth from him with the prince looming nearby glaring murder.
I crept from my chambers, listening intently for any sound of voices. Hopefully it was late enough that all the servants were in bed. As I passed by the entryway, a small sound caught my ears, and I stopped to peer carefully inside.
Dominic paced back and forth in the large space, a fire burning low in the fireplace despite the warmer turn in the weather. So, I wasn’t the only one unable to sleep then. I watched him for a minute, captured by the strength in his long stride and the concern etched across his face. I knew he was motivated only by consideration for my safety, and I hated going behind his back in such a way. But our situation could not continue as it had.
When I arrived in the dungeon, a confused sounding guard hailed me, but I put on my most royal face and ordered him to take me to the prisoner. When he hesitated, I raised a single eyebrow, and he stammered an apology and bid me continue on. Calling after me, he ordered one of the other men to open the cell door for me.
When I stepped inside, Cole climbed slowly to his feet from a small nest of straw. I flushed at the poor conditions, although he had never complained. If he had come to rescue me, this was a sorry way to treat him.