Princess of the Midnight Ball - Jessica Day George [74]
“How?” Jonquil countered, shaking her head. “We can’t just walk out the door. Someone will see us.”
“We’ll wait until the ball,” Rose began.
Poppy interrupted her. “There’s no way to get across the lake.” She shook her head, pleating her dark skirts with nervous fingers. “We’re going to have to marry them, sooner rather than later.” There was a catch in her voice.
“We have to get the king to let us go back home, even if it’s just for a few minutes,” Rose said, thinking furiously. “If we could just get back there, we could find a way to stay.”
“And how do we convince him to let us go back?” Violet’s voice was devoid of hope. “He’s got us right where he’s always wanted us.”
“But not where he wants to be,” Rose said.
“What?” Lily frowned, and Violet shook her head.
“What are you talking about, Rose? You know that the king cannot go into the daylight world,” Violet said.
“Saints be praised,” said Hyacinth, and muttered a prayer under her breath.
“But his sons can,” Rose reminded them.
The prayer on Hyacinth’s lips was choked off. The younger set didn’t understand, but the older girls did, and they all stared in silent horror at Rose.
Finally Lily spoke. “What do you mean?” she asked.
Rose said flatly, “The princes can leave at night, so I’ll invite them to meet Father. We’ll just have to find a way to stay behind when they leave at dawn.”
“And what if they find a way to stay above?” Jonquil pointed a shaking finger at Rose. “Have you thought of that?”
“Well, I suppose that would be a risk,” Rose admitted. “But it’s a risk that we must take, if we want to see Father again. If we want to see the sun again!”
Lily got up and walked over to Rose. She took Rose’s hand, gazing intently into her older sister’s face. “Are you well, Rose? Do you feel a fever coming on?”
“No,” Rose said, pulling away. She looked desperately from Lily to her other sisters. “Don’t you see: we have to get out of this! I don’t care if I do have to invite them into our home. I’ll die before I marry Illiken!”
“I’m with Rose,” Violet said staunchly, getting to her feet to stand beside her eldest sister.
“And me,” Poppy agreed. “And so is Daisy.” She hauled up her twin with her.
“Poppy, it’s hardly right to—”
“Oh! I’m sorry: did you want to marry Tirolian?” Poppy asked.
Daisy’s mouth shut with an audible click.
The younger set stood up as well. “We don’t want to marry anyone, ever,” Orchid announced for them all.
“But, Rose,” Lily protested. “Surely there’s a better way than this”.
“Then I’ll give us two days to figure that out,” said Rose. “But then, unless anyone has a better idea, I’m inviting Under Stone’s sons to take tea with Father.”
Warrior
Galen woke with his face stuck to a wooden floor and a terrible throbbing in his head. He thought that a noise had awakened him, but now he couldn’t remember what that noise was.
Blearily he blinked and tried to look around, but everything was dark. He panicked for a moment, wondering if the blow had rendered him blind, then realized that it was just… dark. Groaning, he tried to sit up, but his hands and feet had been bound.
Squirming until he was at least more comfortable, he knocked his head against a wall, and then his feet, which was when he realized that he was in a wardrobe or some other small space. Now that he had changed position, he could see a faint line of light beneath the door. He pushed against it, but it didn’t budge.
His hands were bound in front, which made it quite easy to reach into his right boot and pull out the little knife sheathed there. All his other weapons had been removed, but they apparently hadn’t checked his boots. As he reversed the blade and carefully sawed at the rope around his wrists, he shook his head over the laxness.
His bonds parted and he moved to the rope around his ankles, holding the knife awkwardly in his stiff fingers. He’d nicked himself cutting the wrist ropes, and he dropped the knife and had to fumble in the dark for it to get his ankles free, but he eventually succeeded.
Carefully sheathing the