Princess of the Midnight Ball - Jessica Day George [81]
“When he looks the other way, run for the gate,” he told Rose, who nodded.
Galen tossed a bullet out into the path. The prince jerked and went to get a better look at it. Rose burst out of Galen’s arms and flew through the gate, with Galen hard on her heels. The prince turned, shouting, as Galen clanged the gate shut.
“I am the King Under Stone now,” the gaunt figure hissed, grabbing the latch from his side. “You cannot stop me!” The color faded from his hair as he spoke.
Galen didn’t answer. Steadily he passed one end of the black wool chain through the bars and around the back of the gatepost.
The new king drew back with a cry. “What is that? How have you …?” He winced and blinked as though the dull black wool burned his eyes.
Still not speaking, Galen wrapped the chain twice more, then slipped one link through another and cinched it tight. From his satchel Galen pulled the final piece of his plan: his mother’s little silver crucifix. He jabbed it into the woolen knot. The silver flared bright and the chain turned from wool to steel.
“There,” Galen said, feeling a rush of fierce joy as the new King Under Stone drew back with a scream of rage. “That will hold.”
Taking Rose by the arm, Galen led her up the golden stairs to the princesses’ sitting room. Her sisters were all in a circle around the rug, faces gray with fright. They shrieked with joy to see Galen and Rose emerge, running to embrace the two and kiss their cheeks.
Pansy flung herself into Galen’s arms and sobbed into his neck. “I knew you’d save us.”
“It’s all over now, don’t you worry,” Galen said, stroking Pansy’s hair. Over her head, he saw Daisy watching with a disapproving eye. He winked at her, and she blinked. His arms shaking from exhaustion, he put Pansy down, but she clung to his hand.
“We’ll only have to go back tomorrow night,” Hyacinth said in a hollow voice.
“No, we won’t,” Rose told her. “Galen chained the gate shut. We’re never going back, and no one can come after us.”
The princesses cheered, all except for Hyacinth. She fetched an oil lamp and threw it on the maze-patterned rug without warning. The silk burst into flame, making the other girls shriek and jump out of the way. Galen rushed into one of the bedrooms and grabbed a heavy blanket from one of the beds to smother the fire, but he waited until the rug had been thoroughly burned before tossing down the blanket and stamping on it.
“Very clever, Your Highness,” Galen said to Hyacinth once the fire was out.
“You may call me Hyacinth,” she said, giving him a tremulous smile. She stepped forward and laid a timid hand on his arm.
Galen smiled back, bent, and kissed her thin cheek. Then, for good measure, he turned and kissed Rose.
On the lips.
Truth
As Rose looked around, blushing and wishing that she hadn’t had her first kiss in front of all her sisters (nice as it was), she saw something that startled her. Maria, their maid, was sitting up in her chair and staring at them.
It was not yet dawn.
“Your Highnesses have returned!” Maria shrieked. She clasped her hands to her bosom and began to cry.
“Maria, you’re awake!” Rose took a step toward the woman but still clung to Galen’s hand. To Rose this seemed even more miraculous than their delivery from the kingdom Under Stone.
Maria frowned around the room through her tears. “Well, the other maids and I waited here in case you returned. I can’t believe I slept at all, with all the fuss these past few days.” She gave the charred remains of the rug an odd look. “What have my ladies been doing, if I may ask?”
Rose took a deep breath. Here was the first test, to see if the underworld’s power over them was truly broken. “We were the prisoners of the King Under Stone,” Rose said, quite clearly.
Maria gasped in shock. So did Rose’s sisters.
“Rose! You told!” Petunia danced up and down.
“You can say it! We can say it!” Jonquil clapped her hands to her cheeks.
“God be praised,” said Hyacinth,