Downfall of the Curse Read online

  “Exactly,” said Lucy’s mother reassuringly. Her eyes wandered back to the ship, their expression suddenly wistful. “Part of me wishes I was going, to be honest. It’s been a long time, and I would like to be there for Giles’s coronation.” She shook her head, as if flicking off the melancholy. “But things are still a little unsettled in Raldon.”

  Lucy’s father finally let go of her shoulders to put an arm around his wife. “I know you’d like to be there, Scar. We’ll go for a visit in the next year or so. Once things calm down here, and Giles is settled in as king.”

  She smiled up at him. “I would like that.”

  “But in the meantime,” said Cody cheerfully, “those of us who actually want to make it in time for the coronation should probably get on the ship.”

  “Yes,” said Lucy’s mother briskly. She turned her attention to her two oldest children. “Remember, what Cody says, goes. And even though you’re there on behalf of the family rather than in an official capacity, don’t forget your actions reflect on your kingdom as well. While the delegation is still with you in Balenol, I want you to consider Lord and Lady Rodanthe in charge.”

  Lucy nodded at the mention of the most senior Kyonan courtiers on the trip. She and Matheus had met them only briefly, and knew little about them. But the king and queen must trust them, as they had assigned them to act as lead negotiators along with the royals. It was generally accepted that they were also there to keep an eye on the younger members of the group.

  Lucy’s mother glanced back toward the vessel. “I’d better go and retrieve Miles and Benjy. I’m assuming they’ve attempted to hide themselves in the hold by now.”

  “I’ll do it,” volunteered Lucy quickly. She had no desire to prolong her farewell with her parents, thus giving her mother further chance to ask uncomfortable questions about Lucy’s attempt to leave her weapon behind. Plus she wanted to spend as little time as possible in such close proximity to Eamon. She said a quick goodbye to her parents, and to the king and queen.

  But her father had other ideas.

  “A word, Lucy,” he said, following her out of earshot of the rest of the group. She looked at him inquiringly, and he glanced back toward the royals. “What your mother said about Lord and Lady Rodanthe, and what Elnora said about the guards is well and good, and I’m not disagreeing with either of them. But Cody is the one I really trust. I don’t want you going anywhere without him, all right?”

  “I know, Father,” Lucy said, as patiently as she could. She had no desire to ditch Cody’s escort, as her father surely knew.

  Her father gave her a long look, then pulled her into a one-armed hug. “Come back safely,” he said, the words a command. She returned the hug briefly, nodding as she turned toward the water. “And not engaged!” her father added, as she hurried in the direction of the ship.

  Lucy rolled her eyes, hoping no one had overheard. It may have just been her own eagerness to be off, but it seemed as though the ship itself was bobbing impatiently in Alezae’s harbor. She was hoping to make her way straight on board. But when she disclosed her errand to a crew member, he told her to wait on the quay, offering with an indulgent smile to fetch her two youngest brothers, whom he confirmed had indeed disappeared into the bowels of the royal vessel. Lucy was left hovering impatiently near the gangplank, waiting for the sailor’s return.

  “I can’t believe the prince is going to be gone for months!”

  Lucy stiffened at the simpering voice, but didn’t turn around. Even without sight she had no difficulty recognizing the speaker as Sonia, one of the noble girls whom she had seen following Eamon around like a lost puppy every time she visited Kynton.

  “I know. The castle will be lifeless without him. I’m desolated.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. Of course wherever Sonia was, Vanessa would be also. She shouldn’t be surprised that the two of them had accompanied the royal delegation to Alezae, so as not to miss a single moment of Eamon’s time in Kyona. She wondered, not for the first time, how they expected their friendship to survive in the extremely unlikely event that either one of them achieved their obsessive dream of marrying Eamon and becoming Kyona’s future queen.

  “At least the foreigner is going back where she belongs.” The venomous note to Sonia’s words told Lucy that the girl was well aware of her proximity, and intended for her to hear every word. She kept her eyes straight ahead, refusing to give them the satisfaction of engaging with their pettiness.

  “Finally,” Vanessa agreed, with an angry titter. “My mother said that once she and her brother get to Balenol, they probably won’t let them leave again. She said that the new king’s invitation to his coronation is probably just a trick to try to lure them all over there.”

  Lucy frowned. She knew these girls were ridiculous, and she shouldn’t take anything they said seriously. But she also couldn’t help but remember her own mother’s warning, that Balenol was an unpredictable place.

  “Well, they’re welcome to her, and her brother,” scoffed Sonia. “And if they think they can lure Prince Eamon, they’ll soon learn their mistake. He could fight off anybody.”

  Lucy barely refrained from scoffing herself. She had thought that way once, not so long ago. She had thought Eamon the picture of perfection, a noble warrior prince able to outmatch any villain.

  No longer.

  “No doubt she’ll try to have her claws into him, batting her eyelashes like she always does. As if he’d be interested in a Balenan.”

  Lucy gritted her teeth. Her anger had nothing to do with their slight on her connection with Eamon, she told herself. Nothing at all. But she hated being called Balenan. She was Kyonan. Her father was Kyonan, and she’d lived in the kingdom her whole life.

  “She won’t have much chance,” Sonia was saying smugly. “You remember the prince’s itinerary. He’s only in Balenol for the coronation, then he’s going on to Thorania on royal business.” The idiotic girl said the last two words with as much pride as if she herself had been sent on royal business, and Lucy rolled her eyes again. Lord and Lady Rodanthe would probably be doing most of the negotiating, anyway. “The foreigner won’t be able to turn her wiles on him when he’s in a different kingdom.”

  Lucy saw her brothers appear on the deck of the ship with relief. She had reached her limit with pretending not to hear. Another moment and she would have said something she might regret, like that the two girls were welcome to their fantasy prince. But it wasn’t true, not really. Because no matter where she and Eamon stood, she had no desire to see either of these vapid fools as queen of Kyona.

  “Why can’t I go?” whined Benjy, as he was shepherded off the vessel by several crew members. They ushered him forward ruthlessly, but they all had smiles on their faces, and Lucy could understand why. Her ten-year-old brother had a way of warming people to him, and the fact that he was unaware of it was half the charm. Her mood softened at the sight of him. She couldn’t really regret her violence against her uncle. Not when it had been Benjy’s life in the balance. She just wished so very desperately that she hadn’t been put in that position.

  “You know why, Benjy,” she said patiently. “Now stop trying to stow away.” She extended her gaze to include Miles. “Both of you.”

  “But I’m almost thirteen,” Miles sighed, no real conviction in the complaint. “I should be able to go if Matheus can.”

  Lucy didn’t bother to argue with them, just made soothing promises about the gifts she would bring back from her foreign adventure as she shooed them back toward the rest of the family. Only when she had seen them safely rejoin her parents did she turn back to the ship, asking no one’s permission this time before boarding. She was more than ready to be gone from Kyona for a while. If only she could so easily leave her demons behind.

  Chapter Two

  The three week voyage felt twice as long in the confined space of the ship. She had counted on the company of her best friend as a way to avoid Eamon, but she hadn’t allowed for how much
time Jocelyn would spend with her new husband.

  Lucy supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. They had only been married a couple of months, and it was quite an undertaking for them to go on such a substantial trip so soon. But as a prince of Valoria and a princess of Kyona, the couple presented such a convenient way for both kingdoms to send representatives to attend the coronation of Balenol’s new king. Eamon had been a late addition to the delegation, his parents realizing that the coronation was a convenient starting point for the prince’s business in Thorania, the kingdom to Balenol’s east.

  Lucy had been less than thrilled when she had learned of his inclusion, but it had already been decided that she and Matheus would go, to represent their mother’s family. The former Lady Scarlett Wrendal was a cousin of the new king, their mothers having been sisters. And as the Kyonan noble girls had pointed out, Eamon wouldn’t be joining them in Balenol for long. Unfortunately Jocelyn and Kincaid were going on to Thorania with Eamon. It was a shame, because Lucy didn’t get to see as much of her best friend as she would like, now that Jocelyn lived in Valoria’s capital.

  Which made it all the more annoying that Joss was too busy with her prince to make the most of the friends’ time on the voyage. But unless she wanted to insert herself into their tête-à-têtes, she had little choice but to find another option. She spent most of her time with Matheus or Cody, but neither was a very satisfactory companion.

  Matheus had forgiven Eamon far too readily for launching the attack against their community several months ago, supposedly while under the magical influence of their evil Balenan uncle. The oldest of her brothers had returned to his habitual hero-worship of her former sweetheart, and he was all too ready to make the most of the fact that neither Jocelyn nor Lucy was eager to seek out the Kyonan prince’s company.

  And Cody, although he had always been one of Lucy’s favorite people, and her most trusted ally, wouldn’t stop nagging her about training.

  “We can’t train on the ship, Cody,” she sighed for what felt like the twentieth time. “There’s nowhere to do it unobserved.”

  “But you haven’t trained in weeks,” he argued. “We’ll be in Nohl soon, and you’re out of practice. Does it really matter if anyone on this ship sees you training? Your parents aren’t here, so what’s the problem?”

  “Matheus is still here,” she reminded him dryly. “Not to mention Joss and her husband.”

  “Not to mention Prince In-Disgrace?” Cody retorted remorselessly. “All of those people know how deadly you are with a weapon, Luciana. There’s no reason to hide from them how regularly you train. There’s no reason to hide it from your parents, while we’re on the topic. We both know they’d be delighted that you’re actually choosing to sharpen your fighting skills beyond the sessions they forced you to do.”

  “Ugh, Cody,” complained Lucy, loftily ignoring the jibe about Eamon. “We’re not going to have this argument again. You know why I don’t want to tell them about our little secret.” She batted her eyelashes in mock coquettishness.

  Cody just rolled his eyes. “You make it sound so sordid.”

  She laughed. “You know what I mean. I have my reasons. So let’s not get into it.”

  “I’ll drop it in a heartbeat if you’ll train with me,” said Cody pleasantly. “There’s a nice big space on deck.”

  Lucy snorted. “Not likely.”

  “Come on, Luce,” Cody complained. “It’s been so long that I’m worried about losing my edge, too. Have you forgotten that last time I was in Balenol I was a renegade slave, at constant risk of being captured and executed? I need to be sharp, and ready for anything when we arrive.”

  “I don’t think so, Cody,” said Lucy flatly. “Guilt won’t work on me. Don’t even try to pretend you didn’t see your years with the resistance as a grand adventure, because I’ve known you all my life, and I won’t believe it for a moment.”

  The tall Kyonan man laughed. “It’s true,” he admitted. “Well, mostly. Let’s just say that this voyage to Balenol is much nicer than my first one, but once we arrived I was only a slave for about five seconds before I made a break for it. In all honesty, the resistance was a better community than any I had growing up on the streets in Alezae. Why do you think I was the only former slave willing to brave a return to Balenol to come babysit you kids?”

  Lucy opened her mouth in a furious protest, but Cody sobered before she could say a word. “But I was one of the lucky ones, Lucy. One of very few. It’s not a safe place, and there’s a reason your mother didn’t want you to come without your weapon.”

  “How did you know about—hey!” Lucy realized the answer to her own question. “You’re the one who ratted me out to my mother!”

  “Of course I did,” said Cody unrepentantly. He frowned at her. “Why would you want to leave your dagger behind, Lucy? I thought you never went anywhere without it? When did that change?”

  Lucy hesitated. Truth be told, she was uncomfortable as much from the reminder that she was keeping secrets even from Cody—who had always been her closest confidante—as from the topic itself. But she was saved from replying by the approach of Jocelyn, who had apparently torn herself from her husband long enough to remember her best friend’s existence.

  Lucy shook her head, trying to clear the uncharitable thought. When had she become so bitter? She was happy for her friend, and she had no reason to be sour that Jocelyn was enjoying being married.

  She turned to greet Joss, wishing her smile didn’t feel so artificial, but Cody reached out quickly to grasp her arm.

  “Just tell me you’re at least wearing it now,” he said quietly. Lucy hesitated for a moment before giving a curt nod, and he released her arm, placated if not satisfied.

  “Lucy, what will you wear for the official reception in Nohl?” Jocelyn was asking, her mind clearly far from any thoughts of weapons or training. “I’m supposed to wear ceremonial Valorian attire, but I’m concerned it will be laughably out of place in a South Lands court.”

  “Come and look at my dress,” said Lucy, taking Jocelyn’s arm and leading her friend away from the irritatingly persistent Cody. “My mother oversaw its creation herself, so depending on how much fashions have changed in the last twenty years, it’s probably our best picture of what to expect.” She chuckled. “My father wanted me to wear a burlap sack, of course.”

  Jocelyn laughed lightly, and Lucy shot her friend a sideways look. The princess was certainly more carefree these days. Lucy hadn’t known about the secret her best friend had carried all her life, and she had never recognized the toll it took on Jocelyn until the burden was lifted. Lucy had never thought of the other girl as an unhappy or fearful person, but she realized that compared to the way she was now, she had been.

  She felt a familiar surge of mingled guilt and resentment over her former ignorance of Jocelyn’s secret. She had been struggling with the emotions for months, but she shoved them down, as she was in the habit of doing. She didn’t want to have any bitterness between herself and her best friend. It just wasn’t worth it.

  They arrived in Nohl, the capital of Balenol, right on schedule. Lucy exchanged a wry look with Jocelyn as they stood on the deck, straining to see the welcome delegation through the thick curtain of rain that was steadily soaking them all. She knew her friend was thinking the same thing she was. It seemed they needn’t have spent so much thought on their outfits for their grand arrival. Regardless of what they wore, it would all be little more than sopping rags by the time they encountered anyone important.

  They were ushered off the ship with as much ceremony as the conditions allowed, Lucy hovering protectively near Matheus, whom she realized perfectly well was trying to hover protectively near her. She held back the smile that she knew would wound his young pride. They had the opportunity to take in no more than a brief impression of a stone quay stretching toward a grimy neighborhood before they were handed up into waiting carriages.

  Lucy breathed a sigh of contentment the mom
ent her face was out of the rain. It was a relief to be able to see properly. But as soon as she took in the interior of the carriage, she started, her senses once again on the alert.

  She had assumed the carriage would be unoccupied, but a richly dressed woman who looked to be in her late sixties sat on one of the padded bench seats, watching Lucy’s arrival with great interest. Before Lucy had figured out the most appropriate way to greet the stranger, Matheus had joined her in the carriage. No one else followed, so it seemed the young royals and the other delegates had been accommodated in one of the other conveyances. She hoped Cody had been looked after as well, and wasn’t left to walk in the rain.

  “You are very welcome, my dears,” the woman said, and Lucy blinked in surprise at the warmth of her tone. The speaker’s eyes lingered on her, and she almost looked like she was holding back tears. “You, of course, are Luciana. You look so much like your mother, as I imagine you are often told.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” said Lucy respectfully. The woman’s eyes moved to Matheus, her smile growing. “And you must be Matheus.” Her eyes roamed over their faces, as if eager to take in every detail. “I’m so delighted you’ve both come. I was very sorry not to be able to join my sons on their visits to your family in Kyona. But Rupert,” her voice hitched slightly, “was never in a position to be away from Nohl for so long.”

  Lucy’s eyes widened slightly as she realized what the woman had probably assumed she already knew. This was their mother’s Aunt Mariska, the sister of their mother’s own mother, who had died when she was an infant. Lucy knew that Aunt Mariska had been more like a mother than an aunt, raising her niece as her own.

  Aunt Mariska, who had married far above her common status, and had become the wife of Prince Rupert. Which meant that the king who had just died had been her husband. And that the new king, Lucy’s second cousin King Giles, was this woman’s son.