Princess of hearts, p.7
Princess of Hearts, page 7
“What sort of secrets?” she asked, unable to help herself.
Rafe turned and gave her a crooked grin that made her heart leap into her throat. “If I told you that, it wouldn’t be much of a secret, now would it?”
CHAPTER 15
Walking alongside Rafe into the village, Princess Kaylee was nervous. She was dressed as a man, and she was fairly certain that it was illegal for a woman to wear men’s clothing in the kingdom they were currently in, Norterly. Rafe seemed confident that she wouldn’t have any problems here, but she wasn’t so sure. What if he were wrong and they threw her in prison? Or worse, what if she had to go face the queen? Rafe had also said that the king who had been so mean to women was dead, but she didn’t know that for sure. Was she truly able to trust all that he said to her? Rumors had circulated that King Richard killed women, even little girls. She hoped that wasn’t true, but she couldn’t take any chances on him being alive and vindictive against a woman who dared to break his laws.
She supposed that Rafe could tell that she was nervous. When his hands wrapped around her arm, Kaylee couldn’t help but look down at where he was gripping her. It was a gentle tug, nothing at all painful, and the feel of his touch was actually quite comforting in some ways. He was strong and in control, and it sort of made her feel less vulnerable than she had before.
“It’ll be just fine,” he said quietly next to her ear. “I promise you, Princess Kaylee. I’m taking you to a place where I know and trust the people. I would never lead you to where you can be harmed. After all, I just rescued you from being murdered at least twice. Why would I do that if I wasn’t completely sure you’d be safe here?”
Kaylee didn’t have an answer for that. It didn’t make any sense that he would let her get hurt. She tried to relax a bit, but it was difficult. She was still on edge as they approached the largest building in the village, one she took to be the inn he’d mentioned before. She took a closer look at it before he used the knocker to knock on the door. It was made of large timbers with a thatched roof, nothing fancy, but it was longer than the other buildings and taller as well. She had to imagine it didn’t have a second story since the timbers seemed to be cut from the same tree all the way up, but it was still impressive compared to the other houses in the village.
A few moments after Rafe knocked, the door opened. A short, round woman wearing a faded blue dress and an apron that may have been white at one point but was now more of a gray color stared out at them. Her reddish-brown hair was tied up in a topknot with lots of curls loose and some stuck to her face with sweat. When she realized who it was knocking at her door, her face turned up in a cheerful smile. “Well, good day there, Rafe! How are you?” she asked, grasping his hand and shaking it.
“I’m well, Freida, thank you,” Rafe said. “And how are you and Charles today?”
“Good, good,” she said, still smiling brightly. “We haven’t been too busy the last few days. Not a lot of travelers headed this way.”
“Well, I guess you’re in luck then,” Rafe said. “My friend here is looking for a room for the night.”
For the first time, Freida’s eyes fell on Kaylee’s face. It was as if she couldn’t see her before, the woman was so focused on Rafe. “Good day… sir,” the woman said, a questioning lilt to her voice. “You’re in need of a room?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Kaylee said, thinking her voice would give her away. She had no coin on her, so she had to assume Rafe would explain that situation to the innkeeper, not to mention the fact that she needed to find a way back home the next day--if she decided to go back to the castle. The thought of leaving poor Jenna out there with those horrible people any longer than she had to made her stomach twist into knots.
Freida looked uncomfortable. Her eyes went from Kaylee’s face to Rafe’s and then back again. “Why don’t the pair of you come in for a few moments so we can discuss what we can offer as far as… accommodations are concerned?”
Freida opened the door wider and stepped inside, holding the door for her guests. Inside, Kaylee saw several tables in the first large room, each with three or four chairs around them and what looked like a tavern bar to the far right of the room. On the left, there was another counter, which is where Freida was headed. Another room lay behind this one, but Kaylee couldn’t see into it from the doorway. Another door on the other side of the tavern led down a hall she also couldn’t see the end of from her current position.
Freida stepped behind the counter which looked like the place one would do dealings as an innkeeper, as opposed to the tavern keeper on the other side of the room. She pulled out a leather-bound ledger that reminded Kaylee of some of the more cheaply made books she’d seen in the library, old volumes that her family had collected over the years, mostly from villages in kingdoms that had been conquered by Arteria.
Opening up to a spot a few pages in, Freida ran her finger down the page, shaking her head. Kaylee wasn’t sure what that meant since she’d already said they weren’t busy. When she was done, she looked up at Rafe and said, “There is a minor issue, sir.”
“What’s that?” Rafe asked, his eyebrows knit together with concern.
Freida cleared her throat and said, “Walter Gladstone is staying here this evening. I’m not sure yer, uh, friend would be… comfortable.”
Kaylee was confused. She had no idea who Walter Gladstone was or what he had to do with anything, but when she looked at Rafe’s face, she could tell that he did.
Her eyes bounced from his face to Freida’s and then back again as Rafe seemed to puzzle over a response. “How long is he here for?”
“Who knows with him?” Freida replied with a shrug. “He says a day or two but ends up gettin’ stone cold drunk and passin’ out in his room for a few more days. I’m lucky if I can ever get the payment for the extra days, but then, it isn’t as if I can just tell him to be off, now is it?”
“Who’s Walter Gladstone?” Kaylee asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Rafe only shook his head as if to say, “Not now,” before he returned his attention back to Freida. “What if my friend stays in the room the entire time?”
“I suppose that might work, sir, but really, are you willin’ to take the chance of it not workin’ out?”
Whatever it was Freida was concerned about, it seemed pretty dire. “Who is this person?” Kaylee asked again, pointing the question at Freida this time.
The woman gave a one-word response. “Trouble.”
“Damn,” Rafe said, removing his red bycocket hat and running a hand through his hair. “Well, then, Freida, what do you propose?”
“I propose that your friend shouldn’t stay here alone tonight, sir,” Freida said. “I’m afraid it isn’t safe for a … young man to be here alone.” She looked Kaylee up and down with a scrutinizing eye, the kind that said she understood perfectly that Kaylee was not a young man at all.
“Well, I can hardly stay the night here, Freida. As it is, I’ve been separated from my men long enough. They’ll be wondering about my whereabouts.”
“Won’t they think to look here for you, sir?” Freida asked. “You spend more time here than anywhere else, other than the forest, don’t you?”
Rafe shrugged before he said, “I suppose so. But still… I intended to get back to camp tonight. We are expecting a transport tomorrow afternoon, and we need to work on our strategies for… connecting with it.”
Kaylee arched an eyebrow. She wasn’t exactly sure what he was getting at, but it sounded nefarious. When she’d asked if he was a highway robber, he’d given her the impression he didn’ do that—much. Was tomorrow’s transport the exception or the rule?
“Who’ve you left in charge? Samuel? Kensington? Both of them will know what to do without you. You should give yer men more credit,” Freida said with a good-natured wag of her finger in Rafe’s direction.
“Clearly, you don’t know my men that well,” Rafe countered. He set his hat back on his head and said, “Fine. I’ll stay. But you have to help me correct this situation tomorrow, all right? My friend here has no means for traveling back to… his home.”
“And whereabouts is that?” Freida asked, looking at Kaylee.
She looked at Rafe to see if it was safe for her to answer honestly. He gave a small nod. “Arteria,” she replied.
“Oh. Yer a long way from home, dear. What brings you out this way?”
“Traveling to visit a cousin,” Rafe answered for her. “Unfortunately, there was an incident in Ketchel, and the horse my friend was riding was lost.”
The mention of her horse made Kaylee’s face fall. She hoped she’d see her noble steed again one day. Soon.
“‘Tis a pity,” Freida said, shaking her head. “Those bastards from Ketchel certainly know how to cause trouble. Although….” She paused, looking carefully at Kaylee. The princess swallowed hard, not exactly sure what the innkeeper was looking at, but feeling as if her secret wasn’t quite as safe as she’d hoped. “They usually only attack young ladies,” Frieda finished.
“Actually, I’ve seen them attack men plenty of times,” Rafe said. “Why just today, they launched themselves at two other men riding through the forest, besides my new friend. Those two rode off and hopefully made it to safety, but since… Kent here is all alone, I decided to give him some help getting out of that situation.”
“All right then, Kent,” Freida said, making a face that told Kayle she knew for certain that her name wasn’t Kent. “You can have the first room on the right back here. I’m certain Rafe will be happy to show you the way. Rafe, will you be in need of your own quarters, or will you be stayin’ with this young man to ensure his safety?”
Kaylee’s eyes widened. Freida couldn’t be suggesting that they share a room, was she? Chances were that there’d only be one bed in the room. Turning to look at Rafe, Kaylee willed him to say no. She’d never lain with a man before in any capacity and didn’t wish to start now, even if he was rather attractive.
Rafe sucked in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “I suppose with Walter Gladstone in the inn, it would be safest for Kent and me to share a room.”
“Are you certain, Rafe?” Kaylee asked, trying to be as pointed as possible. “Wouldn’t you be more comfortable in your own quarters?”
Rafe opened his mouth and closed it promptly before he shrugged and looked back at Freida who was giving them both a skeptical look.
“I hate to think of what might happen if Walter Gladstone were to intrude on you, young… man,” she said, shaking her head. “He makes the Ketchelians look like fine gentlemen.”
Kaylee still had no idea who this Walter Gladstone was, but she supposed she didn’t need to meet him to understand what both Freida and Rafe were trying to tell her--he was bad news. “All right,” she said, blowing out a hot breath. “If you believe it would be safer, I suppose it won’t matter. For one night.” She had heard that many times travelers would have to share a bed, often with a stranger, though she doubted that it was usually a man and a woman sharing the bed without there being some sort of relationship between the two of them.
Freida reached beneath the counter and produced a key, handing it to Rafe. “Let us know if you be needin’ anything. The tavern will be operating until we run out of ale or the drunks all go home.”
“Thank you, Freida,” Rafe said, taking the key from her hand. Looking at Kaylee, he arched an eyebrow to see if she was ready to head to their room. With no other choice but to go along behind him, Kaylee gave him a nod, and they headed toward the room.
Rafe led the way down the hall to the first door on the right and slipped the key into the lock. With a twist of his wrist, the lock sprang, and the door came open with a gentle push.
Making a flourishing motion with his arm, Rafe said, “After you.”
With a deep breath, Kaylee stepped into the room and took a look around, instantly wishing she had just stayed in the hallway.
The room was small. She thought Rafe might be able to stand in the center of the room and touch both walls just by stretching his arms out. There was a bed, but it wasn’t half as big as her bed at home, and even without touching it, she could tell the mattress was stuffed with crinkly straw. There was one window with a tattered, faded red curtain hanging over it. Through the holes in the curtain, she could see smudges of dirt all over the glass.
The floor was rough-hewn wood with several stains that could’ve been blood or booze. The only other piece of furniture in the room beside the bed was a misshapen chest of draws with a chamber pot sitting atop it that probably hadn’t been rinsed in years. The stench of urine and sweat permeated the space. If the window even opened, Kaylee wanted to lift the glass right away.
Rafe entered behind her, closing the door, locking it, and dropping the bolt. The sound of the heavy wood falling into place made Kaylee jump. “It’s not much to look at,” he said, “but it’s just one night.”
“Just one night?” she repeated, looking at him wide-eyed. “But… look at the size of that bed. I’m not sure we could both lie in it stacked on top of one another.”
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she realized what she had said, and her face caught on fire.
Rafe looked away from her and dragged his hand through his hair. It seemed to her that he was having a bit of trouble keeping his face from changing colors as well.
“Forgive me,” Kaylee said with a sigh. “I didn’t mean to… imply anything.”
“No need to apologize, Princess,” Rafe said, looking over at her for a second. “I know the bed is small. You needn't worry. I’ll be sleeping on the floor.”
“On the floor?” she repeated. “You can’t sleep on the floor! Look at it! There aren’t even any blankets or spare pillows for the floor.”
“I assure you, I’ve slept in worse conditions, Princess,” Rafe said, folding his arms across his broad chest.
“But… it isn’t fair of me to take the bed and let you sleep on the filthy, stained floor!” Kaylee walked over to the window, tossing the curtain aside and studying it. If it opened, she had no idea how to get it to do so. It looked well sealed. Still, she tried pulling on the left side of the window to swing it to the side, but it wouldn’t budge.
Rafe came over and flipped a lever on the top of the window and then lifted the glass, taking a stick from atop the dresser and sticking it inside to hold the glass up.
Kaylee had never seen a window that operated that way before. “Thank you,” she muttered. The air from outside wasn’t much better than the stuffy smell inside of the room, but at least it let a bit of a breeze into the space.
“I’m going out to the tavern,” Rafe said. “I’ll be back soon. I’ll bring you something to eat. You must be hungry.”
“I’m fine,” Kaylee said, sitting down on the bed. The straw immediately poked through the fabric cover and into her legs. She didn’t move, though. When she thought about what her poor cousin might be going through, being poked in the leg with a piece of hay wasn’t much to suffer through.
Rafe gave her a sympathetic look and then sunk down next to her on the bed “I know that this isn’t what you were planning on having happen this day, but we need to focus on what we can actually do that is productive at the moment. You need to get some rest. In the morning, I will walk you to the stagecoach and make sure they can get you safely back to your home so that your father and your uncle can track down the thieves that took her. You’ll be able to help them. You can tell them what you saw and where they went.”
Kaylee shook her head. “It’s not that simple. I appreciate you trying to be optimistic, but I’m certain that my father and uncle have already begun their search based on my lady in waiting’s description of what happened. Jenna is surely in danger of losing her life at the moment. At the very least, those rogues will likely… harm her.” She couldn’t even allow herself to think about what way they might hurt her. She had to force dark images of her cousin struggling beneath a faceless man from her mind.
“I don’t believe they will harm your cousin,” Rafe said. “She’s for bartering. If they wanted to kill her, they wouldn’t have taken her. They would’ve killed her right then and there and not bothered to haul her off the way that they did.”
Kaylee looked into his eyes and saw that he at least meant to tell her the truth, though she had no idea how he might know the intentions of the bastards who’d stolen her cousin. But then, if he was also in the business of robbing people, as he’d let it be known earlier, perhaps he could think like those kidnappers after all.
“What do you know of these people?” she asked, seeing that there was more he wasn’t disclosing.
Rafe arched an eyebrow at her. “What makes you think I know more of them than what you’ve told me?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I just feel like perhaps you know more than you’re letting on. I’ve heard that other princesses have been taken recently, one of them from Norterly. We are in Norterly now, and you know many people here. You must’ve heard something. Do you know anything more? Do you have any indication as to where they may have taken my cousin and the other princesses?”
Rafe swallowed hard. Kaylee couldn’t help but watch his Adam’s apple bob up and down, his lips part slightly, and then his teeth clip his bottom lip for just a second before he shook his head. “I don’t know.”
He wasn’t telling her the truth. She could tell he was holding back from her. But there was no point in pressing the issue now. “Very well, then,” Kaylee said. “Go out and enjoy the tavern. I shall lay here and stare at the ceiling.” A glance up above her made her wish she’d said something else. Large rings stained the ceiling giving her the impression the roof leaked when it rained.
He bid her goodbye, and she listened as his footsteps crossed the small room. A moment later, the door closed behind him, and the sound of his boots echoed down the hall.
