A Throne for Sisters

She didn’t know what to do with Zachariah’s body, wasn’t sure that she could do anything, when the sheer dead weight of him was so much to move. In any case, the sounds of trouble were coming closer, and there was no time. So she left him there, in the middle of the road, riding in the direction of the blacksmith’s shop.

As Kate rode, the full implications of everything she’d just done started to sink in. She was one of the indentured, running away from her fate, who had killed someone when he tried to take her back. They would kill her for that, and it would be a miracle if they only hanged her for it, rather than leaving her in a gibbet to starve or breaking her on a wheel.

She was almost back to the smithy before she realized the truth: she couldn’t go back. Kate didn’t know if anyone had seen her fighting Zachariah. Certainly, someone would have heard what he was shouting. It wouldn’t take much for people to work out that she was the one he’d found, especially if he’d been asking questions about her.

If she went back, she would lead trouble straight to Thomas and Winifred’s door. Straight to Will. What was the penalty for aiding a murderer? Just the thought of something happening to Will made Kate feel sick.

He and Thomas were outside when Kate came back. She didn’t dismount. She didn’t dare, because if she dismounted, they might talk her into staying, or might tell her that they would protect her from what was coming when they couldn’t. When no one could.

“Kate,” Will said with a smile. “You’re back! That’s good, you’re just in time, my father and I have a surprise for – ”

“Will,” his father said, cutting him off. Thomas obviously saw more than his son did. “Quiet a moment. Something’s wrong.”

Kate sat there on the horse, just staring at them, not knowing what to say. It seemed wrong to say anything, because the moment she did, she would bring a wealth of pain down onto the only people who had ever shown her kindness.

“Kate?” Will said. “What’s happening? Why is there blood on your tunic? Did someone attack you?”

Kate nodded. “A boy from the House of the Unclaimed. He wanted to take me back. He attacked me and – ” It was hard to come out and say it. She didn’t want Will or Thomas thinking of her as some kind of monster.

“And?” Thomas asked.

“And I killed him,” Kate said. “I didn’t have a choice.”

Was that true? It had seemed as though she hadn’t had any other options when she’d plunged the knife in, but the truth was, by then, she’d wanted Zachariah dead. He’d deserved it, after all he’d done, and all he’d threatened to do.

“Get inside,” Will said. “We’ll need to hide you.”

Thomas understood better, though. “They’d find her even if we hid her, Will. They’ll know I have a new apprentice. It won’t take them long.”

“Then what do we do?” Will asked.

Kate answered that. “There’s only one thing I can do: I have to leave. If I get away from the city, they won’t look for me forever, but if I stay here, they’ll hurt you as well as me.”

“No,” Will said. “We can stop it happening. We can fight them.”

Kate shook her head then. “We can’t. Not all of them. They’d just kill you alongside me, and I don’t want that, Will. I have to go.”

Kate could feel the pain and disappointment boiling off Will like smoke. It matched some of what she felt in that moment, but she knew he didn’t understand the dangers that were coming.

“I don’t want you to go,” he said.

“And I don’t want to go,” Kate replied. “But I have to. I’m sorry, Will. Thomas, thank you, you gave me a home, and I wish I could have learned more.”

“You would have been a good apprentice,” Thomas said. “I have something for you. It was going to be a surprise for you. Will?”

Will didn’t respond for a moment, but then nodded. He went to a spot where a cloth covered something, pulling it away. Kate saw the gleam of a sword. More than that, it was a sword she recognized, because she wore the wooden version of it on her hip.

“There wasn’t enough time to do more than forge the basic blade,” Thomas said. “I’d intended the sharpening, the handle wrap and the detail work to be part of your training, but it’s strong, and it’s light.”

He took it and handed it up to Kate. It was a long way from finished, but it was still more than she could have expected. It was long and light, feeling as though it would be perfectly balanced once she wound a handle onto it. It was probably the most beautiful thing she’d ever owned.

“I worked on it with my father,” Will said. “We wanted it to welcome you back. Now… I guess it’s a going away present.”

“I don’t know what to say,” she said. “Thank you. Thank you both so much.”

Kate took it, settling it into place next to the wooden blade so that the two of them hung side by side from her belt. She felt as though she ought to say something more than just thank you. There was so much more she wanted to say, so much she wanted to do, but she could still hear the shouts in the distance, escalating as they found the body she’d left behind. Those made it clear that there wasn’t enough time for anything else.

She had to settle for leaning down from the saddle, kissing Will quickly and sharply, not even sure if she was doing it right. It wasn’t as though she’d had any time to practice kissing. She straightened up before he could say anything, although that didn’t make much of a difference when her talent told her all of the things that he wanted to say anyway. Even hearing them like that hurt, making it feel as though turning would tear her heart out of her chest.

Kate did it anyway. She put her heels to the horse and rode away, listening for the shouts that were building as more people started to search for her. She didn’t have to think about where she was going. There was only one place she could go, if she wanted to survive.

It seemed that the woman at the fountain would be getting what she wanted after all.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Sophia walked the streets of Ashton, and this time it was worse than it had been before. The last time, she had been fresh out of the orphanage, just grateful to get away from it. She’d also had her sister beside her, and between the two of them, it had seemed that anything was possible.

Now, though, it just hurt with the sense of loss that had been there ever since Sebastian had told her that she had to go. It didn’t matter that he didn’t want this any more than she did. What mattered was that he’d said it. He’d turned her out onto the street as surely as his brother would have after he’d gotten what he wanted. He’d said it was to protect Sophia, but wasn’t it really just as much to protect himself? Wasn’t he really just worried about what would happen when his mother or the other nobles found out who he’d fallen in love with?

Sophia felt the heat of the tears falling as she walked, and didn’t even try to hold them back. No one looked her way as she kept going along the cobbled streets of one of Ashton’s wealthier quarters. Nobody stared at her broken-hearted wandering. Nobody cared enough to look.

Kate! she sent for the millionth time. Where are you?!

And yet no answer came.

For the first time in her life, Sophia felt truly alone.

Being on the street was worse this time because of everything she’d almost had. Sophia had felt as though she’d been on the verge of everything she could have wanted: a safe life with a man she loved and who seemed to love her back; a place among the wealthiest nobles of the realm; acceptance as something more than just an orphan, suitable only for indenture as whatever the ones who purchased her debt chose.

Sophia kept going, not wanting to stop where she might be seen and recognized. It was embarrassing enough that this had happened at all, without thinking about what might happen if someone from the palace spotted her. She didn’t want to think about how Milady d’Angelica would gloat if she found out that Sophia had been forced to leave the palace, her wedding canceled.

She really didn’t want to think about what might happen if she found out the truth. What would happen if the noble girl realized that she’d been tricked, beaten to the love of the prince by a girl who was just one of the indentured?

What would Sebastian say had happened? That she’d been called back to her adopted country? That there had been some unnamed scandal? Would Sebastian say anything at all? Perhaps the dowager would let it be known that even mentioning Sophia of Meinhalt would incur her displeasure, and that would be that.

Whatever happened, Sophia wouldn’t be able to go back, and that made it worse too. When she’d first left the orphanage, there had been a glimmer of hope left in her dream of finding a place among the nobles. Now, Sophia felt as though she had spent the last of her hope, with nothing left but the prospect of a worse life to come.

At least she wouldn’t be sleeping with her back to a chimney tonight. She still had the money that she’d gotten by selling her stolen dress. She could buy… well, if she was careful, Sophia could buy a lot of things, but right then it hurt too much to think about all the things that might happen next. She just wanted a room for the night so that she could sleep and weep away the pain of being pushed out of Sebastian’s life.

Could she have done anything differently? Sophia asked herself the question again and again as she looked around, searching for an inn that might still have a room left for her. There didn’t seem to be a good answer to that. She could have done a better job of disguising her mark, obviously, but the truth was that no matter how careful she’d been, sooner or later, someone would have seen it. It was there, indelibly labeling her as something lesser; something to be hated. She would have forgotten the makeup another time, or it would have washed off in the rain, and then…

Well, maybe then it wouldn’t have been when Sebastian was the only one to see. Maybe a dozen nobles would have been there to grab her and demand her life for the insult of it, rather than there just being one man who cared about her.

Sophia went on until she found an inn away from the palace. She wanted to be far enough from the noble district that she wouldn’t be recognized by any of the nobles there or their servants, but she didn’t want to go all the way down into the worst parts of the city. There were some places that she didn’t want to return to, even if it would cost her an extra coin or two to stay here.

She walked in, trying to keep from showing too much of the hurt that cut through her heart, making her feel as though she should simply keep walking until she dropped from exhaustion. The inn was a long way from the luxury of the palace, but it seemed to be clean, and the people staying there seemed more like merchants passing through the city than rough dock hands or mercenaries.

Sophia didn’t feel safe there, because where could she be safe when she’d even found herself in danger in the palace? Even so, it would be good enough for tonight. After that… well, Sophia couldn’t think past that. Maybe she would live her life as a thief, using her power to sense when people weren’t looking until she was finally caught. Maybe she would try to find her sister, although Sophia hated the idea of bringing her troubles into whatever life Kate had found for herself.