Lesson 41: Mother Knows Best

With everyone in Stalvart preoccupied by the masquerade and the fact that the prince would be choosing his bride, people were less than helpful. It took Grielle longer than she expected to find a ship captain sailing out of Stalvart within the next few days, and even longer to find one willing to take an extra passenger on only a day's notice.

The brilliant amber shades of dusk painted the wisps of clouds as Grielle hurried back to the inn. The streets of the city were alive with a flurry of action. Even people who weren't attending the ball seemed to have caught the excitement themselves. Revelers filled the tavern of the inn, making their own party.

Grielle didn't want any part of it. Instead of indulging in a meal from the inn's kitchens, she took the loaf of bread she'd purchased from a baker's cart up to her room. She ignored the friendly hellos from everyone she passed, intent on feeling every bit of misery that darkened her heart. As she turned the corner of the hall, her heart nearly stopped to see a figure standing at her door. She begged her feet to move, but they stuck to the floorboards.

"You're a tricky one to track down," Reyn said. She picked an invisible speck of dirt from her nail and flicked it off with her thumb.

"I can't go back," Grielle said, finding her voice and her feet. She brushed past Reyn, clumsily shoved the key into the lock of her room, and ducked out of the hall. Reyn followed without being invited.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

"Then why are you here?" Grielle asked, arms folded across her chest.

"To hopefully save you from making the mistakes I made at your age," Reyn said, shutting the door with a kick of her foot.

"I'm not making a mistake. It was my mistake to think that Benedikt and I were meant—"

"No," Reyn said, throwing up a hand to stop Grielle. "Stop. You and I both know that you and Benedikt are meant to be together. But with the past you have had, I can't blame you for trying to run. There was a time when I would have done that too."

Grielle started to object but the dangerous glare Reyn gave her halted her tongue.

"Do you know what I was before I became a Liberator?"

"You were an assassin for the Linnean army," Grielle replied.

Reyn shook her head. "I was an orphan just like you. No family save for myself and nothing to my name but the anger in my heart. I'd lost everyone I'd ever cared for and for years I refused to let anyone close to me for fear of losing them. Ludvig was the first to break through my defenses and that was by sheer perseverance. The years of my life between the death of my parents and the time I met Ludvig were the darkest of my life.

"You have never known your mother. You've lost your father, and now Yorick in a sense. And let's be honest, your experience with Henrik might have fouled your belief in the honor of men whether you know it or not. But Benedikt is everything Henrik is not, and more importantly, he loves you to the point that he wanted to cancel the ball when you left. He will love you until his final breath — if you give him the chance."

Grielle could feel tears welling in her eyes. Reyn not only made perfect sense, she was saying everything Grielle hadn't known she needed to hear.

"Do not run. You are safe now. That boy is willing to do anything to get you back."

Grielle felt a hot tear roll down her cheek.

"You are safe." Reyn pulled Grielle into her arms.

"But I've ruined everything now," Grielle said into the shoulder of Reyn's tunic.

"Not quite. We got Benedikt to agree to go on with the masquerade. You can still meet him if you want to, but he can only wait until midnight when the council has decreed he must choose his bride."

Grielle wiped away her tears with the heel of her hand, panic fluttering through her chest. The sky had grown dark since they entered the room. Crowds packed the streets with musicians and dancing. It would take much longer than usual to get to the castle gates.

"We have to go!" Grielle exclaimed. "The streets are full and — Oh! I have nothing to wear!"

Reyn smiled wryly and opened the door. Ludvig and Moose stuck their heads into the room. "Hello, darling!" Moose exclaimed.

Grielle's heartfelt fit to burst at the sight of their smiling faces, but she was also glad to see her pale pink ball gown in Moose's arms. She never could have imagined being so happy to see the satin monstrosity again. "My dress!" she laughed, pulling it into her arms and hugging it to her chest.

"Now you two, out!" Reyn said, pushing the men back out into the hallway. "I need to get our princess ready."

With the door closed, Grielle removed her tunic and pants and allowed Reyn to lace her into the hidden corset of the strapless gown. Then came the pearl buttons down the back of the dress and the diamond necklace — Benedikt's gift. They felt heavy and cold on Grielle's bare throat, but she didn't mind the sensation. Neither Reyn nor Grielle had much ability when it came to dressing hair, but over the previous days, the castle maids had tended to Grielle's hair with fancy oils, and now it fell in soft waves down her back. To keep it from her face, they braided the sides and pulled them to meet at the back of her head where they were tied with the ribbons of the mask from Benedikt.

There were no mirrors in the tiny inn room to check her appearance, but Grielle didn't care. "To the ball?" she asked once Reyn had checked to make sure everything was in place.

Reyn smiled. "To the ball!"

They headed into the hallway, taking care to make sure Grielle's gown didn't catch on the rough wood of the door. Grielle felt her cheeks color as Moose and Ludvig gave her stunned looks.

"If I didn't know you, I'd think you were royalty," Moose said, dabbing a handkerchief to his glistening eyes.

"We don't have time for your blubbering," Ludvig said, putting an arm behind Grielle's back and ushering her toward the stairs. "We only have three hours or so until midnight."

"That's plenty of time to get her to the ball," Moose objected.

"We're not taking any chances," Reyn said, slinging Grielle's pack over her shoulder.

"Speaking of chances. I can't stand being unarmed." Grielle stopped on the landing of the stairs down to the tavern and pulled her long, flat, stiletto blade and sheath from the pack Reyn carried. Careful to make sure it wouldn't show through the fabric of her bodice, she slid the covered blade to sit against the skin of her stomach. "There," she said. "Now I'm ready for a masquerade."

Ludvig snickered and they continued down the stairs, through the tavern, past the slack-jawed innkeeper, and out into the streets of Stalvart. High above them, the castle windows twinkled gold against the dark outline of the mountain. Grielle's pulse quickened in panic. Somewhere, perhaps in one of those windows, Benedikt waited for her.

And she was coming.

~

Benedikt stood at the window of the tallest tower where he'd shown Grielle his kingdom. He watched the bustle of the city below, the celebrations spilling out from the taverns and into the streets, but he didn't feel like celebrating.

He could see the noble families and every eligible maiden in her best gown pouring into the inner courtyard of the castle, waiting impatiently to be admitted to the ball. He was supposed to be down in the ballroom greeting them already, but Reyn had yet to return — even with bad news.

"Looking for someone?" a gentle voice came from behind him.

He turned to see his mother illuminated in the light of the tower.

Queen Ylva strode to his side, her shimmering gown trailing behind her. She took her place at the window beside Benedikt and leaned over to place a kiss on his cheek. "The maids informed me about Grielle's disappearance. I thought I'd check on you to make sure you are still all right."

"I'm fine, Mother," Benedikt growled. He didn't mean to snap at her, but he wasn't ready to talk about Grielle. Not yet, and most of all not with his mother. He half expected her to try and persuade him to come to the ball and choose another bride — "for the good of the kingdom," as his parents always said.

What she said next surprised him.

"True Love always finds a way," she said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Benedikt nodded, but he wasn't so confident. "I'm finding that harder and harder to believe."

"Don't lose hope now. Not when you have come so far. If Grielle is your True Love, she will find her way back to you," Queen Ylva said. "But you have to believe, both of you."

Benedikt laughed, but it sounded dry and hollow. "How? How am I supposed to believe when everything has gone wrong?"

"You just do. Because when things are bad, that is when belief and trust is most important. Do you trust Grielle?"

"With my life."

"Then you have nothing to fear." Queen Ylva pressed a hand to Benedikt's shoulder and steered him back into the tower. "Come down to the ballroom and wait for her."

Benedikt agreed with a bit of reluctance, and he couldn't deny the faint flicker of hope that when he walked into the ballroom, the crowd would part and he would see Grielle waiting for him.

The floors of the castle vibrated with the tread of hundreds of slippers and the thrumming of a full orchestra in song even before they reached the ballroom. Ylva entered first, and Benedikt stopped at the door. He took a steadying breath and pulled his mask over his eyes before stepping into the splendorous whirlwind of the masquerade ball.

~

Moose shoved drunken Stalvarts left and right, clearing a path through the crowd for Grielle and her massive gown. The bells of the temple chimed to signal half past nine.

"Hurry! Hurry!" Moose roared as the shadow of the castle's outer walls loomed above the market.

"I'm moving as fast as I can," Grielle huffed, trying not to sweat too much before she would be reunited with Benedikt. "I'm trying to look like a resplendent bastard princess, thank-you-very-much."

"I will carry you!" Moose threatened, but they soon reached the guards at the castle gate.

They noted Grielle's mask and let them pass without so much as a second glance. Once inside the castle's outer walls, they were surrounded by ball gowns and dress uniforms and courtiers and princesses alike. They approached the towering doors of the castle keep and could already hear the music from within. Grielle's anticipation grew with every step toward the ballroom, so she tried to occupy her thoughts by recalling the steps to the lowland promenade.

Guards stopped guests at the door and checked invitations. Reyn produced theirs and handed them to the guard. Grielle recognized him as the same guard from the morning, the guard with the scar down his cheek. Her fingers twitched, itching to close around the handle of a blade, but she had no idea why.

As he scanned their invitations, she couldn't help but feel that something was amiss. His uniform looked too small for his frame and he pulled his plumed hat too low over his eyes.

Before Grielle could alert the others that she was beginning to guess the guard was an imposter, another "guard" appeared that she would have recognized anywhere. His gold eyes shone bright against his dark skin, and they widened with recognition when they met Grielle's. It took a moment for Grielle to take in the fact that the Pirate King of Osgarden indeed wore a guard's uniform and now stood between her and Benedikt.

"Stand back please!" Captain De Soto called out to the guests in a genteel drawl. "These appear to be imposters."

Guards jumped forward and seized her and her companions before they could move for their weapons. The guards all looked either too big or too small for their uniforms. Realization quickly dawned on the others as they were dragged roughly out of the entry and into a side passageway.

"Just a few gate crashers. We will be back to admit guests in a few moments," Grielle heard De Soto say in a sickeningly sweet voice.

Moose tried to throw an elbow at one of the disguised pirates, but they were outnumbered and overpowered in the narrow hall.

"De Soto!" Grielle growled once he appeared after settling the concerned guests.

He tugged her mask loose. "Ah, Captain Grielle," he said, dropping the honeyed tone. "I wondered if I would find you and your misfits here."

"What do you think you are doing? You and your men are outnumbered by the castle guards!" Grielle yelled, hoping she was right.

De Soto laughed. "It doesn't matter. Not with the plan I have in place."

"What plan?"

"I'm not telling you. Nor am I letting you get in the way of my revenge. You may have ruined my hostage negotiation, but I won't let you ruin this."

"Revenge?" Grielle's pulse fluttered and set off at a gallop.

"I hope you've said your goodbyes to your prince," he sneered.

"NO!" Grielle screamed as pirates dragged them into the dark passageways that led down beneath the castle to the dungeons. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!"

"Unhand me, foul seadogs!" Ludvig roared, throwing elbows and punches wherever they would land before his hands were bound behind his back.

Their struggle was useless; their small group was overpowered, and they soon found themselves disarmed and locked in an iron cell. Even in the dungeons, floors below the ball, they could still hear the haunting music and din of voices.

"BENEDIKT! BEN! HELP! THE PRINCE IS IN DANGER!"

Grielle yelled her voice hoarse, but no one came. Her cries were either drowned out by the sounds of the ball or swallowed by the thick stones. She slumped to the ground, defeated, and rested her head against the wall of their prison. With every beat of her heart, midnight was getting closer, and her Happily Ever After was slipping further and further away.