Chapter 35

Panic struck through me. Adrenaline surged through my veins.

Seeing Elva hanging from that window took years off my life.

I rushed forward at once, forgetting the Luna now behind me – forgetting all else.

My child was in danger!

As I ran closer, I held out my arms, ready to catch her if she fell.

Nicholas was already in action, climbing up the vine-covered trellis set alongside the palace walls.

“Hold on, Elva!” he called up to her. “I’m almost there.”

“Nick-lass!” Her sharp, frightened cry pierced into my heart. Tears stained her cheeks as she looked down at him.

“Hurry, Nicholas!” I wanted to join him, but I feared too much weight would destroy the trellis. It already creaked under his weight alone.

Suddenly, another figure appeared in the window, trying to grab her. She shuffled as best she could away from those grabby hands.

At first I felt relief. Someone was there! They would save her!

But then I noticed those hands weren’t trying to pull her up. They were trying to push her.

“Leave me alone!” Elva screamed.

“Jump, Elva. Right here, I’ll catch you.” Feet planted on the trellis, Nicholas opened his arms wide.

Wasting no more time, Elva let go of the ledge.

My heart stopped.

But then Nicholas caught her. He enclosed her in the safety of his arms, and I could breathe again.

Carefully, he carried her down the trellis. I met them at the bottom. Elva turned in Nicholas’s arms and reached out for me with both hands. I immediately cradled her to me.

Nicholas stayed close, leaving his hand on her back.

Elva’s loud sobs wracked through her body. She was a trembling mess.

“Mommy… Mommy…”

“It’s okay. I’m here. We’re both here.”

She turned from where she was hiding against my shoulder to check for Nicholas.

“You’re safe now,” he told her, voice gentle.

She sucked in a loud, wet breath.

I looked her over, making certain she wasn’t injured. But other than being afraid, she seemed okay.

“Can you tell us what happened, Elva?” Nicholas asked. “How did you end up in the window?”

“I like the horses,” she said, sniffling. “I was looking and then… a guard…” She buried her face against my shoulder again. “He chased me.”

Nicholas and I locked eyes. His burned with fury.

“What happened to the nanny?” I asked.

“That mean lady made her leave.”

Nicholas’s brow furrowed, confused, but I knew exactly who ‘mean lady’ was.

“Lena,” I mouthed to him.

Elva wiped her nose with her sleeve. “I told him I didn’t want to play… but he chased me… Then at the window… Mommy, he pushed me.”

Her face crumpled up. “I want to go home.”

My entire heart shattered to pieces.

“You don’t have to leave. It’s going to be okay, now,” Nicholas said, looking from me to Elva and back, like he was telling us both. “I’ll get to the bottom of this and never let anything like this happen again.”

The fierceness of his tone gave me hope, yet doubt still harbored in the corners of my mind. He might mean it, but would he be able to actually stop it?

I had thought staying here would help Elva because of her access to medical care. But if someone was trying to actively hurt her…

We could go back. I’d work as many jobs as I would need to, to keep her safe.

Nicholas touched my arm, pulling me from the spiral of my thoughts and returning me to the here and now. “You will both be safe here. You have my word.”

If I let myself believe him, and I wanted to, then I had no reason to be afraid.

Yet in the sudden absence of that fear, my anger flourished.

Why would Lena send the nanny away? Why would the guard attack Elva? Were they each acting alone, or was someone behind the scenes, pulling the strings?

I saw my own rage reflected in Nicholas’s eyes. That gave me a measure of comfort.

When he found the truth of what happened here, he would act accordingly. Seeing his anger, I could trust that.

Yet whatever happened, from now on, I would be much more careful who I left my child with.

“Prince Nicholas?” came a soft feminine voice from behind us. His date stood there. She twisted her fingers together like she was shy, but annoyance marred her face. “Are we continuing our date?”

Nicholas turned to her. “I’m sorry, but –”

“Nicholas.”

The Luna herself approached us then, her own features sharp with anger. At first, I thought she might be upset on Elva’s behalf, but she only glared at the child in my arms before looking again to her son.

“You will return to your date.”

Nicholas straightened. A direct order from the Queen wasn’t something to be taken lightly, even, I supposed, when you were the prince.

When he hesitated, her eyes narrowed. “Do you not see the games that are at play here? Can you not understand that the child was never in any danger? This whole farce was orchestrated to ruin your date.”

I was so shocked, I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Surely, she couldn’t be serious? Yet she stood there firmly, glowering at me like I was the monster here.

“I would never endanger my child! And for such a petty reason!” I couldn’t keep the incredulity from my voice. It never occurred to me that I should maybe keep my voice down when speaking to the Luna, not when she was insinuating such a terrible thing.

For a moment, everyone looked at me with a wide-eyed gaze, except Nicholas, who had moved a little closer to me and Elva. All too quickly, the Queen recovered, glaring again. This time her glare zeroed in on the closeness of Nicholas to me.

“Your date, Nicholas. Now.” The Luna’s voice held ultimate authority. Nicholas wouldn’t be able to disobey.

He stepped away from us, heading toward his date. Once he was out of the Queen’s line of vision, he looked back at me. Though his face was emotionless, I could have sworn I saw concern in his gaze.

Elva whimpered into my shoulder.

“As for you.” The Queen returned her attention to me. “I have been patient with you. I have been kind. I have waived punishment which would have otherwise been perfectly reasonable. But you have continued to disrespect me.”

She waved her hand toward my window. “Between this debacle and your raised voice, as well as your previous incidents, I would be well within my rights to expel you from this competition. However…”

She sighed, like her next words weighed on her heavily. “As your presence is… a necessity, presently. I shall not be able to execute the deserved punishment. Instead, you will sustain the one previously suggested, that I had waived.”

She couldn’t mean…

“Piper, on the next stormy day, you will kneel in the rain from dawn until dusk, and reflect on all the atrocities you have committed here. Hopefully, then, you will learn some manners.”

I had no idea how she could be so blasé in the face of my child’s near-death. Had she no empathy at all? Or did she truly believe, outlandishly, that I had somehow arranged this whole thing?

What kind of goings-on occurred in this palace for that to be considered the norm?

Yet as outrageous as it was, I had no power here. I had to respect the judgement of the Luna, even if I disagreed with it. To fail to do so would result in the worst punishment imaginable.

Death.

Behind the Queen, Nicholas took a step toward us. I wasn’t sure what he was planning to do or say, but I wouldn’t let him interfere. If he did, he might be punished too.

Subtly, I shook my head and he paused.

With a chill in my heart, I held my ground and lifted my head.

“I understand,” I said, and accepted my fate.