Princess Jehan brushed aside her tears. “We were not people to him. He wanted us for his experiments. Can a woman live once you remove her womb? The answer is yes. I am proof of it. But having a child of my own? That dream is gone.” She glanced over at the guard. “What happens when you cut out a man’s tongue? He wanted to know that, too.”
The guard had not spoken a word. Cas had not realized until now. Had they been prisoners together? Escaped together? Someone had knocked Cas senseless the night Faustina was killed. Had helped Princess Jehan escape through the mountains. Was this that man?
The queen was also watching the guard. “What happens?”
Princess Jehan smiled. “The man waits for you to make a mistake, to turn your back, and then he kills you.”
The guard smiled at Princess Jehan in a way that made Cas think, Why, he loves her.
The rope around his ankles had loosened. Cas held himself still as the guard walked over and gave him a halfhearted kick in the side. The pain made Cas’ eyes cross. The guard walked away. Cas took several deep breaths before going to work on his hands.
“I have missed you, Mari.” Princess Jehan rose to sit beside the queen. “He is lovely. How like you he looks!”
“Do you think so?” The queen sent Cas a desperate glance.
Princess Jehan peered closer, smiling. “Yes, his nose, most certainly. And he has your dear father’s eyes. May I hold him?”
“No,” the queen said.
That was how quickly pretense vanished and goodwill went away. The guard had turned his back to Cas, intent on the two friends. Cas yanked at his bindings.
Princess Jehan’s smile was no more. “Let me hold him, Mari.”
“I said no.” The queen rose. What control she had left splintered. “You will never touch him. How could you, Jehan? Faustina loved you.”
“She left me,” Princess Jehan said, her voice rising. “Just like you.”
“You told me to go!” The queen whisked around the table so that it stood between them. Jolted awake, Prince Ventillas began to cry. “Marry the king, end the war. I did as you begged me to, and now you’ll punish me for it?”
“And you went, gladly! Without a thought to spare for me.”
“That is not true!” the queen protested. “I have wept for you every day since I left Gregoria. I sent men to find you!”
“To make sure I was dead.” Princess Jehan held out a palm, stopping the guard from approaching. Her eyes never left the queen’s face. “What good would I have done to you alive? What explanation would you have offered your dear husband, for me? My life, Mari. You stole it. My king. My child. Give him to me.”
The guard finally noticed Cas’ frantic struggle in the corner. He charged over with his sword just as Cas rolled to his feet. A searing pain tore through him, beneath his arm. Cas lashed out with the rope so that the end struck the guard in the eye. Howling, the man fell to his knees. Cas used his fist, two sharp jabs in the throat, and the guard fell farther, collapsing onto his side and gagging. He looked over in time to see Princess Jehan grab for the prince. Her nails scraped the back of his neck. Like claws.
“No!” The queen slashed wildly with a dagger, Cas’ dagger, across the exposed flesh of collarbone.
Princess Jehan stumbled back, too close to the fireplace. Her skirts were set aflame. Shrieking, she swatted and spun like a child’s top, then fell against a tattered wall hanging. That, too, caught fire. The queen stared in frozen horror at her friend. While in her arms, Prince Ventillas screamed and screamed.
Cas swept the mace off the floor. He grabbed the queen’s hand. “We have to go.” He did not know where Esti was. But there were three guards unaccounted for. They would come once they saw the fire and smelled the smoke. Even if they did not, Cas and the queen would have to run fast and run far. If the fire took hold in the forest, it would spare no one.
33
The moon reappeared, but they no longer needed its light. Behind them, the castle burned.
Commander Terranova had been left where he had fallen. Cas and Queen Jehan raced past him into the forest. There was shouting behind them, too close, and the princess’ screams. Of poor Esti, Cas saw nothing.
They stopped once. “Give him to me,” Cas said. “It will be faster if I hold him.” He slid the prince into his overtunic. Tucked into his trousers, it acted as a sling. The prince’s shrieks had quieted to terrified hiccups. Queen Jehan turned back to watch the flames as they spread from the ruins to the trees. She coughed violently, tears streaming down her face. “How do we race fire, Lord Cassiapeus?”
“We don’t have to. We just need to find the arches.”
“Arches?”
Cas didn’t answer. Even at this distance, he could feel the heat from the flames and the heaviness of the smoke. He grabbed her hand and they ran, coughing with every breath.
The aqueduct appeared on their right, white stone in the dark, looming over the trees. It was just as imposing as the aqueduct back home, but this one had been built with triple arches, not double. Queen Jehan stumbled when she saw it. “Arches.”
“Yes.” When they reached it, Cas dropped to his knees and searched along its base.
Queen Jehan crouched beside him. “What are you looking for?”
“A ladder. Hopefully it hasn’t crumbled . . . Here. Do you see these?” He found the rungs. Ancient slats that led up to the second arch. “You go first. Test each one.” His voice had turned ragged. It was hard to catch his breath.
Queen Jehan said suddenly, “You sound strange. Are you hurt? Where?” She clutched at his shoulders, trying to see him through red, watering eyes.
“It’s nothing. Please, Your Grace. We must hurry.”
She went, tugging gingerly on each rung before placing her full weight on it. Even so, one broke off under her step. At her muffled shriek, quickly cut off, Cas knew a moment of hair-raising terror. He heard her scrabbling about before she found solid footing. Once she reached the top and called to him, Cas followed. Halfway up, the prince squeaked indignantly in his ear. “What?” Cas said with a laugh that even to him sounded a little crazed. “You had a different evening planned? So did I, little prince. So did I.”
Cas had seen this aqueduct at a distance many times before, traveling with Ventillas. It had not been used for at least a century. Water no longer coursed through it, which meant they could walk safely through the empty pipes. It would keep them high above the flames. Eventually, it would cross a river where, if good fortune smiled upon them, the fire would not follow.
They walked through miles of pipe, wending their way past the lime deposits, or sinter, that had built up over the decades. The incrustation grew along the floor and walls, sometimes so thick they could not pass through. Cas had to chip away at the deposits with his mace.
It could have been worse. At least they had the warmth of their cloaks. They had been allowed to keep them on at the castle, though they were both searched. Not the baby, however. No one had thought to inspect his blankets for weapons.