“Escape?” Giselle actually sounded surprised. “Surely we should wait for Oliver.”

I attempted a diplomatic answer. “Waiting for rescue is certainly one option.” I paused and then couldn’t resist adding, “Are you sure Oliver is coming, though?”

“Certainly he will come for us,” said Emmeline, “we’re his sisters.”

“Touching,” I muttered under my breath without any real heat, “it’s good to know I count for something.” More loudly, I said, “But will he know where we are?”

Giselle frowned. “I suppose it depends on whether he decided to track our carriage or return immediately to the capital for reinforcements.”

I waited for her to continue, but she lapsed back into silence.

“Well,” I said, eventually, “I, for one, have no intention of sitting around and hoping for the best.”

“But what exactly do you intend to do?” asked Emmeline. “You heard what Lord Treestone said. It sounds to me like you’re going to get yourself killed. And that doesn’t sound particularly helpful.”

I ignored this sad mistrust in my abilities, my attention caught on something else. “Lord Treestone? Don’t tell me you two know our captor!”

“But, of course,” said Giselle. “We know all the nobles of Eldon. He’s a minor lord with a small estate in the southwestern forests.”

“I thought you said they were robbers!”

Giselle shrugged. “I didn’t know they were answering to him until he appeared. Even nobles can turn to thievery, I suppose.”

I rubbed my head, deciding now was not the right moment to address their strange detachment. But how could they not be more incensed to be kidnapped by one of their own nobles? And how had they not thought it worth mentioning?

I shook off the thought and explored our surroundings. Other than the beds and some empty chests and drawers, the room was bare. No surprises there. The windows were tall and narrow—too narrow for any of us to fit through—and there was only one door.

Ignoring Giselle’s murmured warning, I opened it and stepped out into the corridor. Two guards immediately moved threateningly toward me. I stopped them with a haughty look.

“We have completed our meal. Please send someone to clear the trays.” I retreated back into the room without waiting for a reply.

So just walking out of the castle definitely wasn’t going to be an option. Just as this Lord Treestone had intimated. I had been in more dangerous situations in my life, but I had to admit, I couldn’t readily see a way out of this one. And the manner of Lord Treestone had raised enough questions in my mind that I wasn’t sure I wanted to run straight for the capital, anyway. Not without some further investigation.

But the guards prevented any immediate explorations, and the thought of just climbing obediently into bed chafed too much to be considered. Especially since I was hardly sleepy after my long nap in the carriage.

“Maybe one of you two could have a medical emergency?” I mused aloud. “I could send one of the guards for a doctor and, in the chaos, I might get a chance to slip away.”

But one glance at the faces of the Eldonian princesses made me abandon the plan. Neither of them had the dramatic streak necessary to pull off such a deception.

I sighed. It looked like direct was the only way to go. I strode back toward the door and then paused.

“I’m going to see what I can find out. Would either of you like to come?”

Emmeline and Giselle exchanged looks, but neither of them spoke.

“Very well, then. If I manage to escape, I’ll send someone back to rescue you.”

“I’m really not sure…”

I didn’t wait to hear the end of Giselle’s sentence, pushing the door open and striding confidently out of the room. I could have sworn one of the guards sighed at the sight of me, and I had to suppress a smile.

“I wish to see Lord Treestone.”

The guards exchanged a concerned look. I put my hands on my hips.

“Well? I assume you can’t leave your post, so call for someone to escort me to him.”

Still nothing.

I gave them my best royal look. “I’m not accustomed to being kept waiting.”

After another silent exchange, one of the guards shrugged and called down the corridor. A young boy appeared and was charged with fetching more guards.

The three of us waited in silence for their arrival which took less time than I would have liked. Reinforcements were apparently to be found in close proximity to our room.

The two new guards looked somewhat skeptical when told they needed to take me to Lord Treestone’s study, but neither actually protested. I had intended to take the opportunity to learn something of the layout of the castle, but it turned out to be so simple that study was hardly needed.

The small building had two floors, each boasting rows of rooms off a single corridor. Presumably a larger receiving, and possibly dining, hall could be found off the front antechamber. Not many people moved about, but there was enough activity to suggest that the rooms were being used for the purposes I would have supposed given the basic layout. It was certainly nothing like the sprawling single-story palace I had grown up in.

We arrived at a closed wooden door, and one of the guards knocked, disappearing inside for a quiet conversation with the occupant. When he returned, I was gestured into a spacious study decorated in dark wood with black metal accents.

The man from earlier—Lord Treestone, apparently—sat behind a large, neat desk. If he was surprised to see me, he didn’t show it.

“Princess Celine. This is an unexpected visit.”

He didn’t offer me a seat, but I took one anyway. Like everything in the room I had left, the padding on the chair was slightly worn but comfortable. I looked around, noting the rows of books and ledgers, and the general lack of adornment. When my attention returned to the noble in front of me, I found him watching me with a look of interest.

I folded my hands in my lap and waited for him to speak. One of my older sisters had led a network of spies for years, and I had picked up a few tips from her. I would take any opportunity I could to keep this man on edge.

“What can I do for you, Princess Celine?” he said at last.

“Besides the obvious, I suppose you mean?”

A small smile twitched one side of his face. “Certainly let us leave aside anything obvious.”

“Very well. I should like to know what has happened to my people. We had rather an entourage, as you must know, and two of the guards were in fact Lanoverian and not Eldonian.”

“You show great concern for them.”

My gaze turned icy. “I have great concern for all my people. As every royal—and noble—is obligated to do. If you have harmed them, you will find yourself with a stronger enemy than your own monarch.” I looked around the room again, still amazed he had brought us to his own home. “Since clearly you have no fear of him.”

The man seemed to deflate slightly, running a hand lightly across his face. “Fear…no, indeed. We seem all too short of fear these days.”

My eyes narrowed. He sounded disappointed and defeated. Not at all like someone taking advantage of a weak ruler.

Looking back at me, the noble sighed. “I have no wish to find myself or my kingdom at odds with yours. Your people—along with the Eldonians—were left bound but otherwise unharmed. We didn’t want them following us, but we have no quarrel with them.”

“In that case, you can only hope someone came along quickly enough to prevent them freezing to death.”

He shrugged. “It’s a well-traveled road.”

His unconcern rankled, but relief still filled me. The knowledge that we had not left a pile of dead bodies behind us lifted a cloud from my mind. Assuming he told the truth—and I could think of no reason for him to lie about it—he had once again confounded the expectations I had built of our abductors—the alleged robbers. I decided to change tack, leaning forward slightly and fixing him with an encouraging look.

“I cannot speak for the others, but I, at least, am uninvolved in whatever is happening here in your kingdom. Tell me what it is we should all be afraid of. And what you seek to gain with our abduction. Let us work together. If you mean me no harm, there is no reason for us to be enemies.”

He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “You’re not what I expected, Your Highness.”

“Neither are you.”

Something shadowed his eyes for a moment, and he looked away. I was used to being overlooked and underestimated, but something told me he wasn’t as familiar with the role of robber and kidnapper.

“I must think on this situation,” he said when he looked back at me. “We will speak more in the morning.” Raising his voice, he called for the door to be opened again, and the two guards from earlier reappeared.

As they led me back the way we had come, I looked around for some means of escape, but nothing presented itself. The few people who had still roamed the halls earlier all seemed gone, and only our footfalls could be heard. I saw only one face—a young girl who watched us and who I was sure I saw in two different places during our walk—but she made no response to my smile on either occasion.

All too soon we arrived back at my assigned room. It seemed patience would be required, after all. I sighed. Patience had never been one of my strengths.

* * *

The next day, despite his words, Lord Treestone failed to send for me. Meals were delivered to our room, but my requests to be taken to see the noble were denied. Emmeline and Giselle’s calm only further exacerbated me, their stillness driving me to ceaseless pacing.

The sun outside had begun its descent when a creaking filled the air. My first glance went to the door, but it remained firmly closed. After a wide-eyed scan of the rest of the room, I noticed a small section of the wall creeping slowly open. Emmeline and Giselle both remained unmoved, positioned far from the new opening, leaving me to greet whoever appeared alone. I recovered one of the knives from my boots, unwilling to wait entirely unarmed, but the figure that appeared was small enough for me to drop my defensive stance.

The girl looked contemptuously at the other two princesses and approvingly at my dagger. It took only a second for me to place her as the girl I had seen in the corridors the night before.

“I thought I liked the look of you,” she said in a low voice. “And what you said to Uncle, too.”

I raised both eyebrows. “Lord Treestone, you mean? Were you listening to our meeting?”

She grinned. “I’m always listening. At least when there’s anything int’resting to hear.” She paused, glancing again at Emmeline and Giselle. “Come on.” She stepped back inside the secret passageway, gesturing for me to follow.

I paused for only a moment, looking at the other two with raised eyebrows. Once again, neither made a move to accompany me, so I disappeared into the darkness on my own.

“I’m Cassandra, by the way,” said the girl’s voice, just before she pulled back the shutter of a small lantern. A narrow passageway appeared around me, the walls rough and unadorned.

“Celine,” I said, although it seemed unnecessary if she’d been spying on me since my arrival.

“I know.” Cassandra took off at a brisk walk, and I trailed behind.

“I’m surprised they locked us in a room with a secret passageway,” I said as we wound our way through the walls. I was kicking myself for not examining the room for just such a possibility. There must be an opening mechanism hidden somewhere inside.

Cassandra looked back at me and grinned. “I don’t think anyone else knows they’re here. It’s a very old castle, and no one seems to want to explore it but me.”

“Why did you come for me?”

She stopped abruptly, and I nearly collided with her back. Spinning, she surveyed me with a creased brow before nodding once. Resuming our forward progress, she spoke over her shoulder.

“I like the look of you, even though you’re a princess.” She wrinkled her nose. “You’re certainly nothing like our princesses. When Uncle didn’t send for you today, I thought I’d better take matters into my own hands.” She shrugged. “He isn’t a bad person, you know. He’s just cautious. Too cautious.”

A small snort escaped me, but she didn’t seem the least offended.

“I know kidnapping you all probably doesn’t seem cautious, but he’s getting desperate. He debated forever about doing it, and then you heard what he said when you first arrived. If he’d been there when the prince escaped, he would have called it off. Now that the plan has gone awry, he doesn’t know how to proceed.”

I refrained from asking how she had overheard that conversation. There weren’t any hidden passageways in the middle of a courtyard.

“So, when you asked him to tell you what was going on,” she continued, after a brief pause, “of course he wanted to think about it. And he’s been thinking about it all day.” She ducked into a small alcove. “He’s going to think about it so long that the royal guards show up, and how’s that going to help anyone?”

I refrained from pointing out that the royal guards would be of some help to me.

The alcove turned out to be almost a small room, and the girl had obviously turned it into a hideaway of sorts, decorated with threadbare rugs and cushions. A small collection of lanterns and several old books stood on a small wooden shelf.

The girl plonked down onto one of the cushions, and I did the same. My travel dress was already in dire need of a wash, so I didn’t think a bit more dirt could hurt it at this stage. Still, I felt a passing pang for the gown. I wasn’t sure if it would be able to be salvaged after this adventure, and it was one of my favorites—worn to impress during my expected arrival at a foreign court.

“Well, then,” I said, once we’d both settled. “So tell me. What’s going on?”