The wind whipped through the mountains, setting a chill in the air that seemed to penetrate into Matthew’s bones. The cloak that had formerly belonged to King Philip was no match for the conditions the further up they rode into the mountains, and from his vantage point on the back of a Gradenian soldier’s horse, he almost welcomed arriving inside Leopold’s lair just for the warmth—almost.
His head was bleeding again, and much of the skin had been ripped from his wrists and ankles. He’d lost his boots a long time ago, and thanks to the cold, could no longer feel some of his toes. Dragging him behind the horse had left his clothing in tatters, save the cloak which had flown out of the way. Battered and bruised and ready to fall over, the King of Zurconia looked more like a prisoner than he ever had before, which was fitting because that’s exactly what he was once more.
His eyes were so swollen, he didn’t recognize Leopold waiting near the archway of the main entry when the horse came to a stop on the far side of the drawbridge. The cavalry officers who’d brought him each wanted a piece of him as they grabbed hold of his bound arms and pulled him from the horse. Matthew fell hard on the stone walkway, only realizing the King of Gradenia had come to meet him when he began to cackle.
Pushing up from where he lay with his face bleeding on the pavers while his hands were tied was nearly impossible, so Matthew waited until the soldiers hoisted him up. He’d never seen Leopold in person before, only in a painting once, long ago. His mustache and wild mane of hair were enough for Matthew to know for sure who he was looking at, the fur cloak he wore also a signature piece Leopold always seemed to wear.
“Welcome to Gradenia, King Matthew,” the ruler snarled in his thick accent. “We have been looking forward to your visit for several days.”
Leopold’s tone seemed almost friendly, as if he wasn’t responsible for the fresh blood covering Matthew’s clothes and the ground where the captive king kneeled. “You know Caleb will never let you get away with this,” Matthew managed through swollen lips.
Leopold’s cackle rang out again, the others joining in as if Matthew’s statement was a joke. They all knew it wasn’t, though. The Gradenian Army might be more difficult to contend with than the Clovington forces had been, but Matthew had every bit of confidence that Caleb would find a way to set him free—this time, for good.
“I am certain that your brother will attempt a rescue, Matthew, but in the meantime, I would like for my guards to show you to my finest accommodations. I want to make sure that your time at Castle Graden is... unforgettable.”
With a snap of Leopold’s fingers, Matthew was lifted off of the ground by his armpits by two of the officers. The pain of their fingers cutting into his sensitive flesh was enough to make him grit his teeth and close his eyes. He prayed that whatever accommodations Leopold had been referring to, though he was certain they would not be luxurious, may at least be close by.
They weren’t. The labyrinth below Graden made Blackthorn look like a children’s maze. Hardly any light at all penetrated here, and the narrow halls wound back and forth so that Matthew had no idea how far they’d gone or how the soldiers even knew the way. The floor sloped in places so that they went even deeper into the ground, past catacombs lined with coffins and other human relics, down tight spiral staircases and corkscrew turns until Matthew felt they had to be far below the mountains, possibly near the center of the earth.
He may have blacked out a few times, but when he finally heard the clanking of metal and the squeal of a hinged door swinging open, he managed to open his eyes wide enough to see they were in a what he could only describe as a torture chamber. He took in a number of devices, mostly metal with sharp points or cranks that pulled and tore muscle. Most of them were occupied by people who looked as if they wished they were dead, and from the screams down the hallway, Matthew got the impression there were other cells similar to this one. In the distance, he heard an older woman shouting that she was a queen and didn’t deserve this sort of treatment. Whoever she was, the argument seemed to be getting her nowhere, and Matthew was certain the fact that he was a king would get him the same sort of service. Another voice sounded familiar to him as a man shouted his tortures would pay for such treatment of the king’s uncle.
Matthew didn’t have time to contemplate any of it. A stocky guard with a round belly and scraggily black hair sticking out around the black military helmet he wore stepped out of the darkness. A smile split his face, one tooth protruding further than the rest. “This the king?” he growled.
“In the flesh—what’s left of it,” answered the officer with the scar on his face who had Matthew’s right arm.
“Right this way, Your Majesty,” the prison guard said with a gruff laugh. The two dragged Matthew over to a device he had seen before, in an area of Castle Caine no one used anymore, a dungeon even his father had been too benevolent to utilize. “I saved the wrack just for you, King of Zurconia.”
The soldiers all got a chuckle out of that as the officers tossed him down on a hard metal surface and went about untying him only so they could bind him again, this time strapping him to the device itself. His hands and feet were securely fastened to a wheel that would pull and stretch his ligaments and tendons to the breaking point with the turning of a crank by the prison guard who looked impatient to get started. Matthew knew the kind of damage this mechanism could produce, and despite the fact that he’d already undergone so much agony since his initial abduction, his hands were trembling in the straps above his head. His understanding was that the wrack was usually used to produce confessions or gain information. He had no idea what it might be Leopold wanted him to confess to or give up, but he had a feeling he’d be willing to say just about anything in order to make the pain stop.
“Would you like to stay for the first round?” the prison guard asked the officers who were staring down at Matthew in his prone position with smiles of satisfaction. The two didn’t hesitate to confirm they’d like to watch, and with another gruff chuckle, the guard took hold of the crank and began to twist.
The pain was almost unbearable even before Matthew began to hear pops and bursts. He held back a scream, not wanting to give his torturers the satisfaction of hearing him cry out, but after a few more moments and a few more turns, he had no choice. The sound that broke free from his lips sounded nothing like his own voice. It was a sorrowful, pitiful moan, and as it echoed down the darkened hallways, the sound of laughter drowned it out even to Matthew’s ears.
“That’s enough for now,” the guard concluded, leaving Matthew stretched on the table but letting the tension go with the release of his hand. “I’ll come back later and we can play some more. I gotta make sure I spend enough time with the other guests.” He roared with laughter again and faded from Matthew’s view, the cavalry officers following along.
Matthew’s eyes were heavy, their swollen lids closing against the blackness around him as he prayed for sleep to take him and put an end to the waves of pain that crashed through his limbs like the ocean tides during a storm, unrelenting and uncontrollable. At this point, he no longer cared what Leopold did with him so long as this ended quickly. Whether he intended to trade him or kill him didn’t matter to Matthew. At least Leopold would have clear intentions as to why he was being held and for how long. Either Caleb would comply with his demands, or Matthew would be put out of his misery. Matthew would gladly accept either alternative.
He must’ve fallen asleep because the next thing he knew, Leopold’s voice was cutting through the darkness. Matthew attempted to open his eyes but the swelling had increased, and only a slitted view of the malevolent dictator was possible. With the sound of his voice, and an increase of consciousness, Matthew felt his limbs flame up again and hoped Leopold had come to end him.
“You may have noticed the lairs beneath my castle are much more impenetrable than those under Blackthorn,” Leopold was saying. If he’d begun the conversation with anything else, Matthew had missed it. “Beyond that, you won’t have the same type of freedoms here as you did in your pleasant tower room in Clovington. No, I’m afraid our accommodations are not quite as… accommodating.” With that, he gave the lever at the top of the wrack a slight turn, pulling Matthew’s arms almost completely out of their sockets and leaving him grimacing. A new pain radiated from his shoulders to his wrists, from his groin to his ankles as the popping he’d heard earlier intensified.
Leopold grinned, his teeth shining through the darkness. “Hurts, doesn’t it? Let’s just hope your brother understands that I am not one to be trifled with. Otherwise, I’m afraid we will be forced to bring this game of cat-and-mouse to its finality.” He leaned in closely to Matthew’s face, his hot, stale breath filling Matthew’s nostrils with the stench of sour wine. “Before this is over, you can be sure, you will be begging me to bring your sorry, wasted life to an end.”
His maniacal laughter resounded off of the walls, filling the small chamber with echoes of madness. With one more slight turn on his way out, the ligaments in Matthew’s legs tore as they pulled away from his joints. He screamed, overwhelmed by the agony. His head was swimming, and Matthew reached for the fog that hung around the peripheries of his consciousness, welcoming it and inviting it to take over and put him out of his misery.
A map of Gradenia covered the table Eleanora generally used to entertain the other noblewomen for tea. While there was a war room on the other side of Meadington, she had never used it, and the room had been locked up since her father had passed during the Great Heathen Invasion. It was no matter to her; this table and this map would do fine.
The courier had left over an hour ago, and yet she still stared at the map before her, having changed nothing since she’d received word that Katherine had been safely located. Still unclear how Caleb had accidentally sent the wrong woman, the queen had sent a message back to James asking for clarification, but the fact that her brother was with her sister, safe in Arteria, was a relief.
The guilt associated with having put Katherine in this position in the first place had become overwhelming after she’d received word of her sister’s abduction. Now, knowing she was safe, she vowed never to let Katherine’s life be endangered again. The agreement she’d made with Clovington was over, no question, and the fact that Leopold had attempted to steal the princess from Eleanora’s grasp meant he was a threat as well. She’d have to make sure it was clear where she stood on the issue.
Kenneth broke the silence, approaching her chair from behind and placing a hand on her shoulder. “Should we tell the commanders to stand down?”
Eleanora had overseen the preparations to attack Gradenia herself. It had been a long time since Nadoria had battled with anyone, but she knew her forces were strong and well trained. She had resolved long ago to always have an army prepared for war, on the off-chance that another legion of boogey-men should appear in the night. “No,” she said turning to face her husband. “Whether or not Leopold was able to take Katherine is irrelevant; the intention was still there. If Leopold wants to play in the shadows, let us teach him a lesson.”
Due to patrols from the Arterian Army, Rose had been in the back of the carriage, terrified for her life, for days. While she was initially told to stop her bellyaching, that they’d be in Gradenia by the next morning, that hadn’t happened. Not that she was in a hurry to get there. She imagined Philip would be furious when he saw her, but she’d come up with a plan to focus that anger on Caleb instead--if Philip would just give her a moment to explain. In the distance, Castle Graden came into view atop a majestic mountain; Rose’s shivering had nothing to do with the weather.
Night had fallen by the time the carriage made its way up the winding hill to the drawbridge. Several guards stood near the entrance, illuminated by torches and the moon’s glow, but she did not see Philip, nor did she see anyone who resembled King Leopold. Rose breathed a sigh of relief, hopeful that she would be able to spend at least one more night as Queen Katherine. As one of the guards pulled open the carriage door, her dream was shattered. Philip stormed out the castle door, scowling, and she knew the sight of her would only enrage him more. With hours of rehearsal, she hoped her words would be persuasive, and Caleb would soon be blamed.
“Where is she?” Philip demanded clambering down the few steps in her direction. Rose kept her face covered as best she could as she emerged, hoping he wouldn’t notice, but the ruse was short-lived. “What is this?” Philip proclaimed, closing the gap and grabbing her harshly by the chin, forcing her hair out of her face and her eyes to meet his. “Oh, bloody hell! This isn’t Princess Katherine you imbeciles!” he shouted at the guards. “This is that loud-mouth whore from Blackthorn!”
The soldiers exchanged glances, obviously confused. In a rage, Philip began to kick at the ground, the carriage, the soldiers who didn’t step back fast enough. He spewed obscenities for several moments before turning back to her and begging, “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were dead or long gone!”
Rose kept her eyes wide and innocent as she began her rehearsed story. “I apologize, Your Excellence. It was not I who wished to deceive you. Rather, it was King Caleb. He intended to trick Queen Eleanora by returning me instead of her sister. He is an evil coward, Your Highness, and he wishes to keep the princess for himself.”
Philip’s eyes glowed in the dim light like two black coals in the fire. “You mean to tell me, Caleb intentionally sent you to Eleanora in Katherine’s place?”
“Yes. He has fallen in love with the princess, and he proclaimed he would do anything to keep her, even though he knows she rightfully belongs to you, my King.”
“Is that so?” Philip placed one hand on his hip and peered into her eyes. “Why would I believe you when you’ve never done anything but try to advance yourself by any means necessary?”
Despite the harshness of his words, she began to think perhaps he was buying her charade. Either way, she had no choice but to press on. “Because I have always been loyal to you, and you alone, Your Highness. Additionally, I was able to infiltrate his castle while I was staying there. I can supply you with much information about the layout of Castle Caine, how to penetrate the barriers, where the armies are being staged. We can work together to overthrow Caleb once and for all.” She kept her nose in the air, hoping to entice him with her knowledge, though none of it was actually true. She’d spent most of her time at Caine in the one room, alone, save her borrowed ladies.
Philip’s face contorted, and while Rose had thought perhaps she’d begun to make headway after her first speech, his expression now took on a look of disgust, as if the blood was boiling up inside of him. He pressed against his forehead as if he was trying to keep it from bursting, pursing his lips, his nostrils flaring.
In the back of her mind, a small voice warned that she should stop right then, but Rose persisted, hoping she could bring him back around. Stepping toward him, she lowered her voice. “Why don’t you take me to your bedchamber, and when I am finished pleasuring you, I will tell you all there is to know about Caleb’s castle?”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Philip snarled, his eyes piercing her skull. She forced a smile on her face, her legs beginning to shake beneath the flowing gown Caleb had gifted her. “You’d love for me to invite you into my bed so that you can pretend that you are queen, hmm?” He leaned forward and rubbed her cheek with his fingertips, but as he continued to speak, the pressure increased until she felt as if he were clawing at her face like an angry dragon. Rose took a step back, her hands trembling.
“Well, dear Rose,” Philip continued, moving his hand down so that he had a tight grip on her chin, “you may not be aware, but I’m no longer a king. I have no kingdom. I have no castle. I have nothing!” He moved toward her, forcing her back until she slammed into the carriage. His fingers dug into her chin and her head, pressed against the hard wood of the carriage door, began to ache. “No one has dared remind me of all of that these past weeks, no not until you arrived, my pet, and now that you are here, I have to ask myself, why? Why have I put up with your senseless jabber for all of these years? So, you want to be my queen then?” His grip increased until Rose thought her jawbone might snap. She couldn’t move her mouth or her head to answer his question, so she stared at him wide eyed, praying he’d let her go. “My queen must not tell me lies—must not make up stories about infiltrating impenetrable foreign castles. No, dear Rose, for my queen, I require a more silent partner.”
A glimmer of silver caught the moonlight as Philip pulled a dagger from the sheath beneath his cloak. Rose’s heart pounded in her chest as he examined the tip. “Perhaps,” he said, squeezing the sides of her mouth together so that she could no longer keep her mouth shut, “this will teach you a lesson about wagging your tongue in other people’s affairs!”
Rose let out a piercing scream as Philip lowered the knife while the soldiers standing nearby yanked her tongue out of her mouth and held her in place. The metal bit into the soft tissue, the taste of blood filling her mouth, and Rose’s eyes rolled back in her head, momentarily ending her agony.
A knock on his chamber door roused Leopold from a deep sleep. He knew it had to be important or else whomever had disturbed him wouldn’t have dared. The blonde on his left rolled out of the way, but he still had to climb over her to get to his trousers. Without opening her eyes, she slid across the bed, against the brunette, and he pulled on his slacks, thinking now that he was awake, if the news wasn’t too harsh, he’d be ready to wake them for another round.
With his trousers and tunic on, he crossed to the door, his bare feet frosty against the stone floor, an uncomfortable part of living in a large castle in the mountains he’d grown used to long ago. He opened the door to see one of his most trusted advisors, Etsil, staring at him wide eyed, his bushy eyebrows pinched together.
Leopold stepped into the antechamber, closing the door behind him. No need for the whores to hear whatever Etsil had to say. “Has she arrived?”
He nodded but quickly clarified. “It isn’t her.”
“What?” Leopold’s fingers immediately went to his mustache. He pulled at the end, trying to decipher what Etsil was telling him. “How is that possible?”
“It was the wrong girl. Philip recognized her, though. He called her Rose, I believe. Apparently, Caleb was attempting to pull some sort of scheme over on Eleanora. It makes little sense to me, but that’s what the woman reported.”
“Why would Caleb believe Eleanora wouldn’t recognize her own sister? Has the war caused the king to go daft?”
“I doubt that is the case, Your Majesty. Perhaps he was attempting to buy time. The woman said Caleb has fallen in love with the princess. Since he knows that Eleanora has promised her sister to Philip, he may have refused to return her, knowing she may be returned to your cousin, his enemy. At any rate, the princess is still in Caleb’s possession, and the woman delivered here will be of no use to us now.”
Leopold’s eyebrows came together. “Why is that? She’s been inside Castle Caine. She may have information for us.”
Etsil shook his head. “The idiot cut her tongue out moments after her arrival.”
Closing his eyes, Leopold raised a hand to his forehead, not able to believe how moronic his cousin truly was. No matter how tight of a leash Leopold put the former king on, he still managed to make matters worse. He was going to have to put an end to it, decisively, sooner rather than later. “Where is she now?”
“Headed below.”
He nodded. She may as well be dead now. It wasn’t as if she could help in that state. “Very well. Thank you for your report. We shall let Eleanora know she has our fullest cooperation in retrieving her sister from the tyrannical King Caleb who clearly has his best interests at heart and not what is best for Katherine or Nadoria. We see this act of treachery against our ally, Nadoria, as an equal threat to Gradenia and we will do all we can retrieve her.”
Etsil nodded. “Of course, Your Majesty. And what is ‘all we can do’?”
Leopold cleared his throat. Having Katherine in his possession, the woman Caleb allegedly loved, and the Queen of Nadoria’s sister, would put him in a position where all the other kingdoms must play by his rules. “Let me think on it,” Leopold replied, but a plan was already forming in the back of his mind. If it still seemed as solid by the light of day, he’d implement a strategy that would leave him on top—with a beautiful woman at his side.
Waking to the sound of chirping birds fluttering in the trees outside of the open balcony doors and a crisp breeze caressing her face, Katherine instantly recalled something was different. Before she even opened her eyes a smile parted her lips as she remembered the way her body felt when Caleb was intertwined with her, how he’d kissed her and sent her over the brink time and again until the late hours of the night. Awaking to the realization that she’d finally found a love she’d never known she needed made the promise of a new life exciting in ways she’d never imagined possible.
His arms were not around her, so Katherine assumed he must’ve gone off to check the state of affairs. Her smile faded a bit as she thought of Matthew, how he was missing, and Philip had joined forces with Leopold against Arteria. With a sigh she rolled onto her back, her eyes flickering open, meeting deep blue orbs that penetrated to her soul.
“Good morning, my love,” Caleb whispered, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand.
The sight of him took her breath away, and as if she’d been doing it her entire life, she opened her mouth to speak. Her voice was hoarse, but the words came out just the same. “Good morning.” Her fingers traced a line down the well-formed muscles of his chest, strumming the soft hair there as he leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
Expressing herself with words should’ve seemed foreign to her, but it was becoming more natural. Caleb had given her this gift, inspired her to fight through the trauma of her past and grasp the future she wanted with both hands. While the blame she’d laid upon herself for years still formed a small hole in her heart, now, she felt the rest of her life was full of love and possibility, and it had been worth fighting for.
Pulling away from her, Caleb propped his head on his hand and brushed a curl from her face. “Thank you from preventing me from making a drastic mistake last night. If you hadn’t found the courage to speak up....” He paused, shaking his head, and Katherine smiled at him, knowing what he meant to say.
“My sister will understand,” she said, certain that she would find a way to ensure Eleanora would have no qualms with the order in which she and Caleb came together so long as they were properly wed. “Nadoria will be fortunate to have a partnership with Arteria.”
He smiled, and leaned toward her. Katherine closed her eyes in anticipation of another sweet kiss, but a knock on the door had both of them motionless for a moment before they turned toward the sound.
“Damn,” Caleb muttered. He kissed her quickly on the forehead and then climbed out of bed, grabbing a robe from a nearby chair. Katherine took him in, the form of his muscular physique on display for her in the bright morning sun, the way his muscles rippled with each movement. Her heart thundered, and her breath staggered as she sucked in air through her mouth.
He must’ve heard her gasp because he turned and grinned at her as he tied the robe, a rich chuckle escaping those perfect lips of his. Katherine’s face might’ve turned the same shade as her hair if she didn’t already feel confident in sharing her emotions with this man who had her heart.
The bed wasn’t visible from the door, thanks to the way the wall jutted out in the room, but Katherine could hear everything as Caleb opened the door. “David? What are you doing here?” he exclaimed. “What’s happened?”
David’s voice sounded somewhat familiar to Katherine when he spoke, but she could not quite place it. She heard the crinkle of parchment. “Leopold has Matthew.”
“What?” The shrillness in Caleb’s question was echoed in her own heart as Katherine’s hands covered her mouth, and she closed her eyes. Not again—poor Matthew! How would he ever survive in Castle Graden? It was far worse than Blackthorn, or so everyone said. Images of the king’s prisoners being tortured in cruel and inhumane devices flooded her mind as she held back tears and tried to stay focused on the conversation.
“This message just arrived via courier from Graden. But it gets worse. We have two days to trade Princess Katherine for Matthew or else he will be executed.”
At the sound of her name, Katherine’s heart leapt into her throat. What in the world would Leopold want with her? She’d never met the man, but tales of his evil nature had kept children up looking for shadows even as far as the western regions of Nadoria for as long as the princess could remember. The thought of leaving the warmth and safety of Castle Caine for the bleak, freezing cold castle in the mountains of Gradenia sent a shudder down her spine.
The sound of Caleb quickly reading the correspondence under his breath was muffled, but his volume increased when he got to the final lines. “If you do not comply fully with my wishes, you will receive your brother’s head in a box. Do not trifle with me, Caleb. You know what I am capable of. In the name of my beloved sister, Charlotte, King Leopold II of Gradenia.”
The sound of the parchment crumpling and hitting the floor mingled with the pounding of fists on the wall she could only assume were Caleb’s and the quiet sobs that began to form in her own throat. “Son of a bitch!” the king shouted. “How did this happen, David? How the hell did we lose him again?”
“Calm down, Caleb,” David said in the sort of familiar voice Katherine assumed only those closest to the king would use. “I apologize for our failures, and I take full responsibility. I will come up with a plan that lets us retrieve Matthew, whether we barter with the princess or not. Of course, I’m not sure how that is even an option. I’d received word yesterday that Leopold had Katherine himself. Do you know where the princess is?”
“Oh, yes, I know where the princess is.” Caleb’s voice never wavered. “And I will see Leopold in hell before I ever let him lay one crooked finger on her.”