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Frayne woke to a feeling of something being very wrong. He didn’t appear to be in the same small room, and then the fragments of memories returned. Nelda and Grace had been taken, Grace had screamed, something had burned, and Heath had been hurt—but he remembered him walking. He blinked into the light. It was so very different in here, and he felt as though he was in the forest with light filtering through the trees. He didn’t feel as foggy as he had, nor as achy.
“Are you awake?” Heath asked tentatively.
“Is he?” another voice asked, just as worried as Heath had been, and that worried him more.
“Where are they?” he asked, his voice sounding weaker than expected.
“Nelda?” Heath asked. “We haven’t found them.”
“We?” Frayne asked, sitting up slowly and finding his head wasn’t as clear as he had thought. He rubbed at his face as the man in the doorway stepped forward. “Your Majesty,” he said, trying to get out of the bed, but the king held up his hand and shook his head.
The King then sat slowly on the edge of the bed, as his mother would have when he had been ill as a child.
“It is a reaction to the heat and then the cold,” Frayne murmured. “I feel much better.”
The king nodded, then waved a man into the room who bustled Heath out of the way and looked Frayne over. “He will be well enough to be out of bed soon.”
“How soon?” the king asked.
“A day or two,” the other answered, not taking his eyes from Frayne. “I see it very clearly, Your Majesty.”
“I want it kept to only those who need to know,” the king said.
He had worked it out—or been told. Frayne looked to Heath, who shook his head ever so slightly.
“Your uncle,” the king said, smirking, “indicated that you might live. He has your skill with understanding things,” he said. Although the smirk disappeared somewhat then.
“You understand why that is,” Frayne said.
The king nodded and waved the other man away. He followed his movement and, when a distant door closed, he answered, “Nelda.” Frayne could not read the tone in his voice.
“Where is Nelda?” he asked.
“We are searching.”
“Are you?” he asked sharply.
“Yes,” the king said, standing, and Frayne wondered if he had pushed too far. Would the king punish him? “I will send you to fetch her when we learn where he has taken her. You can work a sword, I trust.”
“My father taught me well,” Frayne said, and the king glared. “Why was she so sure you would protect us?”
The king shook his head and left the room, although Frayne didn’t hear the door as he had after the other man. Heath shook his head and pointed through the doorway.
“Help me up,” Frayne said, holding out his hand.
“I think you should rest more,” Heath said. “Although, I want to get out there and find them. If they aren’t already dead.”
Frayne thought he was most likely right. They would learn about where the women had been taken when they found their bodies.
“There was a fire,” Heath said.
“Where?” Frayne asked, wanting to stand but finding his legs and his foggy head unwilling to help.
“Somewhere in the castle. I haven’t seen anyone to find out what happened, but the smoke travelled throughout the castle, and I could see it above like a black cloud.”
“We have a window?” Frayne asked.
“Several,” Heath said with a grin. “We are sitting pretty here. And it isn’t just a room—there are many rooms and a guard at the door.”
“Is that to protect us or keep me here?”
“He knows,” Heath said with a sigh. “The king rushed in here like a man possessed, stood over you and studied your face. He may have shed a tear, except I wasn’t close enough to get a good look.”
“I don’t think the king is a man to do anything of the sort. I am certain he wouldn’t have shed any tears for my sister.”
Heath looked back towards the door then, a nervousness and something sad about him. It was strange to talk of his sister, of a girl he’d never known and yet who shaped not only his fate but the man he had become.
“They think Nelda and Grace were taken outside the castle—far outside the castle,” Heath said, still looking towards the door.
“By soldiers or the cardinal and his monks?”
“Not soldiers, the king assured me of that. But I think,” Heath said, turning back to Frayne, “he is worried for her, and the cardinal is up to something. He isn’t following the king’s command.”
“I think we got that idea when he pulled us from those metal coffins. But why does he care? Why was she so sure she could protect us?”
“Why did she want to?” Heath asked, sitting down slowly in a chair. Frayne took in the expanse of the room and the size of the bed, which they could have shared. They had grown up sharing the same room. Frayne wondered where Heath had settled here. “We helped her, but she has been trying to distance herself from us. To protect us, for Papa’s sake I think.” Heath’s jaw dropped, and Frayne leaned forward.
“What is it?”
“Papa was a soldier at the castle.” Frayne nodded. “He took you, whether to save you or on command of someone else. But if the king learns he lived and that you were the reason he ran, they could be in danger.”
Frayne nodded. He’d had that thought when Nelda had discovered who he was. He might never understand why his father had done such a thing, but Nelda would protect him. And as there were many who died that night, it could have been anyone who had carried him into the night, including Nelda.
He heard something beyond the doorway. “He hasn’t left?”
Heath shook his head. “Part of me thinks we should run,” he said, still not looking at Frayne directly. Frayne reached out then and motioned him closer. Heath stood up and sat by him on the bed.
“We need to find Nelda first,” he said softly.
“I know that,” Heath said too loudly. “And Grace.” Frayne smiled. Heath was a good man. Frayne reached out and took his arm, making him jump.
“You won’t leave me here, will you?” Frayne asked, unsure why he needed such reassurances, but he did.
“Of course not,” Heath said, leaning into him, “unless you want me to.”
“Never,” Frayne said with a shake of his head. For a moment, it was as though he wasn’t as sure of the future as he had been, wasn’t as clear on the decision to be made. And when he looked into Heath’s eyes, Heath looked somewhat unsure himself.
Heath pulled him into a rough embrace, and he felt the certainty returning.
“I have fresh clothes, my lord,” an unfamiliar voice said. Heath released him, and they turned to the man with a bundle of clothing in his hands. “For both of you,” he added. Frayne had expected something of disdain or annoyance at serving him, but he couldn’t detect any of it.
“I will have a bath moved in, sire.”
“Sire?” Heath said, leaping from the bed and looking at Frayne.
“My lord,” the man said, a little more uncertainly. “I am to call you such.”
“My lord or sire?” Frayne asked. Had the word spread as to his identity already?
The man looked back towards the doorway, where the king appeared and waved him away. He bowed his head and disappeared, although within moments there was more movement as several men wrestled in a large wooden tub. It was far larger than anything they had bathed in at home. Was he to share it with Heath?
Heath gave a nervous giggle then, as though he might have had the same thought.
“Come and sit,” the king said, disappearing again. Heath gave him a hand to help him stand and move through to the other room. It was even larger than the bedroom, and they sat as men traipsed back and forth with buckets of steaming water.
“It would be easier if there was a bath house,” Heath murmured.
“There is,” the king said, “but it is best if you remain here for now.”
“Until when?” Frayne asked, wondering if this was a different form of prison.
“Until we discover where she is,” the king said, looking directly at him.
Frayne looked beyond him to the man standing in the doorway. “It is ready,” he said.
The king nodded, and the men left.
“They know who I am,” Frayne said.
“They know you are important. My man knows who you are, and there will be soldiers who will also know, those I can trust to go with you when we discover where Nelda is. Would you like to see your mother?”
“You haven’t told her?” Heath asked.
The king shook his head.
“Nelda is my mother,” Frayne said.
The king appeared disappointed, and then something else flashed across his features. Was it hope? Just what was their relationship?
“Your wife did not want me,” he said, trying to keep his voice level, but it was harder to say the words than he imagined it could be. Heath inched closer to him on the long seat. “Nor did she tell you there were two of us.” The king openly gaped at him, and Frayne realised he hadn’t understood why Frayne had the skills he did. “She may have been the one to kill my sister, and I suspect she tried to kill me too. I will not call her mother.” He was surprised at the anger in his voice, and he wasn’t sure what he might do to the woman if he were to meet her again. There hadn’t appeared to be any recognition from her that first time.
The king looked towards the doorway, and Frayne couldn’t read his expression. “Bathe and prepare. I hope for news soon.”
Frayne pushed himself up, grateful for Heath beneath his arm. He only hoped he was useful when it came time to help Nelda.
He had only just made it into the bath when there was a desperate pounding on the door, then hushed and hurried voices. He was trying to work out how to get out and find the news when the king appeared in the doorway once more. He looked over Frayne’s physique, and Frayne wasn’t sure if he was appraising or looking for familiarity.
But the king did motion for him to stay where he was as another soldier, one he didn’t know, appeared in the doorway. The soldier opened his mouth as though to ask something and then sucked in a breath before looking at the king.
“My son is to accompany you,” the king said as though it were known by all—and the soldier, to his credit, gave no indication of the surprise he might have felt. “Are you certain as to their whereabouts?”
The man nodded, then turned and bowed to Frayne. Heath sat nearby but as yet had not had the chance to wash.
“Alive?” Frayne asked, although he feared the answer.
“We do not know, Your Highness,” the soldier said, glancing at the king as though unsure what he should be calling him. Frayne wasn’t sure himself. But this would give him the power to direct how things went in finding Nelda and ensuring she was safe.
“Ready a carriage; they are likely not up to riding back,” Frayne directed, then looked at the king.
“That would also be a way for you to travel unseen. Go,” he said to the soldier. “We shall meet you at the back courtyard by the time you are ready to go.”
“Where are we going?” Heath asked as he helped Frayne out of the bath and handed him a sheet to dry himself. Then he started to undress himself and put on the fresh clothing. If nothing else, they would look like they belonged in the castle.
“A convent,” the king whispered.
Frayne pulled a shirt over his head. “What were they thinking?” he muttered, reaching for the breeches.
“That we would not consider anyone returning to such a place. Thankfully, I have men who think clearly.”
“The cardinal?” Frayne asked, pulling on boots. He couldn’t get the clothes on fast enough, and Heath stumbled trying to do the same.
“He has not left Sunsong Castle.”
“Is he trying to claim he is not responsible for taking her?” Frayne asked, noticing his sword laid out on the bed. He grabbed it as he strode forward and was thankful the fogginess had lifted from his head.
“Possibly,” the king replied. “I can’t work the man out. Come,” he commanded.
All three of them headed out of the room to find three soldiers standing at attention outside the door. The king nodded and continued forward. Frayne kept stride with him, the soldiers falling in around them.
“Does everyone know?” Heath asked in a whisper.
“Only those who need to,” a soldier acknowledged. “Your Highness, we are honoured to work with you.”
“You haven’t seen me with a sword,” Frayne murmured, and the king glanced back at him. He could use one, his father had made sure, but he had never done so against another man—other than the demonstration with the general. Practice with Heath was one thing, but would he be able to kill if required? If it was needed to save Nelda, then he might very well be prepared to do anything.
“You go to save the witch?” the soldier asked.
“I go to save my mother,” he returned, and fear rose in his throat. He could only hope that they could reach her in time.