The False Prince (9 page)

T
he aromas of spiced meat and fresh-baked bread were inescapable as Mott and I entered Farthenwood through a back entrance. The kitchen wasn’t far away.

“I’m getting dinner, right?” I asked.

“Someone will bring it to your room — after your bath.”

“Tell me, Mott, is it true that the wealthy smell worse than the poor?”

Mott arched an eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”

“It seems since joining Conner’s household that I’ve needed to bathe much more often. My fleas have all but abandoned me.”

“Let’s hope so,” Mott said with a chuckle. Then he handed me off to Errol for another scrubbing in a bath that had been set up in a corner of our bedroom.

My bath was so quick, Errol said he doubted I could have gotten entirely clean. I told him it was good enough considering I’d only get dirty tomorrow and not to push the matter. He didn’t.

“Where’s my dinner?” I growled. “Conner nearly starved us today.”

“Someone should have it here shortly,” Errol said. “You should hurry and dress.”

“Then get out and wait for it. Knock when it gets here.”

Errol nodded and left the room while I fumbled with my nightclothes. I checked the drawer again for my old clothes, but they still weren’t there. I’d speak with Errol if they weren’t back tomorrow.

A knock came to the door and I yelled at Errol to enter while I pulled the robe around myself.

Someone sniffed and I turned. Imogen stood in the doorway, holding a tray of dinner. She clearly wished someone else had been ordered to bring the food. For that matter, so did I.

“I thought you were Errol,” I said. As if that would make any difference.

Imogen glanced at the door as if to indicate he was still in the hallway. Then she held up the tray and shrugged.

“Oh, right.” I pointed to a table near Tobias’s bed. He had a few papers laid out that were full of notes. He was studying material more advanced than Roden and I would ever get to before the two weeks ended.

Imogen set the tray down and started to leave, but I said, “Wait!”

It hadn’t really occurred to me what to say at this point, nor could she respond to anything I might come up with. Finally, I mumbled, “I’m sorry. If I caused you any trouble, then I’m sorry for that.”

She nodded what I hoped was an acceptance of my apology, and even offered something close to a smile.

“I’m Sage,” I finally said. “Strange, I know, but who gets to choose their name?”

She pointed to herself and I said, “Yes, I know. You’re Imogen.”

She started to leave again, but I added, “Could you help me with something? I need a thread and needle. I ripped one of my shirts out on that horse ride and I’ve got to sew it up.”

Imogen held out her hands, indicating she would sew it for me. But I shook my head. “I’d rather do it myself. If Conner finds out I’ve torn his new clothes, I’ll get in trouble. Can you get me the needle?”

She nodded, and pointed at the cut on my face.

“It’s okay. I get hurt a lot. I’m used to it.”

Tiny wrinkles formed between her brows. She opened her mouth as if there were something she wanted to say, then closed it and lowered her hand.

“You are too familiar, Imogen.” Tobias’s servant marched into the room. He picked up a book from a shelf near the door and hurled it at her, hitting her in the back. “You were supposed to give him the food, then get out!”

In an instant, I got Imogen behind me, then pulled out a knife that had been under my pillow and held it out to the servant. “How dare you?” I yelled, so angry the words sputtered from my mouth.

“She’s just a kitchen girl.” The servant stiffened, alarmed by my reaction but clearly confused too.

I swiped the knife through the air, forcing him to back up. He gave a cry for help, and looked around like he wanted to run, but I had him cornered.

Hearing the commotion, Mott ran in. “Lower the knife, Sage.” His eyes widened. “That’s mine!” He lifted the leg of his trousers, where the knife had been sheathed. “When did you — oh, the horse ride back.”

“I needed a knife to cut the meat. They didn’t give me one.”

Mott inched toward me and held out his hand. “Give it back, Sage. Now.”

I reversed the blade and gave the knife to him by the handle. “Did you see what he did to her?”

Mott gently put a hand on Imogen’s shoulder. “You may go, girl.”

Imogen didn’t look at me as she left the room. And I didn’t stop glaring at Tobias’s servant.

“He’s not welcome in this room anymore,” I said to Mott. “He shouldn’t work for Conner another minute after what I just saw.”

“You may go as well,” Mott told the servant, who tripped over his own feet in his hurry to leave the room. Mott stared at his knife a moment, then wiped the blade with his shirt as if I’d dirtied it. “Your mother was kitchen staff, I believe.”

“Barmaid.”

“Same thing. Obviously, you have some sympathy for Imogen.”

“It has nothing to do with that. She didn’t do anything wrong and he threw a book at her!”

“And do you think you helped her just now? Do you think that made anything better for her?”

I kicked at the floor, angry with myself, and angry with Mott too, though for no clear reason. Maybe because I hated it when he was right.

“She’s well treated here,” Mott continued. “Tobias’s servant will be disciplined, and you should be on your knees thanking me for not reporting this to Conner. What I want to know is why you took my knife.”

“I told you, I can’t cut the meat without one.”

“Do you feel you’re in danger here?”

“From Roden and Tobias?” I shook my head. “No.”

“From me? Conner?”

“You work for Conner. If there’s any danger from him, there’s danger from you.”

Mott didn’t disagree. He couldn’t. He replaced his knife in the sheath strapped to his ankle, then pointed at the dinner. “Eat up and get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow will be harder than today.”

“There’s nothing to do up here but stare at Tobias’s stack of books.”

“Try to read one. It could only help you.”

“I’d rather join the others. It’s not fair that I’m kept up here while Roden and Tobias get to show off to Conner.”

“Conner is furious with you for losing a prize mare. Trust me when I say it’s better that you stay up here tonight.”

“It’d take a miracle for Conner to choose me as prince.” Despite the truth of my words, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Yes,” Mott agreed, and then added, “Though I doubt even a miracle could save you now.”

I
was already in bed when Tobias and Roden came in. If they realized that I might be asleep, they spoke to me anyway.

“We heard about the trick you pulled with Mott’s knife,” Roden said. “Conner wanted to give you a few lashes, but Mott said he handled it with you already.”

“Who’s my dressing servant now?” Tobias asked.

“Dress yourself,” I muttered. “You’ve managed for your entire life until now.”

“Conner’s made us into gentlemen,” he said. “A gentleman would never stoop to dress himself.”

“If he put us in dresses, we wouldn’t suddenly become women,” I said. “You’re an orphan in a costume, Tobias. Nothing more.”

Roden’s servant was in the room, gathering Roden’s nightclothes. Tobias looked at him and said, “Build us a fire.”

Roden and I both groaned. “It’s already warm enough,” Roden said. “Do you want to cook us in our beds tonight?”

Tobias began gathering the papers on the desk near his bed. “I want to burn these.”

“Why?” I asked, propping myself up by my elbows. “What’s on them?”

“Notes I’ve made in studying to be the prince. I don’t want you or Roden to read them and gain from my efforts.”

“Neither of us can read,” Roden said. “It’s chicken scratch on those pages as far as I’m concerned.”

“Sage can read a little,” Tobias said.

I yawned. “True, but you’re an imbecile. If I wanted to learn about something important, you’re the last person I’d come to for information.”

Tobias slammed a book closed. “I hope you continue in your ways. It makes Conner’s decision that much simpler.”

“Conner’s decision is made,” I said.

“Oh?” Tobias asked. “Who is it?”

“You.” Now I sat up entirely. “You’re the most willing to do anything he wants, the most pliable. He knows I’d be difficult to manage, and he can’t be sure about Roden. But you, you’re a puppet master’s dream.”

Tobias’s mouth opened wide, then closed. Finally, he said, “Conner may think what he likes. I’m also the smartest of the three of us, and if I become the prince, then I will rule, no one else.”

“If Conner puts you in, then he can take you out,” Roden said. “How do you know it won’t be the way Sage says?”

Tobias shook his head. “Don’t you two worry about me. Worry about your own necks instead.”

Lessons the next day were much the same as the day before. Master Graves rapped my knuckles several times for staring off into space when he thought I should stare at his chalkboard instead. Mistress Havala educated us on the names of everyone connected with King Eckbert’s family.

“Very few members of Eckbert’s family remain alive, and most of them are distant relations, so there is little chance of meeting anyone who knew the prince well enough to identify him,” she said. “But everyone will expect you to know these names.”

Tobias took steady notes. I ate most of his lunch and he never noticed.

Mistress Havala spent the remainder of our time after lunch describing Prince Jaron’s older brother, Darius.

“He was everything a future king ought to be,” she said. “Educated, compassionate, wise.”

“That’s what Carthya will expect from whichever of us is chosen, then,” Tobias said. “We have to do better than just imitate Jaron. We have to exceed the people’s expectations for Darius.”

“Leave it to you and by the end of the week, the chosen prince will have to raise the dead too,” I scoffed. “None of us is going to exceed Darius.”

“You won’t,” Roden said.

I had no comeback for him. My whole life was a testament to the truth of that fact.

There’s an old saying in Avenia that goes, “Just because it’s calmer than a hailstorm doesn’t mean it’s calm.” Several times during our horseback lessons later that day, that thought ran through my mind. The tension in the air was thick and tangible. Cregan and I quickly settled into a truce of not speaking.

Or rather, I wasn’t speaking to him. He had plenty to say to me.

“Conner blamed me for you losing Windstorm,” he said. “You get to say whatever you want to me, challenge my authority here, and I take the blame? You think you’re a fine gentleman now, so you can look down on me? Well, you’re still that pathetic orphan, Sage. You smelled like a pig when you came in here, and no matter what scents they add to your bathwater, you always will.”

I gritted my teeth and reminded myself that in all fairness, I probably had smelled pretty bad before.

“I’ll have to pay for that horse, the master says,” Cregan continued. “Paying it off will take so many years of service, I can’t count them. But I won’t be his servant much longer. I have plans of my own.”

He wanted me to ask what his plans were so he would have the satisfaction of telling me it was none of my business. I didn’t care an inch about his plans. So I stared at him steadily, which infuriated him further.

“From now on, any horse you ride will be tethered to mine. And you will get the calmest, least excitable horse in the stables. You won’t be able to get it to do anything I don’t want it to do.”

“Wait!” Tobias said. “If he gets the easiest horse, then it will appear to Conner that he’s the best rider.”

I smiled at Tobias, whose eyes narrowed.

“That was your plan all along,” Roden whispered.

“I don’t have Tobias’s brains or your strength,” I said to them. “Give me this one area to compete with you two.”

Cregan stared at us for a moment, clearly trying to decide whether to give me the easiest horse or not. He didn’t want to help me, nor did he want to risk getting himself in trouble again with a horse out of my league.

“I’m not even best with horses,” he said. “I’m a swordsman, but Mott ordered me here so he could teach swords.”

“Teach us both,” Roden said. “I’ll learn.”

Tobias rolled his eyes. “So far, you’ve taught us neither horses nor swords. Our lesson time is passing fast, sir.”

“The devils are punishing me for everything I’ve ever done wrong in my life,” he said, marching to the stables to get the horses. “They’ve sent me you three.”

In the end, we all had easy horses, and our ride on Conner’s grounds was so boring I thought I’d go insane. I wasn’t the only one.

“You have to teach us more than riding like schoolgirls on a Sabbath afternoon,” Tobias said. “The prince will be expected to show off masterful riding skills.”

“Thank Sage for this lesson,” Cregan said. “I can’t risk any of you getting hurt like yesterday.”

On either side of me, Roden and Tobias shot out glares again. “I think you planned this,” Roden said to me. “I think you deliberately spoiled it for all of us so that now Tobias and I won’t have the chance to get any better.”

I chuckled softly. That idea had never occurred to me, although if it were true, it would’ve been clever.

After a wasted hour on horseback, Mott collected us for a sword-fighting lesson. “Because Sage went missing yesterday, we’ll have to make up that lesson now,” he said, leading us toward the small courtyard where he and I had practiced two nights earlier. He gestured to the wall where the various swords were hung. “By the end of these two weeks, we’ll have you dueling with these swords, but for now you get wooden ones.”

I folded my arms. “Where’s the prince’s sword?”

Mott turned to look. Sure enough, Jaron’s sword was missing.

“The prince’s sword was here?” Tobias asked.

“Just a copy of it,” I said. Mott glared at me as if personally insulted by my words, but he shouldn’t have. I had been perfectly accurate.

“How did you know about the sword?” Roden asked me.

“Mott and I practiced here the other night.”

Roden and Tobias reacted with open mouths and narrowed eyes, exactly as I knew they would. But they didn’t have much time to protest.

“Conner will want to know of this,” Mott said, ignoring their whines. “Follow me.”

We found Conner in his office, poring over a thick and dusty book. Mott spoke to him privately for a moment, then had us all come into the room and stand in front of Conner’s desk.

Conner’s office was lined with shelves full of books and the occasional bust or trinket. Near the back of the room, he had a massive desk that faced the door and two comfortable chairs that faced the desk. It made me wonder if he had a business through which he earned his own money, or whether his was the kind of wealth passed from father to son through the generations. I suspected the latter was true.

Conner sat with his hands folded together. “This was no ordinary sword, boys. It was nearly an exact replica of Prince Jaron’s sword before he was lost. It was last seen around his waist at supper the night before he boarded the ship that ultimately carried him to his doom. Now, you may think by stealing it you have given yourself an advantage. Perhaps you believe you can use the sword to shore up your claims of being the prince when you are presented at court. But that is futile because, as I said, it’s not an exact replica. Anyone with a practiced eye will easily know it’s a copy. Perhaps you have stolen it to give yourself an advantage in sword-fighting. Again, this is futile. Any of you may practice with Mott as often as you’d like to become as skilled as you’d like. And if you stole it so that the other two boys couldn’t practice with it, then remember that there are several other swords still available for practice. Now I want a confession. Who took it?”

All three of us remained silent. Conner couldn’t possibly believe that the thief would confess. None of us was that stupid.

“Sage must have taken it, sir,” Tobias said.

“Why is that?” Conner asked.

“He’s the only one who’s already handled the sword.”

“Which is evidence of nothing,” Conner said.

“It was there while the boys were in horseback lessons yesterday,” Mott said. “We know where Sage was at that time, and all of the boys have been supervised since then.”

“Where were you and Roden during that time?” Conner asked Tobias.

Tobias hesitated. “After Sage ran off on Windstorm, Cregan was going to follow him. He told us to go to the sword arena and wait for Mott. But after a few minutes, a servant came and told us that Mott had gone to look for Sage too, so we left.”

“We left together,” Roden said quickly. “If either of us had taken it, the other one would know.”

“And what did you do after returning to the house?” Conner asked.

Tobias’s eyes fluttered. “I was in the library.”

Roden frowned. “I went back to our room.”

“And can either of you provide proof that you were there?”

After a very long, very uncomfortable silence, I rocked on my heels and smiled. “For the first time, I think I’m glad that horse ran off with me.”