Royal Replicas 2: Royal Captives Read online

“I can take you with me into the 24th and drop you off in the first town we pass. I’m sure someone will be there who can do more for you than I can.”

  “You would’ve done so much already,” she said and smiled, showing several gaps of missing teeth. Again, there was no blood, so they hadn’t been caused by today’s trauma.

  She raised her hands to me and I gripped her by both wrists, pulling her to her feet. She wrapped an arm around my neck and clung to me for dear life like we were treading water and she was desperate to keep from drowning. She seemed to have little strength left.

  I helped her to reach Misty one strained step at a time. All my muscles burned as I supported most of her weight; it was everything I could do to keep her upright.

  The woman continued to praise me for my help, reiterating what a kind and thoughtful girl I was. Her voice was the only thing that seemed to have any strength left and it boomed in my closest ear. Misty whinnied and shuffled back and forth as we approached. I asked the woman to be quiet so she wouldn’t spook my horse, but she continued as if she’d never even heard me speak.

  Misty reared up on her hind legs and cried out when we were almost to her.

  “Whoa, girl,” I said, trying to calm her.

  The woman’s legs gave out, and with her arm still firmly around my neck, she took me to the ground with her.

  Then I felt hands on me—strong hands grabbing my arms and pulling me to my feet.

  Before I had a chance to scream, a damp cloth was clamped over my mouth and nose. A chemical scent singed my nostrils. My eyelids grew heavy. And before I had the chance to fully comprehend what was happening, my consciousness joined the setting sun, enveloping me in darkness.

  2

  Byron

  I could still see the look of betrayal on Victoria’s face as she backed out of the ballroom. All the events of last night had gone horribly wrong. Three of the girls were already gone, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I wanted to cry for them—felt like I needed to cry for them, to preserve some sense of their memory—but the tears wouldn’t come, which made me feel even guiltier.

  It seemed that Queen Dorothea’s refusal to accept Victoria was a decision made from spite. I had challenged her and crossed her at that dinner, the one when we all discovered what would happen to the remaining girls, and I felt this was her way of getting back at me. Queen Dorothea hadn’t spent that much time getting to know the girls; they were all the same to her.

  Bethany was a perfect choice by anyone’s standards, even mine. But love was not often rational and Victoria had bewitched me like none of the others had.

  Since the events of last night, all the girls had been locked in Bethany’s room, including Bethany. Even though she was the chosen one to become the new Princess Amelia, everything was in limbo until Victoria returned. If she returned.

  I knew Victoria cared for the remaining girls and for Kale, whom Queen Dorothea had also captured. I didn’t know if her self-preservation would outweigh her self-imposed sense of duty to her new friends, but her life was on the line too.

  I wanted to help her more than almost anything, but my sense of duty to my family and my position forced me to step back and proceed with caution. I knew the power the Queen had over me—the arrangement she and my parents had made. If I defied them all, I’d be giving up everything. A big part of me wanted to throw caution to the wind and simply follow my heart, but I was so afraid to take that kind of leap. And after my last heart-wrenching moment with Victoria, I feared that leap of faith would be the death of me.

  I relieved Bethany’s assistant, Indira, of the girls’ lunch tray and headed up to the Orange room. I knocked on the door before heading in. Since the door was locked from the outside, the knock was simply a polite warning.

  Bethany and Piper were sitting together on the couch while Constance sat across the room at the desk. I knew Constance didn’t much care for the other girls in the room; the ones she had bonded with were both taken from her at the Choosing Ceremony.

  I hadn’t yet discovered what it was that had killed three of the girls and left the other four unharmed. From Queen Dorothea’s reaction, she had no idea either. The doctors had to know something they were keeping to themselves. I knew they were playing dumb and had been elusive since last night.

  Bethany was the only one to rise when I entered the room. I had planned to save them all but failed. So, the girls who hadn’t been chosen most likely didn’t have much faith in me and I couldn’t blame them.

  “Your Highness, to what do we owe this pleasure?” Bethany asked as she crossed the room.

  Constance scoffed from her corner.

  “I simply wanted to visit,” I said, presenting the tray of food. “And brought gifts.”

  “Thank you.” Bethany gave me a chaste kiss on the cheek and took the tray from me. She set it down on the coffee table, allowing the other girls to take their food when they so desired.

  Piper reached for a plate with a sandwich cut into triangles. Constance remained sulking at the desk.

  I remained standing by the door while Bethany and Piper ate quietly. Constance stared daggers at me.

  “What would you have me do?” I finally asked her. “I wanted nothing more than to secure the safety of all seven of you. I failed. I admit that and I’m sorry. I thought I could change the Queen’s mind at the ceremony without disrupting the primary process. I thought I could convince her to release you all into my care, from which I had transport ready to leave for Easteria. I did not anticipate events unfolding the way they did.”

  Currently, Easteria wouldn’t be much safer than here, but at least the surviving girls wouldn’t be the primary target, at least giving them a fighting chance.

  “You could have turned on the Queen. You could have killed her,” Constance said ominously.

  “I am in no position to start a war,” I countered. “Which is all that would have accomplished and perhaps gotten us all killed.” The girls didn’t know about the war raging in the East and that my Kingdom’s survival depended on me keeping the peace here in Westeria. I had to be very careful.

  “We’re all marked for death—practically dead already. Maybe a war’s inevitable.” Constance had a pencil and was writing—carving—into the top of the desk. “I’m not going down quietly,” she added, after a pause. When the tip broke, she cursed, snapping her pencil in two.

  She hurled the fragments in my direction, but shards flew wildly either side of me.

  “Do not go gentle into that good night.” I wished I knew how to say the right thing, how to make everything better, but we were beyond such wishful thinking.

  I picked up the pencil pieces and dropped them into the small trash receptacle beside the desk—beside Constance. I gave her shoulder a soft squeeze before heading over to the other girls.

  After Bethany finished eating, I took her aside and asked, “Can I steal you away for a little while?”

  She looked at me expectantly. “Is Victoria back?”

  I shook my head. “I haven’t heard anything yet. I’m sure she’s fine and I’m sure she’ll be back just as she promised.” I tried to believe my own words.

  “The Queen’s orders were for me to stay in my room with my sisters.”

  I took her hand in mine. “I know,” I said. “But she left the palace a short while ago and I don’t expect her back until late afternoon. Meetings in the city with the Executive Council and foreign ambassadors. She may even have dinner plans with the ambassadors, but regardless, the point is she’s not around to say anything. I’ll have you back in your room before she returns. And when she hears about it from one of her staff, which I’m sure she will, she can talk with me. You’ve done nothing wrong. You’ve done everything expected of you throughout this entire process.”

  “Obviously not enough…” She took her hand back and looked away, a glassy sheen to her eyes. She was apprehensive about leaving the room with me, but finally complied and told the others she’d b
e back.

  We walked down the hallway in silence, and I stopped her before descending the main staircase.

  “I want you to take me to Princess Amelia,” I said in not much more than a whisper.

  “I don’t know where she is. I’ve never been to her room and didn’t know anything about her still being alive until Victoria’s revelation at the Choosing Ceremony.”

  I shook my head, not accepting that answer. “Victoria must’ve told you something. I don’t believe she would completely keep that to herself,” I said. “She’d known I would’ve chosen you if it wasn’t for her and I’m sure she had some type of contingency plan in place in case the worst happened.”

  “The worst pretty much did happen at that ceremony,” Bethany said sourly. “We were all afraid of dying and almost half of us did. Instantly. If they can do that, what else can they do?”

  “Is there anything you can think of? Anything at all that may point to where Amelia’s being held?”

  “She did have a strange comment at dinner before the ceremony,” Bethany said. She stepped back from the staircase and moved over to the corner of the hallway where there was a marble table statue. “She mentioned something about if we made it past the ceremony and ever had the chance, then we should read Pride & Prejudice—her favorite book—and that there was a special copy of it in the secret library.”

  I knew that was Victoria’s favorite book, but I didn’t know… “There’s a secret library?”

  “I’m sure there are numerous secret rooms in this place, but I only know the one.”

  Of course, there were secret rooms in every palace, castle, or royal estate. But the fact that she knew the location of one was promising. I considered this new information and soon believed Victoria had been guiding Bethany in a certain direction. The cryptic message was most likely a verbal map to the Princess.

  I took Bethany’s hand and led her down the stairs. Under more normal circumstances, she would’ve been the perfect girl for me. Once all this mess was sorted out and the rest of the girls were safe, Bethany would make the perfect Princess for the Kingdom. I just didn’t know if I could remain at her side. But I needed her support now. I needed her help.

  Downstairs, she guided me past the dining room and into the West Wing of the palace. She stopped in the middle of one long hallway lounge and approached the wall. After a brief glance around, she placed both palms on the wall and began to push.

  I immediately saw the doorway seam, which widened. She didn’t exude tremendous effort to move the door inward, and soon there was enough of a path for us to enter. I followed her into the hidden passage, which shortly revealed the secret library.

  It wasn’t huge or particularly lavish. It was simply the fact the room was hidden that made it so interesting. I perused some of the titles and removed a few hardbacks. These were definitely books from the old world, most of which were no longer widely available. It wasn’t a crime to have them. It wasn’t a crime to talk about what was. The world was just different now, and that was generally accepted.

  Bethany went straight for the spiral staircase and I followed her to the second-floor landing.

  “Victoria said it was up here,” she said and intently scanned the titles.

  “We’ll meet in the middle,” I said and started making my way around the landing in the opposite direction. “Do you think she wrote something in the book?”

  “Hopefully, we’ll find out soon—here it is!”

  I turned toward Bethany’s excited voice just in time to see a section of the bookcase near her pivoting inward. I rushed over as she peered into the darkened passage.

  “More secrets,” Bethany said.

  “What happened?”

  “The book was the lever.”

  “It’s so dark.” I pulled out a lighter from my pocket and lit the flame. “And quiet,” I added, stepping into the newly revealed hallway.

  Bethany scampered after me and grabbed hold of my free arm. It wasn’t long until we came to another staircase—this one spiraling down into blackness. The light from my hand flickered and illuminated just enough to see a few steps ahead of me. The air had cooled considerably by the time we reached the ground. I knew the palace had a basement where a lot of the staff worked behind the scenes, and we were certainly in a part of it now. The new hallway we found ourselves in was wider; I could see the concrete walls either side of us, but not how far the hallway extended.

  I stopped and listened for any sound, but where we’d arrived was eerily quiet. I moved the flame around, looking for a light, but didn’t see one within the flickering glow.

  Bethany stayed close, seemingly afraid of what the darkness held. I felt my own pulse quicken.

  It wasn’t long before an open door came into view, which also happened to be the end of the hallway. With my arm outstretched, I crept into the room, found a light switch and flipped it on.

  The room was illuminated by a ceiling lamp. But there was nothing else. It was completely empty, the walls bare, the floor simply concrete continuing in from the hallway.

  I checked out the en suite and found the facilities operational, but the room just as empty of any personal effects.

  “We must be too late,” Bethany said from the main room.

  I returned to her, shaking my head, frustrated with myself for not acting sooner. “She could be anywhere by now,” I said. I paced the perimeter of the room, looking for any hint of a seam in the walls.

  “I could briefly see the video Victoria showed the Queen,” Bethany said. “Princess Amelia was in a room with furniture and medical equipment. She also seemed to be in a bulky wheelchair. If she was truly in this room and was moved out, none of that stuff would have fit up the spiral staircase outside.”

  “And moving all that stuff through the main living space of the palace would have caused quite a bit of commotion,” I said. “There has to be another entrance—or exit—however you want to look at it.”

  Bethany helped me look for another hidden doorway, but after fifteen minutes of diligent searching, I figured it was time to take a step back and reassess.

  “There has to be something we’re missing,” I said. “But wherever the Princess’s been moved, it’s probably her new permanent home. I’ll be making some inquiries and see what else I can find.”

  “What can I do?” Bethany asked.

  “Stay on the Queen’s good side. Don’t ask too many questions, but keep your ears and eyes open. Let’s go.” I took one more glance around the room, hoping some clue would magically appear, and when nothing did, I led Bethany back upstairs.

  On the way back to the Orange room, we ran into Douglas Mackenzie, the Duke of the 21st Ward, who had a relationship with Queen Dorothea that seemed more than professional. He’d been in the palace several times since I’d arrived in Westeria, usually in the company of the Queen, so I was taken aback running into him roaming the palace alone.

  “It seems your girl can’t keep herself out of trouble,” he said, stopping Bethany and me near the foyer.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  Mackenzie settled his gaze on Bethany before returning to me. “It’s spooky how similar they all look,” he said with a wolfish grin.

  “You can speak to me directly, you know,” Bethany said, not attempting to mask her irritation.

  I asked her to return to her room so I could speak with the Duke privately; I didn’t want him to hold back any information on account of Bethany’s presence.

  “What’s going on?” I demanded.

  “Queen Dorothea received a curious call from her so-called captors. Of course, they didn’t know they were speaking directly to the Queen of Westeria—the idiots—and she wasn’t about to enlighten them. They think they have Princess Amelia since her face is all over the Kingdom from your little stunt on the train. But she simply played dumb to buy us enough time for me to get down there and clean up this mess.”

  “You know where she is?”

>   “The Queen’s had her phone tracked. I know exactly where she is. She didn’t make her rendezvous last night and nothing’s been released yet, so there’s that. But as you can imagine, the Queen’s nervous.”

  “What do you know about what happened two nights ago?” I asked.

  Mackenzie gave a wry smile. “More than you think.”

  This guy was very successful in getting under my skin. But I couldn’t sit back again, knowing Victoria was in more trouble. “I’m going with you.”

  “I’ve been instructed to go alone.”

  “This isn’t a request.”

  “Not all royal business is formal and tidy. Some of it’s downright messy and the Queen doesn’t want you to get your perfectly manicured hands dirty. That’s when a hunter such as myself gets called in.” Mackenzie clapped me on the shoulder before strolling toward the front door. “And besides, I hunt alone.”

  3

  Victoria

  I awoke in a small cabin. Sunlight shone in from the windows on several walls, so I must have slept through the night. My rendezvous with Kale’s accomplice had passed and I dreaded the consequences of not being there. For all I knew, the confidential information of Princess Amelia was released and the ones I were trying to save were already dead. All I could do now was hope there was still time.

  Taking in more of the one room cabin, I saw two children against the far wall, a boy and a girl, who couldn’t have been any more than ten years old. They were gagged, handcuffed and chained by one ankle each to metal ringlets on the floor. The girl was sleeping. The boy was seated, rocking back and forth with his knees tucked up to his chest. He discovered me looking at him and instantly averted his eyes.

  I bit down on the knotted cloth between my jaws, which was soaked and dripping with saliva. I found myself shackled in the same manner as the kids across the way. My body ached from lying on the cold, hard floor all night.

  I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know where Misty was. The last thing I remembered was being grabbed in the tall grass by the fence. My heart pounded in my chest from the fear and uncertainty of what I was doing here. I couldn’t believe my luck.