The Maid and the Monarch

Chapter 9: Parlay

I would like to say that I crumpled the note up and pretended it didn't exist. That's what a reasonable person would have done. I didn't need anymore schemes in my life. What I needed was to keep my head down and try not to draw attention to myself.

Instead, I followed my map through the castle's secret tunnels until I found another exit in the dungeons. Prince Leon was alone when I found him, his wrists in iron chains and a leather gag in his mouth.

A prickle of sensation ran down my back at the sight of him. I remembered our night of almost being together. I touched the bars of his cell and let out a small breath. He must of heard me, because his head snapped up and his eyes found mine. They widened in surprise, then narrowed in recognition, before settling to a cold, calculating desire.

Even disheveled and helpless, he was stunning to look at. I noticed scars peeking out from beneath his tattered tunic, and wondered briefly about what his childhood had been like. What expectations were put on the eldest prince by the tyrannical king?

"You saved my life," I told him. The words hung in the air between us, charged with solemn intention.

He nodded.

"You sent me a note, somehow." It was anyone's guess as to how. Maybe some of the guards were still loyal to their first prince. Maybe they thought I was a paramour he wanted to see once more. The thought brought a light blush to my face.

Prince Leon nodded again, then raised his hands and slowly signed, (I thought you might help me.)

Help him? I had practically put him here myself.

Prince Leon continued to sign, (I thought you might want to see me.)

He looked away then, and even in the dungeon's dim lighting I could see a hint of red on his cheeks. My breath caught in my throat. Did Prince Leon have feelings for me? Or did he have feelings about me having feelings for him? The world seemed to spin.

"It was the Imperative," I told him, "I don't know what you--"

He waved his hands for me to stop. (You asked,) he signed to me, (no one asks about me. No one cares about me.)

I didn't know what to say to that.

Leon continued, (I am not used to asking for help. But I am not supposed to be here. I would sooner die than betray my kingdom.)

"What is it you want?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

(The keys,) Leon signed, (my brothers will have a them. I can prove my innocence if I can leave the castle. I was with someone on the day of my father's murder.)

"Who were you with?" I asked.

Again he looked down, blushing more furiously than before. In his rooms, Prince Leon had been dominant and strong. He'd pushed and carried me where he wanted me to be. Now, powerless and imprisoned, he felt almost... cute.

(I was at a brothel,) he signed.

So that was the source of his embarrassment. Revealing to me that he slept with other women. I tried not to laugh. Did he really not know the rumors about him? How the servants warned each other of getting too close?

(There is a woman there,) he continued, (whom I believe to be my mother.)

We needed better words to describe the shock I felt at that revelation.

His mother? In a brothel? I couldn't remember ever learning much about the first wife of the late king, but I was certain I would have heard if she was a commoner. Which meant either this was a tremendous secret that could effect Prince Leon's standing in court, or she had fallen from her position as a noblewoman so far as to be erased from the kingdom's history.

"That's..." I fumbled over my words.

(No one knows,) he signed, (but some of the women saw me that day, they'll know I couldn't have been in the castle when my father was killed. I had only just come back when I found you in the Great Hall.)

"This is so much," I said, "I don't know... I'm just a maid, I only wanted a job!"

(Help me regain my rightful place,) he signed, (and I will grant whatever favor you want. You would never have to work again.)

"How would I even..." I trailed off, lost in the desperation I saw on his face. In the pain written across his handsome features.

(Please.) He signed, then repeated, (please.)

"I don't know," I drew back from the bars, "I'll see what I can do."

That decision haunted me every step of the way back to my room. I ached for the prince, I really did. But the twins were dangerous, and what he'd asked me to do could result in my execution.

The whole of the royal family spun around in my mind. Leon and his missing mother. The twins and their violent schemes. Princess Minerva and the dark secrets of her childhood.

I thought about the princess and the way she'd felt when pressed up against me. I wanted very badly to return to her, to hold her in my arms, to rest my head in her lap and feel her fingers run through my hair. A life by her side would not be terribly out of reach, I realized, with the favor of Prince Leon.

I shook my head to clear it. I couldn't afford distractions. I had a set of keys to steal.