Olenka nodded. “You’re right. I should be thinking about what I’m going to say to him.” She gathered up her skirt and started up the next flight of stairs. “I need to be intriguing. Perhaps a little mysterious.”
“Why?” Gwennore followed her. “Is the general the only man left alive on all of Aerthlan?”
“What?” Olenka glanced back her, looking thoroughly offended. “He’s the most handsome man on Aerthlan!”
Gwennore shrugged. “He’s tolerable, I suppose, but I’ve seen better.”
When Dimitri choked back a laugh, Gwennore winced. No doubt he would tell General Gorgeous what she’d said.
“Better?” Olenka huffed. “Who could be more handsome than General Dravenko?”
So that was his name? Gwennore paused at the next landing to catch her breath, then kept climbing. “The kings of Eberon and Tourin are both exceptionally handsome.”
Olenka snorted. “How could someone like you ever meet royalty?”
Gwennore gritted her teeth. “Someone like me has two sisters who are queens. Luciana and Brigitta.”
Olenka sputtered. “You-you’re their—how can you be their sister? Aren’t you from Woodwyn?”
“No, I grew up with four adopted sisters in a convent on the Isle of Moon,” Gwennore explained.
Dimitri’s eyes narrowed. “What are their names?”
“Luciana, Brigitta, Sorcha, and—” Gwennore stopped when both Olenka and Dimitri stiffened with astonishment. “Do you know Sorcha? We always suspected she was from Norveshka because of her red hair.”
“Wha-what was your name again?” Olenka asked.
“Gwennore.”
“Oh, my dear Lady Gwennore.” Olenka took her by the arm. “Let me help you up the stairs. Is there anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable?”
Gwennore glanced at Dimitri, who looked thoroughly amused. “Eviana will need some clean clothes, a hot bath, and a hot meal.”
“Of course.” Olenka eyed the little girl curiously. “So is she really the Eberoni princess?”
Gwennore nodded. “She’s the daughter of King Leofric and Queen Luciana.”
Dimitri winced. “No wonder I’m standing guard. We can’t let anything happen to this child.”
Gwennore scoffed. “Something already has. She was abducted by a dragon. And if she isn’t returned soon, both Eberon and Tourin will be attacking your country.”
Dimitri nodded. “I understand. But you needn’t worry. General Dravenko will take care of it.”
“And we’ll take good care of you both,” Olenka insisted. “You’ll tell the general how nice I was, right?”
Gwennore swallowed her frustration as she continued to climb stairs. As far as she could tell, the lady-in-waiting was being nice only because she wanted to score points with General Gorgeous. “If you knew Eviana wasn’t Queen Freya’s child, why did you play along? I could have ended up in a dungeon. And poor Eviana may be traumatized for life.”
Olenka hung her head. “I am sorry about that. It just seems better to never upset Her Majesty.”
“Or you could end up in a dungeon?” Gwennore asked wryly, and Olenka winced. “How many children has the queen lost? Was it her grief that caused her to fall into madness?”
With a gasp, Olenka jerked to a stop. “Hush!” She quickly looked around. “You must never speak of that.”
“Why?” Gwennore paused on a step. “How can you help the queen if you don’t acknowledge her illness?”
With a hiss, Olenka pressed a finger against her mouth. Then she leaned closer and whispered, “There is no help for it. And we are forbidden to speak of it.”
Gwennore thought back to the moment when she’d held the queen’s wrist. Poison. She was fairly sure of it.
“Come, we’re almost there.” Olenka hurried up the last of the stairs. When she spotted a maid, she called her over. “We need your help making the nursery ready.”
“Yes, my lady.” The maid curtsied. “I’ll bring some wood for a fire.” As she dashed away, Olenka strode over to the double doors and flung them open.
When Gwennore entered the large room, Olenka motioned to a door on the far side of the nursery. “The dressing room is over there. I’ll start a bath for the princess and find something for her to wear.”
“Thank you.” Gwennore set Eviana on her feet, although the little girl still clung to her skirt.
“If the general comes, be sure to tell him how helpful I am,” Olenka added.
Gwennore sighed. “Would you prefer that I tell him you wish to be courted?”
Olenka gasped. “No, don’t say that!” She waved her hands frantically. “Please! I only want to show my loyalty. Nothing more.”
“All right,” Gwennore agreed, even though she was totally confused.
“Thank you!” Olenka dashed across the room as if she was desperate to escape. She burst into the dressing room and slammed the door.
“Was it something I said?” Gwennore muttered in Eberoni.
Dimitri nodded. “Yes, actually. She and the other courtiers only want to be close to those in power. It makes them feel powerful. But the court ladies would never risk marriage with the general.” He frowned. “Or Aleksi. Or me.”
“Why not? I would think any woman would be honored to marry you.”
Dimitri gave her a wry smile. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, the dressing room door flung open, and Olenka jumped out, eyeing Gwennore with suspicion.
“Is it true what General Dravenko said?” she asked. “That he captured you some time ago in battle?”
Gwennore winced. She couldn’t very well say that the general had lied.
“He captured you, but never returned you?” Olenka’s eyes grew wide as she pressed a hand to her chest. “I should have realized it before. This is so dramatic! The general has taken an enemy elfin woman to his bed!”
Gwennore flinched. “What?”
“That’s why he’s coming here to check on us. He’s worried about you.” Olenka pointed at her. “He wants to protect his lover.”
“No!”
“And that’s why you frightened me with that offer of courtship. It was a warning for me to stay away from him.”
“That’s not it,” Gwennore insisted.
Olenka nodded with a knowing gleam in her eyes. “I can understand how you might be threatened by someone as beautiful as I am. No doubt you see me as serious competition, but I assure you, I only wish to be helpful.”
“I do appreciate your help, but please don’t—”
“No wonder you acted like he wasn’t all that handsome.” Olenka smirked. “It’s how you keep people from suspecting the truth. Obviously, you’re not accustomed to dealing with someone as perceptive as I.” She waved a hand in the air. “But don’t worry. I won’t say a word. Even though it’s gloriously dramatic!” She jumped into the dressing room and banged the door shut.
Gwennore gawked at the closed door for a moment, then turned toward Dimitri. “Please tell me she’s the only one who will jump to that ridiculous conclusion.”
Dimitri shifted his weight, then winced. “I’ll be outside, standing guard.” He closed the doors as he left.
Gwennore stared into space for a moment. A few minutes ago, she’d been relieved that the general was protecting her and Eviana. But she hadn’t realized what it might look like to others. Goddesses help her. She needed to go home as soon as possible.
“Gwennie, look!” Eviana’s excited voice shook her out of her thoughts. The little girl caught her hand and dragged her toward one side of the room.
Half a dozen windows lined the long wall, allowing the sun to pour in and brighten the room. Between the windows, cushioned window seats looked warm and inviting. Beneath the windows and seats, shelves held a huge assortment of books and toys.
Dimitri opened the door to let the maid in. She set a basket of kindling and logs by the hearth, then whisked off a white sheet that was protecting more toys from dust.
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Eviana’s eyes lit up at the sight of a wooden cradle filled with dolls, a red-painted wagon, a toy pram, and a rocking horse. “Can I play with these?”
“I believe so.” Gwennore looked around the long, rectangular room. It had to take up most of the western wing.
Opposite the wall of windows, there was another long wall with a fireplace in the middle. On each side, there were several beds, still covered with dust sheets. The center of the room was empty, leaving plenty of room for children to run about.
The maid pulled off another white sheet that was covering a comfy armchair in front of the fireplace. As she folded it, she cast a few curious glances at Gwennore.
Smiling, Gwennore introduced herself and Eviana. “May I help?” She removed a sheet from a second armchair.
The maid blushed. “Y-you don’t have to do any work, my lady.” She set her folded sheet on the small table between the two armchairs, then rushed over to the nearest bed to pull off another dust sheet.
“I don’t mind. I like to keep busy.” Gwennore folded her sheet. “May I ask your name?”
“Nissa.” The maid’s blush turned a brighter pink. “I-I’ve never met an elf before.”
“I’ve never met a Nissa before. It’s a lovely name.”
Nissa smiled shyly as she folded up the sheet. The bed she had uncovered was definitely for a child. It was short and low to the ground with a railing around the edge. A blue quilt on top was embroidered with red dragons.
Gwennore set her folded sheet on top of the stack Nissa was making. “Is that a little boy’s bed?”
Nissa nodded as she added her folded sheet to the stack. “Prince Tyrus slept there.”
Gwennore ran her fingers along the railing of the prince’s bed. The quilt looked freshly laundered. “This room has been kept clean.”
“Yes.” When Nissa pulled off another dust cloth, a crib was revealed. “We have orders to clean the room every fortnight. In case there’s a new…” She glanced over at Eviana, then quickly folded up the sheet.
“What happened to Prince Tyrus?” Gwennore asked. “Did he outgrow the nursery?”
Nissa winced. “No.” She hurried over to another bed and tugged at the dust sheet.
An ominous feeling slithered down Gwennore’s spine. She glanced at the empty crib and the bed once used by a prince. Then she noticed the headboards. Symbols and swirling designs had been carved into the wood, much like the ones she’d noted earlier in the courtyard and on the gate. “What happened to the prince?”
A pained expression crossed Nissa’s face before she looked away. “He’s … gone. He was almost two.”
Gwennore’s ominous feeling crept into her bones. “And the crib? Was it used by the prince, or was there another…?”
“Another boy.” Nissa drew in shaky breath. “He lived only six weeks.”
Gwennore swallowed hard. As she watched Nissa uncover another bed, she realized this one had a white quilt embroidered with pink and lavender flowers. At the head of the bed, pillows were trimmed with ruffles and white lace.
“Oh, that’s pwetty.” Eviana skipped toward the bed with a doll in her arms. “Can I sleep there?”
“It does look like a bed for a princess, doesn’t it?” Gwennore answered in Eberoni, then switched to Norveshki to address the maid. “Was there a little girl?”
Nissa glanced at Eviana, then looked away, her eyes glimmering with tears. “Anya was the queen’s firstborn child. She lived to be three.”
Gwennore drew Eviana close to her. “The queen lost three children?”
A tear rolled down Nissa’s cheek as she folded up the last dust sheet. “She had two miscarriages as well.”
Gwennore’s heart wrenched. Five children! That would be enough to drive anyone to the brink of madness. “I’m so sorry.”
As Nissa deposited the last sheet on the stack, Gwennore noticed there were more swirls carved into the white headboard of Princess Anya’s bed. “What do the carvings mean?”
Nissa turned pale. “Oh, it-it’s nothing.” She grabbed hold of a ball-shaped bead hanging from a leather thong around her neck. The wooden bead had been painted gold to represent the sun god called the Light.
Gwennore had noticed that many of the Enlightened in Eberon and Tourin wore similar pendants around their neck, although the necklaces worn by nobles were usually made of gold. It was normal for them to touch their sun pendants whenever they were upset or felt the urge to pray.
“The carvings must have some sort of meaning,” Gwennore persisted. “I saw the same design on the gate and on the paving stones in the courtyard.”
Nissa winced. “Those are runes. For protection. But you needn’t worry about them.”
“Protection against what?”
“It is forbidden to speak of it.” Nissa dashed toward the dressing room. “I’ll see if the child’s bath is ready.”
“Wait!” Gwennore followed her. “It is my job to protect Eviana. If there is some sort of danger here, I must know about it.”
Nissa paused for a moment, frowning, then shook her head. “I mustn’t speak of it. There’s no reason for you to worry. I don’t think it can affect you or the little girl. It only harms those who marry into one of the three clans.”
Marry? Gwennore glanced at the closed doors where Dimitri was standing guard outside. “Is this related to the reason why no woman would want to marry the general or his companions?”
Nissa winced. “No one wants to end up like the queen.”
Gwennore gave her an incredulous look. “How could that possibly happen? I am sorry for Her Majesty’s misfortune and madness, but those things cannot be contagious.”
“The king’s mother went mad, too,” Nissa whispered. “And now some are saying that the king may be afflicted as well.”
Gwennore stepped closer. “What is happening here?”
Nissa shook her head. “Please don’t ask me about it. It is forbidden to speak of the curse.” With a gasp, she slapped a hand across her mouth.
“A curse?”
“Don’t say it!” Nissa looked around frantically.
The dressing room door flew open and Olenka stood there, her face pale and stricken. “Did someone mention the Curse of the Three Clans?”
Nissa flinched, then clasped her sun pendant in her fist. “May the Light protect us.”
“Is that what it’s called?” Gwennore asked. “The Curse of the Three Clans?”
Olenka huffed. “Well, you didn’t hear it from me!” She glared at the maid.
“Please forgive me!” Nissa fell to her knees.
“What’s wong?” Eviana ran over with a frightened look.
“Nothing,” Gwennore assured her in Eberoni. “We-we’re just trying to decide which bed ye should rest in.”
“Oh.” Eviana pointed at the princess bed. “I want the pwetty one.”
“Of course.” Gwennore switched to Norveshki and helped Nissa to her feet. “Please don’t worry. I have no intention of telling anyone.”
“Thank you, my lady,” Nissa whispered.
“You won’t tell the general on us?” Olenka asked.
“Of course not.” As far as Gwennore was concerned, it was all nonsense. How on Aerthlan could a curse cause madness or children to die? The very notion was ridiculous!
And yet, as she looked at the empty beds, she had to wonder what could cause such tragic misfortune. The queen’s madness could certainly be attributed to the overwhelming grief of losing five children. But what about the reading Gwennore had done when she’d grabbed the queen’s wrist? Could poison be behind the queen’s madness?
Gwennore’s skin chilled when an even more horrid thought popped into her mind. What if poison had caused the deaths of all these children?
Her gaze shifted to the runes sketched above each bed. Had a dark curse dug its claws into Draven Castle? Or was something else going on, something just as sinister but caused by humans?
She pulled Eviana close. Whate
ver was going on here, she didn’t know, but she sensed one thing for sure.
It was evil.
Chapter Four
General Silas Dravenko was ready to slam a fist through a wall. He paced back in forth in the queen’s sitting room, frustration dogging his every step.
It had been six months since his last visit to Draven Castle, and in that time, the queen’s condition had grown considerably worse. She now believed the children she had kidnapped were actually her own. And no one dared tell her the truth. Everyone was too afraid of inciting her wrath.
Too terrified of a damned curse.
He halted, his hands clenched. How could a dragon’s dying words from five hundred years ago still be causing so much turmoil? By the Light, he was sick to death of this wretched curse! It hung over his country like an ominous black cloud that no one dared look at. Instead, his countrymen huddled in its shadow, bent over with fear, too superstitious to even speak of it.
Silas smacked a fist into the palm of his other hand. He’d never wanted to believe in the curse. Never wanted to accept all the pain that it had allegedly caused. Never wanted to surrender to a destiny of doom and despair that everyone claimed was impossible to change.
Dammit! Was he the only one who believed there had to be a logical explanation for everything? Two years ago, he’d launched an investigation into all the problems supposedly caused by the curse. He’d insisted that all the queen’s food and drink be tested before she consumed it.
Some of the courtiers had openly mocked him for denying what everyone else accepted as truth. Others had warned him that if he continued to behave in a paranoid manner, then everyone would believe that he, too, was succumbing to the curse and going crazy.
He snorted. It was crazier to actually believe in the damned curse. Unfortunately, he’d been forced to postpone his investigation when the elves attacked a Norveshki village close to the border. The king had immediately declared war against Woodwyn, and Silas had had no choice but to march the army to the southern border. For the last two years, he’d been busy protecting the country.