The Ruby Moon (16 page)

How long has the poor thing been in here?

She knew better than to touch a dead, potentially diseased fowl, but she needed to see what message it carried. She eased her hand in, trying to reach the tube without touching the bird.

Suddenly, she heard Kate’s voice and looked for a place to hide the crate. The box was too large, and she knew her only option was to distract Kate. Pressing the box against the wall, she perched on a corner of the mattress right as Kate swung the blanket aside.

“Just came to check on you,” Kate said. “What’s that behind you?” Avery shrugged. Kate peered over her shoulder. “What’s in the box?”

“Nothing that concerns you,” Avery said, but Kate reached behind her and pulled it out. “Please don’t open it.”

But of course Kate did, and she shrieked as the bird fell to the floor. “Why do you have a dead bird in our room?”

“You have your secrets, and I have mine!” Avery said, knowing this might be her only chance to check the bird’s tube for a message. But as she scrambled to get to it, she wondered what she would say if the message revealed too much.

A scout swept into the room, no doubt to see what had caused Kate to shriek.

“Take that thing and get rid of it!” Kate cried out.

“No!” Avery called, but Kate and the scout ignored her.

The scout circled the bird, clearly trying to figure out how to move it without touching it, while Avery hastily considered her options. She could confess everything, follow the scout, or offer to get rid of the bird herself.

Too late. The scout gingerly picked it up by its tail, dropped it into the box with a thud, and disappeared.

Avery’s days of communicating with Edward by carrier pigeon were over.

“Honestly,” Kate said, still breathless. “You do the strangest things.”

Avery didn’t respond. For now she had something much more important to do.

Avery waited at the agreed-upon spot, pacing and rehearsing what she would say if anyone discovered her plans.

Several minutes passed with no sign of the scout who was to meet her, until suddenly he appeared, draping some garments over her arm.

“You have no idea how hard these clothes were to fetch,” he said.

“Thanks,” she replied, turning to leave.

“Hey!” he said. “You made a promise!”

Avery stopped, smiled sheepishly, and tossed him a piece of chocolate she’d stashed in her bedchamber. “Don’t eat it all in one bite.”

But the words were barely out of her mouth before the scout had crammed the chocolate into his mouth, chewing much louder than necessary.

Avery needed to act before Kate questioned her absence. She ducked into the shadows and quickly changed into the outfit—a drab brown dress and a cream apron. She straightened her collar and peeked around the corner to be sure no one would notice. Then she headed into the main tunnel—ducking into alcoves whenever she heard a familiar voice—until she was well beyond the kids’ quarters and climbed the stairs that led to the library.

She pressed her ear against the door and, hearing nothing, moved quickly through the empty room and into the kids’ stairwell.

Only because of Kendrick’s model of the castle did she know which room she needed, and she would get there if it was the last thing she did. Her head swam with a thousand thoughts as she cut through the kitchen where cooks prepared the king’s food.

“Stop right there, young lady!” Avery froze. “I don’t know you.” Avery turned to see Kate’s sister wearing the same drab outfit she herself was wearing and holding a butcher knife. She advanced uncomfortably close.

“I’m new to this kitchen,” Avery said. “But I know who you are.”

The young woman laughed, and Avery was struck again at how similar her laugh was to Kate’s. “You do, eh?” She leaned close to Avery until they were nearly nose to nose. “Then who am I?”

“You’re Edith, of course.”

“Well!” she said with a look of surprise. “Fine, then. Get back to work.”

As soon as she had the chance, Avery bolted, returning to a normal pace only once she reached the hall containing living quarters. She knew from Kendrick’s model and room chart that the king’s medic lived here, but now all the doors looked alike, and she couldn’t just start knocking. One of them was bound to belong to the king. And another to the queen!

She slipped into the shadows to buy time. Truth be told, she should have come with a better plan, but she so badly wanted to help Tuck, she hadn’t had time to strategize. And she couldn’t ask any of the thirteen-year-olds to help. None would have agreed to this.

Footsteps made Avery turn, and she saw someone coming her direction. Had Edith sent them? No, this someone carried a stack of linens. And she couldn’t believe who it was.

“Kate?” She wasn’t wearing servants’ clothes, but neither did she bear a star on her wrist. “How did you—?”

Kate put a finger to her lips, joining Avery in the shadows. “When the scouts told me you ran off wearing those clothes, I knew what you were up to. You have no idea where you’re going, do you?”

“Not exactly.”

Kate dropped the linens. “Follow me.”

Avery was grateful for once that Kate knew her way around the castle, but when she marched in the opposite direction, Avery knew they were headed the wrong way. But she couldn’t tell Kate. She had promised she would never tell anyone about Kendrick’s model.

They walked a long way, eventually taking a stairwell down several floors until they came to a wing of significantly less formal chambers.

The medic doesn’t live on this floor.

Kate approached one of the doors and didn’t even bother to knock. She just tried the handle, found it unlocked, and shoved it open.

Avery followed Kate into an airy space lined with shelves of bottles and where dried plants hung from the ceiling. A breeze swept in from windows where curtains had been swept aside. A threadbare mattress lay in one corner.

After weeks of living in the tunnels, Avery felt a rush of pure delight as she closed her eyes and stood in a room with fresh air. “Where are we?”

“The wise-woman’s chamber,” Kate said.

Every village had one who met the needs of those too poor to pay what it cost to see a medic—usually a gold coin. Avery assumed the castle’s wise-woman was assigned a room down here because she tended the staff and not the king or queen.

Kendrick didn’t include this in his room chart.
She couldn’t wait to tell him about it.

“How did you know where to find her?” Avery asked.

“I just did.” Kate moved to the shelves and rummaged through jars, handing certain ones to Avery. “Rose, lavender, sage, and bay,” she said. “And”—Kate moved to another wall—“wormwood, mint, and balm.”

“Could the wise-woman come to see Tuck?” Avery asked, trying to manage all the jars.

“No!”

Avery sensed from Kate’s tone not to push it. “Do you know what to do with all these?” Noise in the hall made her nervous, but Kate didn’t seem concerned.

“Can’t be too hard to figure out,” Kate said. But she pulled a book from the shelf and thumbed through it then stacked a few more jars atop it and said, “Let’s go.”

Kate and Avery spent hours into the night in their bedchamber hovered over the jars. Kate furrowed her brow as she scanned the book by candlelight and crushed herbs, mixing the powder into hot tea she’d brought down from the kitchen.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Kate said as she ground what smelled like mint. “All of this work may be for nothing.”

But of course, it was too late for that. Avery’s hopes were as high as they had ever been. “I wish my grandmother could help,” Kate added.

“I do, too.” Avery cleared her throat. “Speaking of your grandmother …”

Kate stopped but didn’t look up. “What about her?”

“You said she was responsible for burying the children of royals who died at birth or shortly after.”

“Yes.”

“Did she bury Queen Elizabeth’s son?”

Kate busied herself flipping the pages of the wise-woman’s book, but Avery could tell she wasn’t actually reading. Finally she whispered, “No.”

Presently she shut the book and rose to prepare a steaming mug of something fragrant. “Let’s take this to Tuck,” Kate said. “If his fever can be broken, this should do it. If it can’t, we’ll know by morning, and we may need to be prepared to say good-bye.”

Avery took the mug and followed Kate out, but she was resolute. Saying good-bye to Tuck was not an option.

At some point, the hard good-byes need to stop. And that time is now.

“Thank you for doing this,” Avery said from behind Kate as they walked.

But instead of acknowledging the thanks, Kate slowed and sighed. Avery had to angle beside her to keep the drink from sloshing to the tunnel floor. “What is it, Kate?”

“My grandmother was the castle wise-woman.”

“I knew she did more around here than what it seemed.”

Kate nodded. “She’d been the wise-woman since Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Everything she knew about illness and childbirth and all the rest had been passed down to her through generations of women in her family. Her plan was to teach me next. Then Queen Elizabeth died and everything changed. My grandmother still grew herbs and studied plants, but far less after attending Queen Elizabeth’s last childbearing.”

So she was at Kendrick’s birth!

What if she knew too much about Queen Elizabeth’s child? What if someone killed the old woman to keep her silent forever?

The pieces were coming together, but for now Avery hurried on.

For now she needed to concentrate on keeping Tuck alive.

Tuck appeared to have shrunk even more, his brow wet, his eyes closed.

Kate lifted his head, and his eyes fluttered open.

Avery explained that they had brought him something to help him get better. He smiled weakly and nodded. Avery carefully put the mug to his lips. When he finished drinking, he lay back and appeared to fall asleep again.

When Kate insisted Avery get some sleep, Avery trudged back to her bed knowing there was nothing more she could do until morning when they would find out if it worked.