The Ruby Moon (18 page)

As if in a dream, Avery entered the tiny sanctuary to find that a wedding had just taken place. The bride wore a simple dress and a daisy chain in her raven hair. When she turned, Avery immediately recognized her piercing blue eyes. It was the girl who had led her to Edward in the tunnel.

The groom—laughing in a circle of friends—also turned slowly, and Avery held her breath. Would she know him, too?

He made eye contact and approached her, smiling. Speechless, Avery regretted coming at all. “Glad you could make it,” he said. “What a nice surprise.”

Finally finding her voice, Avery said, “I thought we were just meeting to talk. To come to some sort of an agreem—”

Edward threw back his head and laughed. “You never responded to my last message!”

“I didn’t read it! The bird was dead! You obviously didn’t
expect
me to come.”

Edward’s face contorted. “Not today, of course. The agreement was for three days ago. It’s been eight days since I met you in the tunnel.”

Avery’s head swam. Time had lost all meaning. “Well, I’m here now, and I risked everything to get here. So tell me where my family is.”

“Oh, I wish I could,” he said with a smile that exuded false sympathy. “But Avery, we had a deal.” And he turned to walk away.

“No!” she blurted. “You can’t let me come all this way and then just decide not to tell me where they are!” Several guests had stopped chatting and were now watching.

He stopped and turned back, his smile gone. “I just did.”

Avery closed the distance between them and came face-to-face with him until their noses nearly touched. “How did you get Henry’s boat?”

Edward put a hand on her arm, squeezing hard. He spoke softly, in measured tones. “I don’t owe you any information, but let me tell you something that could save your life, because I still consider you a friend—despite how you’re acting
at my wedding
: don’t return to the castle.”

Pulling back, she studied his face, trying to comprehend. She did feel bad about causing a scene here, now. Trying her best to sound civil, she said, “Just tell me why.”

Edward glanced both ways, and people looked away. “Look carefully at the guests,” he whispered.

Avery looked past him and noticed that the simply dressed congregants, talking and smiling in clusters, were young. On closer examination she realized they were all the missing thirteen-year-olds! Alive!

She closed her eyes and shook her head as he lightened his grip on her arm. “How did they get here?
Why
are they here?”

“Let’s just say we’re organized, and the king is about to be dethroned. It would have happened the day of the race had you let Thomas win.”

Avery let the words sink in. “Thomas would have assassinated the king during his private audience,” she whispered.

“You’re catching on.”

A cold, hard look overtook Edward, and suddenly everything became clear to Avery. “You’ve built an army!
You
snatched everyone from the castle.
This
is the secret mission you kept referring to, the one you wanted my help with. You wanted me to meet you here so I could be part of your legion. Do you even know where my family is? Did you ever?”

Edward let go of her and smiled. “Listen, Avery, this may look like a wedding, but it’s not. It’s a call to arms. Everyone here knew that. And now so do you.”

“Smart,” Avery said, nodding. “Use my family to draw me here. Find one of the paper boats in my brother’s room and make me think you got it from him so I’d believe you could take me to him and my father. Gotta hand it to you.”

Edward pressed his lips together and cocked his head. “Guilty,” he said, “but here you are, and here we are. And your best—and probably only—chance to find your family is to join the resistance.”

“You really believe the end justifies the means,” she said, shaking her head. “Good-bye, Edward.”

“Last chance, Avery!” he called after her as she strode toward the door. “Join us as we take back the throne or die in the tunnels!”

Avery turned. “The
king
isn’t our problem. Kill him and we could be in worse trouble than we are now. Not to mention, you could be hanged for treason!”

“Don’t say you haven’t been warned. And you should know that if the entire castle needs to be destroyed in order to kill the king, we’re prepared to do that.”

“You wouldn’t! Your sister could be locked in the Tower right now.”

“Is that so?” Edward nodded over his shoulder, and Avery followed his gaze to where a nicely dressed Ilsa stood chatting in a group. “Who do you think started the fire?”

Is there no limit to what these two might do?

“You, too, could disappear without a trace, Avery. Stay with us and let your friends think something tragic happened to you.”

She shook her head. With the entire castle in jeopardy, Avery knew what she had to do.

Edward said, “Be careful. Tell anyone what you know and that paper boat will be the last thing you ever see of your family.”

Avery slipped out of the chapel and raced to the door of the tunnel that led back to her friends. She would never stop trying to reach her family, but it was time to warn the king.

Somehow the journey back took longer. Why did that always seem so?

Avery returned to Tuck’s sick chamber—winded and anxious.

“Where were you?” Kate whispered, rising from the stool beside Tuck’s bed—where he lay sleeping.

Avery shrugged. “I needed time to think.”

The look in Kate’s eyes told Avery she knew there was something more.

Kate didn’t press, and Avery didn’t offer.

In the days following, Avery took a book to the infirmary each time she took her turn on the stool beside Tuck’s bed. Some days she read to him, and other days she asked him to tell her stories from his childhood. She sensed he enjoyed their time together as much as she did. Nearly every day when she arrived, he was deep in conversation with Kendrick.

But then one morning at breakfast, Tuck appeared in the doorway, and the dining room burst into applause. Everyone moved to clear a spot and find him a plate.

Avery had to fight the urge to cry as she watched Tuck sit in his usual spot. And as if he couldn’t manage it himself, kids helped fill his plate and pour his drink and push his chair closer to the table. They did everything for him except spoon the food into his mouth.

Avery smiled at the frustration on his face. They were one step closer to getting the old Tuck back.

Of course, this also meant they were one step closer to learning what Tuck planned to do next. Avery was certain she wasn’t ready to hear it.

Kendrick invited Avery to join him where he kept his castle replica and said, “The strangest thing happened. One of my maps—this one—went missing, but it was returned the next day. You know how neatly I like to keep them, but you can see it has been folded. Any idea who might have borrowed it?”

Avery wondered if Kendrick could hear her heartbeat the way she did. She was certain she was blushing from her neck to her hairline.

“I’m sure whoever it was had a good reason,” she said, trying to sound casual but knowing she sounded anything but.

“No doubt.”

“And I’m sure she—or he—would love to tell you what happened but doesn’t feel like she—or he—should.”

Kendrick set down the map and smoothed it out. He sat back and looked her in the eyes. “When you’re ready to tell me where you went and why you’ve been so quiet since you returned, I’m ready to listen. I hope by now you know we’re friends.”

Avery looked down then nodded. Lying never solved anything. She began cautiously. “Edward asked me to meet him in the chapel.”

“Ilsa’s brother? I thought he was—”

“He’s back.”

“And you’re telling me my map was accurate? It took you to the chapel?”

Avery nodded. “It was perfect, except—”

“Except you had to guess at the fork.”

“Right. I went left.”

“And it worked? You didn’t have to double back?”

“No, left was correct.”

Kendrick grabbed a quill and filled in that portion of his map, asking, “So what did Edward want?”

Avery bit her lip, considered Edward’s threat, and decided it was a risk she had to take. If she didn’t tell Kendrick, she’d put her friends at risk. If she told Kendrick the truth, she put her family at risk. She moved to stand close to Kendrick so she could whisper the words—

“He’s planning to destroy the king.”

She expected Kendrick to doubt her or at least criticize her for meeting him, but he merely nodded. “I know.”

“You do? How?”

“Why do you think I tried so hard to map the route to the chapel? We need a way of escape. A war is coming. I don’t know when or with whom, but if we stay here, we’ll end up fighting for our lives.”

“Then I’m right that it’s time to talk to the king,” Avery said.

Kendrick blew out a long breath. “I think you might be.”

Kate unrolled a thick canvas onto Avery’s mattress. “I’ve discovered how your mother knew so much about life within the castle.”

Avery stood shoulder to shoulder with her, peering at a painting of Queen Elizabeth in a velvet chair surrounded by beautiful ladies. It had been commissioned around the same time—if not the same day—as the other painting Avery had discovered in the storage room on the kids’ side of the castle. Avery could tell because the setting, backdrop, and style were the same.

The portrait featured the queen’s smooth skin and exotic mismatched eyes. One of the ladies behind her had light hair and a radiant smile, clearly muted by the painter, probably in an attempt not to detract from the queen.

“My mother!” Avery said, gasping. She ran her fingers over the canvas, marveling at the image of this younger version of the woman she had known, but made up, and with her hair done up, and dressed as Avery had never seen—in castle finery.

“From what I’ve been able to uncover,” Kate said, “she was a lady-in-waiting, a fixture at court. I hope this answers some of your questions.”

“Hardly,” Avery whispered, unable to tear her eyes away. She was dying to know how Kate knew this woman was her mother, but that question could wait. “May I keep this?”

“For a day or two. I need to return it before anyone knows it’s missing.”