Free The Secret Princess by Rachelle McCalla Page A

fire.”
    The lampwent out as Evelyn helped her brother up the stairs, got him situated by the fire and heated water for tea to warm him from the inside. But the fire had burned low and Bertie still shivered, so Evelyn slipped into the great hall and found the bearskin Prince Luke had presented to King Garren. The great furry pelt was so lifelike everyone seemed afraid to touch it, and it remained in the spot wherethe prince had left it.
    Evelyn tugged the heavy thing back to her brother and wrapped it snugly around him. “There, now. Better?”
    “I hate Omar.” Bertie sniffled and swiped at his cheeks. “He didn’t hurt you, did he? Is Grandfather going to make you marry him?”
    “Not yet. Not unless he brings back Prince Luke, alive or dead.”
    Bertie shuddered visibly. “I like Prince Luke justfine. I hope he doesn’t kill him, for your sake and for his. Oh,” the boy moaned, “it’s all so helpless anyway. We should run away back to Frankia.”
    Her brother’s words didn’t surprise Evelyn, who’d heard him express the desire to return to their homeland too many times to count. As always, she reminded him, “We haven’t got any means to support ourselves along the way. We wouldn’t make itfar before Omar caught up to us, and then I’d surely be forced to marry him.”
    “If we could find what Grandfather did with the dowry treasures—”
    “I saw them.”
    “Where?”
    “Inside his chamber.”
    “When were you allowed in there?”
    “Just earlier when Omar dragged me up there. Grandfather has everything on a side table behind the door, along with his crown and everything elsehe keeps private.”
    “If we could sneak in—”
    “Don’t!” Evelyn wondered if she should have kept the location of the treasures to herself. But then, her brother deserved to know. He had just as much right to them as she did, and if anything happened to her, she might not get another opportunity to tell him. “Promise me you won’t. If the jewels go missing, Grandfather will guess we were behindit. He’ll marry me to Omar for certain then, and who knows what he might do to you.”
    “Fine. For your sake I won’t try to get them.” Bertie stared at the fire, which had grown stronger as Evelyn fed it. His final words were little more than a sigh, and Evelyn chose to ignore them. There was no sense arguing with him, even if those words made her tremble in fear for him. “Not just yet.”
    * * *
    “How much does Warrick know of his father’s activities?” King John questioned his brother over a private breakfast in his personal chambers.
    “I was hoping you could tell me.” Luke scooped up the last of his porridge, grateful for the spices their youngest brother, Mark, had brought back with him from his last sea voyage, which made the bland boiled grains vastly more flavorful.“Warrick has been a guest in our household for over a week now. What has he told you?”
    “The same things Garren told you—but you say your eyes witnessed larger numbers of troops and more visible activity in the borderlands.”
    “I don’t trust King Garren.”
    “I never have. Nor am I particularly keen at having our sister betrothed to Warrick, not if he proves to be as great a liar as hisfather.”
    “But is Warrick being deliberately deceptive or merely ignorant?” Luke set his bowl down and stood, too disturbed by the situation to sit still while he mulled its complexities. He could ask the same question of Evelyn. The woman was full of secrets. But was she intentionally trying to deceive him?
    The curtain to the anteroom moved to the side, and Queen Gisela rejoined them,her face pale, one hand over her stomach. “I’m better now,” she assured her husband with a small smile.
    Luke studied the pair as Gisela took her place at her husband’s side, and he joined his hand with hers. The two had been married at Christmastide over four months earlier.
    King John looked up and met Luke’s measured gaze. Then he whispered