First Light (38 page)

My heart burst with pity, and my chest burned with fury toward his mother.

“You stupid woman,” I screamed, somehow pushing the metal away from my ribs. “How could you do this to your son? And don’t tell me it was for my benefit. I liked him fine the way he was. You didn’t have to—” My voice broke on a sob. “I would have married him."

“There, there. Don’t cry,” Nadamaris said with false sincerity. “Don’t blame yourself. Hale needed some persuasion. It was
he
who refused to marry
you
.”

“And I still refuse,” Hale said vehemently.

I looked at him through tear-stained eyes, knowing in that moment I’d judged his character so very right in that forest glen when I’d proclaimed his heart good. “Why?” I whispered. Why would he endure so much to spare me this marriage when I was little more than a stranger to him?

“It’s nothing against you, Adrielle.”

I winced at the kindness in his voice and the concern in his eyes. He’d misunderstood my question.

“We can’t marry. We
mustn’t
,” Hale said. “Let her kill us both first. She’s only after the gifts the fairies are required to bestow upon Canelian royalty. If she gains access to them, her powers will multiply. If we wed, she’d use you— and our children— and entire kingdoms would suffer.”

“They’ll suffer more if she’s dead,” Nadamaris snapped.

Hale shook his head. “She’s lying. Don’t listen to her, Adrielle. You have the power to defeat her, you and Cristian together, as foretold.”

My head spun, whether more from lack of air or from Hale’s words, I could not tell. Perhaps the pain had gotten to him and he was delirious, for what he said made no sense.

From the back of the hall came the sounds of clashing metal. I could not see what was causing the ruckus and feared what other torture Nadamaris had invented. She stepped down from her platform and began walking toward us.

“Adrielle,” Hale pled. “Listen to me. You—”

“—
are a princess
.” Cristian’s voice overtook Hale’s, carrying through the hall.

Fresh tears sprang to my eyes, and my heart seemed to skip a beat before I came to my senses, realizing it could only be my imagination speaking and not Cristian truly come to my rescue.

Shouting and sounds of a struggle came from the back of the chamber.

“Adrielle,
you
are a princess.” Cristian’s voice again, louder this time in my memory.

Hale collapsed against the guard behind him. His mother narrowed her eyes toward the back of the chapel.

“Adrielle,
you
are the princess of Canelia!” Cristian’s voice echoed through the chapel, reverberating off the walls, penetrating the metal gown to reach inside and touch my heart. There was no mistaking his voice as real this time. Hope burst inside me.
Cristian, here. Come to save me.

Exuding every ounce of strength I had, I willed my body into a quarter turn. I strained to look toward the back of the chapel. Two guards lay on the floor before the doors which had been closed and barred. Cristian stood over them, sword drawn, ready to fight… for
me.
Our eyes met. He spoke once more, this time quietly.

“
You
are the princess I am to marry. The one with the power to end the curse.”
The one I love
, his expression added.

“He speaks the truth.” Hale’s voice was strained, and beads of sweat dotted his brow.

My mouth opened on a sob as sudden knowledge settled on my shoulders more heavily than the armor already weighing me down.

“You were switched at birth,” Cristian took a step closer to us, and one of Nadamaris’s men left Hale’s side, turned toward Cristian, and drew his sword.
“Sent far away,” Cristian continued. “With the king’s friend who had just lost his own infant daughter.”

The last of my breath was stolen as a dozen memories— clues to my existence and purpose— fitted into place like the pieces of a long-abandoned puzzle.

My mother’s vain hopes for me, her ceaseless attempts at teaching me frivolous skills I’d never thought I’d need. My father’s wisdom so carefully and solemnly imparted. Cecilia, not
my
sister, but sister to the eleven siblings I’d grown up with.

“And in exchange,” Nadamaris picked up the story, as Cristian and the guard drew closer to one another. “Cecilia was brought to the castle and proclaimed to be the princess. Rumor said she’d been rushed through time by the fastest of the fairies, her age advanced to eighteen to avoid the curse.”

From the back of the chapel, shouts sounded outside the barred doors, and they shook and rattled from the efforts of those on the other side.

More help,
I prayed. Surely Cristian had not come alone.

“It really was quite clever.” Nadamaris grabbed my chin and wrenched my head around to face her. “You
almost
pulled it off but for the magical sparks I saw rising from the forest the night of the ball. I summoned my powers so I could see which fairy was about and what she was up to. It was then I saw you in that clearing with Hale, saw that
you
had a pearl… and I knew.” She smiled, satisfied, like a cat who’d eaten a baby bird.

“Guards, please dispose of the prince so we can finish up here.” Nadamaris pointed a long, dagger-like fingernail at the doors, and they flung open, letting in a rush of her henchmen.

“Cristian,” I cried, but he’d already turned and was caught up in the fray.

Nadamaris pointed her finger her at Hale, and I watched, horrified, as his body jerked from the floor to a standing position. “Time for your vows.”

“Run, Adrielle!” he shouted.

“I can’t,” I said, feeling faint both from Cristian’s revelation and the metal squeezing the life out of me.

“You can,” Hale said. “Use your gifts.”

“He’s right,” Cristian called above the clatter of swords. From the corner of my eye I watched as he cut a guard down. Another jumped in to take his place.

I could see no way to run with the metal weighing me down, but I had to do something. Near the back of the chapel, Cristian was surrounded by guards and fighting for his life. Beside me, Hale started to speak, the words forced from him by the magic flowing from his mother’s outstretched hand.

“I, Hale, Prince of Baldwinidad do—” His voice was hoarse, his face beet red, the veins in his forehead popping out as he strained against her power. “
Not
take Princess Adrielle of Canelia to be my wife.”

Nadamaris’s face mottled with fury, and her hand clenched in a circle as if choking Hale around the neck. He gagged, his good leg kicking the air as her force lifted him from the ground.

“No,” I cried, finding the strength to lunge toward him and wrap my arms around his waist. “Let him go.”

The queen’s sickly cackle echoed through the chamber. “Look how your bride clings to you.”

“Go.” Hale pushed me away with his hand.

“Use the pearls,” Cristian called as he fought with a man twice his size.

“She already has,” Nadamaris said, her shrieking laughter following the announcement. “Adrielle wasted them escaping the gypsies, feeding the hungry, and changing my poor Hale into the handsome youth he used to be. Pity she was so generous, isn’t it?”

I turned to Cristian just as one of Nadamaris’s soldiers slashed his arm. Bright red blood seeped through his sleeve. Another guard, his sword raised, left Hale’s side and advanced on Cristian from behind. With strength I hadn’t before known, I tore the heavy veil from my hair and threw it as hard as I could. With a clatter of sparks it hit the guard’s sword, barely knocking its path from Cristian.

I had no time to feel relieved as the fighting continued, Cristian woefully outnumbered.

“Adrielle,” he called again, sounding desperate. I wanted to answer, to tell him that though I had one pearl left, I
couldn’t
use it. I didn’t know its limitations. Could I wish the three of us— Cristian, Hale, and me— to safety, or was the magic only strong enough for one? Would it choose of its own accord— protecting only the princess in such a case? It was a chance I would not take. I would not leave them.

My eyes locked with Hale’s, and in that fraction of a second it was apparent he believed the three of us could not win this battle here.

“Leave me,” he said.

“No. Think of Cecilia. Fight for Cecilia.” I reached for his hand.

“Yes!” Nadamaris cried, raising her fist in the air. “Wed my son, and I will allow Prince Cristian to go free.”

“She lies,” Hale said. “She spares no one. Go,” he begged, giving my hand a quick squeeze. “Save the kingdom, else all is lost.” He looked down at his leg, a splint rendering it immobile, blood seeping through the bandages. Our eyes met again, his imploring me to leave him, to get away, to break the curse. As long as Cristian and I both lived, there was still a chance… a chance for all of Canelia.

Summoning that same before-unknown strength, I twisted around to face the back of the chapel. Bending as much as I could, I gripped a chunk of the train in my hand and bent it from the gown. With frantic movements I clawed at the metal, trying desperately to free myself from some of the weight.

Behind me Hale’s anguished screams magnified. I blocked them out, not daring to turn around and see what torture he was enduring because of me.

Shaking and clumsy, my hands wrenched two sections of train free at the same moment. They clattered together, smashing my thumb and sending sparks flying. I tossed them aside, and a small fire instantly ignited on the runner flowing up the aisle.
Use your gifts.
I had a sudden vision of Kindra hovering over a baby cradle, her wings fluttering as she showered magic upon the babe inside—
me
.

I possess magic, too.

Twisting two more pieces of metal from my gown, I struck them together, then threw them toward the queen’s outstretched hand. They caught her billowing sleeve, bursting into flame.

She let out an awful screech and lowered her hand, trying to extinguish the blaze. No longer suspended by evil, Hale fell to the floor as I started yet another fire, sending this one to his mother’s feet, where the hem of her gown became engulfed in a blaze of orange.

The last piece holding my train in place broke loose, freeing me enough that I began staggering down the aisle toward Cristian. I willed my legs to move, to run as they had the night I’d escaped from the outlaws. To my great surprise, my body responded, moving fast in spite of my weighty attire.

I reached Cristian as he shoved against a guard twice his size, sending him over the back of a pew. The thought flashed into my mind that Cristian might have gifts as well, some magic of his own, as it seemed only superhuman strength had kept him alive this long against odds this poor.

One of Nadamaris’s men grabbed my arm, twisting it behind me. I turned toward him, flinging my free arm at his face. The metal sleeve struck his cheek and eye, scraping across his skin.

He cried out but did not release me, trying instead to hoist me over his shoulder. In my awkward, unbendable dress, this was easier said than done, and we struggled on while Cristian fought at my side.

Another of the queen’s men fell; Cristian sustained another wound. My eyes burned with tears, and my lungs still gasped for air as I fought off my attacker. Using the metal sleeve to my advantage again, I brought it down forcefully on the hand that held onto me. The guard cursed and let go, and I stepped back, just out of his reach. As we circled one another, locked in our battle of wills and metal, I glanced toward the front of the chapel. Nadamaris had put all the fires out. She raised her hand and pointed at me. I ducked my head a split second before her curse hit. My opponent yelled painfully and fell straight backward, eyes frozen open in a surprised stare.

“Come on.” Cristian grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the chapel doors.

I concentrated my efforts on running, each step a herculean effort against the armor weighing me down. The tall doors began creaking shut.
We’re never going to make it.
Freeing my hand from Cristian’s, I surged ahead of him, throwing my weight against one of the doors, holding it open. He caught up and caught my hand again, pulling me with him, out into the long hall as the doors crashed shut behind us.

Cristian pulled a knife from his boot and jammed it between the handles and lock. “That won’t hold them long. Let’s go.”

“Wait.” I struck my arms together, sending a shower of sparks at the curtains on either side of the hall. Flames leapt to life along the bottom.

The doors rattled behind us and Nadamaris’s curses followed as we continued running. My lungs hurt so badly, I wasn’t sure I could continue, but then Cristian looked at me, and the love I saw reflected in his eyes spurred me on.

We were destined to be together, to save a kingdom. And we would.

Water dripped from the low ceiling of the cave as
Cristian knelt in front of me, working to remove the remains of the metal wedding gown.

“Don’t you see? Nadamaris will expect us to keep running, to head straight for Canelia. It’s closer, and the— fairies— are there to protect us.”

I noticed how he stumbled over the last.
Is it still difficult for him to admit to the existence of fairies?
“Exactly the reasons we
should
go there,” I said, trying not to sound exasperated with the love of my life. “Why risk being alone in these woods any longer than we have to?” I hated that we were delaying here at all, in the very shadow of the castle we’d barely escaped. But just as Gemine had told me— and Cristian apparently knew— we’d found temporary safety in this cave.