Page 41 of Always

“What have you to say, Sister?” I asked.

She lifted her face then. Though the skin around her eyes was purple and swollen, her gaze was frank and piercing. “The royal princesses are lost to you.” She spoke with an authority that took me by surprise. “They will remain lost, and you will not find them until the time is right for their return.”

Theobald kicked the nun in the ribs, which caused her to cry out and double over. “You must address the king as ‘Your Majesty.’”

I held up my hand to the captain, trying to quell the anxious premonition creeping up my spine. “Let her finish.”

The captain nodded, stepped back, and crossed his hands behind his back.

After a moment, the nun pushed herself up. Though she seemed to struggle for consciousness, her voice was still strong. “The princesses will have Solomon’s treasure to aid them, and there will be nothing you can do to stop them.” She held me captive in a stare that stirred the foreboding deep inside me.

“Then you know the location of the keys to the ancient treasure?”

“The keys are lost to you as well.” As she spoke the last word, she crumpled back to the floor, unconscious.

The captain grabbed a fistful of her hair and jerked her head up. “Tell the king all you know or you will die.”

The nun’s head slumped to the side. For this woman of the cloth, death would be a gift—a gift I would not grant her. “Do not kill her.” I spun and retraced the steps to my throne. “I suspect she will prove more useful to us alive than dead.”

The captain ordered his soldiers to lift the woman and carry her away.

“To the tower,” I called.

Theobald nodded. “She will talk eventually and tell us everything we wish to know.” He leaned in to the woman. “You can be sure of it, Sister Katherine. You can be sure.”