Page 82 of Veil of Winter

“We don’t have time to explain.” Gerard stepped forward and pressed his sword against the dungeon guard’s chest while taking his keys. This guard would hear what had happened soon enough.

They freed Ysa’s three captive brothers, then made their way back up to reunite the men with Matthias.

The crowd was still lively, and the guards who had been persuaded to support Princess Elyce were speaking with other soldiers who had missed what had transpired just before Bertold killed King Claude. No doubt they were trying to convince them that their loyalty should be to the princess and not to her father.

When Gerard looked around for Princess Elyce and did not find her, he experienced an ominous prickling sensation on the back of his neck. He found Sir Oswalt, who was still watching over Astrid while Bertold spoke to the Valkenfeld guards.

“Do you know where Princess Elyce is?”

“She told me to tell you that she was going inside the castle, to the chapel, with the priest.”

“I have a bad feeling. Why have we not seen anything of King Leandre?”

Oswalt shook his head.

“I’m going to find the princess.”

“I’ll go with you.” Oswalt instructed two guards to watchover Astrid, then the two of them went into the castle, heading toward the chapel.

***

Elyce stood to one side while Father Johannes spoke with two of her father’s guards. Well, they used to be her father’s guards. Now they were Montciel’s guards, for the good of the people, finally. Her father could no longer make plans and agreements and alliances that benefited himself but harmed their kingdom.

A familiar voice behind her said, “What have you done?”

Elyce spun around.

“You self-serving, selfish daughter,” her father hissed. He was flanked by half a dozen guards who were obviously loyal to him.

Elyce took a step back, her stomach twisting at her father’s words and tone.

“How does it feel to betray your own father? To malign and castigate him in front of our people? Guards, seize her.”

There was a commotion behind her as the guards who had been conferring with Father Johannes ran forward to put themselves between her and the king’s guards.

“Stop!” Father Johannes cried. “There can be no violence in the Lord’s chapel! Stop!”

Elyce’s heart leapt inside her. She could not let anyone get hurt. She threw herself between the two sets of guards, extending her arms, causing the guards to freeze in place.

“Please! No fighting!” Elyce’s heart pounded so hard it seemed to reverberate through her whole body. “I do not wish for anyoneto be harmed. You are all my people.” She stared into the eyes of her father’s guards. “He wished to force our people to serve King Claude, but it does not have to be thusly. King Claude is dead, and his brother, Bertold, is the new King of Valkenfeld.”

Her father’s guards looked surprised and glanced around at one another.

“It is true,” Father Johannes said behind her. “Now no one will be forced to work in the Valkenfeld mines.”

“This is all nonsense.” Her father’s voice grew louder with every word. “No one was forcing anyone to work in the mines. And now King Claude has been killed by his own brother? What treachery is this, I ask you?”

“Father, everyone knows that King Claude had already started taking people from their meadows and homes in Montciel and putting them to work in his mines. And they now know you were allowing it, for your own gain.”

“Treacherous child,” her father snarled.

“Do you deny it?” Elyce noticed that Sir Gerard and Sir Oswalt had just entered the dimly lit chapel and were standing to one side, listening.

“I denyyou.” Her father’s expression twisted, his eyes looking dark and small. “You are no longer my daughter, no longer the Princess of Montciel. You are to be executed for treason against your king. Guards, seize her!”

A pain stabbed her heart at her father’s words. Did he despise her enough to kill her? His own flesh-and-blood daughter?

Sir Gerard moved forward, his sword drawn, Sir Oswalt just behind him, but her father’s guards barely moved, hesitating.