Chapter 16

- Elly -

Uncertain Elly shifted from one leg to the other. Nathaniel had told her not to rush, to properly blend in first with the servants at the castle, but she hadn't been able to make herself wait. It had been over three years since David had come home last for a visit, and letters were not the same.

"Right this way," the soldier who she had talked to before said. She had asked him about her brother and he had instructed her to wait in what looked like a dining hall. It was neatly clean, but obviously in good use. As big as one of the Baron's sitting rooms, and as worn as the convent'sinterior.

David stepped through the doorframe. His golden hair was short, his beard shaved, but otherwise he looked exactly like Elly remembered him. Too tall and too slender, with sparkling green eyes and face as familiar as her own. The soldier uniform fit him well, like he had been meant to wear it allhis life.

Tears of joy prickledin Elly's throat.

"Are you – no, you couldn't be," David exhaled.

Elly rushed at him for a stormy hug, shaken with sobs. She had really missed family, missed him. Even before all those horrible things had happened to Elly, the absence of her brother had been difficult. They had been practically inseparable since their birth, until the day David had left.

Carefully her brother placed his arms around her. "Oh, Elly, what have you done now," he mumbled with a soft voice.

He rubbed her back until she had calmed enough and dried her tears. They sat down together at one of the many tables in the hall. They were alone there. Dinner time had not yet started.

"Mother wrote that you disappeared from the convent," David said. He let his eyes wander over her. "What happened?"

"I – ah – lots of things." Elly struggled to answer. She would need to explain eventually some of the circumstances, if they wanted her brother's help, but Nathaniel had warned her to be careful about it. Planning to overthrow the King was highest treason, she had known that even without him saying so.

"Don't worry, brother," she said and demonstrated her hand with the ring. "I married and started working as a cook in the castle just the other day," she explained the lie the group had manufactured as cover. "Everything is fine."

"Oh, Good Graces," David said. "It's ups and downs with you all the time. You've become a nun, you've sworn yourself to God!"

"Well, neither me nor him took that oath that seriously." Elly faked a smile.

David looked a little sick. Sick with concerns, probably. Darknessclouded his eyes. "What blasphemy."

"Don't worry," Elly repeated.

Her brother shook his head in disbelieve. He leaned back and seemingly mumbled a prayer for her soul to the God above. Elly looked at the high ceiling of the hall as well, for a second she feared she might really find an angry God staring down on her.

"It is so good to see you," Elly eventually said. "I am so excited. You have to tell me everything, show me everything. Where you live and sleep and spend your free time."

David rose an eyebrow. "Neither of those places is one a woman should ever set foot into."

Elly reached for her short hair, playing her fingers at it, as if in thought, although the plan had been clear from the start. "Pass me as a boy then, I've worn pants before, you know. I would not mind." Elly smiled. "Oh, please brother, I am so curious."

"What even did you do to it?" David followed the intended attention to Elly's hair.

He had not denied Elly's suggestion right away, which meant she had a good chance at convincing him. "It matters not. Please brother, I am dying to see how you live," Elly said. "And later on, you'll come back home with me for dinner to meet my husband and his sister, she lives with us as well, since she is so odd."

Nathaniel had quartered them at a house at the southern edges of town he had claimed belonged to him. It was nothing fancy, small and two stories high, and still looked more pricy than she could imagine the man to lawfully own from what she had seen of the group so far.

"Elly ... no." David shook his head.

"Don't worry, I've become rather used to men's beastly behaviour. I can deal with soldiers laughing about naughty jests and farting a contest."

Although the one displaying the most beastly behaviour Elly had encountered was Annabelle. The woman seemed to delight in acting like she wasn't such.

David paled. "Oh, sister, what in the world happened to you."

"Please, brother."

"I couldn't even if I wanted to. I am on duty." David crossed the arms over his chest. He avoided her eyes. His jaw set stubbornly.

"Sitting with me in a dining hall?"

"That's – The captain assumed you my wife and this an emergency."

"You are married?" It would have been nice if he had finally found someone. He had shown nointerest in the girls in Burgate swooning over him.

"No, but – " Again David shook his head. "Women have nothing to do in a soldier's quarter."

"If you worry about ruining me, spare yourself the agony. You are way too late for that," Elly said. There was a bitterness in her voice she hadn't wanted to have.

"My dear little Elly." Davidfrowned deep with concern and plenty of pity Elly tried not to notice.

"Please, brother, I am so curious about your life. Allow me at least that bit of joy."

"And next you'll never stop pretending at being a boy."

"Well, men do have it easier in life." They surely did not have to worry so much about ruining their reputations simply by talking someone of the opposite sex.

"Fine," David said defeated. "Come back two days from now. I'll have the evening off and time to show you around."

Elly smiled, happy in honest. It had not been a lie that she was curious about her brother's life.

***

- Jake -

Jake mixed in with the group of monks coming back from fetching firewood from the shed. One of the only places around the church the soldier did not guard. He pulled the stolen robe deep into his face and marched among them, eyes pinned to the floor.

Lunchtime was Jake's best shot. It was the time the soldiers usually paid the least attention, but he would still have to be quick.

Jake fell behind the group of monks after they had passed the guards at the entrance. "Don't dally!" one of the monks scolded him for it. Jake cursed beneath his breath, but followed command. He acted as they did until the group split.

The moment him and his companion were out of sight he knocked the man out. Swiftly he grabbed him and the firewood and stashed them in a storage chamber.

A pinch of guilt stung Jake. He did not like hurting innocent men. And he would have to be even quicker now.

Jake found his way through the high hallways of the church rather easily. All the seven churches with the seals were built similarly. Architecture,ornaments and decorations, as well as room locations were almost the sameeverywhere. He passed plenty guards, however. His confidence dwindled, with every new corner he turned and encountered one more.

Unnecessarily so, he reminded himself. The best place to be hidden was in plain sight. He had his own life as best proof for it. The only person who had every figured out the truth had been the lateEarl and he was dead now.

Jake ventured down stone stairs. Upon reaching the secret basement, another thing all the churches of the Lord Lauren Cornell had in common, a sense of dread crawled up Jake's neck.

Where he had encountered locked doors on all his other voyages, this one stood wide open. The little hall was alight with candles. Curious shadows danced over the bare walls with the strange symbols. But no living soul was to be seen. No monks, no soldiers, no nothing.

Suspicious Jake stepped closer to get a better look.

His heart dropped.

It was empty.

Jake rushed into the room, to the wooden altar, to the little stone box.

Nothing.

Unbelieving, Jake picked up the box, to search it for a hidden drawer. He turned it over, hoping something might fall out from the empty inside, shook it.

The seal was gone.

The box slipped out of Jake's shaking fingers and rattled to the floor. The small sound echoed through the halls as loud as an explosion.

It couldn't be.

He had let himself hope, hadn't he?

He had let himself think this was going to be his freedom. When he should have known better. There was no escaping the demon's deal.

Footsteps sounded from outside the room. Jake glanced over his shoulder towards the door behind his back. His left hand wandered to his dagger hidden in the monk's robes. He didn't grab for it.

What was the point even?

***