Vespers Rising (The 39 Clues #11)(22)

Madeleine hadn’t expected King Henry’s prison to be so like her maid’s quarters. The big difference was the metal bars, the unearthly stench, and the granite bench that numbed her rear end.

Why?

No one had given her an explanation for being here. She could barely understand the guard’s accent. Was it something Master Winthrop had told them, some dreadful lie?

It took her hours to fall asleep against the cold stone. She dreamed longingly about the horsehair bed.

The voice of Luke Cahill jarred her awake. “Well, who knew my little boy had such a gift for music?” he rasped in the darkness. “My compliments on the tutoring.”

Madeleine sat up with a start. She shivered as his silhouette drew closer, lit from behind by the guard’s lantern. Dressed in a full-length fur coat, he resembled some kind of ghoulish beast, half man and half bear. The day’s events rushed over her — the bruises, the unfairness. “This s-s-seems an unlikely form of g-g-gratitude.”

Luke sat next to her, his features inches away yet mere shadowy blots in the darkness. “Well, then, you will no doubt have a satisfactory answer to this question: Where did you get the ring?”

She felt the blood draining from her face. “You — you know about it?”

“My father wore it every day. I would tease him about it. Such a crude thing. It was one of a kind, he said. That was all.” Luke leaned closer. “He died in a fire. Everything he had — his clothing, his jewelry, his life’s work — destroyed. And yet, his ring appears on a tin flute.”

As Maddy Babbitt shrank in fear, Madeleine Cahill sized up her brother. She had to remain calm. To follow through in her plan despite the setback. “May I see the ring?” she asked.

“Do you think I would be so idiotic as to have it with me?” Luke snapped. “Perhaps you can begin by telling me who you are, and why you had it!”

Madeleine’s heart sank. He had probably put it in a safe place, or given it to one of his trusted courtiers. They all lived in fear of him and would do whatever he asked. He was too cagey to carry it around.

Which meant that Promise Number One — Keep the ring safe — had been broken.

Her only hope was to force Promise Number Three.

She could no longer wait to win his trust. She had to reveal her identity. The reuniting of the Cahills must begin. Now.

“B-b-before you fled,” she said carefully, “your mother had neglected to mention something about her c-c-condition.”

Even in the dim light, Madeleine could see the knife-sharpness of his glare. “I will listen to you for precisely one minute. I advise you — no nonsense.”

“Luke …” Madeleine took a deep breath. “My name isn’t Babbitt. Mother was with child on the last day you saw her. I was that baby.”

Luke did not move for a good twenty seconds. She tried to read the expression on his face but couldn’t. Then, slowly, he reached out and cupped her chin gently in his hand, moving her face right and left.

“’Swounds …” he said. “Good grief, yes … the resemblance …”

This close, she could see the icy veil over his eyes disappear, as if Olivia herself were peering through. In a flash, Madeleine sensed that her long trip — through fear and sickness, disguises and lies — hadn’t been a waste after all.

She wanted to throw her arms around him. But it was too early for that. The bond was new and fragile. One step at a time. As tears streamed down her cheeks, she felt herself laughing, overcome with joy and relief. “I — I have so much to tell, my brother.”

“I know you do.” Luke took her hand and stood.

Where to begin? She would save the sad news of Mother’s death till the end. There were nearly two decades of catching up. “Mother and I … we were living in exile. Under invented names. Babbitt — can you imagine? Not even a name with a bit of … flash, such as, I don’t know, Ravenwood. Or Lancelot! I had to become quiet, to deflect attention. Like a scared little mouse! Anyway, Mother secretly trained me all my life for this final mission—”

“Shhh, my dear,” Luke said. “Please. Don’t rush. It is an emotional moment, I can see. I will give you time to put together your feelings and your story. But if it comforts you any, please know I have heard it all already.”

Madeleine wiped a tear. “You have?”

“Oh, yes, many times.” Luke chuckled. “The details are different, but the broad story is the same.”

“I — I’m afraid I don’t understand …” Madeleine stammered.

Luke stood at the door, signaling the guard to open it. “I daresay you’re far more talented than the last one who claimed to be a sibling. My long-lost brother Nigel — lived in hiding under a false identity and so forth. And before him was sister Gladys, aunt Puff, and cousin Quincy —”

“But — there is no Nigel Cahill, or any of the others!”

“Or Maddy Cahill!” Luke’s voice was more of a slap than a sound. “Why did you display the ring? What on earth is your plan?”

“I did it to p-p-plug a hole!”

Luke turned in disgust. “No matter. If you have other agents in this palace, they will be routed. If you have thought to flush me out by the sight of this ring — if you are planning an ambush — your people will find nothing on me. Before long, your employer will know that after all these years, his plans have failed. And revenge will follow.”