Chapter 7

"You've got to escape!"

Daphne rolled her eyes at the naïve girl. Leave it to Sofie to come up with the most desirable yet impossible plan. "Like that will work," she whispered back as they strolled through the castle gardens.

Glancing over her shoulder, she spied her current minder, Garrick, loitering near the servant girl her friend had brought with her. Maybe the Duke's daughter wasn't as naïve as she thought.

"Where would I go, Sofie?" she asked in a soft voice, turning back around. "And who would take me in? Your father? We both know my new master has too many eyes, ears and hands in this city for that to work." She shook her head in despair. "No, I'm going nowhere—not until he gets whatever or whoever it is he's waiting for."

"But he'll kill you!"

In her heart of hearts, Daphne knew her new friend was right—and a part of her longed for him to just do it and get it over with. He'd already murdered her parents, scattered her brothers and sisters by way of slavers, and stolen everything that had ever meant anything to her. Everything.

His own personal plaything now, she dreaded his nighttime visits. She would go along with the little man and his littler penis, pretending to enjoy his pathetic efforts at sex, but even that wasn't enough for him anymore. He was getting more and more frustrated—at what, she didn't know—and the abuse was getting worse. Even Sofie could see it.

Daphne, however, knew she couldn't open a window into her own personal hell to the girl—not even a crack. Any such revelation would be lethal—to Sofie and anyone who might intervene. On that, Chirurgen was crystal clear. So, while Daphne personally hoped her friend was right, that death was just around the corner, she outwardly shook her head.

"No. I'm too valuable to him right now, for some reason," she lied. "Don't worry. He's not going to rough up the merchandise too much."

"Daphne... ," the other girl started, her dark brown eyes filling with water.

"Hey, now," she chastised, taking the pretty blonde's right hand in her own and guiding her around to the other side of some rose bushes. "Don't start crying on me, okay?" Pulling out a handkerchief, she started dabbing at the other girl's tears. "I'll be fine. I'll just have to..."

She stopped midsentence, as the beautiful sound of several musical instruments playing together wafted across the gardens and reached their ears.

"What's that?"

The Duke's youngest daughter snorted through her tears. "That's music, silly."

"I know that," she shot back with an eye roll, though inwardly thankful for the distraction. "I meant, where's it coming from and who's doing it?"

"There's a small courtyard through that gateway," the fourteen year old pointed. "Musicians usually use it as a practice space before the evening performances. I don't really recognize the instruments, though, or what they're playing," she added, cocking her head to listen more closely.

"Let's go take a look," Daphne replied, eagerly taking the girl's hand and almost dragging her along.

Sofie initially protested quite loudly, but stopped as they got closer. Peeking around the corner, more to be quiet than to hide, they caught a glimpse of three players—two on flutes and a third on some sort of stringed instrument.

Daphne gasped in surprise. "I know that boy," she whispered. "He and his sister were selling those flutes in the market yesterday."

"He's pretty cute, isn't he?" the other girl replied, wiggling her eyebrows.

Outwardly she just shrugged, but inwardly the sixteen year old had to concede her younger friend was right again. As far as his build, he was fairly average, not too skinny but not fat either. He looked to be about her age or maybe a little older, perhaps a hand or so taller than her, as well. And there was no doubt he was cute, handsome even.

It was his clear blue eyes, though, along with his hesitant smile, that caught her attention the day before. He was shy with her at the market, and there in his face—in his eyes—she thought she saw something she had longed for lately—kindness. How she wished she could have given her virginity to a boy like him, she thought with a sigh.

"His name is Hector, though he goes by Tory," Sofie told her with a wink. "That's his sister, Miranda, or Miri, and their older cousin, Pavel."

"What's that he's playing?" she asked, not recognizing the instrument. It looked similar to a rebec, but instead of holding it between his knees, he was playing it with one end pinched between his chin and shoulder.

"He called it a ... violin," the younger girl replied. "He's really good, isn't he? Jozef the steward heard him playing this morning in the Market Square and invited all three to the castle to play for Father's guests for the rest of the festival."

Daphne had to admit, for only being the daughter of one of the Duke's concubines, Sofie was remarkably well-informed. The name of the instrument, though, caught her by surprise. That was one of the few things her father frequently wished he could have brought with him from Earth. She recalled he'd even sketched out some drawings to have one made eventually. Surely this Hector wasn't from her father's homeworld, was he?

As they were surreptitiously watching and listening, footfalls on stone echoed behind them and a large shadow appeared on the wall next to them. She didn't even have to look to know who it was. It was Garrick and that meant it was time for her to return to the room.

Tory was taken by surprise when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye but he managed to keep on playing. Oddly enough, this kind of thing had been happening to him ever since they'd come into the castle but when he'd look, there wouldn't be anything or anyone there. This time, though, was different.

Glancing up, he saw Daphne being led away from the opening to their small courtyard by one of the big guards Tubal had mentioned. Their eyes met, and the girl gave him a sad, weary smile before she disappeared from view.

Quickly standing, the young man motioned to his companions to bring the piece to a rapid conclusion. As the final notes sounded, however, the air was filled with clapping.

"That was beautiful!" a young woman exclaimed from the gateway. While not of the same beauty as Daphne, this young, teenage girl—with her lovely brown eyes and long blond hair—was actually quite pretty in her own right.

"You are too kind," he replied, slightly bowing to her. Realizing he was likely too late to catch up to Daphne, he started to do introductions, but she waved him off.

"No need to do that," she interrupted with a youthful, feminine giggle. "I'm Sofie and I know very well who you all are. Jozef has been singing your praises all morning. He never said how cute you were, though, Tory," she added with a wink.

Tory reddened quite a bit, not knowing what to do with the complement—or the one who gave it, for that matter.

Sofie, however, took great delight in his discomfort. "Ooh, he blushes!" she exulted, lightly caressing his shoulder and looking over at his sister. "Your brother is going to be soooo much fun!"

Miri, traitorous little scamp that she was, simply giggled.

Now standing very close to Tory, the girl glanced over at the collier and smiled. "Hello, Pavel, it's good to see you again," she said.

The collier, however, was acting very stiff and nodded toward her rather formally. "My lady."

"Oh, Pavel, don't be that way," she pouted. "I get enough of that from all the servants."

After shooting his older friend a shocked glance, Tory was surprised to learn that their new acquaintance was actually the youngest of Lord Radok's eleven children, she by way of his third concubine, Hana. Sofie, however, shrugged off any questions about her family and upbringing. Instead, wrapping her arm in Tory's, she offered to take them on a tour of her home.

"Don't worry," she whispered softly in his ear as they walked, "I saw the look you and Daphne exchanged. Her guardian is a real ogre. So, the only way you'll be able to get near her is if you appear to be with me."

She giggled a bit when he looked down at her with undisguised curiosity, but then grew more serious. "She's my friend and is having a hard time right now. If I can help cheer her up, even a little bit, I will do it."

"Besides," she added with a large smile, "hanging out with such a handsome lad such as yourself will only improve my reputation. And if we have to do a little kissing along the way to pull it off, so much the better!"

Tory could only shake his head at the girl's audacity—well, that and blush even more hotly than he had earlier. Fortunately, she seemed to take pity on him. Rather than tease him further, she took his hand in her own and led the four of them out to the larger upper courtyard.

The tour itself was quite pleasant and Sofie proved herself to be a very able and entertaining guide, if not a flirty one. She kept them in stitches most of the time with stories of castle life. Even Pavel eventually loosened up around her, finally relenting to call her by her given name, rather than "Lady Sofie." The only odd part of the tour was Tory's continuing to sense movement or a presence, only to turn his head as before and find nothing there.

Talk swirled the whole time between the various sights they were seeing and the situation Daphne found herself in. It was clear that the Duke's daughter was a wealth of information and could be exactly the person they needed. Finally, standing on the upper ramparts overlooking the whole White River Valley, without another soul around, Tory took a chance.

"Sofie," he said quietly, standing next to her and holding her hand as they enjoyed the view. "We're actually here to rescue Daphne, if we can."

"Really?" she asked, turning to look at him, her eyes as large as saucers.

He nodded.

She squealed with excitement, threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him profusely. "Oh, this is so great! This is so great!" she jabbered, unable to contain herself. "I've been so worried that he would kill her ... and here you are..." Bubbling over with happiness, she leaned up—her arms still around his neck—and kissed him soundly.

Initially stunned—it wasn't his first kiss, but it was his first with this much enthusiasm—he was just starting to respond when she pulled away.

"Sorry," she murmured as she backed away, her own face red this time. "I got a little excited."

Pavel snorted. "A little excited?"

"Well, she did say there would be kissing," Miri observed, with a giggle of her own.

"You know, she did," Tory replied, with a mischievous glance from his sister to Sofie. Before anyone could respond, he wrapped his arms around the girl's thin waist and returned the favor. As if with minds of their own, her lithe arms twined around his neck yet again as she melted into him.

"Oh my!" was about all she could say as they released some minutes later—her trembling hand pressed to her reddened lips and her eyes wide with amazement.

Seeing her sway a bit unsteadily, Tory quickly put his arm around her and led her to a nearby bench to sit down.

Her head resting on his shoulder, she began to giggle. "You sure put me in my place," she finally let out with a laugh. It proved to be infectious, and pretty soon they were all laughing.