With those thoughts in her head, Aurora followed the raven. As she walked, she noticed the imprints of boots on the ground. Count Alain must have gone the same way.
Her heart beat harder, the dream and her reality blending.
Through the woods she walked. Diaval moved silently above her, winging from tree to tree. They went past the spot where Diaval had stopped before. Along the way, she lost Alain’s footprints, and the moonlight wasn’t bright enough for her to find them again. She hoped that she wasn’t lost.
“You know where we’re going, right, Diaval?” she whispered.
But all he could do was caw in return.
As she walked on, she came to a place with steam rising from the ground. Frowning, she knelt, expecting to find a passage to hot springs beneath the earth, but there seemed to be a chimney there, venting up from the ground.
What was below them? Could her godmother be held there?
She nearly shouted for her, when her sense got the better of her fear. She was going to have to find a different way.
On she went until she found the path again. It forked, one part winding on through the woods and another cutting down into a quarry.
She recalled Count Alain’s words: We are not so far from my estate. Let’s make for it in the morning. I will put my soldiers at your disposal.
If they were close to his estate, then they were also close to his iron mines.
She found her way down the path in the moonlight, wishing with each step that she had an easy means of sending information to Smiling John. Wishing she’d come up with a different plan. Wishing she hadn’t tried to be quite so clever.
Because there, gaping in front of her, was the entrance to the mine. She crept toward it. The closer she got, the more she was sure she heard voices. She peered into the smoky torchlit darkness, blinking and trying to make out shapes.
Several guards were lying on the ground some distance from Maleficent, who had her hand around the neck of a flailing Lord Ortolan.
“Godmother!” Aurora said, relief flooding her. She was so happy to see that her godmother was safe, alive, and unharmed that she failed to notice the warning in Maleficent’s expression until it was too late.
“Run!” Maleficent said in a terrible echo of her dream.
Run. He’s right behind you. Run!
She spun around only to crash into Count Alain. He grabbed hold of her. She kicked as he hauled her up into the air, and she struck him with her fists until he caught them, twisting her arms behind her back.
“I am very sorry to do this, Your Majesty,” he said. “Very sorry indeed. I had hoped to bring you to my home. I hoped we would grow close. I hoped you would never need to know about any of this. Even when you rode out, I hoped I would be able to steal away and arrange everything before you awakened.”
“Count Alain, what have you done?” Aurora asked.
“If only you’d listened to me. If only you had let me share my wisdom and experience, I wouldn’t have had to resort to such drastic measures.”
She looked at Maleficent and took a deep, shuddering breath. “Phillip was never a part of this, was he?”
“The prince was captured with me,” Maleficent said. “But fear not, he’s far from here. And he knows the truth of what you’ve done, Alain.”
Relief washed over Aurora. Not only was Phillip not responsible for what had happened to Maleficent, but he was safe. He was free.
“I will be sure to send my men to track him,” sneered Alain. “They always enjoy a hunt.”
Aurora tried to pull away from Alain again. He held her fast, his gaze going to Maleficent. “As you can see, I have the queen in my power. If you don’t want her harmed, release Lord Ortolan.”
Maleficent let the old man fall. “You dare much, threatening your queen.” He scuttled back from her, making a wheezing sound.
“The man who dares little achieves little,” said Count Alain. “Now, Lord Ortolan, I believe you will find iron chains in the guardhouse. Lock the faerie in them.”
Maleficent raised hands sparking with magic as green as her eyes. She looked at Alain with a wild fury in her face. Then her gaze went to Aurora. Their eyes met and the light of her magic extinguished. She bent her horned head and smiled ruefully.
“You have found my weakness. Anything else and I would have brought down this cave on us both before I submitted.”
Chapter 30
Maleficent stood stoically as the guards approached.
“Don’t do this for me, Godmother,” Aurora pleaded, but Maleficent turned her gaze away. It was too easy for her to believe that Count Alain might alter his plans to include Aurora’s death in them. She cursed herself for worrying more about Aurora’s heart than about her head.
She looked out into the darkness and wished she hadn’t sent Phillip away. She’d thought it was safer for him to go—and it had been. She just hadn’t been concerned about the danger to her. She’d thought that she could terrify Lord Ortolan into confessing to Aurora back at the palace.
And yes, she’d supposed that it was possible for Alain to show up while she was doing it. In fact, she’d rather hoped he would. She would have liked to present them both to Aurora, begging to tell her their evil schemes, all tied up in a bow.
She’d never expected Aurora to come herself.
Willful. Hadn’t she said that was the girl’s trouble? As for Diaval, when she found him, she was going to pluck every feather from his body. How could he be so foolish as to lead Aurora here, straight into danger?
Maleficent hissed as the iron touched her. Lord Ortolan only grinned at her like a beast baring his teeth as he clasped the iron manacles on her wrists. His pleasure as he turned the heavy key was evident.
She hoped that there would be bruises on his throat from her hands. But even that was small comfort.
Count Alain said, “Here’s what we will do, dear Aurora. You will become my bride—”
“I will not!” Aurora spat. “You can’t possibly believe I would ever consent.”
The count smiled mirthlessly. “Oh, I rather think you will. You see, I am going to keep your godmother here to guarantee your good behavior. You will marry me and you will be my loyal queen—or this wicked faerie you love so much will pay for your every rebellion, no matter how small. This is not what I would have chosen, Aurora, but as I think of it, perhaps this is better. You might never love me, but you will never betray me, either.”
Aurora struggled in Count Alain’s arms. Maleficent had seldom felt so helpless—and, with her wings returned to her, had thought she’d never feel so helpless again.
She wanted to tell Aurora to refuse him, but then what? He had them both in his power. Better for Aurora to tell him what he wanted to hear and survive. Back at the palace, she could order that his head be chopped off.
“I will marry you,” Aurora said finally, “but only if you let Maleficent go. My godmother will promise to stay in the Moors and not interfere with us, and I will promise to be docile and good.”
“Impossible,” Maleficent snapped reflexively.
Aurora frowned at her.
“Ah, Aurora, unfortunately, you believe me to be far kinder than I am. If it’s any comfort, I fear your godmother is quite right. I doubt it would be possible for her to keep her promise not to interfere, and I don’t mean to ask her to try.”
Maleficent smiled at his assumption that that was the only bit she thought unlikely. But he went on, oblivious.