Page 101 of A Slipper in the Smoke
“I joined the rebellion to protect myself from Mira after she tried to have me killed,” Snowdrop continued. “I left my old life behind and moved to the wastelands. The world out there… it’s not what you’ve been led to believe. Nothing is.”
Pip looked up at her, gaze solid. “What do you want from me?”
“An alliance, hopefully,” Snowdrop went on. “Or at very least, to figure out why Sparta wants you dead.”
“Sparta wants me dead?”
Snowdrop nodded. “We intercepted a message about two weeks ago that said they were going to assassinate you.”
“But—why?”
“We don’t know. It could be because they’ve heard your father is ill and expect you to be the next king soon—”
Elena coughed. It seemed cruel to bring up such a fact now. Poor Pip was having a hard enough time as it was.
“—Or it could be nothing to do with you, just the message it sends. Like how the Rebellion lost a lot of support following my apparent demise when it was blamed on them.”
Pip frowned. “Why did you stay dead, then? Why run away—”
“Because Mira wants me dead, and I like being alive,” Snowdrop explained. “If she knows I’m alive, I’m a target. I’m of more use to the Rebellion as a ghost.”
“A very bossy ghost,” muttered Clover, not quietly.
“A ghost with natural leadership qualities,” Snowdrop corrected. “And a desire to do some good in the world. I think you share that vision, don’t you Pip?”
Pip went quiet. “And if I refuse to help you?”
“Then we’ll send you back to your kingdom, no harm done. But if you’re half the person Elena thinks you are, I’m hoping that you will help us. People are dying, Your Highness. I’d like your help to stop that.”
Pip ran his hands through his hair, his face grey, form shaking. “My father,” he said, “you know he isn’t well. There’s a chance that… I should go back to Toulouse.”
Snowdrop nodded. “I understand that,” she said, “believe me, I do. And we shall try to get you back to him. But Sparta is still after you. We need to find out why.”
Pip swallowed. “All right, then.”
“We will get you there,” Snowdrop promised. “As soon as we can. But Sparta can get to you there too. It may be that there is nowhere safe for you right now.”
Pip did not respond. His eyes glistened with tears. Elena wanted to go to him, but Snowdrop squeezed his shoulder first. “Get cleaned up,” she said, “then get some rest. We’ve a long journey ahead of us.”
She shuffled off towards the driver’s carriage, no doubt to converse with Buttercup.
Elena came to Pip’s side. “Pip—”
He moved away from her hand.
Of everything that had happened in the past few hours, that hurt a thousand times more.
“You lied to me,” he hissed.
“No, I didn’t!” she said. “I didn’t even know who you were—”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Elena took a step back, a hundred apologies and excuses rising on her tongue. But then something else bubbled in their place.
She had been slapped, belittled, shot at and chased. She had plunged into a mountain of waste and risked her life. For him.
And he was angry ather?
