Last Rank

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."