Sequel: Jackelle 2.0 ›
Kidnapped
Five
Brielle easily found her way to the kitchen and set her lamp on the table to begin rummaging for extra slices of cake.
“Aha, there you are,” she said, upon opening one of the cupboards. She pulled the cake out and cut two slices, setting them on plates. She scooted one across the counter to Jack.
“So, you still sneak into the kitchen around midnight to pilfer sweets, huh?” he asked.
“Food tastes better at night,” Brielle replied, taking a huge bite of frosting.
“So, what have you been up to in the last few years?”
She shrugged. “Attending lavish parties, jumping into fountains to make them more interesting. I traveled with my uncle for a while; you must remember my father’s brother Jonathan? He’s a naturalist you know, and he went to the Opellian Islands for a year to study turtles and collect plant samples. I went with him, despite my mother’s firm protests.”
“I’m not sure whether to ask about the fountain jumping or the turtles first,” he chuckled.
“Lord Lavell has a very fancy house and a big impressive garden full of hand carved fountains but he throws very boring parties. His daughter dared me to hop into one of the fountains, and she clearly thought I wouldn’t. So I climbed right in, and then splashed her so she screamed. Her little brother was only nine at the time and was delighted so he climbed in too and helped me splash people.”
“So you're still an absolute troublemaker,” Jack said, amused. Brielle grinned.
“I’m a fun maker,” she corrected. “I know it’s not as exciting as doing dusty political things, but I have my moments.”
“And the turtles?“
Brielle felt her face light up. “I got to watch hundreds of babies hatch and head out to sea. It was completely worth how much Mother fretted about my going. I want to go back and do it again one day.”
“It sounds pretty amazing.”
Brielle took another bite of her cake, keeping up some light conversation so she could study him without making it so obvious she was studying him.
“So when you said you and my brother would have a little fun when you go out together, you actually mean that you two behave in a way that would send my mother into shock, don’t you?” she asked with a smirk.
“I’m afraid that information is sensitive and classified,” he replied and she laughed.
“Your training has paid off, you sound like a senator already,” she said. He cracked a smile and was about to reply when the kitchen door swung open and several people in servants uniforms traipsed inside. There had been some extra staff hired on to help with all the wedding festivities, and Brielle assumed they all must have left by now but none of these people seemed familiar from her couple of visits to Willowgate.
“Um, sorry,” she said. “I guess you guys are still cleaning up? We’ll take care of our own plates, it’s okay.”
None of them smiled, and one actually locked the door as the others approached them. Brielle felt slightly uneasy, narrowing her eyes.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked. She yelped and Jack stood up as one of the men roughly grabbed her arm. She was still holding her fork and jabbed him in the arm with it, making him wince and swear.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jack demanded. The other three men all converged on them at once, while two more people opened the side kitchen door that led outside into the herb garden. Jack punched one man in the face and Brielle was trying to stab the man who’d grabbed her with her fork tines again but he caught her free wrist and twisted until she whimpered and was forced to drop the fork.
“Leave her alone,” Jack said, then he grunted slightly as someone slammed their fist into his solar plexus and he bent double, trying to get his breath back. The six men banded together and managed to wrestle their arms down at their sides and gag them. Brielle tried to kick one of the attackers but it didn’t do much, since she was wearing little satin slippers. Jack was managing to give them a much harder time, but she winced as one of them elbowed him hard in the head to daze him. She was trying to hurl insults around her gag but they came out as muffled gibberish. Then a rag was clapped over her face and she felt dizzy. She saw them do the same thing to Jack and then everything went blurry and then dark.
When she came to, she was being jostled around in a dark carriage. The little curtains were drawn closed across the window. Her wrists and ankles were bound with rough rope that was chafing her skin and she felt mildly queasy. Jack was gagged and tied up on the seat across from her. He had a bruise on his temple from where the man had elbowed him. She wriggled into a sitting position and tried to remember what had happened. It came back as the fog in her head began to clear, and she growled around the gag. She was tied up, in her nightclothes, and kidnapped.
“Aha, there you are,” she said, upon opening one of the cupboards. She pulled the cake out and cut two slices, setting them on plates. She scooted one across the counter to Jack.
“So, you still sneak into the kitchen around midnight to pilfer sweets, huh?” he asked.
“Food tastes better at night,” Brielle replied, taking a huge bite of frosting.
“So, what have you been up to in the last few years?”
She shrugged. “Attending lavish parties, jumping into fountains to make them more interesting. I traveled with my uncle for a while; you must remember my father’s brother Jonathan? He’s a naturalist you know, and he went to the Opellian Islands for a year to study turtles and collect plant samples. I went with him, despite my mother’s firm protests.”
“I’m not sure whether to ask about the fountain jumping or the turtles first,” he chuckled.
“Lord Lavell has a very fancy house and a big impressive garden full of hand carved fountains but he throws very boring parties. His daughter dared me to hop into one of the fountains, and she clearly thought I wouldn’t. So I climbed right in, and then splashed her so she screamed. Her little brother was only nine at the time and was delighted so he climbed in too and helped me splash people.”
“So you're still an absolute troublemaker,” Jack said, amused. Brielle grinned.
“I’m a fun maker,” she corrected. “I know it’s not as exciting as doing dusty political things, but I have my moments.”
“And the turtles?“
Brielle felt her face light up. “I got to watch hundreds of babies hatch and head out to sea. It was completely worth how much Mother fretted about my going. I want to go back and do it again one day.”
“It sounds pretty amazing.”
Brielle took another bite of her cake, keeping up some light conversation so she could study him without making it so obvious she was studying him.
“So when you said you and my brother would have a little fun when you go out together, you actually mean that you two behave in a way that would send my mother into shock, don’t you?” she asked with a smirk.
“I’m afraid that information is sensitive and classified,” he replied and she laughed.
“Your training has paid off, you sound like a senator already,” she said. He cracked a smile and was about to reply when the kitchen door swung open and several people in servants uniforms traipsed inside. There had been some extra staff hired on to help with all the wedding festivities, and Brielle assumed they all must have left by now but none of these people seemed familiar from her couple of visits to Willowgate.
“Um, sorry,” she said. “I guess you guys are still cleaning up? We’ll take care of our own plates, it’s okay.”
None of them smiled, and one actually locked the door as the others approached them. Brielle felt slightly uneasy, narrowing her eyes.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked. She yelped and Jack stood up as one of the men roughly grabbed her arm. She was still holding her fork and jabbed him in the arm with it, making him wince and swear.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jack demanded. The other three men all converged on them at once, while two more people opened the side kitchen door that led outside into the herb garden. Jack punched one man in the face and Brielle was trying to stab the man who’d grabbed her with her fork tines again but he caught her free wrist and twisted until she whimpered and was forced to drop the fork.
“Leave her alone,” Jack said, then he grunted slightly as someone slammed their fist into his solar plexus and he bent double, trying to get his breath back. The six men banded together and managed to wrestle their arms down at their sides and gag them. Brielle tried to kick one of the attackers but it didn’t do much, since she was wearing little satin slippers. Jack was managing to give them a much harder time, but she winced as one of them elbowed him hard in the head to daze him. She was trying to hurl insults around her gag but they came out as muffled gibberish. Then a rag was clapped over her face and she felt dizzy. She saw them do the same thing to Jack and then everything went blurry and then dark.
When she came to, she was being jostled around in a dark carriage. The little curtains were drawn closed across the window. Her wrists and ankles were bound with rough rope that was chafing her skin and she felt mildly queasy. Jack was gagged and tied up on the seat across from her. He had a bruise on his temple from where the man had elbowed him. She wriggled into a sitting position and tried to remember what had happened. It came back as the fog in her head began to clear, and she growled around the gag. She was tied up, in her nightclothes, and kidnapped.