What would his father want him to do right now?
He’d expect Hugo to do whatever it took to protect his family. What would Dorian and Augustine do without their mother? Yes, she was flighty, but she also knew how the world worked. Once she got her head out of the clouds about finding them rich husbands and returned to reality, she would get them all safely settled. Dorian was level-headed but inexperienced. Augustine was impulsive and reckless, but he had a good heart. He needed both Dorian and Mother to watch over him.
Hugo’s gaze lifted to the window, and he swallowed before taking a step closer. His fingers had become blocks of ice and his feet were frozen boulders, but he could do this. If he jumped, the slate would be wiped clean. His family would be safe. The gossip about his suicide wouldn’t be as damning as it would be if he were executed for a crime, right?
Another step closer…
He tried to focus on the blue sky and puffy clouds. Not the cold, hard, unyielding ground.
It would be okay. Everything would be okay for his family after this…
“You know, that’s a far drop if you’re thinking of getting out that way.”
Hugo yelped and jumped halfway across the room at the sound of the unexpected voice. He spun around and spotted a gangly figure in mismatched ragged clothes, seated on a bundle of straw. A long cloak covered him, and a hood hid his hair. A garish mask that appeared to be a goblin laughing covered his face, obscuring all his features.
“Wh-who are you? How did you get in here?” Hugo’s head whipped to the only door in the room to find it still closed. He would have heard it if a guard had unbolted it. There was just one window. Even if the man could have climbed up all those stories, Hugo would have seen him clamber through it. That left…magic.
“Think of me as a helpful friend,” he claimed, his voice as sharp and grating as a rusty gate hinge. “You’ve gotten yourself into a predicament.”
“What…I…” Hugo shook his head violently, trying to force his brain to focus on the strange man sitting on the straw in front of him. Had he lost his mind in his panic? How had he gotten in there? It must have been through magic.
“What happened? How did you anger the queen?”
“I didn’t. I?—”
The stranger’s loud guffaws filled the room, and he almost fell from where he sat in his laughter. “She’s a grumpy old crow. It’s easy to upset her, but I can’t understand why she’d stuff you in a room full of straw and a spinning wheel. With nothing more than a bit of water and a crust of bread! That’s nonsense.”
Hugo’s lips limped into an almost smile while some of the tension that gripped his lungs eased. At least this person didn’t sound like he was a big fan of the royal family.
The man patted the other bale of straw next to him. “Sit. You seem interesting. Tell me your tale. Maybe I can help.”
Hugo didn’t see how that was possible at all, but it would be nice if someone knew the truth prior to his death. He dropped onto the straw and sighed. “My mother told a ridiculous lie while we were at the Winthrop Spring Gala last night. She claimed to this group of stuffy nobles that her son could spin straw into gold. I know she only did it hoping to find me a good match. We need an advantageous marriage. She probably took one look at her son and knew I wasn’t enough to win some rich man’s heart. She felt she had to lie to make me and our family appear more important.”
“So, you’re a family of gold diggers?”
Hugo sucked in a horrified breath but caught the words of denial before they could leap from his tongue. They were. Of course, many families were, but that didn’t make it right. “We are,” he mumbled, hanging his head. “I don’t want to be. Since my father died, things have been falling apart. My mother doesn’t want us to become common tradesmen, but we have no other options unless I marry well.” Hugo shoved a hand through his hair.
“Why didn’t you confess?”
“I should have, but I didn’t want to embarrass my mother at the ball. Besides, I could see all those women hiding their laughter behind their gloves and fans. Not one of them believed her. I thought they’d mock us and then forget about it. But one of those people is a cousin of the queen?—”
“Lady Hawthorne,” the stranger sneered. “There’s a busybody the world could do without.”
Hugo couldn’t agree more, but he kept that part to himself. “When the queen confronted my mother, I was sure she would claim it to be a joke, but she insisted again that I could spin straw into gold. She knows I can’t. No one can! The idea of itis ridiculous.” Hugo jumped to his feet and paced across the room. “It was too late. What was I to do? Let the queen throw my mother in prison for lying? Or worse, allow her head to be chopped off? My father would never forgive me. So, I told the queen that I was the one who told my mother I could spin straw into gold. That way, after I failed, she’d blame me and not my mother.”
“That is a pickle.” The odd man scratched his head through his hood.
“But you can get in and out of this room with magic, right?”
“Sure, but I can’t take you with me. My magic is good only for me.”
Hugo waved his hands as he rushed to the other bundle of straw. “No, I want you to take a message to my brother Dorian. My family lives just outside of Buckleford. Ten minutes down the lane that leads through Shaggy Butternut Woods. It’s a skinny three-story house with faded blue shutters. Go there and ask for Dorian. Tell him what has happened, and that he has to take my mother and brother away from here as fast as he can. I don’t know if the queen will be satisfied with killing me. Especially if I jump out the window before I can be executed. My family has to be far from here so she can’t hurt them too.”
“I don’t know,” the man said, rising to his feet. His back was bent, and his legs creaked as he moved.
“Please, I’m sure my brother will pay you a few coins for your troubles. We don’t have much, but we can give you that for delivering such an important message.”
“Well, I can do it if you’re so determined to leap out the window.” The man shrugged and motioned to the still-open sash. “But I could spin the straw into gold for you.”
