Chapter 24- Jude

His eyes widen- Henry and Charlotte can tell he hadn't expected them to be in the palace.

"Jude!" Charlotte gasps, relieved. "You scared us!"

"Startled," adds Henry quickly. "I wasn't scared."

"Sure you weren't," says Charlotte, sparing a moment to tease him before turning back to Jude. Before she could say anything, though, Jude beat her to it. "Why are you here? You were supposed to wait for- me in the shack." He almost chokes before the word me. Shock, Charlotte thinks.

"We were," says Henry. "But someone came." Jude's eyebrows shoot up.

"They didn't see us," Charlotte says. "We ran, and swam to the island-"

"You swam?" Jude exclaims, incredulous. "Although I guess that explains why you two are so wet. Were you followed?"

"No," says Henry. "At least, not at first."

"Crossing to ocean took longer than it would've if we had a boat," says Charlotte. "So there was time for them to follow us, but we didn't ever see them behind us."

"'Them'?" Jude echoes. "You mean- Jean Marie and Daphne Delacroix?"

"No," says Charlotte. "That's why we're looking for- oh!" Charlotte realizes the tiny detail they haven't mentioned yet. "And Jude," she says softly, "we saw Kelilah."

Jude's expression doesn't change- not at first. It takes a beat for the shock to pass, but when it does, his hands fly to his mouth as his legs give out and he crouches to the floor. Charlotte and Henry duck to his level, and they see, amazed, that his eyes swim with tears.

"She's alive," he says, so quietly at first it's barley audible. "She's alive."

"She is," says Charlotte. "She's alive, and-" Charlotte almost mentions Angel… but she doesn't. She can't talk about him yet. And besides, telling Jude that Kelilah's alive and well is one thing, but the King of Ebella secretly being alive as well? That's huge.

And that doesn't even include the fact that he's her father.

"And she's just fine" is what Charlotte finally says; Jude doesn't notice the pause. He's overcome with emotion.

Charlotte and Henry can see in his face, in the way he can't physically stand, in the tears, that Jude is genuinely relived that Kelilah is not only alive, but still in the country. Close enough that they could find her.

Charlotte thinks again of how he talked about her at the princess lesson. She's committed, he had started out with. She works hard at everything- from her schoolwork to her royal duties. She gets this focused look in her eyes… she has beautiful eyes. She walks into a room, and your spirits rise. The chemistry grows. I have always said that she's like a rose that's always in bloom.

"You love her, right?" Charlotte says before she can stop herself. Jude is surprised, but doesn't object. "Back when you talked about her at the big lesson, you had this dreamy look in your eyes. I could see it."

"We both could," adds Henry, but he's looking at Charlotte.

Jude wipes a tear from his cheek. "I do," he says. "I do love her. I have for a long time, I just wasn't brave enough to say anything. Until about a week before she disappeared, when I finally just… said something." He swallows. "It was… really awkward. I panicked and left the room. We just sort of avoided each other, but then… she vanished. And I was sure it was my fault somehow, because I couldn't keep my mouth shut-"

"Jude!" He stops short. "Jude," says Charlotte again. "It wasn't you. I… I really shouldn't tell you why, but she wasn't kidnapped. She ran away. She told me why, and she didn't mention you at all. It wasn't your fault."

Jude actually looked a bit startled by this information. "I felt so guilty," he says softly.

"But you shouldn't," says Charlotte. "We found her, she's alive and well- we even have some information, some real information."

"Okay," says Jude. He rubs his eyes as if blocking any more tears. "Where has she been? What did she tell you?"

"I think we need to tell the Queen first," says Charlotte. "There's… a lot."

"Yeah," says Jude. "Definitely a lot. Her daughter's alive, she ran away, and the whole thing about you two being sisters."

"I know," says Charlotte. "It-" Wait. Charlotte stops short when she realizes what Jude had said. "We never mentioned anything about being sisters."

Jude's face turns ashen. For the first time, he looks to be at a loss for words.

Suddenly, it makes sense. Why Kelilah claims to have run away, but Jude says he heard women talking. Because-

"You're in on it." Charlotte stands back up, and Henry follows suit. "You knew this whole time." Jude swallows; he knows he's been caught. "You brought in the note- you've been communicating with them." Something else occurs to her. "You've been telling Ray to search places you knew she wouldn't be. Where they wouldn't be."

Jude slowly stands up. He clears his throat as if it will help him regain his composure, and says, "So, you know now."

"Yeah," says Henry.

"I have been helping Kelilah and Angel," he says, using the King's first name very casually. "Kelilah confided in me when she found out her father was alive. I helped her escape. What I told you a minute ago about me telling her I love her is true… except it happened a year ago. We never told anyone, but secretly dated the best we could. When she told she wanted- needed- to escape, I arranged most of it." Jude straightens his back. "You were supposed to meet Kelilah and Angel in the forest. But you ran, and they didn't know what to do." He looks at Charlotte. "Did they happen to mention the real reason you came here- the real reason to them?"

Charlotte's stomach turns at the very thought. "Yeah."

"As I told them to. You were supposed to agree, and then they would send Henry back to the castle to say that you were gone."

"And what," says Henry, with a few choice words, "made you think I would do that?"

"And that I would agree in the first place," Charlotte says, getting angry. "I agreed to come here so I could bring the princess home- but it's been an operation to get me to be here for her this entire time. You lied to me- and I'm not going to work with you any longer." Charlotte reaches to knock on the door, to alert Adela of their presence so they can tell her everything, but Jude grabs her first. His eyes are suddenly hard, and his hand squeezes hers harder than necessary. Henry immediate grabs her other hand, ready to pull her away from him.

"You," says Jude, sounding angry, "were supposed to say yes. You were supposed to say this to this- this opportunity we've created for you. You could be a princess, Charlotte- an official princess. You could have power. I did everything to get you here and keep you here. Ray and Henry were supposed to go home thinking you were gone. You'd be reported as missing and never found, and would be living as a royal just like your father. Who arranged to send your mother to New York? Who sent Captain Man and Kid Danger's allegedly brilliant technician to a horse race five states away so he wouldn't be around to help look for you once you vanished? I did, and you should be thanking me." Jude throws her hand down and starts backing towards the stair. "You have until sunrise to find me, Kelilah and Angel in the forest, at the shack, and accept. Whether or not you don't, we're leaving. I'm running away with Kelilah and Angel." Without warning, Jude breaks into a run.

The five foot head start can't have been a help, so there must be some sort of secret in the walls that allowed him to disappear before Henry and Charlotte can grab him. He's gone.

Important! I need to wrap the story up before classes start, so starting next week we're speeding to the end at one new chapter a day.

Happy Reading!