Chapter 8

At my words the wrinkles that lined el jefe's face seemed to instantly smooth themselves out. His shoulders sagged, finally able to get some rest. A giant grin hijacked his features as he bent down to cradle me in his strong arms. He hugged me close to his chest, as he had when I was but a child but my body didn't respond. I stayed stock still while my mind began to buzz.

"You came back to me, Minny," he murmured, kissing my cheeks, his full beard prickly on my skin. "I prayed and prayed that you would come back and God answered my prayers."

What was happening? How was this happening? I thought he was dead? I had been so sure of it. Both he and my mother had been killed in a fire while in a drunken stupor. My mind went back to when I had returned to my old house in Caraway. A lady on the street had said that they had burnt the house to the ground and her husband hadn't been able to save them. Was she wrong? Could she have been mistaken? But then why would she lie about something like that?

I never expected to be hearing from that part of my past again, much less being wrapped in its arms. The grave was a talisman of finality, but apparently it could be overcome.

"I thought you were dead," I blurted out and instantly regretted my choice of words. What a marvellous think to say to el jefe. What a marvellous thing to say to your own father. I could have smacked myself across the face.

He pulled away and stood me back on the ground. "No, why would you think that?" He seemed surprised, not offended or angry. He was different than how I remembered, more controlled and sure of himself. I wondered if that was because of the small crowd who had gathered around us, curious at the reunion between their boss and his long lost daughter. I didn't think he would hit me in their presence. Maybe this new side of my father could also be attributed to the lack of alcohol on his breath. While I hadn't seen him in four years, I hadn't seen him sober in much longer.

"Your house burnt down," I said, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. He was confusing me. I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't even know where to look. His blue eyes were too piercing for my liking, assessing me and never wavering. If Halt was here he would chastise me for my flittering gaze, but I couldn't help it. I looked down at my mud stained books, studying the soft leather with feigned interest before I felt like I was being rude and lifted my gaze back up to his face.

It all felt so wrong. I knew that technically he was my father, but he wasn't even supposed to be alive and he certainly wasn't supposed to be some sort of Iberian army general. How was it all possible? When had all this started?

It was like I had been thrown into the Slipunder again. I was clueless. I didn't even know whether I should take out my sabre and lop off his head, or run into him arms like I used to do when he came home at supper time.

My hands clung at my sides uselessly and I suddenly became painfully aware of them. I clasped them together and then felt stupid so I occupied them in smoothing out the creases in my shirt.

"That it did. But your mother and I managed to make it out in time," he answered and then paused to look at the crowd of soldiers listening in to our conversation. "How 'bout we continue in my private chambers."

I nodded but he didn't even bother to see if I was alright with his decision before calling over a servant. The man had been cowering in the shadows and I guessed that he had been a servant under Baron Quinn before the Iberian's took control. He hands were trembling with fear and two guards had to hold his arms so that he didn't fall to the ground. His head was bowed and his long grey hair flopped over his forehead.

"Tell the cook that I will be having morning tea in my chambers. I want a sponge cake with cream and jam. And tell him that if he sends up that solid fruit cake again I will have his useless hands and complaining tongue cut off," el jefe threatened. The servant nodded incessantly, his head bobbing up and down.

"Did you want tea or coffee, Minny?" he asked, turning to me. I swallowed, aware that he had just threatened a man and then changed to civil conversation in all but a sentence.

"Coffee," I answered. Hopefully it would help me think. Right now though, I really didn't want to be alone in a room with him. He was my father, but we didn't have the best track record. I had been scared of him the last time I had seen him and now it was worse. Even though I had the weapons and ability now that would have kept my drunken father at bay, his own power had grown in the years since and he had a bloody army at his beck and call.

"A pot of coffee then and the good stuff from Ariddi. Nothing short of the best for my daughter," he continued, putting a hand on my shoulder. I had to force myself not to flinch. My gaze wandered until I made eye contact with Riley. I tried to send him pleading looks. I wanted him to come with me. He was a traitor, but so far if it wasn't for Riley I would have been dead, or worse.

"Please," I mouthed as he gave me an imperceptible nod of his head.

"Would you like me to accompany you señor?" Riley asked. I could have kissed the boy, if it wasn't totally inappropriate for hundreds of reasons. Well maybe only two – all the people around us and a certain prince who I couldn't seem to shake off just yet. Actually, there were probably three reasons if I included how much it would entertain Wolf. The laughter might actually kill him.

El jefe waved him aside. "My daughter and I will be fine." I felt sick. I couldn't do this alone.

"Actually you could help explain things Riley," I said. Riley glanced between his commander and me. We both knew who would have the final say.

"If you want," el jefe conceded with a shrug of his shoulders. "Since you were the one who found her it seems appropriate." Found me? What did he mean by that?

Riley bowed his head in deference and fell in step beside me as el jefe led us to the castle keep. His soldiers moved to the side to make way for us, like a river splitting in two for a warship. We climbed the many stone stairs in silence. I dared not speak to Riley as we were well in ear shot of el jefe and the man himself seemed to be contemplating the recent turn of events. We reached the top floor and a servant opened the door to Baron Quinn's study.

"In here Minny," el jefe said, standing to the side so I could enter. "I haven't had time to redecorate it, but it will have to do. I don't know why Araluen's have such a fascination with keeping stone walls bare. It's so bloody cold. A few tapestries would be a nice addition."

I nodded absentmindedly and sat on one of the wooden chairs facing the overbearing desk and leather winged chair behind it. Riley sat beside me and el jefe sat at the head of the table as if it and the castle rightfully belonged to him. He had absolutely no qualms about what his men had done. What would happen when Baron Quinn came back? He had been at the funeral and coronation for the past few weeks and I figured he would be back in a few days with his banner men. He wouldn't just accept this situation, but he had no chance of laying siege to his own castle and winning it back.

El jefe leant forward and peered at me. I forced myself to pull my shoulders back and keep my head level.

"Why are you dressed as a boy?" he asked, curiously. "Don't get me wrong, I don't mind but your mother would get heart palpitations at the sight of you."

I shrugged. "I want to do more than just dress up and recite poetry."

He grinned. "That's my girl! When you were little you hated all the dresses your mother bought for you. But look at you now with a sabre and weapons and escaping from my men so many times."

He paused. "You've killed a few as well and injured a lot more."

I cringed. "Sorr…"

"Don't apologize!" El jefe boomed. "I couldn't be prouder of you. My daughter showing all those idiots that she can't be contained and that she's better than them. They'll be getting punished for laying any unwanted hand on you. Your mother wouldn't have anything less and neither would I. After all you are their superior in rank and they should be bowing to you."

"Bowing to me?" I asked, incredulous. I was nothing special. I had been estranged from my parents, rejected by the Ranger Corps and shunned by the Prince of Araluen. All that was left was a common thief. No one needed to be bowing to me. There were a few who I wanted to see on their knees in front of me in the process of kissing my boots, but only after I showed them how wrong they were and made them pay.

"You don't remember do you?" El jefe said, looking surprised. "I thought you did but I guess you were so young when you left."

"Remember what?" I asked desperately. I turned to look at Riley but he looked just as out of the loop as I was.

"You are not Monique Bowman. That's just the name that we took when we came to Araluen. Your grandmother's maiden name was Bowman before she married my father," el jefe explained.

"My grandfather was nobility?" I asked carefully, uncertain as to where this was going.

El jefe shook his head. "No, your grandfather was Generalísimo Franco Romero, commander of the King Fernando's naval armada. He had been to Araluen before and fallen in love with Lilliana Bowman. It was a test for him to prove himself and see if he could take this island nation for his king. But he sent his ships in winter and most were lost at sea and only a few ships limped back home." I struggled to try and keep up with what I was being told. So this had started way back with my grandfather? What did this have to do with what was happening right now?

"I don't understand."

"Let me finish," el jefe instructed and I shut my mouth. "Father went back home to Iberian and continued his duties as commander. But he couldn't live with the shame of defeat and it wasn't long before he passed on. King Fernando is called el cazador – the hunter – because he never gave up on his idea of conquering Araluen. When you were just four years old he decided that if my father couldn't do it, then maybe I could."

I closed my eyes trying to process the information. "The whole time we were in Araluen we were living a lie?"

"Not a lie Minny. Your mother and I and grandmamma knew exactly what was happening. You were just a child so we didn't tell you and you wouldn't have understood either way. The problem with my father's invasion plans were that they were too drastic and too soon. He thought that by sending over a few ships the Araluen's would give over their land. Grandmamma told him that he was wrong, but he didn't listen to her. I knew that it would take years of planning and plotting. The timing was wrong for the first invasion anyway. It was before the defeat of that Lord of the Mountains of Day and Night, Morgy - something or other. Araluen had its own internal problems to deal with. But when we came, it was a five years after the rebellion and while the country was still rebuilding it was easy to slip in."

"So King Fernando was funding you this whole time?" Riley asked. I looked sharply at him, expecting el jefe to chastise his interruption but the man only leant further in.

"He was, until his death eight years ago." My mind shuffled back in time. Eight years earlier I had been nine years old and that had been around the time that grandmamma had died and my parents had taken to alcohol to soothe their burdens.

"Is that when you turned to alcohol?" I said, not realizing until after I had spoken that my words had been barely a whisper. El jefe, however had heard them and nodded grimly.

"We lost our funding and around the same time mamma died. We were in a foreign country away from friends and family and without any money. Your mother began to loathe me. I can't tell you how sorry I am for what happened for the next few years. It was about three years afterwards that King Fernando's son remembered about the roots that his father had established in Araluen and sent men and provisions over. By then you were long gone. They dragged us out of that wretched house and slapped some sense into us, and then burnt it down so that everyone would think we had died. Your mother and I were taken back to Iberion to see the king who set in motion new plans," el jefe explained.

"Where is she?" I asked, half expecting her to burst into the room with a pink dress for me to wear as she yanked my hair up into a bun.

"Back in the Iberian Royal Court," he answered. "She flat out refused to come back to the 'land of barbarians' as she likes to call it. She is immensely popular there with her stories of greatly exaggerated adventure. And as much as she hates to admit it, the cooler weather in Araluen did give her a complexion envied by most ladies in court. She may not be the youngest lady in court but she is by far the most beautiful. You look exactly like her." He smiled lovingly at me and I tried to smile back. It probably looked more like a grimace.

There was a timid knock on the door, as if the knocker was too scared to disturb us but at the same time didn't want to be late with the food requested. A petite young woman scurried in with a tray carrying a large cake. It was three layers tall with jam and cream oozing out between the layers of sponge. There was a scattering of wild berries on the top and a generous dusting of white sugar to top it all off. Behind her came another woman with a coffee pot and three mugs on a tray. Both were trembling so much as they placed the trays down that the china clattered noisily. El jefe gave a disapproving grunt but said nothing, much to the relief of the two girls who practically ran out of the room after giving a horrific attempt at a curtsey. Under the circumstances I doubted I could do much better.

El jefe made no move towards the food and it took Riley a few seconds to figure out that it was his duty to serve the both of us. He carefully poured out three mugs of coffee.

"Sugar?" he asked.

"One," el jefe answered, accepting the mug and then a slice of sponge. I wanted honey with my coffee – having grown accustomed to it – but I couldn't see any on the tray and decided not to ask. If el jefe knew that I hadn't been given what I wanted he might have someone killed.

"Sugar?" Riley asked, turning to me.

"Two, please." After he handed me my mug and cake I gave him a smile. I took a bite of the cake and had to suppress a moan. After days of hard rations, something this sweet was heavenly.

"Do you like it?" el jefe asked with a smile. I nodded eagerly, my mouth too full to speak without spitting crumbs everywhere.

"Good. I shall have the cook prepare whatever you so desire." The idea of him being el jefe still made my insides crawl but if my insides were filled with cake and sweet then maybe it wasn't so bad. Halt would be throwing me over the side of the castle for even entertaining the traitorous thought, but thinking of the food…

"I still don't understand how your daughter is nobility," Riley queried. I shivered at the term. I didn't feel like a daughter at all, just a girl caught in a strange situation. I still half expected to wake up in Castle Araluen with my whole life back on track.

"You have noble blood through your mother Minny. Your full name is María Katalina Leonor," he said, the words rolling off his tongue easily.

"María?" I interrupted, dumbfounded. My name wasn't even Monique? None of my middle names were even Monique. What was happening? It was like the world had turned on its head.

"María after your mother. Katalina for my sister and Leonor for your mother's little sister who died when they were just children," he explained. "We always called you Minny as a child because you looked so much like your mother. When we came to Araluen I took the name Josef instead of José and your mother took Mary so that we could blend in easier. Your grandmamma chose the name Monique. After her grandmother I think."

"Mother has noble blood?"

"Si. Her full title is Lady María Federica Isabel Elena de Aragon y de Romero. She is the only daughter of Nicolás de Aragon, your grandfather. She has three brothers, all older than her so the title is out of reach but nonetheless her name gives her many privileges in court. The House of Aragon has never been poor. Your grandfather only has four grandchildren including you and your mother has always been his favourite so he allowed you to take the title as well."

"So my name is Lady María Katalina Leonor de Aragon y de Romero?" I could somehow pronounce the Iberian words without much trouble. They sounded musical to my ears but my links to the invading nation were concerning. I didn't think anyone would ever trust me again.

"Romero is not officially a noble house. It is my fathers surname but he was a brilliant general and the name alone impresses all Iberian's." The pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together but there was still one thing I didn't quite understand.

"And what does Riley have to do with all this?" I queried.

"When we arrived we needed men on the inside and Riley and his father generously volunteered," El jefe said with a smile. I snuck a glance at Riley who was clenching and unclenching his fists under the table, his entire body becoming stiff. There was more to the story. Riley was a traitor and I hated him for it, but he didn't seem like the type to change his allegiance as flippantly as that. He was honorable and had treated me well.

"Your father had all of his closest advisors on the lookout for you. We were scouring the country for a girl of your age and appearance," Riley explained. He had men looking for me across the country? Araluen wasn't the biggest nation in the world but searching for one girl was pretty much impossible. For the first time I looked at el jefe with something other than fear or curiosity. Despite what had happened when I was a child, he had truly tried to make up for his mistakes. This one good act wasn't even close to outweighing the bad, but he was making progress in my eyes.

"Is that what you meant by eyebrow, wife and painting?"

"I knew what you might look like from the painting if Lady María that his Lordship has in his quarters. The painting is from when she was around your age and the resemblance is uncanny. I also knew that you might have a scar on your eyebrow. You don't know how surprised I was to see you with the prince that day you came to Caraway. When I heard what your name was I instantly knew I had found the right girl and I tried to keep tabs on where you were. I only told your father my suspicions because I didn't want anyone else to catch on and use you as leverage or something," Riley clarified. I gave him a warm smile. Maybe Riley wasn't so bad. He had been looking out for me for months. It had been his job to find me, not to be kind and generous with his time.

"Everything worked out marvelously!" el jefe said. "Now I can send you back to Iberion to your mother while I finish taking this land for the King." I processed his words carefully. Wait, what had he just said?

"Back to Iberion?" I shouted in surprise, jumping up from my chair.

"Sí, your mother has big plans for you. You are her daughter and a lady after all," el jefe explained. All my plans to stay calm were thrown out of the window like the contents of a chamber pot.

"No, no, no. I can't go to Iberion! I have to stay here. I have to show them what I can do," I burst out. I could just imagine the looks on all their smug faces when they found out who I was descended from. A great general who had tried to take Araluen and a powerful Lord who held sway with the Iberion Royal Court. Merlon would practically be licking his lips with joy and would probably use it to further his own position in the Ranger Corps. Edmund would have all the more reason to hate me. Even if I wasn't a jewel thief I was the daughter of the man who had killed his beloved uncle.

I could feel the bile creeping up my throat. I needed to get out of this room. That man standing in front of me had ordered the kidnapping of poor little Danny and if I hadn't been there, would have killed a toddler in cold blood. A shiver ran down my back. He had taken Cassandra's father from her and the man who had been Edmund's father. He had taken the life of the much loved king of this nation. He had torn apart the lives of the people who had taken me in and been so kind to me. They were my friends and had believed in me and done everything they could to help me achieve the impossible. How could they ever see past this and forgive me?

The room began to spin as I tried to find the door. I needed to get away from all of this. I needed to get away from everything and everyone.

However, as I looked up the door opened and Captain Grant rushed in, not even bothering to knock. As he did, trumpets began blaring from within the castle walls.

"Your Lordship, Baron Quinn and his men have arrived back! The main group is outside the gates but a few snuck in through a secret side entrance and they're creating havoc. They released the men we had locked up in the dungeons!" Grant announced, breathing heavily from the exertion of climbing all those flights of stairs so quickly.

El jefe drew his sword and I gaped at the size of the broadsword that took two hands to wield. Beside him, Riley did the same.

"Well then it's time to show Baron Quinn who the true Lord of Caraway is."