Holding Court by K.C. Held Read Free Book Online Page A

Princess Bride , “‘Are you kidding? Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Revenge. Giants. Monsters. Chases. Escapes. True love. Miracles.’”
    “‘It doesn’t sound too bad. I’ll try and stay awake.’”
    Grayson presses a hand to his heart. “Did you just quote my favorite movie back to me?”
    “Do R.O.U.S. live in the Fire Swamp?” I can’t contain the grin that takes over my face as I realize I’m sitting with Grayson Chandler, trading Princess Bride quotes. It’s like my most fervent sixth-grade fantasy has suddenly come true. If you ignore the dead body, the bloody arm, and the nun costume.
    “How now! What is the meaning of this?” a loud voice demands and I look around Grayson to see King Henry barreling down the hallway with Drew trailing behind him.
    Grayson and I both stand, and King Henry comes to a stop and looms over us. The guy must be at least six and a half feet tall.
    “Sir Drew has been bending my ear with a preposterous account of a body in a secret passageway. Prithee explain yourselves.”
    I point to the alcove. “It’s in there.”
    King Henry looks at my hand. “Is that blood, Mistress Verity?”
    “Yeah, I hurt my arm when I tripped over the girl in the passageway.”
    “I see.” King Henry steps over to the alcove, looks at the suit of armor, then back at me. “Mistress Verity, you do know the show is over for tonight? If you are trying to convince me of your ability to play the Mad Maid of Kent, I assure you, your efforts are in excess. May I suggest you save your psychic visions for the castle guests?”
    “This wasn’t a vision, Your Majesty. I was, um, standing in the alcove and I triggered something that made that little stone circle spin around.” I point at the faint circular outline on the floor. “There’s a passageway on the other side. And there’s a dead body in it.” I shudder as I try to shake off the image of the dead girl staring up at me.
    “Pish! Show me,” King Henry demands.
    “It’s right on the other side of the wall. If you tilt the ax down I think it triggers some kind of mechanism.”
    King Henry steps toward the suit of armor.
    “But I think there’s someone else in there. Someone…not dead. I didn’t see anyone, but I definitely heard what sounded like heavy breathing before I freaked out and grabbed the ax and ended up back out here.”
    “I see,” King Henry says and in one quick motion he draws his sword. “Then I shall bring something to greet them with.”

Chapter Seven
    Well, This Is Awkward
    K ing Henry holds his sword at the ready with one hand as he pushes the ax down with the other. He’s so huge he barely fits on the stone circle with the suit of armor. “By Saint George, how did I not know of this?” he says as it begins to spin, and then he disappears into the secret passageway beyond.
    Grayson, Drew, and I exchange looks.
    “Do you think we should follow him?” Drew asks.
    “ I’m not going back in there,” I say. “I don’t have a sword.” Not that I would go back in if I did have one.
    “I’m pretty sure he can take care of himself,” Grayson says.
    There are no panicked screams from King Henry, but then he was expecting to see a dead body. We wait in silence, all eyes on the wall where the suit of armor has been replaced with a curved section of stone. If I didn’t know about the revolving alcove, I would’ve never noticed the very faint outline between the stones.
    After what seems like endless hours later, the wall begins to move and King Henry reappears.
    He gives me a strange look and re-sheaths his sword.
    “Nothing in there but cobwebs,” he says.
    “What?” I ask, certain I must have misheard him.
    “There is no body,” King Henry says. “Nothing but an empty passageway with a staircase at either end.”
    “But that’s impossible,” I protest. “She was right there on the other side of the wall. I saw her.”
    King Henry shakes his head. “I do not know what you saw, but there is