“What is Leoth playing at?” Mother whispered out of the corner of her mouth once he had retreated.
“I don’t know.” I couldn’t stop my gaze from flickering over to where Leoth now stood with his companions; he met my eyes with a grin that was equal parts sly and charming. “He is certainly up to something. Do you know anything about him? Secrets I could use against him, or shady alliances he upholds?”
“We can search the records,” Mother said, “though I doubt we will uncover anything new. He was only a small boy when we fled the palace, so all I know of him is what you know—that he intends to take your throne. That should be reason enough to be wary of him.”
Leoth must have noticed Mother’s gaze, for he turned his back to us.
The song ended just then, which was a cue for the room to fall silent. Hundreds of skirts in every color bloomed like a flower garden across the floor. Reds, yellows, golds, and deep blues and purples dominated the room—the colors of changing leaves and lengthening nights.
“Thank you for joining us to celebrate another successful harvest.” Mother’s voice rang through the room; even without the king’s authority to back her, she commanded attention like a true monarch. “And I wish to extend my gratitude for welcoming us back after so many years away. Your gracious welcome reminded me why Baylore has long stood foremost in the world for justice, open-mindedness, diplomacy, and equality. Nowhere else is diversity so celebrated as it is here, and for that I am eternally grateful. Please, enjoy yourselves tonight. Feast on the bounty of our harvest.”
I wondered if those applauding Mother’s words recognized them as a warning of what Baylore stood to lose if Leoth took the throne.
As the applause died down, the musicians struck up a stately tune that I recognized as one of the few dances Mother had taught me. Lyla had picked up the lute while we lived in Ambervale, and the simple songs she had been able to learn formed the base of my musical education.
The ruling couples and their heirs were the first to take the floor, while those watching moved back to clear space. Several of Leoth’s friends appeared to be pestering him for a dance, but he waved them away, and they soon paired up with other young men in the group. On the opposite side of the room, I spotted the emissary from King’s Port sipping from a goblet while a petite woman clutched his arm; his usual bevy of noblewomen was not far away.
“Go, enjoy yourself,” Mother said. “I doubt I will be persuaded to dance tonight, but you are young. Take any partners who will have you, and win them over as you always do.”
“I’ll try.” Mother had too high an opinion of my natural charm.
Rising, I stepped gracefully down from the throne platform and into the crowd. I headed straight for the corner opposite where Leoth waited, and was grateful when Saniya appeared as the first dance wound down, her face already flushed.
“Did you see Carrick ask me to dance?” she said, eyes sparkling. “He’s never noticed me before, but oh, he’s so handsome!”
I knew him as the quiet, strong-jawed man who only joined Leoth’s friends on occasion. “Isn’t he much older than you? At least seven years?”
“Six,” Saniya said with a mischievous smile. “I know all about him from my mother’s lady-in-waiting, who is sleeping with his butler. They love to gossip. Anyway, are you going to ask anyone to dance, or are you going to stand there all night looking sullen?”
I blinked. I had thought my face an impassive mask, but perhaps I had let some of my annoyance show through. Those around me had been edging away from me ever since I took up my place in the corner, and I resented them for their fear. “I thought the young men were supposed to ask me. And no one will, because they think I might suck the life out of them.”
“Most of them are just too intimidated to approach the future queen of Itrea. You ought to ask them yourself.”
“Sure, that’s why they’re avoiding me,” I said sarcastically. “No, I’m quite happy here.
“Well, at least have a glass of wine.” Saniya grabbed my elbow. “The palace has brought out its finest vintages.”
I followed her willingly to the long table, glad of an excuse to leave my lonely post in the corner, though I had no intention of drinking. The excess of power I would drain from the room combined with impaired decision-making was a dangerous prospect.
While I was selecting a cheese-filled pastry from a platter, someone tapped on my shoulder. I knew without turning that it was Leoth.
“What do you want now?” I took a big bite of the pastry before turning to Leoth.
“Princess Kalleah. You look more beautiful than ever.” Leoth bowed extravagantly. When he straightened, I could see his wicked smile. “I was hoping to claim my promised dance. I have made a vow to dance with no woman but you tonight.”
I finished the rest of the cheese pastry, watching him the whole while, before responding. “Then you will find yourself terribly bored. I intend to give you one dance, and one only.”
“What about the next one?” Leoth’s grin was irrepressible.
“We have to wait for a song I know. I’ve only learned the steps to five.”
“Very well, then.” Leoth reached for a goblet and filled it nearly to the brim with steaming mulled wine. “To your health, Princess.”
As this second song ended, several of Leoth’s friends joined us by the refreshment table. Several had partnered with young men and women I didn’t recognize, all of whom stared at me as if I were plague-ridden, while the others took turns dancing with one another. There were no married courtiers among Leoth’s friends, and they almost seemed to discourage serious relationships amongst one another, as though settling down would exclude them from the group.
“Madden!” Leoth greeted one of his best friends as he limped over to the table, breathing hard. “Princess Kalleah here says she will only dance with me once, and I swore not to partner with another woman all night, so I find myself facing terrible boredom. Will you save a dance for me?”
Madden laughed. “As long as it’s not this next one! I need to sit down, methinks.” The lines of his face were soft and rounded in a way most girls found irresistible, with dark brown curls falling into his eyes.
Saniya was persuaded to dance with another young nobleman, though she kept glancing through the crowd to where Carrick stood in deep conversation with his brother, while I took a seat alongside Leoth and Madden. They were true to their promise, and leapt up to dance together for the next song—I cheered them on from the sidelines, laughing at the way both got the footwork wrong as each tried to take the man’s role. By the time they returned, I was feeling much more charitable toward Leoth; I liked that he did not take himself too seriously.
“That was painful,” said Rose, giggling. “You must dance with me next, Madden, and spare us the torture.” My opinion of Rose had not improved since our first encounter—she was gratingly fake, her displays of friendship insulting since she assumed I was too stupid to see through her.
Madden was still doubled over laughing, and Leoth pounded him on the back. “With pleasure,” he managed at last.
The next song was one I recognized, and in fact it was my favorite of the dances I knew, since the footwork flowed well despite a few complicated flourishes.
“Surely you know the Camorae,” Leoth said, wiping at his eyes. “Can you not see how devoted I am to you, Princess?”
“Fine. You can have this dance,” I said. “But stop calling me ‘Princess,’ will you?”
“As you wish, Your Greatness.” Leoth took my hand and bowed before pulling me to my feet.
I rolled my eyes but did not rise to his bait.
As Leoth placed one hand on my waist and one in mine, my skin tingled. No man had ever held me this way before. Before we had arrived in Baylore, I had been close to no one except Mother and Lyla, and here I sent people scattering at every turn. I closed my eyes for a moment, willing myself to believe I was with someone else, someone who truly cared for me.
Then I had to open them again in a hurry, because the dance had begun and Leoth was already whisking me through the first few steps.
He was a very good dancer, there was no denying that, and there was no scorn in his eyes when they held mine, only curiosity. He really was exceedingly handsome. I could see why the other ladies flocked around him. His black hair fell about his face in gentle waves that looked deliberately, roguishly sloppy, and his smile—which he flashed for me just then—was as bright and full of warmth as his eyes. I let myself get swept away in the moment, until nothing existed except this beautiful man before me, his hand warm on my waist and his heartbeat matching mine as we glided through the dance.
“I hope I can convince you someday that I mean you no harm,” Leoth said with uncharacteristic seriousness as he spun me into his arms, my skirts flaring out around me.
“You know exactly how you can do that,” I said. “Renounce your claim to the throne. Until you’re willing to stand aside, you might as well stay silent and not ruin this dance with your empty words.”
Leoth smiled sadly. “You are too clever, you know that? Most women would be willing to do anything for such an eligible match.”
“Most women would have something to gain from it. I do not.”
Leoth was silent for a moment, concentrating as a segment of tricky footwork had us weaving in and out of the nearby pairs, but the growing smile on his face told me he had an idea.
When he laid his hand on my waist once more and resumed the smoother, more straightforward part of the dance, he said, “I hope this doesn’t come across as too forward, but just think—if the two of us were to wed, any question of illegitimacy would be gone.”
I stopped in my tracks, and another couple collided with us. “You are too forward!”
Leoth apologized to the couple, who looked horrified when they realized whom they had run into, and steered me to the edge of the dance floor.
“Sorry. Forget I said it.”
I did not want Leoth touching me any longer, but I let him pull me back into the dance, my hand hovering a finger’s breadth from his waist so I did not feel that I was embracing him. “Our very values are contradictory. How do you think I could live with someone who thought I was fundamentally evil? And how could I help put you in power, when you are prepared to destroy the freedom our magic races have enjoyed for centuries?”
“I said forget it,” Leoth said. “But has it ever occurred to you that I might be pretending to be something I’m not so as not to lose my father’s support?”
“Then renounce your claim on the throne, and give up this farce!” I hissed.
“It’s not that simple. It’s never that simple.”
Though my every instinct warned me to run from Leoth, I could tell there was something more to him than the arrogant pig who had suddenly decided to vie for my affection. Whether his motives were honest or underhanded I could not tell, but curiosity kept me there.
When the dance finished, I slipped from his arms immediately and returned to the refreshment table to find Saniya. Leoth followed me, but he took a seat several chairs away, drawing Madden and Rose into conversation as though nothing had happened.
Had Leoth truly thought I would consider marrying him? If he did, he knew me less than he thought, and vastly underestimated the strength of my convictions. Easier to believe this was still part of the baffling game he was playing, trying to win my affection for some unknown reason.
Once several songs had passed, and my dress was feeling uncomfortably tight from the number of canapés I had eaten, Leoth moved to the chair beside me once again. Saniya had been dancing with Carrick for several songs in a row, so the three chairs on either side of me stood empty.
“You should stay away,” I warned him as he sprawled gracefully back in the chair. “You won’t have the energy to stay up to the end of the ball if you spend much longer in my company.”
“Will you at least give me one more dance before the night is over?”
“No!”
Leoth sighed. “I’m sorry. You’re right. It was stupid of me to suggest something I know you would never stand for.”
“Thank you for that,” I said. “But I still won’t dance with you.”
We sat there in silence, Leoth trying to hide a few yawns behind one hand, and I hoped he would stay until he fell asleep on the spot—it would serve him right. Then I realized with a start that he no longer wore his Truthbringer’s ring.
What was he playing at?
Saniya returned eventually and took the seat on my opposite side; her face was radiant with excitement, her cheeks flushed. “Carrick is such a gentleman,” she said, cooling herself with a feather fan someone had left behind on the refreshment table. “And so intelligent, even though he is quiet.”
“I often find those who say the least know the most,” I said, with a pointed glance at Leoth.
He yawned at that moment and did not catch my jibe, though Saniya giggled appreciatively.
A grandfatherly butler approached with a silver pitcher and bowed before me. “Your mother requested that this special vintage be opened in your honor, Princess Kalleah. Will you try a glass?”
“Thank you, but I have had quite enough for tonight.”
“Oh, come on, Princess. Your mother wouldn’t want you to waste such a special vintage.” Leoth plucked a clean goblet from the table and balanced on the butler’s tray.
The old man gave me an indulgent smile as he poured a glass. “Cherry wine from the master’s vintner,” he said. “Rare in Baylore, given the price of cherries.”
Once the butler had bowed himself away, Leoth took a sip of the wine before pressing the goblet into my hands. “Oh, that’s delicious. Surely one sip would do you no harm, Your Excellence. Everyone should try cherry wine at least once in their lives.”
Since I could think of no good reason to turn the wine down—I drank often enough with Leoth’s friends, and would not be in danger of overindulging with one sip—I raised the goblet to my lips and tasted. It was rich and silky smooth, with just the faintest hint of cherries; Leoth had not been exaggerating.
“May I try?” Saniya asked.
“Wait a moment.” Leoth’s tongue darted out as he tasted the residue of wine on his lip. “There’s a funny aftertaste.” His eyes widened. “Seize that man!”
Leoth leapt to his feet and pointed at the butler, who was already halfway across the room.
The butler pressed his tray into the hands of another servant who happened to be passing by and quickened his pace. By the time those around him realized who Leoth was pointing at, the butler had managed to slip into the hallway and disappear completely.
18
Enemies of the Throne
O lleack, Nashella, and Mother came running, trailed closely by their personal servants and guards. Saniya backed away as Leoth and I were surrounded.
“They’ve been poisoned,” Mother said to her guards. “Take them to the hospital at once, and give them an emetic.”
I could not taste anything unusual in the wine, but I thought it best to follow Mother’s orders. Leoth and I made haste for the ballroom door, the guards forming a protective ring around us, while gasps and hushed conversation followed us.
We were starting up the stairs leading to the main floor when it started. First the dizziness hit, my vision nearly swallowed by black fog. When I paused to wait for it to clear, two of the guards grabbed my elbows and helped me continue on. Leoth was breathing fast, and at the top of the stairs one of the largest guards lifted him into his arms like a child. I continued to stumble on, wanting to prove myself stronger than Leoth, but the dizziness was soon followed by a splitting headache that further distorted my vision until I felt the walls were swaying and bending around me.
When I stumbled and caught myself on one of the guards, it was his signal to lift me as well.
It seemed only minutes later that we were set down on beds in a room I did not recognize.
&nbs
p; “Keep him…away from me…or he won’t wake up,” I choked out, and rubbed at my eyes until I could see that the guards had obeyed my order and relocated Leoth to the far side of the room.
I slumped against the headboard of the bed, wanting to sleep, but a pair of insistent hands forced my mouth open and poured something sickly sweet down my throat.
For a moment I dozed there, my aching head uncomfortable against the wooden headboard, but then my stomach twisted, and I doubled over, retching. Someone had a bucket ready before me, and I vomited up every scrap of food I had eaten that day.
Once I was retching up nothing but air, a gentle cloth dabbed at my mouth, and I was handed a glass of water to rinse out my mouth. The room was still spinning around me, so I could not make out the features of whoever was tending to me.
“Get some sleep,” a woman’s gentle voice instructed. “Your body needs time to heal.” She helped strip my clothes down to my simple shift and tucked me into the starched sheets of the hospital bed.
I lay motionless for a long time, my stomach still twisting painfully and my head pounding, the room tilting and spinning around me. At long last, a restless sleep claimed me.
* * *
The first sign I had that morning had arrived was the return of my headache, which was made worse by the bright light glaring down from a high window. When I struggled to sit up, I could see that I was alone aside from Leoth, who was still sleeping on the opposite side of the room.
The medic must have heard me rustling around, because she emerged from a side room with a glass of water scented with some variety of herb.
“The danger has passed,” she said as I gulped down the water. My throat felt raw and scratchy. “Now you just need to recover. You are very lucky that the poison was detected before it was too late, because there is no cure once you lose consciousness.”
“Is Leoth going to be all right?”
Forbidden Queen: A Court Intrigue Fantasy (The Forbidden Queen Series Book 1) Page 14