I frowned at my notes, forced the image of her and Aubrey at the markets out of my head, and got to work.
My side of Matthias’s desk was relatively tidy, with Papa’s journals spread out beside neat piles of cyphers and translations. Matthias’s side was controlled chaos, piles of tagged and colour-coded receipts bristling alongside his growing temper.
After he heaved another sigh, I gestured at my translating. ‘You can do this instead, if you’d prefer.’
‘No, thank you,’ he said. ‘I’d still be on the same notebook a year from now.’ Code-breaking was the one area I excelled beyond him, whether because I had a better knack or because Papa and I had spent more time doing it for fun.
Ten minutes before Coin’s arrival, I hesitated over a sentence: Matthias is loyal to the Princess for life. He will be useful to her with the right training, which I’ve agreed to do.
How had Papa known about Matthias’s friendship with Lia? Who assigned Matthias to him for training? He’d stumbled across Papa one day in the winter rose gardens, completely by accident.
‘Xania,’ Matthias said, pulling me from my confusion. ‘Clear away your work, Coin can’t know you’ve been here.’
I tidied everything away, and carried my current notebook and a lamp into the passages. As I waited, I wrestled with the entry. Papa had described how to charm, the power of small talk and silence, the higher Steps’ formal etiquette – everything he’d taught Matthias. Coin arrived when I was in the middle of a knotty paragraph; I only half-listened as I concentrated on it.
‘I’ve been working with Whispers on Vigrante’s financials,’ Matthias told Coin. ‘His agents have made progress: Vigrante funnelled royal money into Farezi accounts.’
‘Whispers will be pleased to know, then, that two days ago, Rassa requested money from me on the basis of family affection.’
I froze, my pen hovering over my paper.
‘Rassa is three generations removed from Edar, no matter the blood link,’ Matthias said. ‘We don’t owe his overindulgence anything.’
‘But if Her Majesty dies without an heir, he rules Edar.’
‘She is well aware. Did you give him the money?’
‘I asked for past financials first. I wasn’t going to let him fritter it away.’
‘Her Majesty won’t be pleased.’
‘She has more to worry about. Does that account look familiar?’
I ground my teeth at the sound of rustling paper, frustrated at the necessity that kept me in the shadows. I nearly laughed at my audacity. I was Whispers. My role was to eavesdrop in the shadows.
‘I recognise this account,’ Matthias said. ‘It was in Vigrante’s paperwork.’
‘Indeed. An odd thing to have in common with Rassa.’
‘Were there deposits or withdrawals?’
‘Both.’
‘Vigrante was giving Edaran money to Rassa,’ Matthias said.
‘Unfortunately.’ From Coin’s grim tone, he was taking this personally. ‘With Vigrante dead, the deposits have stopped. I’m sure Rassa’s parents would be dismayed at the extent of his mismanagement.’
‘I can’t understand what Rassa could offer Vigrante for him to do this.’ Or, more importantly, Matthias wasn’t willing to voice his suspicions to Coin.
‘Power. Position. Money. People commit treason for less,’ Coin said. ‘Or else it was what Vigrante offered Rassa.’
‘Edar? Without Rassa’s parents or Lia finding out?’
Vigrante had probably assured Rassa he could rule Edar as a puppet-state if he helped topple Lia’s reign. Perhaps he’d reached out to Lia after realising Rassa wouldn’t be easily controlled – or maybe he’d even heard rumours of a spymaster in Rassa’s entourage.
Damn Vigrante’s ambition, and damn Lia’s mother for keeping her from Court. If she hadn’t, Lia might have been in a stronger position when she became Queen.
No point in dwelling on it now. Vigrante was dead and a traitor. Rassa was somehow involved in his treason, and we still weren’t close to the truth.
‘Do you recommend informing Her Majesty?’ Matthias asked.
Coin sighed. I’d never thought I’d ever feel sorry for him, but by admitting this, Coin was putting his reputation and security structures into question. If he didn’t, Lia would always wonder if the Treasury was slipping further away under his watch. This would be a lot for her to forgive.
‘She’s announcing her engagement tonight’ – as if I needed reminding.
‘– it’s best she’s told before then. She needs to know before I partly reject Rassa’s request.’
‘Partly?’
‘It’ll be suspicious if I completely reject it, based – in Rassa’s opinion – on little evidence. So I’ll give him less than he wants, on the basis he’ll get more... eventually.’
‘Clever,’ Matthias admitted.
‘I have my moments.’
When Coin left, I still counted to a hundred before slipping into the room. Matthias, sipping the dregs of the thick northern tea he drank when coffee no longer worked, held out the papers.
It was as bad as I’d feared: a messy financial tangle between Rassa and Vigrante. But something had changed between them after Rassa had angered Eshvon and promptly placed the blame at Vigrante’s feet.
‘Would Rassa really want to take Edar from Lia?’ I asked.
‘For his sake, I hope not. Failed usurpers don’t spend their lives in prison.’
Someone ran down the hall towards Matthias’s door. I moved towards the passages, but he said, ‘I’ll make up a reason for why you’re here.’
Someone hammered at the door. A palace guard rushed in, wild-eyed. Nothing was supposed to destroy their trained calm. ‘Baron Farhallow!’
Matthias was already out of his seat. ‘What’s happened?’
‘A riot broke out in the market square–’
My stomach dropped. I should have been there. I was supposed to be there –
Matthias didn’t wait for me before bolting past the guard, but I was already running after him.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Lia
Aubrey accompanied Mother and me to the markets, then joined Isra and Hasan when we reached the city proper, while Rassa walked with his own courtiers. Mother stayed with me. As people moved back from the guards, they recognised me. Whispers trailed in our wake.
I hadn’t travelled through Arkaala since my coronation. Something else had always got in the way and there was never enough time. Many stared like I was an apparition, but others curtseyed and bowed. They smiled, and shouted greetings, and handed me children to coo over.
As we neared the market square, I realised that despite the curious onlookers and well-wishers, hostility burned on other faces.
The Eshvon caravans should have arrived before Midwinter, but I refused to panic yet. I knew some would resent me for hiding the news of the failed harvests, but I’d hoped logic and common sense would prevail. Foolish. I was the Queen: I could never make everyone happy.
Xania had warned me. Diana had warned me, but still pushed through emergency legislation for eating houses to help the soup kitchens. If the caravans didn’t arrive, all food prices, not only bread, would rise. I’d spent so long battling Vigrante and the Court’s expectations of me, and fighting Uncle’s reputation, I’d never considered people would make me the target of their dissatisfaction.
Even thinking so made me as bad as Uncle and Vigrante. As I met angry, tired eyes, I didn’t see dissatisfaction. I saw freezing homes, fluctuating food prices, nobles taking more and giving less. While I lived in a palace with enough to eat, I helped pass laws that didn’t do enough because Parliament fought me on easy and difficult decisions.
Before, I’d emptied my food stores to keep my tenants alive during winter. Now eating the same meals as Court was doing my bit to help. I’d become besotted with love and my future, and what I wanted instead of what I had to do.
Diana was right.
&
nbsp; I stepped into the square. The bustle, shouts, and cries faded into silence. My vision blurred with tears.
We stopped at the first stall: silver-work. I examined the jewellery with little enthusiasm. Buying gifts for Mother and Xania had lost its appeal.
‘Do you want to leave?’ Mother asked. ‘We can, if you wish.’
‘Doesn’t everything always come back to what I want?’
She stared at me, confused, when Rassa suddenly demanded, ‘Why are we walking through the city like peasants?’
His words, loud and irritated, sparked against the disquiet bubbling around us.
‘Not the wisest thing to say outside the palace,’ Aubrey remarked.
Rassa threw him a disgusted look. ‘How can you demean yourself like this? Approaching merchants like the dregs of nobility?’
I turned to him. ‘You agreed to this, Cousin.’
Everyone flinched.
‘Your Majesty is too exalted for this farce,’ he said.
‘My father visited these markets, as did my grandfather and great-grandfather.’ People shrank away from me. ‘Farezi may have its own views, but we acknowledge those behind the necessities – and frivolities – we take for granted.’
A muffled cheer was swiftly hushed.
The words rasped against my throat, tasted like defeat. I truly believed them, but now they reminded me of failure.
The crowd drew closer, muttering and grumbling. I scrambled for the right words to calm the growing rage.
Before I spoke, someone threw a rock towards Rassa. It narrowly missed me, or perhaps had been intended for me all along. He ducked, swearing.
A guard rushed to protect me. A knife slammed against her steel vambrace, bouncing harmlessly away –
– she slapped a hand to her neck, then dropped with a cry.
A moment of silence –
People started screaming.
My sluggish mind finally caught up: Assassin. Riot.
Protocol demanded the ruling monarch and their family be protected first; then any visiting royalty; then other nobles. More guards closed around Mother and me, ushering us out of the square. Mother helped drag me along.
‘The guard!’ I yelled. ‘Is she all right? Is she all right?’
No one answered.
After becoming my Whispers, Xania had kept me informed of all the intercepted assassination attempts, though she tried to bury her upset under a business-like veneer. The assassins were mostly foreign, with thin links to nobility that fell apart under scrutiny. But some were Edaran, mostly frustrated amateurs who’d suffered under my uncle’s regime.
I wasn’t making changes quickly enough.
I wanted to weep, even as I inwardly cursed my foolishness.
The screams followed me up the hill and into the palace, echoing in my mind. My thoughts spun: what if I do this or say that or decree this? I was sweating, but my hands were cold in my gloves. I blinked and found myself in the entrance hall. Servants and nobles swarmed around me. Someone removed my cloak and gloves.
The cold seeped up my arms and into my chest. It hardened and sharpened, sank into my bones. How many others had been injured while I was dragged to safety?
‘Your Majesty!’
Matthias and Xania ran towards me. Matthias met my gaze and ground to a halt. He barely flinched when Xania slammed into him from behind, almost toppling them over.
She frowned, looked at me: froze. Something close to fear filled her face.
The cold must have reached my eyes.
Chapter Forty
Xania
‘I think,’ Matthias said, ‘Rassa may be a lesser worry, for now.’
Earlier, I would have said nothing was more important than the threat of Lia being overthrown and Edar plunged into civil war. But she stood stiff and silent as people rushed around her. She hadn’t been like this even after Vigrante’s murder.
‘What do we do?’ I asked.
‘What she commands,’ Matthias said, as Lia swept towards us.
‘Follow me,’ she said, ‘both of you.’
She strode through the halls. We followed her into her office, and from there into the passages. No one spoke.
We entered an unfamiliar room. Lia sat on a couch covered in faded green silk. Matthias glanced at the nearest chairs; Lia’s mouth turned down. We remained standing.
‘Are you all right, Your Majesty?’ I asked. ‘You’re not injured?’
‘I’m fine. They didn’t hurt me.’
‘The riot?’
‘The assassin.’
‘What?’ Matthias seemed to age a decade.
I sternly reminded myself this wasn’t the time to succumb to knee-buckling relief.
‘Rassa insulted the crowd. Someone threw a rock. The assassin took their chance and –’ Lia’s breath caught. ‘A guard protected me, and I never found out –’
‘The guards will panic that you’re not where they left you,’ Matthias said.
‘Then they should have ordered me not to move.’
They also expected Lia to have common sense, and not disappear when the palace was in an uproar. Something had changed since she’d left, and it had little to do with the assassin.
It didn’t make sense. She’d stayed calm when told of other failed assassination attempts, though they clearly upset her. There was no reason for Lia to be dismissive about this.
Her shoulders slumped. ‘I can’t blame my people.’ Her haughty demeanor slipped away, revealing exhaustion and sadness. ‘The fault lies with me.’
Matthias narrowed his eyes.
‘I’ve made no real change since taking the throne.’ This wasn’t her usual frustration at the political wheel’s slow turning, but bitterness so strong it alarmed me. ‘I’ve spent months hitting my head against a wall and calling it progress. So much for being better than Uncle. So much for making everything right.’
‘You’ve been Queen less than a year,’ I said. ‘Sweeping in widespread change isn’t practical.’
Matthias winced, but I ignored him. There was no point being gentle when I needed pragmatism.
Lia’s face tensed.
‘It may not be practical, but it might have averted civil war,’ she said, too quietly.
‘One riot doesn’t make a civil war,’ my traitor mouth said.
Lia narrowed her eyes. ‘No, but there’s a strong possibility’ – I hated her sarcasm – ‘how I respond will mean civil war.’
Matthias stepped back. ‘What are your intentions, Your Majesty?’
‘You will find this assassin. And I…’ Lia’s anger cracked for a moment, making her sound more like herself. ‘The Court will bay for blood, and I will satisfy them.’
No. No, she wouldn’t.
‘You’re killing the riot leaders? You’re punishing innocent people for an assassination attempt?’
‘They weren’t innocent – the assassin used the riot as a shield.’
‘The assassin would still have acted!’
‘I can’t have the Court turn against me–’
‘What about your duty?’ I said.
Silence.
‘Do you know how our neighbours regard us?’ Lia asked. ‘Quaint. Backward.’
‘As if they’ve much to be proud of,’ I snapped. ‘Not executing anyone would make you look more progressive than all of them.’
‘Xania–’ Matthias said, a warning, a plea, before Lia shouted over him.
‘Yes, not executing riot leaders who threw rocks at visiting royalty. I’m certain the other royal families will understand perfectly.’ Lia’s face twisted in disdain. ‘And if I do nothing, they’ll squeeze us for every concession. They won’t give us what we need until I give them what we can’t afford.’
‘As if our diplomats would let them!’
‘They won’t be in a position to bargain!’
We glared at each other.
‘Farezi will make things... difficult if this assassin isn’t found,’ Lia said. ‘Rassa was
n’t hurt, but I must still be careful. No matter what I do, I will appear weak unless I sanction the executions.’
‘Farezi will twist this to their advantage, regardless–’ Matthias stopped, so abruptly that Lia and I stared at him. His face brightened. ‘But even if he’d employed the best assassin, so much was still left to chance,’ he said slowly.
‘Who?’ Lia demanded.
‘Rassa.’
‘You think he hired the assassin to almost kill him?’ Even though I only knew about the Farezi Shadow, it made sense. Again, this had been sloppy, and it reeked more of Rassa than an experienced spymaster. I certainly wouldn’t have orchestrated a public assassination attempt: too many things could go wrong.
Matthias glanced at me, then told Lia, ‘Rassa has more of an invested interest in Edar than we realised.’
‘Explain,’ she said.
Her face darkened when Matthias told her about his meeting with Coin. ‘So Rassa wants Edar for himself.’
‘He’s never shown ambition,’ Matthias said.
‘Publicly. He probably considers his inheritance stifling. Farezi is seeped with his ancestors’ work, and his parents’ legacy will be strong when he takes the throne. Edar is a fresh slate. Or this could be his father’s plan. It’s easier to rebuild an empire when your son rules the weaker neighbour.’
‘We have our own history and traditions!’ I burst out.
‘Southern Edar’s been influenced by Farezi for centuries. The foundation is already there.’ Lia paused. ‘The north would resist. I hope.’
‘As if you wouldn’t help them!’
She smiled wryly. ‘I’d be dead.’
Of course. You didn’t let the previous monarch live.
Lia touched my arm. ‘I won’t let him kill me. I’ll grind him to a bloody pulp first.’ I managed a brief smile. ‘He’s trying to create a scandal so large, I’ll either have to abdicate or Parliament will turn against me.’
‘How will you stop him?’
‘Delicately,’ Matthias said.
Lia nodded. ‘I can’t accuse him of hiring the assassin, and sharing accounts with a dead man isn’t enough.’
Queen of Coin and Whispers Page 23