by Kate Elliott
I shut my eyes, because I don’t want to see, but it just makes the vision clearer: the prince spasming; the king stabbing the youth; the spark.…
“The boy died under mysterious circumstances in the service of Prince Temnos. Lord Perikos was not satisfied with the king’s explanation. Thus Perikos has become a willing accomplice in our plan to strengthen Efea by ridding ourselves of a dangerously ineffective king.”
Kal steps between me and the scroll. “Jes, you don’t have to do this.”
But his frown mirrors the bitter stain of complicity spreading across my heart.
24
I stand atop the victory tower clutching the victor’s ribbon in my hand, and I hate myself as the crowd roars approval. Spider has returned a hero. They don’t know she has cheated to win.
But I know.
When I climb down the ladder into the undercourt I don’t want to look the other adversaries in the eye but I do it because I must. If shame could turn my heart to dust I would already be a walking corpse. Near to weeping, I drink the royal nectar even though I don’t deserve it.
I am trapped, and for once in my life I see no path through these Rings.
Four Garon stewards wait in the undercourt to escort me to the Garon Palace balcony.
“Spider! Spider!” call the people as we pass along the wide corridors. Some among the crowd wear a lacework web on their garments instead of ribbons, in my honor. I glimpse a face, a bearded man who looks my way, surprised to see me, and quickly ducks out of view.
What is Sergeant Demos of the spider scouts doing here in Saryenia when he should be with the Royal Army?
As we enter the Garon balcony I keep looking for Tana but it is Darios who comes forward.
“You ran well,” he says. “You were conservative on Traps but I think that was wise given the weeks you’ve been traveling. You were a little unsteady on your landings.”
Nothing in his serious and grief-stricken expression suggests he suspects the trial was rigged. Tana’s death, Dusty’s kidnapping, and Mis’s abrupt departure have distracted everyone in the stable. I haven’t even had time to ask if anyone knows where Inarsis went, since he didn’t go overseas with Lord Thynos, or if there’s been news of Thynos’s marriage.
Lord Gargaron rises from his chair. Menoë and Kalliarkos are seated on either side of him: I recognize the towering ribbon-laced architecture of her hair. Even though Kal stares resolutely straight ahead, I know he knows I’ve just walked in because I can sense him as acutely as if we are touching. A bitter smile brushes his lips, mirror to my own feelings. My heart still pounds from the exertion of the trial and yet this victory tastes so poisonous.
“Ah, Spider.” Gargaron beckons. “There is someone here who wishes you to greet him.”
“Spider! I knew you would win!” Prince Temnos pops up from the fourth chair. His delighted smile breaks like sunlight through clouds, tugging a smile out of me.
“My lord.” I drop to one knee before him.
He wears a long court jacket made of brown silk, embroidered with shimmering silver threads in the shape of a spider’s web. “Come, come! I’m going to show you off!”
He yanks me forward to the railing. His head doesn’t even reach my shoulder and so there we stand, the brawny adversary and the frail prince. Seeing us, the crowd begins to sing:
The general’s valiant daughter will fight for Efea,
She’ll fight for Efea, and win!
Many wave brown banners sewn with a spider’s web as they shout, “Spider! Spider!” and “Long life to the prince!”
“My gracious mother allows me to attend the Fives every week with Cousin Menoë and my companions! She says it is good for the people to see me and know I am a generous prince.”
I glance around to see his gaggle of highborn comrades wriggling like eager puppies, waiting for Temnos to give them permission to come forward and greet me.
He tugs on my arm to pull my attention back to him. “Is Orchid back too? She is my favorite. She tells me the best jokes and feeds me sweets whenever I want them!”
A heavenward glance is my only outlet. Of course Amaya is his favorite.
He chatters on, oblivious to my silence. “I have been practicing since you have been gone, Spider! I’m very good now. I defeat all my companions. You have to come run a trial against me and I wager I will defeat you!” He giggles, but at the same moment gives me a canny sidelong glance to gauge my reaction, and I realize he too is wearing a mask, pretending to innocence and ignorance.
I squeeze his hand daringly, and he squeezes back as his lips turn up in a secret smile that acknowledges us as conspirators.
Menoë glides forward to stand on the other side of Prince Temnos. “Cousin, would you like to announce the distribution of bread? The people await your generosity.”
He raises both arms. The noise of the crowd bursts, then quiets with an uneasy anticipation that presses on my senses more as tension than as excitement. The air itself seems ready to explode but whether into ecstatic celebration or riot I cannot tell.
Below, four Challengers race through a trial but no one is looking at them. The people in the crowd have turned to eye the stairs. I am impressed by their discipline, hungry people remaining in their places as vendors begin to walk along the aisles passing out loaves of bread.
“Kalliarkos, go forward,” says Gargaron. “Join your sister at the railing.”
“Yes, yes!” cries Temnos, bouncing on his toes. “Cousin Kalliarkos, you can stand with us now you are back. Everyone says you are a hero too! Even if you aren’t a very good adversary.”
Ouch. There is a dagger in the boy, isn’t there? Or maybe he’s just been taking lessons from Menoë.
I take a step back as Kalliarkos walks forward. His gaze meets mine, the slightest upward tilt of his glance like he is rolling his eyes at Temnos’s comment. I give the barest nod as I make way for him, acknowledging our shared promise that whatever comes we will not doubt each other. It’s all I have to cling to at this moment with the filthy cheat a bone in my throat. I will not let their machinations sour my feelings for him. We did not ask for this. We will not be destroyed by it.
As he takes his place I know that just as the crowd sees him and his sister standing on either side of their cousin, reminding everyone they are royal cousins, the crowd also sees me within arm’s reach of the young lord rumored to be my lover.
Guard your victor’s ribbons carefully and you can do very well for yourself, Gargaron told me.
As the crowd tears into its bread the cheering breaks out again, banners waving, shouts and cries hailing Lady Menoë, Prince Temnos, Kalliarkos the hero of Pellucidar Lake, and even me, the spider, standing in my ordinary brown behind the blazing colors of the highborn.
“Do you like the spider-web banners, Kal?” Menoë says over the head of Temnos. “We had our own people infiltrate the audience and wave the first ones. Then the fashion took off. But our little Prince Temnos here made the fashion for clothing sewn with webs popular by appearing in them every week. What a clever boy he is!”
“I don’t like it when you speak over me in that tone, Cousin Menoë,” the boy objects. “You sound very condescending. I don’t really think you like me. I don’t think you like my gracious mother either, even though you pretend you do. Where did Spider go? Now she is back I want her to stand next to me, not you.”
Menoë whips her fan so fast back and forth in front of her face that it blurs. “Why is it all the men in my life want nothing more than to talk about you, Spider? But if it keeps Kal happy then I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
I flush.
“What does Cousin Kalliarkos have to do with it?” asks Temnos sharply. “Isn’t he going back to the army?”
“Of course he is!” Menoë’s bright smile is such a lie I am amazed it doesn’t strangle her.
No wonder Garon Palace has taken the little prince under its wing. Invalid he may be, but he is a threat to their plans, the only
other obvious heir. Everything nags at me like a threat, after days and days of waiting for an attack. That’s why I can’t help but notice a subtle shift along the outer aisles of the Fives court as men with the bearing of soldiers move into view, walking in twos and threes like casual Fives-goers, but really more like they are infiltrating the crowd.
Probably I’m just imagining things, but I take a step up behind Kal, and nudge his leg with my knee.
“Are those men moving along the aisles off-duty soldiers hired by Garon Palace to make sure there are no riots as the bread is distributed?” I murmur.
He follows my gaze along the terraces of seats that surround the court. His brows tighten as he examines the men filtering in through the crowd. They are all Patrons, of course, and I realize many have long hair and beards, which are rare in Efea.
I whisper urgently, “I saw Sergeant Demos when I was walking here after my trial. Since he didn’t travel with us, why has a spider scout abandoned his spider and come here?”
“Something isn’t right.” In the intense focus of his eyes and the readiness of his shoulders he looks like an adversary studying Rings as he decides which path to take. He doesn’t hesitate at all. “Step up to the railing, Jes.”
As we swap places he retreats to where Gargaron sits and bends to speak to his uncle, whose smile of approval at the crowd’s cheers turns to a frown whose contours send a shudder through my flesh. Gargaron shades his face with a hand as he scans the seats.
Kal returns to the railing. “Jes, we are making a tactical retreat. Menoë, you and Jes will escort Prince Temnos out of here as quickly and quietly as possible. I’ll leave by a different route. Uncle Gar will remain here to keep attention on the balcony for as long as possible.”
At once he leaves the railing and heads for the back.
Temnos’s eyes grow wide with enthusiasm. “Are we having a dangerous adventure?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” I say as I take his hand. “We are, and you must obey me without question, just as you do when I am training you to become an adversary. We have to practice sneaking out of the Fives court without anyone noticing.”
“Oh, that’s easy! My gracious father taught me how to do that long ago because he said someone might try to assassinate me. I will just change clothes with my dear companion Lord Elotas and he will pretend to be me and I will pretend to be a servant.”
His blithe mention of assassination really stuns me, as if that was ordinary supper table conversation between him and his father, and probably it was.
I smile with false cheer. “That is supremely clever, Your Highness. We shall implement your tactics at once.”
“You are a supremely adept flatterer, Spider,” mutters Menoë. “No wonder Kal can’t resist you.”
“In fact,” I add as inspiration strikes, “Lady Menoë should escort Lord Elotas, because everyone will expect her and you to leave together. Then you and I will make our way to Garon Palace on foot. Can you walk that far, Your Highness?”
“Of course I can!” he says stoutly, although I have my doubts. But he’s so thin I can carry him, and no one will remark on a Commoner girl carrying a Patron boy on her back.
“Oh, very well,” says Menoë with a spiteful look. “It’s not as bad a plan as it could be. Just make sure you bring him to the servants’ gate, Spider. Don’t try to enter through the main gate as if you belong there.”
“Of course, my lady.” My obedient smile annoys her, just as I hoped it would.
“Jessamy.” Gargaron calls me over. He sits in his chair surveying the court—one of the adversaries is spinning through Rings and will soon reach the victory tower—with the same matchless arrogance he displays when he knows he holds all the power in his hands. “I fear these men you’ve noticed may be soldiers encircling the Fives court to prevent us from leaving. It would be just like Kliatemnos to cut our feet out from under us by arresting my niece and nephew and charging them with treason.”
“Do you think the king suspects?”
“He’s a suspicious sort of man. It is of crucial importance that you keep Prince Temnos away from both king and queen if we wish to succeed, and if you wish to keep Kalliarkos alive. Do you understand?”
“Do you not fear you may be a target by staying behind, my lord? You have only a few guardsmen to protect you.”
“I have the gods’ righteous judgment on my side. Anyway, to show fear to an anxious dog will make it bite. Kliatemnos has no proof of any conspiracy and thus cannot prosecute me.”
“Couldn’t he just kill you, my lord? For it seems to me that the highborn have the means to rid themselves of inconvenient rivals. Accidents happen.”
His hard gaze examines my expression just a little too long, a provocation I can’t look away from even though I should have kept my mouth shut. Then he relaxes into the thin smile that makes me stiffen before I remember I must never challenge him openly. He knows it too.
“It is not so easy to kill a palace lord as it is to dispose of less noble but equally inconvenient rivals. Remember that, Jessamy, for I am certain you do not think kindly of me when you lie down at night to sleep. I would think less of you if I thought you did. Now take Prince Temnos to Princess Berenise. We need him in our custody in order to succeed. Go!”
The curtained shelters at the back of the balcony offer a convenient place to change. By the time I strip out of my Fives gear, pull on a simple linen sheath dress, and cover my hair with a scarf, Menoë and the false Temnos with the rest of the prince’s companions have already departed.
I look around for Kal and find him now dressed in a groom’s uniform, while the man whose clothing he’s taken wears Kal’s rich clothing. Strip the silk and gold away from Kalliarkos and I still can’t stop looking at him, because it isn’t his rank and riches that make him so striking.
“Where are you going?” I ask in a low voice. My hand drifts near his but in this public place I dare not be the first to make contact.
“I’m going to scout. We can’t know anything until we see what is really going on in the streets.”
“How will you get around safely? With the city in such tumult a man alone on the street will be vulnerable.”
“If a man has allies, then he is never alone.” The charming smile that his uncle and sister have long dismissed as lightweight looks like strength now, a means to reach out and connect with people instead of grinding them under his heel as the others do. “Do you remember the poet Ro-emnu?”
Despite the circumstances a heat blushes my cheeks, but of course he’s too focused on our dire situation to notice.
“Ro owes me for getting him out of prison. Once I get word to him, he will raise a network of Efeans who can move through the city without being noticed. Then I have to secure Garon Palace and make sure Grandmama and all our people are safe.”
He raises my hand to his mouth and kisses my knuckles. I close my eyes as the world falls away and all that remains is the precise pressure of his lips on my skin.
“Jes?”
I open my eyes. His gaze holds me as if I am precious, and in that moment I know I am.
“Don’t go to Garon Palace,” he says. “If this really is Kliatemnos going after us, then Garon Palace is the first place that will be searched.”
“I’ll take Prince Temnos to the Heart Tavern in the Warrens.”
“Yes, good, that’s where Ro took me after I got him out of prison and where I intend to bring anyone from our household who has escaped. I’ll meet you there.”
Without hesitation he leans in and kisses me, right in front of everyone. As we part, my heart turns over and then slams around in my chest a hundred times. I don’t want to leave him, but soldiers and adversaries do what needs to be done, and my duty right now is to get Temnos to safety. So I let him go, and with a last look at me he strides to the balcony exit and vanishes from my sight.
“Spider! Psst! Spider! We need to hurry!”
A very rude masked servant boy tugs at my arm
, then tips up his mask to show his face. “Come on!”
“My lord Temnos, is that you?” I whisper, pretending surprise.
“This is the most exciting thing I have ever done!”
“My lord, you must not speak. Every word out of your mouth betrays that you belong to the palace.”
“It does? Why is that?”
“Highborn Patrons speak Saroese a bit differently than other people do, my lord. I will stop calling you ‘my lord.’ Do I have your permission?”
“Yes! Yes! Call me Temnos.” He grabs my hand. “Let’s go! We don’t want to get left behind!”
We’ve stayed too long already. I look to the front of the balcony where Gargaron sits as relaxed as if it is any routine day at the Fives.
“Keep your servant’s mask on.” I snag a discarded mask for myself and pull it down over my face, then grab a tray of half-eaten food and a full waste bucket.
The boy recoils. “That stinks!”
“I’ll carry the waste bucket, but you must carry the tray just as if you are really a servant.”
“No, no! I’ll carry the waste bucket. No one will ever suspect Prince Temnos would do that, will they?” His grin heartens me.
We hurry past the main aisle to the servants’ passage along the back wall of the court. I hear the tramp of feet, men approaching from the right.
“We’d better go to the left,” Temnos whispers.
“No, wiser to do the opposite of what they expect. Keep walking as if you have no idea what is going on. Keep your shoulders slumped.”
He’s a good soldier and makes no complaint. We head toward the sound. Around the curve of the outer wall marches a file of men who absolutely must be soldiers dressed in civilian dress that, up close, cannot hide the bulky armor they wear under humble linen jackets and loose cloth tunics. Just as they start eyeing us too closely, Temnos lets a little urine slop from the bucket.
“It’s so heavy,” he whines.