Downfall of the Curse

by Deborah Grace White

  “Lucy?” the princess asked, starting forward again. “Are you all right?”

  “Absolutely,” said Lucy calmly. “As you see, I’m just having a chat with my new friend…” She turned expectantly to her prisoner, but his mouth was still set in a mulish line, and he clearly wasn’t going to identify himself.

  “Yosef,” said a grim voice. “His name is Lord Yosef.”

  Lucy whipped her head around, but not quickly enough to miss the fear that flitted across the face of her prisoner—Yosef—at the sound of Rasad’s voice. She felt a sinking in her own stomach at the sight of the Thoranian striding purposefully toward them, a martial light in his eye as he brushed past the Valorian couple. Kincaid accompanying Jocelyn was one thing, but Lucy hadn’t thought about the fact that their host would likely follow them as well.

  She stepped quickly back from the young man, lowering her blade out of habit. But of course it was pointless to return it to its concealed sheath. Rasad had surely seen her wielding the weapon.

  “What is this?” Rasad demanded, his eyes passing between Lucy and Lord Yosef. His voice was filled with concern as he turned to her. “Are you all right, Luciana?”

  “I’m fine,” she said quickly, uncomfortable with how closely the newcomer was watching her interaction with Rasad.

  The advisor followed her gaze, and his expression hardened. “What mischief have you been up to, My Lord?”

  “Nothing,” said Lord Yosef belligerently.

  “Is that what you call it when you grab strangers from behind and try to abduct them?” Lucy demanded.

  But she instantly regretted her indignant outburst. Rasad rounded on the young man, and there was something about the way her former attacker flinched that made Lucy uneasy. Had she imagined the glint of triumph in the eyes of the primary advisor?

  “You did what?! This is an outrage, My Lord. This time you have gone too far, and you will answer for it.” He turned to Kincaid. “Your Highness, perhaps you would be so gracious as to spare one of your guards to take charge of this man for the moment. I will send my servant to the palace to summon an escort to see Lord Yosef to the dungeons, and I will speak to His Majesty immediately regarding—”

  “Wait,” said Lucy, stepping forward.

  Rasad turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised in polite confusion. “What is it, Luciana? If you are concerned that the dungeons are too light a punishment, rest assured that it is only an intermediate step.”

  “No, I meant I don’t want you to throw him in the dungeons.” Her gaze flicked to Lord Yosef, who was staring at her with as much surprise as his persecutor. “He didn’t actually harm me, after all.”

  There was a moment’s silence. “And for that I am more grateful than I can say,” said Rasad at last, looking like he was keeping his tone gentle with an effort. “You are very gracious not to press for retribution. But you are my guest here, and the guest of King Abner. Such an unprovoked attack against you cannot go unaddressed, regardless of this man’s rank.” He lowered his voice as he gestured toward Lord Yosef. “As I told you, my dear Luciana, title is not everything in this kingdom.”

  Lucy frowned at the endearment, well aware that Lord Yosef was taking in every detail.

  “Maybe it was a misunderstanding,” she said shortly. “I wouldn’t wish to overreact.”

  Rasad was silent for a moment longer, his jaw working slightly. “Very well,” he said at last, with a stiff half-bow. “We will take him straight before the king.” His eyes narrowed as they fell once again on Lord Yosef. “But he must answer for his behavior.”

  “Of course,” said Lucy smoothly. “I don’t wish to interfere in your authority.”

  Rasad turned to the Valorians again, his tone stiff and formal. “Your Highnesses, would you be so kind…?”

  “Of course,” said Kincaid quickly, directing his guards to assist with the prisoner.

  Lucy glanced over at Lord Yosef, standing motionless against the wall, right where she had left him. He offered no thanks for her intervention on his behalf, which irked her a little.

  “She’s going to kill me,” he muttered.

  “Who is?” Lucy demanded.

  His head shot up, his expression supporting her suspicion that he had been talking to himself. He met her eyes, his own gaze guarded, but after a moment he sighed, his shoulders slumping in resignation.

  “My sister.”

  Lucy raised an eyebrow, but there was no time to ask for clarification. The Valorian guards appeared on either side of Lord Yosef, and the young nobleman accompanied them without protest. Lucy replaced her weapon at last before following slowly, her brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of the bizarre turn the morning had taken.

  “I’m more sorry than I can say that you were attacked, Luciana.” Rasad’s voice was regretful, but his eyes were still fixed on the nobleman walking in front of them.

  “Please don’t worry about it,” said Lucy quickly. “There really was no harm done.”

  “You are as gracious as ever,” said Rasad, inclining his head. “But I can assure you, such occurrences are not normal here in Thirl.”

  “At least not in this part of town,” amended Lucy, unable to help herself. They had just emerged back into the jewelry market. Although the procession was attracting some interested looks, the general tone of the square remained placid.

  Rasad’s expression turned rueful. “Indeed. I truly didn’t imagine that there was any danger to our party in this area. It was perhaps unfortunate that you wandered away on your own, but that is no excuse for Lord Yosef’s behavior. He has long been something of a troublemaker, but I didn’t imagine he would go to such lengths to do me a mischief.”

  “So he’s an enemy of yours?” Lucy pressed quickly.

  Rasad was silent for a moment. “Enemy is a strong word. But he is one of a few—truly a few—members of the court who have not welcomed my appointment as King Abner’s primary advisor.” He exchanged a meaningful look with her. “I told the truth when I said that rank isn’t everything in Thorania, but of course there will always be those who resent such open-mindedness.”

  Lucy frowned, thinking his words over. It was certainly a believable reason for a nobleman to be no friend of Rasad’s. But it didn’t fit with the interaction she’d had with Lord Yosef, somehow. He hadn’t seemed resentful of Rasad. He’d seemed suspicious. She didn’t say as much, of course. But she was more determined than ever to discover the nature of Lord Yosef’s objection to the man who had invited her into his circle for reasons she still didn’t fully understand.

  “I must say, I’m impressed that you were able to defend yourself so successfully,” said Rasad, turning the topic with his usual tact.

  Lucy looked up quickly, self-conscious about her skill being on display. But Rasad looked genuinely impressed.

  “Lord Yosef may be a fool, but he is trained to wield a weapon,” he said. “If you bested him, you must have trained hard yourself.”

  Lucy hesitated for a moment, but she saw nothing but admiration in Rasad’s eyes. “Yes,” she admitted. “It was very important to my parents that my brothers and I learn to defend ourselves. I’ve been receiving basic weapons training since I was young.”

  Rasad gave her a long look that was a little too shrewd for her liking. “More than basic, I would imagine.” She looked down quickly, and he seemed to sense her embarrassment. His voice was soft as he continued. “It’s a strength, Luciana. An admirable and worthwhile skill. You’ll find that we appreciate hard work and talent in Thorania. In our women as well as our men.”

  Lucy met his eyes, her own expression guarded. It was both relieving and unnerving that he had read her so accurately. But she couldn’t help but feel gratified by his words.

  “Thank you,” she said softly.

  He nodded, but said no more. They had reached their horses, and after assisting her into the saddle, he moved off to oversee the transport of Lord Yosef to the palace. Jocelyn took the opportunity t
o draw her horse close to her friend’s as they rode back toward the palace at a leisurely pace.

  “Are you really all right, Lucy?”

  “Of course I am,” said Lucy reassuringly. She grimaced. “I’m mainly worried that Cody is going to kill me himself when he finds out I once again managed to get into a dangerous situation when he wasn’t on hand.”

  Her own words made her think of Lord Yosef’s comment, and she glanced thoughtfully at the young Thoranian. She was very curious to see the sister who was apparently going to be furious with him. But Jocelyn’s next words pulled her back to their conversation.

  “And Eamon’s going to be annoyed with me for somehow not stopping it. Or for not telling him we were going in the first place.” Her long-suffering sigh invited sympathy, but Lucy glared at her friend instead.

  “What does any of this have to do with Eamon?”

  Jocelyn rolled her eyes. “Don’t start, Lucy. You may have decided that he’s nothing to you, but you know as well as I do that he’s even more concerned about what happens to you than Cody is. He’s been worried sick since you agreed to come to Thorania with Rasad.”

  Lucy snorted. “You mean he’s been jealous. He’s disliked Rasad since the moment he met him.”

  “Does he have reason to be jealous?” Jocelyn asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Lucy lifted her chin slightly. “Eamon has no reason to be jealous of anyone, not as far as I’m concerned. It’s no business of his what I do.”

  “That’s not quite what I was asking,” said Jocelyn dryly. But when Lucy remained silent, she dropped it with a sigh. “I’m not saying you’re wrong about Eamon’s motivations. But it’s not just jealousy. He is genuinely worried. We all are.” She gave her friend a sideways look. “There’s something going on in the South Lands that we don’t understand. The attack on King Giles makes no sense whatsoever. And whether you believe it or not, I know that I felt magic when it happened. Not to mention that even though the attack wasn’t successful, I honestly think that it was only Eamon’s use of his…” she glanced around, “…persuasiveness that prevented a diplomatic disaster or worse between Kyona and Balenol.”

  Lucy listened in silence, her forehead creased. “No, I agree,” she said after a moment. “Something is definitely strange.” She thought of King Giles’s accident on the balcony. She still hadn’t confided to anyone about the impossible flame she thought she’d seen. “In fact, Lord Yosef said…” She trailed off, not sure whether to repeat the nobleman’s comment about having heard rumors of the attack against King Giles.

  “Said what?” Jocelyn prompted as the silence drew out.

  “Nothing,” said Lucy quickly. “Never mind.”

  They were almost back at the palace, and she pulled ahead slightly. She wasn’t entirely sure what stopped her from confiding in her friend. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Jocelyn, but…trust felt a lot more complicated than it had six months ago.

  She dismounted quickly, hurrying up the steps to join the procession now entering the palace. She didn’t know whether Rasad planned to include her in the audience with the king, but she had no intention of being left out. She wanted to find out exactly what was going on, and she didn’t trust either Rasad or Lord Yosef to tell her the whole truth.

  She came up behind Rasad just as he was issuing curt instructions to a member of the royal guard stationed outside the throne room. The man hurried away to carry the advisor’s message, and a minute later others arrived to relieve the Valorian guards of their charge. Lucy couldn’t help but feel sorry for Lord Yosef, despite his attack on her. He was looking more anxious by the second, a sheen of sweat appearing on his forehead.

  Lucy cleared her throat meaningfully as Rasad directed that Lord Yosef be led into an antechamber to await the king’s arrival. The Thoranian turned to her with an expression of surprise. Lucy kept her own face impassive, but she found it hard to believe that he hadn’t realized she was there. Evidently he had been hoping to keep her out of the proceedings.

  “Are you sure you’re all right, Luciana?” Rasad asked smoothly. “I would be only too glad to send a physician to your rooms to conduct an assessment.”

  “There’s no need for a physician,” said Lucy shortly. “I’m absolutely fine. And I wouldn’t want to miss my attacker’s appearance before the king, would I?”

  “Certainly not,” chipped in Kincaid unexpectedly from behind her. “I know that when hearing similar matters in Valoria, my father would want to hear the testimony of as many witnesses as possible. I can only imagine that it’s the same here.”

  The prince spoke mildly, but it was as clear to Lucy as it must have been to Rasad that the Valorians had no more intention of being excluded than Lucy had.

  Rasad cast a measuring glance at the trio before stepping back to politely usher them into the antechamber as well.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Rasad didn’t join them in the antechamber, instead striding off down the corridor. For a few minutes, no one spoke. Lord Yosef looked too nervous to speak, and the rest of them were hampered from discussing the incident freely by the presence of the prisoner and his guards.

  “What do you think King Abner will make of this?” Kincaid asked suddenly.

  “I don’t know,” said Jocelyn thoughtfully. She lowered her voice. “Did you think Rasad seemed genuinely surprised by the attack?”

  Kincaid frowned for a moment, clearly thinking over what had happened. “Yes,” he said at last. “I did.”

  Jocelyn nodded slowly, turning to her friend. “What do you think, Lucy?”

  Lucy shrugged, keeping her voice low as well, but painfully conscious that the others in the room could surely hear every word. “Honestly, I don’t know Rasad well enough to read him.”

  She glanced involuntarily toward Lord Yosef as she spoke. She saw to her irritation that he was watching her closely, one eyebrow raised in a slightly incredulous look. She pulled her gaze away, trying to appear unconcerned.

  Rasad entered the room a moment later, indicating to the guards with a jerk of the head that they should take the nobleman in before the king. Lucy was surprised at how quickly the monarch had responded. She wondered if it was a quiet day or if Rasad’s influence was really so great.

  King Abner was once again seated on his throne, looking perplexed more than anything. He inclined his head in greeting to Lucy, Jocelyn, and Kincaid, but his eyes returned quickly to the young nobleman.

  “Lord Yosef,” he said, his voice mild. “What is this I’ve been hearing? I could hardly believe it when Rasad told me you had made an unprovoked attack on one of our guests.”

  “Unfortunately, Your Majesty, it is too true,” said Rasad smoothly from his position at the king’s side.

  “I don’t doubt you, Rasad,” said King Abner. He regarded Lord Yosef steadily. “I expect you to explain yourself, My Lord.”

  “Your Majesty,” Lord Yosef stammered, executing a nervous bow. “I’m afraid there has been a misunderstanding. I never had any desire to harm the young lady.”

  Lucy raised an eyebrow, but kept her peace.

  “Was I misinformed, then,” the king pressed, “when I was told that you seized our guest and attempted to abduct her from a public market?”

  “Well, I…Your Majesty, I…it was a matter of…”

  There was some satisfaction in watching her attacker flounder, but Lucy couldn’t help but find the nobleman’s hopeless attempts to explain himself a little painful. King Abner waited, his expression expectant, as the stammering drew out.

  “Your Majesty!”

  Every head in the room turned at the new voice. Lord Yosef’s words cut off abruptly as a tall, well-dressed woman strode purposefully into the throne room.

  “Lady Yasmin,” King Abner acknowledged the newcomer calmly. “I imagined we might expect your presence during this audience.”

  “With all due respect, Your Majesty,” Rasad cut in, his tone tinged with polite regret, “Lady Yasmin did n
ot witness the event in question. She cannot have any relevant information to add to this audience.”

  “I imagine you would think so, Advisor,” the noblewoman said. There was a glint of fire in her eyes as they rested on Rasad. “But I would think that any hearing relating to my brother has great relevance to me.”

  “Certainly you will wish to be made aware of events,” King Abner said, as unruffled as ever.

  “Your Majesty,” Rasad objected smoothly. “Allow me to remind you that Lord Yosef’s conduct is of an incredibly serious nature. His unprovoked violence is a substantial escalation of the unrest he has been attempting to create in recent months.”

  Lady Yasmin stepped forward furiously, but Rasad continued over the top of her wordless protest.

  “This is not a situation where his sister can talk him out of trouble, as she would no doubt like to do.”

  “How convenient for you,” Lady Yasmin began, her voice scathing, “to find an excuse to exclude me from—”

  The king raised his hand, and instantly she fell silent.

  “As Rasad has pointed out, Lady Yasmin and I have something in common,” King Abner said. “Neither one of us witnessed Lord Yosef’s actions today.” The king turned his eyes on Lucy, his gaze more shrewd than his languid tone suggested. “I would like to hear from the young lady bringing the complaint.”

  Lucy curtsied quickly, her quick frown hidden as she dropped her head. “Your Majesty,” she said, straightening up. “It wasn’t my intention to bring a complaint before you. I just…”

  “Yes?” the king prompted, as she hesitated. “What did you intend to do?”

  “Merely to defend myself,” Lucy said helplessly.

  “Defend yourself from what?” King Abner asked patiently.

  “An unprovoked attack by Lord Yosef,” Rasad cut in from where he still stood by the king’s side. “It is admirable that Luciana was able to defend herself, but unacceptable that it was necessary for her to do so.”