"Then we will be partners in crime," he said with a smile. There was mischief and levity in his face. "Do you trust me enough to risk punishment if I fail you?"
In fact, she was deeply impressed that he'd wanted to help these people, was actually taking some risk to do so. She would have expected him to say there was nothing they could do. This had, after all, no direct benefit to him—risks even.
"Yes, I trust you," she said and he blinked as if he hadn't expected her to say it.
Then he snorted. "Like a dog, you are training me to perform good deeds, just for the adoration in your eyes."
"There is no adoration in my eyes."
"Then what is it I'm seeing?"
"Astonishment that underneath your harshness and calculation there is someone who can feel empathy for strangers, at considerable risk."
"The things I will do to impress you."
"Is that the entirety of it? To impress me?"
"As opposed to your disturbingly low opinion of me, I do not like seeing the defenseless suffer. There is something not quite sporting about it."
Before she knew what she was doing, she leaned forward and kissed him. It had been an impulse she followed. Maybe because for a moment, he was the man she wanted him to be, someone who cared for persons other than himself. Warm lips met hers, surprise giving to something deeper and headier. His arms wrapped around her, drawing her fully to him. The taste of him suffused her mind. It had been so long since they'd kissed like this and the urgent need she'd felt then returned like a levy being released.
A knock on the door broke them apart and the driver’s head appeared. Ashra’s lips felt bruised and sensitive, and embarrassment tinged her cheeks. She'd just lost her mind and kissed him. He was utterly right in that there was something in her that direly wanted him to be a better man. If sheer benevolence melted her defenses against him, what would his love do?
"Time to go," he said, breathing deeply. There was a slight rosiness to his pale cheeks that wasn't usually there. "We ought not to spend more time here than we should."
He helped her into the carriage as the driver collected and harnessed the horses. They left as soon as they were ready, traveling out of the town on the road returning to the citadel.
Once sitting and comfortable inside the carriage, Ashra felt that the turmoil of the day had taken its toll and her energies were flagging, her eyes growing heavy.
"Sleep," he said gently and offered his shoulder. She shouldn't, perhaps, but she did feel she trusted him more now than she had before, and she direly needed to nap.
"What about my gift?" she said as she was drifting off. "You forgot my gift."
"No, I didn't. I will give it to you later."
As she dozed, she half felt his hand resting on her knee.
Chapter 16
Lorcan was waiting for her outside her apartments when she emerged, ready to accompany her to the festivities organized for the day. She wasn’t entirely sure what was on the cards. Dinner and a performance of some kind, the missive had insinuated.
“Lord Lorcan,” Ashra said, feeling a blush creep up her cheeks. Late during the night before, the kiss had crept into her mind and refused to budge.
“I thought we could walk together.”
The previous day had definitely been a victory for him—and the people of Tondoke. It was deeply unfair if he used such tactics to undermine her defenses, because it had worked. She had more or less fallen into his arms at the show of selfless generosity. And he’d accused her of, through her rewards, forming him into the man she wanted. Was the victory as sweet for him as he’d anticipated?
“I thought it was time to give you your gift.”
“Oh?” she said and he opened his hand, filled with glittering sparkle.
It dropped and hung off his finger. A necklace with large sapphires. That was much too extravagant. “Not an heirloom. I had it commissioned. The family jewels will only be yours when you accept them.”
“With some small caveats.”
“Yes,” he smiled. “But I wanted to give you something. And yesterday, in light of the starvation around us, it seemed inappropriate.”
“To remember you by if you died. Yet, if you commissioned it, you’d have to have done so before we even had that conversation.”
He moved around her. “Perhaps I wanted to see what you would do.” The stones and silver were warmed by his hand and he draped it around her neck. His fingers lightly brushed the back of her neck as he fixed the clasp. “I have never given you anything before.”
“You gave me something quite substantial already,” she said before she checked herself. His fingers stilled for a moment, resting lightly on her spine.
“A gift I am desperately trying to claim back.” Soft lips brushed the skin at the nape of her neck, causing an unexpected shiver. There was no doubting she was in dangerous territory here. “Some family in Tondoke will dine finely for a while on this commission,” he said, changing the subject.
Ashra knew without a doubt he was seducing her and he was so very good at it. She was softening, but it was the deeper transformation in his nature that was devastating to her defenses. He had basically admitted he was doing these things for the reward she gave him. “Well played,” she said in a barely audible voice.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” she said and turned. The stones hung around her neck and it very much felt like his stones were hanging around her neck.
“If nothing else, you will remember me when you see this necklace. And you will think of me when you wear it.” He smiled. “A small fortune in stones, but all in all, I’d say it’s a bargain.”
He looked her in the eye and she saw he was pleased with himself. “Careful what you wish for,” she said.
“Is it worth doing if the stakes aren’t high?”
“Not sure you completely understand what the stakes are.”
“You do have me there, but a kiss recently did give me some clue.”
He’d liked that kiss, but whether he felt anything more in it than victory, she didn’t know.
Holding his arm out for her, he waited for her to take it. A moment of hesitation and she did. This all meant nothing, of course, even if she did bask somewhat in his attention. There was a long, long way to go before she was at risk of relinquishing anything important, particularly anything that would come close to risking her family’s well-being and prospects.
They walked in silence and as they approached, a scream echoed down the hall. Both froze. Someone must have displeased Raufasger. This signified that he was in a bad mood and was taking it out of someone, or someone had been caught doing something.
A person came running down the hall, a young man from one of the lesser houses ran straight past them without acknowledgment. There was wan shock on his face.
It had to be bad. “Perhaps you should stay here,” Lorcan said. He released her hand and walked ahead of her, looking back briefly. He looked worried, but then Raufasger in a terrible anger was worrisome to all of them.
Ashra stood in the corridor, watching and listening, but there were no other screams. Ahead, she saw a page run and disappear around the corner.
What was going on? People didn’t normally react like this to Raufasger’s outbursts, even if they were murderous. Pages never ran unless something was terribly wrong. What if Lorcan wasn’t coming back?
Unable to stand not knowing any longer, she moved closer. She might not entirely go into the hall, but she needed to know what was occurring inside the hall.
When she walked around the corner, people were milling and exchanging looks, but no one spoke. On every face, she read grave concern. Something terrible had happened. Quickly, her thoughts turned to Lorcan. He hadn’t come to seek her. Horrid images flooded her brain and she felt a deep sense of panic.
Approaching the door more quickly, she saw more people milling inside. It was disturbingly still in there. No one moved. One woman had her hands over her mo
uth, her eyes large. Then Ashra saw it, saw Raufasger sitting on his throne. Foam had formed around his mouth and his eyes were half closed. He was dead. That look could be nothing other than dead.
Lorcan stood not far away from him and his eyes shifted to hers. Raufasger was dead.
The shock of it was dumbfounding. How could this have happened? It hadn’t even occurred to her that he could die. Raufasger was so strong, so protected—so paranoid, he let nothing near himself. But someone had killed him, by means of poison if she were to guess. There was no blood, no stab wounds, and the foam around his mouth suggested poison.
No one knew what to do. A woman appeared in the door, screamed and fainted.
Their leader was dead. The man who had forced them all to live here was dead. He held no power over them anymore. They were free. She was free.
“It must have been done by someone inside the citadel,” Lorcan said quietly when he appeared by her side.
“He is so careful.”
“It had to be someone he trusted, either as the perpetrator, or the unwitting deliverer of the poison.”
Then the guards came streaming into the hall and roughly started pushing everyone out. The ornate doors firmly closed, shutting away the horrible sight of their dead liege. He might have died on his throne, but there wasn’t a great deal of dignity sitting there with his mouth hanging open. Not that he deserved a dignified death.
Ashra wasn’t sure if she should feel bad about the manner of his death. It would likely have been excruciatingly painful, and from the look of it, he’d died alone, or possibly in the presence of the person who had poisoned him, subject to their hateful malice. Considering how many people had died at his hands, it would serve him right to know he was dying at the hands of another.
Should she be having thoughts like this? Was she growing so vengeful that she couldn’t see anything but the justice in this? Not a single part of her was sorry Raufasger had died in excruciating pain, or that he was dead. No one in their right mind would mourn him. He didn’t deserve to be mourned. In fact, they should all celebrate.
As the shock started to wear off, people were speaking more, the murmur of their voices echoing off the walls.
“What does this mean?” Ashra said, trying to think through the implications. The first instinctive reaction she’d had was that she could go see her son now. There was no one to stop her. But the more considered thought was that they didn’t know what this meant. Raufasger was too paranoid to have ever stated or even insinuated an heir in case people had an alternative ruler to focus their hopes, dreams, and manipulations on.
“The guards seem to have taken control for the moment,” Lorcan said quietly, his eyes scanning the room.
Niesen Woord appeared, dressed in his clerical robes. Distracted shock was written all over his face. “Everyone needs to return to their apartments and stay there,” he said.
No one argued, even as Niesen had no command to tell them what to do. It was just that his voice was the only one speaking up.
Lorcan grabbed Ashra by the elbow and urged her back the way they’d come. They walked with others until they melted away and it was just the two of them.
“For some reason, I have never even considered that Raufasger would be killed,” she said quietly. “He seemed so indestructible.”
“This is unprecedented,” Lorcan said, speaking seriously. “There is no one in charge now.”
“Raufasger’s administrative arm is stepping in.”
“For now,” he said. “This is going to reverberate throughout the entire land. The earth has shifted from under our feet, and we need to figure out where we stand. Our alliances may be more important than ever. You need to check yours, particularly Wierstoke—if he is still standing by you.”
For a moment, she didn’t care. Her enforced imprisonment here at the citadel was over. She could go home, see her son. Obviously, things were more complicated than that, but right now, she only saw the up sides. “I don’t think anyone is going to want to make any political moves right now,” she stated. “Everyone is in shock.”
“Which is really the best time to make a move, a substantial one.”
“But Raufasger was at the center of that power structure. Does politics even exist anymore? Does power even exist anymore?”
“We don’t know,” he said. Ashra had never seen him look worried before, but everything had changed, and no one knew what a world without Raufasger looked like. “Talk to your alliances,” he said after a while.
Unexpectedly, he stepped forward and kissed her on the forehead. It was such an intimate and personal thing, and it took her entirely by surprise.
Ashra stood by the door and watched him as he continued down the corridor toward where his apartments were. Raufasger had also been her protection from him. What did that kiss mean? Did Lorcan feel protective of her, or did the big opportunity he’d mentioned include a move against her? Maybe he was right in that she more than ever needed to understand what her alliance stood.
Chapter 17
Along with everyone else, Ashra turned up to the planned dinner the following night, because she didn’t know what else to do. Like every other night, they all turned up in their finery and jewels. Some wore dark, somber colors and the mood was very subdued. Ashra couldn’t bring herself to don any of her mourning dresses. The pretense was over, and the most false assertion was that she would mourn that man’s death.
There was none of the avid chatting, laughter or even snide remarks. It was as if everyone was aghast at this unexpected development, unsure how to act now.
The expression on people’s faces showed that they were worried. Ashra doubted anyone was truly sad that Raufasger was dead. How could they be? He was a horrid man in every regard, and an utter bully as a leader. But there were those who thrived here, did so because they loved the competition, the danger or simply enjoyed the spectacle. They might mourn his death, simply for that fact that they knew and used the system to their own advantage.
“My maid has disappeared,” a woman said to her companions. “Simply got up and left without a word. Astounding. No one gave her permission to leave. I certainly didn’t.”
“They need to keep a check on such things,” a man said with a shake of his head. “Or there will be chaos. As far as we’ve heard, the travel restrictions are in place. People shouldn’t just be walking out of the castle.”
“But there is no one to enforce them,” another man said. “Who is to say to these people they can’t leave?
“Of course there are. The whole system is still in place. Why wouldn’t it be?”
Ashra moved on into the gathered crowd. Everyone seemed to have questions and no answers. Raufasger was always the first and last word on anything, so there officially wasn’t anyone who could say how things were now. Raufasger certainly wouldn’t have put in place anything in event of his death, likely assuming that was an impossibility. Men like him were too powerful for death to conquer.
Lorcan stood farther into the room. She knew he’d been as surprised as her finding Raufasger dead on this throne. Well, she supposed he died where he wanted to be, if not when. The realization that Raufasger’s reign was over was just hitting her. This man who had terrified so many people was dead. In death, he’d looked pathetic, his skin sallow, his lips blue, with glassy, unseeing eyes. The very thought of him turned her stomach. His strength and paranoia hadn’t saved him in the end.
Lorcan, she knew, was considering his fallback position, trying to determine where he was within this change. Like others, he would seek to capitalize. Any change had opportunities and losses, and some of the people here would be seeking the opportunities, including Lorcan.
He’d told her to check her alliances, and he was probably doing the same. But what did alliances mean anymore? Were they more important than ever?
Her gaze traveling the room, she found Wierstoke, who was also deep in discussion. He didn’t look quite as concerned as some, sipping a glas
s of wine. Actually, wasn’t there call to crack open the champagne, Ashra wondered. She made her way toward Wierstoke.
“Well, well,” he said. “Isn’t this a development?”
“Not something I expected. For some reason, I think we saw him as indestructible.”
“Because he saw himself as indestructible. I think he thought himself too strong for death, let alone paltry murder. Perhaps he grew careless.”
“Do we know what killed him?” There hadn’t been any official verdict of cause, but the foam around his mouth suggested it was poison, but she didn’t really know about these things with any degree of confidence.
“Clearly murder. Poison, it seems,” Wierstoke confirmed.
“He was so careful.”
“Yes. Somehow the murderer managed to get past all his defenses. It does suggest someone who knows him well. It is unlikely that someone snuck into the castle to dispatch him. The citadel is well defended.”
Ashra’s mind cast back to Tondoke and the hungry people there. There had to be factions within the larger population who would happily murder Raufasger, but he knew that and was well defended from them, keeping spies everywhere to guard against any plots against him.
“But now we must turn our attention to the future, I think,” Wierstoke said. Ashra got the feeling that Wierstoke wasn’t all that interested in who had murdered Raufasger. He might have a point. As expected, he was already turning his mind to the opportunities that this development presented.
“What do you think the future entails?” she asked.
“I think we must elect a new king.”
Ashra’s eyebrows rose. It had not been what she’d expected him to say, but then supposed that it wasn’t any more outlandish than any other suggestion. There wasn’t anyone of the insane strength and ambition of Raufasger. Or simply just insanity.
“There must be a leader,” he continued. Wierstoke did have ambition, and may even see himself as taking on the role of the king. Perhaps Lorcan was right and alliances were more important than ever. Only the strongest would be considered for the job, and that would include Lorcan.
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