The Queen's Tower

by J. S. Mawdsley

  “Your majesty,” came a voice from behind Ethelred. A moment later, a face, Caedmon’s face, appeared over Ethelred’s shoulder. “Did you ingest something? Did the crown prince, as well? What was it?”

  Looking beyond Caedmon, she saw one of her sketches of Hengist Tower hanging over a fireplace. She wept. “Why am I not dead? Why am I still alive? Just let me die!”

  “Maxen drank the wine, didn’t he?” It was the first voice she had heard, and it came from somewhere near the fire, though she did not care enough to look.

  She managed a slight nod.

  “And you drank from the medicine bottle?”

  She squeezed her eyes shut, tears seeping out, and nodded again.

  “If you’d really wanted to die, you should have had the wine, too.”

  “Faustinus!” Caedmon said. “A little delicacy.” He sighed long and deep. “Are you saying there is no hope for the crown prince?”

  “There never was. It’s precisely what killed Lady Hildred, and what Daryna and I saw years ago in Rawdon. We would have needed to be here the second the first drop passed his lips to save him.”

  “And Merewyn?” Ethelred asked, and she could feel him trembling as he continued to hold her. “Is she going to die?”

  “I should think she is safe,” answered the voice from the fireplace, which must be Faustinus. “If this little bottle was full, then we had—what would you guess, Caedmon? half an hour?—to save her with a good purge. And she’s had that.”

  “Since I do not know what was in the bottle, I cannot say, Faustinus,” Caedmon answered.

  “Sorry. I thought you heard. Her majesty has been having trouble sleeping, so Daryna Olekovna whipped up some goenacht.”

  “I’m sorry. What?” Ethelred asked.

  “Goenacht,” Faustinus answered. “It’s a basic sleeping draught all hillichmagnars learn during our studies at Diernemynster. Delightful stuff when taken in very small doses.”

  He walked into her line of sight. His clothes were disheveled, and there were dark circles under his eyes, but she was certain it was him, that they were in her room. She was certain that she was not, in fact, dead.

  “And she drank the whole bottle?” Ethelred asked Faustinus, who nodded. Then he looked down at her. “Merewyn, why ever would you do that?”

  Although she felt as if she could weep for years, she only did so for several seconds before, somehow, finding the strength to say, “I thought he was trying to kill me.”

  “Trying to kill you?” Ethelred asked. “Who was trying to kill you?”

  “Not Maxen,” Faustinus answered. He snapped his fingers, and the door flew open to reveal Haley. The young guard who she had claimed fancied her, Kaplan, clutched her tightly by the upper arm and dragged her into the room. Poor girl! None of this was her fault—she had only been trying to serve her queen. “I apologize that I was unable to prevent this,” Faustinus went on.

  “Stop!” Ethelred shouted. He stroked Merewyn’s hair, and as he peered down at her with such love and concern, it physically pained her. How could he look at her like that when she had killed his son and only heir? “Everyone here seems to know a good deal more about this tragic night than I do. I need someone to explain it all from the beginning.”

  Merewyn could feel him shiver again, and she felt his arms and fingers tense as he fought to keep control of himself.

  “Your majesty, perhaps we should first see to the queen,” said Caedmon.

  Faustinus reached down and helped her stand, but she wobbled on her legs and nearly collapsed. And then she saw him on the floor: her darling boy, who had been afraid of what lived under the bed, who had revealed her scheme with Fransis to overthrow the king in a childish fit, who had grown up without her, fallen in love, and fathered a child who would now always be a bastard because of her. Sobs contorted her and she sagged, only held up by Faustinus, who had to carry her away to the bench by the windows. Once again, she found she couldn’t breathe, her gasps coming more quickly and uselessly, until Faustinus leaned over to her as though he meant to kiss her. But he stopped an inch short and said, “Seft wyn.”

  She took one shallow breath, then a deep one. Then she tested her ability to take several in a row, and she succeeded at the feat. Faustinus held her hand and gave it a little squeeze. “You will be fine, Merewyn.”

  But she did not want to be fine after seeing her son. She wanted to be dead. The sobs resumed.

  “Let me go, I tell you,” Haley cried.

  Merewyn worked to stifle her sobs. She had already committed the most heinous crime imaginable tonight—she would not let someone else suffer for her actions.

  “Sergeant, let her go,” she said. “Haley did nothing I did not ask her to do. I believed Maxen wanted to kill me. She only tried to help me.”

  “That is a very generous interpretation of events,” said Faustinus. “But this little conniver is not worth your protection or kind thoughts.”

  Confusion paused Merewyn’s tears. The man clearly did not know what he was talking about.

  But he continued before she could organize her own thoughts well enough to speak. “Tell us, Sergeant, where I found the two of you.”

  “In Lady Haley’s room, sir. I know I was supposed to be on duty outside this room, but....”

  Merewyn shook her head as tears resumed their course down her cheeks. “I told her to do that, to take advantage of the sergeant’s feelings for her.”

  “Think back,” said Faustinus. “Did you ask, or did she offer?” There must have been a look of recognition on her face, because the hillichmagnar continued as though she had answered verbally. “As I suspected. Bring her closer, if you will.”

  “Faustinus,” Caedmon growled.

  “Don’t worry Caedmon. I promise not to do anything questionable without asking you and Ethelred first. I have excellent manners. Lady Haley,” Faustinus addressed her, “I’m surprised to hear you took that poor besotted boy to your room. What will the captain general say when he hears?”

  “Excuse me!” Ethelred jumped in. “I have asked that someone explain to me what is happening from the beginning. I want to...to understand why my son is dead.” He choked on the final words as he began to cry. Caedmon made a movement toward him, but Ethelred waved him off. “What does Broderick or this girl have to do with any of it?”

  “I’m not certain if Lady Haley was sleeping with the captain general,” Faustinus opened, but then stopped while Haley looked down and blushed. “Ah. So you were.” Haley turned her head away as far as she could manage with Kaplan holding her, and she turned even redder. “I see I missed the mark. You wanted to, but were not. What a tragedy for you.”

  “Your commentary is unnecessarily cruel, Faustinus,” said Caedmon. “Kindly get to the point.”

  “Very well. Your majesties, Lady Haley here has been pursuing Sir Broderick for some time now. I’m sure we all noticed the way she doted on him, the lovelorn glances she cast in his direction. But it was not until earlier this evening that Duke Brandon finally made the connection that we had all missed. He discovered what I had not—that Lady Haley was part of a plot to kill the crown prince. A plot conceived by the prince’s half-brother, the king’s eldest bastard.”

  “I do not see that phrasing it in such a way is pertinent,” grumbled Caedmon.

  “Nothing is more pertinent. If Broderick were legitimate, then Maxen would still be alive. If he were legitimate, then he never would have given the time of day to the unfortunate Lady Haley.”

  Haley let out a gasp, glaring defiantly at Faustinus. “I don’t see why you think it’s so odd that he and I would...well, that we would be friends. We talked whenever he came here, and he was a frequent and welcome visitor of her majesty.”

  “He’s been a frequent visitor to the Bishop of Leornian, as well,” said Faustinus. “Bishop Robertson has long been a man more comfortable in the world than in the church, which is saying something, because if you’ve ever seen him in a church, you�
�ve seen a man totally at his ease. The salient point is that he’s a man who would trade a good deal for power.”

  Merewyn knew that all too well. She was starting to feel ill again.

  “I take it everyone knows what the bishop recently did for the Baron of Erianworth, or rather for his bastard son.”

  “Wait,” Ethelred shook his head. “You mean when the bishop allowed the baron to name his illegitimate son his heir when he married the boy’s mother? What does that have to do with this?”

  “If her majesty,” Caedmon bowed to her, “were dead, either through murder, suicide, or execution, you would be free to wed Susan Gramiren. And if Prince Maxen were dead as well, Broderick would become undisputed heir to the throne if Bishop Robertson proclaimed it so.”

  “This is absurd,” Ethelred whispered with a rasp. “What proof do any of you have for this lunacy? Broderick would never do any of the things you are accusing him of, because you clearly are accusing him of unspeakable crimes.”

  “But speak of it we must,” said Faustinus. “Why has he spent so much time with Robertson since arriving in Leornian? And has he always been so attentive to Lady Haley, or is that more recent?” Merewyn’s eyes widened, and Faustinus chuckled. “As I thought.”

  “So he spoke more often to the bishop and this girl,” Ethelred said. “That proves nothing. What do we even know against Lady Haley?”

  “She lured away the sergeant on duty,” said Faustinus. “And more importantly, she brought the wine that poisoned your son. Caedmon and I set out to find Lady Haley and Prince Maxen when Duke Brandon pointed out her involvement with Broderick. Broderick, who seemed a little too swift to suggest that the crown prince was the likely target of the poisoning at the feast. I ran into the servants’ hall on my search, and a young lady I spoke with mentioned Lady Haley coming to them to get a decanter of wine from the barrels used for tonight’s feast. My informant explained that Lady Haley and her majesty have plenty of their own wine, so why would she run all the way across the courtyard to get some?”

  “Fine. I got the wine, but I tell you, I did it for my lady.” Haley’s face remained red, but Merewyn guessed the embarrassment had been replaced by anger. “I still don’t believe that Prince Maxen wasn’t conspiring with the Loshadnarodskis to kill the queen.”

  “Let us say I know Daryna Olekovna quite well,” Faustinus answered her. “The bottle she gave to Prince Maxen for her majesty was a sleeping potion, nothing more. Unlike the wine you gave the queen. Where did you get La Domina Grisea? How did you happen to have the same poison that killed Lady Hildred?”

  At this, Haley went completely pale, and Merewyn realized that it was because the girl had no answer. Yes, she had asked Haley for poison, assuming she had some, but what were the chances she would have precisely the same poison that had already killed Hildred? That could just as easily have killed anyone else at the high table, herself included.

  “Your father is the finest botanist at the university,” Merewyn whispered. She looked up and caught Haley’s eye. “And you know I don’t eat pistachios, but Maxen did. They were his favorites.”

  “My...my lady. You can’t believe....” But Haley trailed off, unable to articulate what she didn’t think Merewyn would be able to believe.

  Merewyn sagged against the window in exhausted disbelief.

  “Now it only remains to find proof against the captain general,” said Faustinus. “Lady Haley has confessed to bringing the wine she poisoned herself, a fact corroborated by her majesty, which I believe under Myrcian law is enough for the king to pass judgment here on the spot.”

  “You’ll never find proof against him, because there isn’t any.” Haley thrust out her chin, Merewyn startled at her sudden transition back to defiance.

  Faustinus raised an eyebrow, and a shiver wracked Haley’s body. Merewyn felt frightened by the look as well, she had to confess. “I think you would be surprised at what a hillichmagnar can find,” he said.

  “Absolutely not, Faustinus,” said Caedmon. “We will have none of that here.”

  “Very well,” he shrugged. “But, as I say, the king can certainly sentence this one, who is complicit in the prince’s death. I suppose he could also decide what to do with her majesty, as well. She did order and knowingly serve poisoned wine to the prince by her own admission. Although, allow me to caution against executing her—it might well serve the interests of the conspirators.”

  The room went dark, and then Faustinus was pulling her upright on the bench. A woman was screaming. Ethelred was shouting and swearing he would never have wed Susan Gramiren and Broderick had no motive. Caedmon was speaking slowly and soothingly, counseling deliberation.

  Merewyn felt as though she must have missed something as the room faded in and out, because she didn’t understand why Haley was yelling, too, now. It was something about how Broderick had promised her the king would show mercy if she were caught, like he had shown mercy to the queen, and couldn’t she change her story? It was Broderick all along, she cried, with Bishop Robertson’s backing, just like the hillichmagnar had said. Haley swore she had only gone along with it because Broderick promised her a place close to him at court, and she shouldn’t be held responsible. She was a victim in this, too.

  Now Ethelred was calling for the guards, demanding that Haley be thrown in the dungeon and gagged.

  The room faded again, and Merewyn refused to open her eyes.

  Chapter 37

  DARYNA WISHED SHE WERE still packing to leave Leornian and the mistakes of the past few days far behind. However, Nina quite properly said that they must stay for the funerals of Hildred and Maxen. Caedmon sent a bird to Jorunn and the other hillichmagnars back in Formacaster, telling them the news, and the king had sent message riders as well, but it would be at least a week before Hildred’s husband arrived. The delay left Daryna to pace and sigh, and think over the surprising offer the captain general had made.

  He had stopped in that morning, the very last person she had expected. He had surely been up all night, supervising the troops around the city and the castle. His brother and Lady Hildred were both dead, and he must know that some people suspected him of the crimes. And yet, he had made time to talk to her about something entirely different. She still had not decided how she felt about the offer or how she ought to present it to Nina, but she would have to do so soon.

  Someone knocked on the door to the suite she shared with Nina, Vadik, Grigory, and Anik. She opened her mouth to invite whoever it might be in, but then she felt Servius’s magy and bit her lips tightly shut. She hoped he would leave if she ignored him, but he probably somehow knew—because he always knew—that everyone else had gone out and she was alone. If she failed to invite him in, nothing would stop him from entering magyskly.

  “What do you want, Faustinus?”

  “That’s not a very polite way to invite in an old friend,” he said, suddenly at her shoulder. “But I shall let it pass,” he added, as he rested a hand on her lower back. “It was a long night for everyone, and we have much to discuss.”

  “We do?” She stepped away from his touch, making for the leftover tea. It had gone cold, but she whispered a simple spell to start it reheating.

  “Yes, actually, we do.” He took a seat on the sofa by the fireplace, naturally not waiting for an invitation. “Forget the tea and come sit.”

  She watched him pat the sofa next to him. After deliberately pouring herself a cup of tea she didn’t really need, she joined him at the fire. She sat in the chair next to the hearth, however. “Get on with it if you must.”

  He sighed and crossed his legs, leaning back against the corner of the sofa. “I understand that you are upset about some of the things we said last night.”

  “You are wrong. I am not upset about things we said. Only things that you said.”

  He waved off her distinction as though it were utterly trivial. “Whatever the case, the point is that I need your help convincing King Ethelred that his bastard son
killed his son and heir.”

  “So you really think Broderick is to blame?”

  “Caedmon and I were there to save Queen Merewyn and hear her confession, as well as Lady Haley’s. It really isn’t very difficult to put the evidence together. But King Ethelred refuses to believe Broderick guilty, and Caedmon, silly old fool, refuses to press the issue.”

  “Isn’t Caedmon your oldest friend?”

  “Which is how I know he’s being a silly old fool.”

  “This is his country and his court. Maybe you should follow his lead, rather than ignore it and try to drag me into things.”

  He leaned forward and snatched up her hand from the arm of her chair before she could think to pull it away. “He did it, Daryna, orchestrated it all. Broderick is a murderer. The entire Myrcian succession has been thrown into turmoil and two people have died horribly. Surely you believe that must be punished.”

  She had rarely seen such passion in Servius’s eyes, and she couldn’t fathom what had brought him to such a state. Justice and right were, frankly, not usually high priorities for him.

  “Why do you even care so much? Let’s be honest—justice is much more Caedmon’s style. If he wants to let it go, why don’t you?”

  “I, well, let us say I feel a bit proprietary about Myrcia. Remember, I was there to help found it.”

  “As you’ve told me countless times. Caedmon was there, too, you know.”

  “But that’s just it.” He threw his hand in the air and then stood up so he might begin pacing. “Caedmon cares as much as I do. But he has his place at court. He has to live with these people, and he believes his first duty is to the king. He can’t press King Ethelred, but you and I can. Caedmon will thank us in the long run.”

  Daryna doubted that very much, but from what she had heard, over the centuries, Caedmon had forgiven Servius a great deal, so he probably assumed Caedmon would do so again. Whether or not she would be forgiven, by Caedmon or Ethelred or Nina, for that matter, was a different issue. Obviously, Broderick would not forgive her.